Overview
Building Your Foundation as a Junior Product Designer:
As a junior product designer, your primary goal is to learn as much as you can about the industry and build a strong foundation in product design. This involves working closely with senior designers, participating in team meetings, and completing projects to gain hands-on experience.
Advancing Your Career as a Senior Product Designer:
Once you have a solid understanding of product design, it's time to advance your career and take on more responsibility as a senior product designer. This involves leading projects, mentoring junior designers, and demonstrating your expertise in the industry.
Becoming a Lead Product Designer:
To become a lead product designer, you must have a deep understanding of the product design process and the ability to provide strategic direction to the design team. This involves managing projects, ensuring the quality of the product, and collaborating with other departments to ensure the product's success.
Reaching the Top as a Product Design Director:
Finally, to reach the top as a product design director, you must have extensive experience in the industry, a deep understanding of the product design process, and the ability to provide visionary leadership to the design department. This involves setting the overall strategy and vision for the department and working closely with upper management to ensure the success of the product design team.
Product designer career path:
Here is a framework you can use to help guide the expectations of each role for product designers.
Junior Product Designer
Junior Product Designers work with guidance while actively seeking mentorship, focusing on learning established processes and design patterns. They take ownership of small and mid-size projects. They frequently work with their leader to receive direction on more challenging or ambiguous problems and to define growth opportunities.
Visual Design
Demonstrates taste in layout, typography and visual hierarchy. Uses our Design Principles, existing style guides and previous Product Design work to represent our brands.
UX Design
Has conceptual familiarity with information architecture, multi-step and cross-platform flows. Considers potential states (errors, successes, dead-ends) in their work.
Patterns
Follows existing visual and UX patterns established across our brands to ensure a consistent, intuitive experience.
Product Thinking
Familiar with the vision and key objectives for their product area. With support from their design and product leaders, consider how their designs can support that vision.
Process
Learns and executes our defined design process, which includes project definition, design exploration, idea refinement, building and learning. Takes guidance from their design lead or design leader on managing speed and quality based on the scope and potential impact on users and/or revenue.
Toolkit
Employs design tools to solve and communicate user flows, interaction and motion. These tools could include sketching, diagramming, interface design tools (Figma, Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator), production HTML/CSS and Javascript, platform SDKs (Xcode, Android Studio) or native prototyping tools (Framer, Principle.
Transparency
Shares work early and often and seek constructive feedback from their leader, stakeholders, teams and the Product Design team and actively work with their leader to filter and prioritise this feedback. Documents all work throughout the lifecycle of a project.
Data
Begins every project by partnering with their design leader or product leader to define what qualitative and quantitative data will be important in their work. Interfaces with User Research and Product Analytics throughout the design and development process, making changes to the product based on their analysis and recommendations.
Fluency
Communicates with product leads and engineers in their language, designing with consideration for their cares and concerns. Proactively works with their leader to negotiate thoughtful design outcomes when there are cross-discipline concerns.
Communication
Practices verbal and written communication skills in both one-on-one and group situations. Works with their leader to distil complex ideas, goals and problems in a way that is accessible even to those unfamiliar with the project.
Mentorship
Seeks feedback from designers across the Product Design team to grow their skills and design toolkit.
Culture
Contributes to the culture of the Product Design team by participating in design-led projects, events and discussions to spread design thinking and enthusiasm throughout the company and the wider design community. Embodies the team's values, following the framework for how we want to work.
Product Designer
To move up to this level, Designers should hit each point marked with a *, plus any other 2. Designers and Leaders should work together to define focus areas.
Mid-level Product Designers take on work more independently while continuing to give and receive feedback proactively. They take ownership of small and mid-sized projects and may start to take on leadership responsibilities in their cross-discipline group.
Visual design*
Demonstrates understanding of layout, typography and visual hierarchy. Uses our Design Principles, existing style guides and previous Product Design work to represent the Company brand with a holistic consideration for their product's future.
UX design*
Demonstrates proficiency in and understanding of information architecture, multi-step and cross-platform flows. Consistently consider their work's holistic user experience and potential states (errors, successes, dead-ends).
Pattern*
Balances existing visual and UX patterns with platform-specific patterns to ensure a consistent, intuitive experience. Identifies and flags instances where existing patterns break down in their work and diverge responsibly.
Product Thinking
Has a strong understanding of their product area's vision and key objectives, taking cues from their design lead and/or leader and their product and engineering leads. Consistently considers how their designs can support that vision, the team's goals, the broader product vision and company objectives.
Process
Consistently demonstrates our defined design process and uses the design process to contextualise their work and the type of feedback they need in a given moment. Learned to balance speed and quality based on the scope and potential impact on users and/or revenue.
Toolkit
Employs design tools to solve and communicate user flows, interaction and motion and knows which tool to use depending on the scope and phase of the project. These tools could include sketching, diagramming, interface design tools (Figma, Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator), production HTML/CSS and Javascript, platform SDKs (XCode, Android Studio) or native prototyping tools (Framer, Principle).
Transparency
Shares work early and often and seek constructive feedback from their leader, stakeholders, teams and the Product Design team and actively work with their team and leader to filter and prioritise this feedback. Documents all work throughout the lifecycle of a project.
Data
Begins every project by partnering with their design lead, leader, or product leader to define what qualitative and quantitative data will be important in their work. Partners with User Research and Product Analytics throughout the design and development process, becoming familiar with different data collection techniques and making changes to the product based on data analysis.
Fluency
Communicates with product leads and engineers in their language, designing with consideration for their cares and concerns. Fosters a collaborative, cross-disciplinary design process and, as a result, is trusted by their team to talk through both scope and technical challenges and negotiate thoughtful outcomes.
Communication*
Possesses strong verbal and written communication skills in one-on-one or group situations. Communicates complex ideas, goals and problems in a way that is accessible even to those unfamiliar with the project. In design conversations about their own work, keeps discussions on track and focused on delivering actionable next steps.
Mentorship
Provides direct and impactful feedback in Basecamp, Slack, and Design Critiques. Seeks out feedback from designers across the Product Design team to grow their own skills and design toolkits.
Leadership
When appropriate, acts in a leadership role within their cross-functional squad or group. Taking cues from their design lead and/or leader, as well as their product and engineering leads, works collaboratively to ensure their squad or group operates efficiently.
Culture
Contributes to the culture of their product team by identifying, advocating for and executing design-driven projects and initiatives within their product area. Also contributes to the culture of the Product Design team by participating in design-led projects, events and discussions to spread design thinking and enthusiasm throughout the company and the wider design community. Embodies the team's values, following the framework for how we want to work.
Senior Product Designer
In order to move up to this level, Designers should hit each point marked with a *, plus any other 4. Designers and Leaders should work together to define focus areas.
Senior Product Designers take ownership of large projects and are leaders in their cross-discipline group. Can navigate ambiguous projects and are accountable for design quality across their immediate and adjacent product groups. They collaborate with their group to define roadmaps and goals. They mentor other designers to help them grow their skill sets.
If there is an opportunity, Senior Product Designers operating at a high level may manage a team of 1-2 designers. While managing, they will be expected to live up to the Tech Leader's expectations and work with their direct leader to manage the careers of their direct reports and conduct performance reviews.
If a Senior Designer excels in people management and wants to transition to the management track, they may be considered for an open role in management when one arises.
Visual design*
Demonstrates and articulates an understanding of layout, typography and visual hierarchy. Uses the Design Principles and existing visual frameworks creatively to produce designs and, where appropriate, new styles and patterns visually cohesive with the rest of the company's products. Maintains and suggests evolutions of our Design Principles and existing style guides with a holistic consideration for their platform's future.
UX design*
Demonstrates and articulates a strong understanding of information architecture, multi-step and cross-platform flows. Consistently consider the holistic user experience, potential states (errors, successes, dead-ends) and product overlap in their and others' work. Points out connections and potential collisions between different products, features and platforms.
Patterns*
Balances existing visual and UX patterns with platform-specific patterns to ensure a consistent, intuitive experience. Identifies and flags instances where existing patterns break down in their work and work done by other designers on that platform. When diverging from established patterns, identifies, documents and socialises new patterns amongst the design team.
Product Thinking*
Leads the vision for their product area alongside their product and engineering counterparts. Shapes their team's roadmap and goals by providing input from a user's perspective and ensures they're pursuing achievable, measurable and impactful goals. In their design work, they regularly reference product goals and can speak confidently about how their work relates to the broader product vision and company objectives. When appropriate, provide feedback on the product direction of adjacent product areas to other designers.
Process
Demonstrates a deep understanding of our defined design process by showing good judgment and flexibility in applying that process to their work, moving fluidly between each stage as needed. Uses the design process to contextualise their work and the type of feedback they need in a given moment. Consistently balances speed and quality based on the scope and potential impact on users and/or revenue.
Toolkit
Employs a broad set of design tools to best solve and communicate user flows, interaction and motion and knows which tool to use depending on the scope and phase of the project. These tools could include sketching, diagramming, interface design tools (Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator), production HTML/CSS and Javascript, or platform SDKs (Xcode, Android Studio) and native prototyping tools (Framer, Principle). Additionally, seeks out new techniques and tools, tries them out and makes recommendations to the Product Design team.
Transparency
Shares work early and often and encourage peers to seek constructive feedback from their leader, stakeholders, teams and the Product Design team and actively filter and prioritise this feedback on their own and with their team. Additionally, it encourages peers to give constructive feedback to the rest of the team. Documents all work throughout the lifecycle of a project and encourage peers to do the same.
Data
Begins every project by defining what qualitative and quantitative data will be important in their work. Partners with User Research and Product Analytics throughout the design and development process to run research studies and experiments, analyse the findings and validate potential product changes. Socialises their learnings with the rest of product development in a thoughtful, articulate way to enhance everyone's understanding of our products and users.
Fluency
Communicates with product leads, engineers, and stakeholders in their language, designing considering their cares and concerns. Fosters a highly-collaborative design process and, as a result, is trusted by their team to talk through both scope and technical challenges and negotiate thoughtful outcomes. In cross-discipline initiatives brings a design voice to the conversation and build trust between the design team and other disciplines.
Communication*
Possesses strong verbal and written communication skills in one-on-one or group situations. Communicates complex ideas, goals and problems in a way that is accessible even to those unfamiliar with the project. Leads and directs group design conversations, keeping them on track and focused on delivering actionable next steps.
Mentorship
Provides regular, direct and impactful feedback in Basecamp, Slack, and Design Critiques, additionally engaging individual designers in adjacent product teams to help them grow their skills and design toolkit. Is generous with their time and knowledge. Looks out for and offers potential opportunities to other designers and flags successes and concerns to design leaders.
Leadership
Assumes a leadership role on the Product Design team and within their cross-functional team. Shapes team norms and processes, and their product and engineering counterparts take responsibility for the operational excellence of their team. Is held accountable for design quality and cohesion across their own and adjacent product teams and flags quality concerns to the responsible designers and design leaders. Additionally, regularly evaluates existing design processes and tooling and makes recommendations to design management when something can be improved.
Culture
Contributes to the culture of their own and adjacent product teams by identifying, advocating for and driving the execution of design-driven projects and initiatives with a cross-team impact. Also contributes to the culture of the Product Design team by participating in design-led projects, events and discussions to spread design thinking and enthusiasm throughout the company and the wider design community. Embodies the team's values, following the framework for how we want to work.
Recruiting
Completes training to support Product Design interview loops. Participates in Product Design interview loops and ensures their thoughtful written and verbal feedback represents our role documentation.
Lead Product Designer
To move up to this level, Designers should hit each point marked with a *, plus any other 4. Designers and Leaders should work together to define focus areas.
Staff Product Designers are leaders within the Design organisation and Tech, leading projects and teams across product areas. They take ownership of large, ambiguous projects and are accountable for the design quality of our products and our processes on the team. They actively mentor and coach other designers to help them grow their skill sets.
If there is an opportunity, Staff Product Designers operating at a high level may manage a team of 1-2 designers. While managing, they will be expected to live up to Tech Leader expectations and work with their direct leader to manage the careers of their direct reports and conduct performance reviews.
If a Staff Designer excels in people management and wants to transition to the management track, they may be considered for an open role in management when one arises.
Visual design*
Demonstrates, articulates and teaches an understanding of layout, typography and visual hierarchy. Gives strong design direction to other designers on the team, encouraging creative use of the Design Principles and existing visual frameworks to produce designs and, where appropriate, new styles and patterns that are visually cohesive with the rest of the company's products. Maintains, suggests and advocates for the evolution of our Design Principles and existing style guides with a holistic consideration for all of our products. Where appropriate, develops relationships with other design teams at the company and work with them to influence the visual language of their product area.
UX design*
Demonstrates, articulates and teaches others understanding of information architecture, multi-step and cross-platform flows. Consistently consider the holistic user experience, potential states (errors, successes, dead-ends) and product overlap in their own and others' work. Points out connections and potential collisions between different products, features and platforms.
Patterns*
Balances existing visual and UX patterns with platform-specific patterns to ensure a consistent, intuitive experience. Identifies and flags instances where existing patterns break down in their work and work done by other designers across all our products. When diverging from established patterns, identifies, documents and socialises new patterns amongst the design team and assists and educates fellow designers in doing the same.
Product Thinking*
Leads the vision for their product area alongside their product and engineering counterparts while defining how our products work together. Shapes their team's roadmap and goals by providing user input and ensuring they pursue achievable, measurable, impactful goals. In their design work, they regularly reference product goals and can speak confidently about how their work relates to the broader product vision and company objectives. Provides feedback on the product direction of multiple product areas to other designers. Works with other designers and design leaders on complementary, cohesive goals and execution across products/teams.
Process
Exemplifies and takes responsibility for maintaining and improving our defined design process. Shows good judgment and flexibility in applying that process to their work, moving fluidly between each stage as needed. Uses the process to educate their teams and fellow designers on how best to approach problems, solicit feedback and drive for impactful outcomes. Proven track record of balancing speed and quality based on the scope and potential impact on users and/or revenue. Additionally, assists and educates fellow designers in doing the same.
Toolkit
Employs a broad set of design tools to best solve and communicate user flows, interaction and motion and knows which tool to use depending on the scope and phase of the project. Additionally, it assists and educates other designers in doing the same. These tools could include sketching, diagramming, interface design tools (Figma, Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator), production HTML/CSS and Javascript, as well as platform SDKs (Xcode, Android Studio) and native prototyping tools (Framer, Principle). Additionally, seeks out new techniques and tools, tries them out, makes recommendations and teaches those tools to the Product Design team.
Transparency
Shares work early and often. Encourages, assists, and teaches peers to seek constructive feedback from their leader, stakeholders, teams and the Product Design team and actively filters and prioritises this feedback. **Encourages, assists, and teaches peers to give constructive feedback to the rest of the team. **Also, solicits feedback from other designers to teach different methods and benefits of good critique. Documents all work throughout the lifecycle of a project and encourage peers to do the same.
Data
Begins every project by defining what qualitative and quantitative data will be important in their work. Partners with User Research and Product Analytics throughout the design and development process to run research studies and experiments, analyse the findings and validate potential product changes. Socialises their learnings with the rest of product development in a thoughtful, articulate way to enhance everyone's understanding of our products and users. Consistently holds designers accountable for examining their choices through the lens of data and fosters a learning culture both within the design and the larger Tech organisation.
Fluency
Communicates with product leads and engineers in their language, designing with consideration for their cares and concerns. Fosters a highly-collaborative design process and, as a result, is trusted by both their team and stakeholders to talk through both scope and technical challenges and negotiate thoughtful outcomes. Coaches other designers on fostering a collaborative design process and working with people across disciplines. Participates in cross-discipline initiatives, bringing a design voice to the conversation and building trust between the design team and other disciplines.
Communication
Possesses strong verbal and written communication skills in one-on-one or group situations. Communicates complex ideas, goals and problems in a way that is accessible even to those unfamiliar with the project. Leads and directs group conversations about design or design-adjacent topics, keeping them on track and focused on delivering actionable next steps. Regularly coaches other designers in their presentation, interpersonal and team communication skills.
Mentorship*
Provides regular, direct and impactful feedback in Basecamp, Slack, and Design Critiques while engaging individual designers across the Product Design team to help them grow their skills and design toolkit. They are generous with their time and knowledge and take an active interest in the career development of designers on the Product Design team. Looks out for and offers potential opportunities to other designers and flags successes and concerns to design leaders.
Leadership
Assumes a leadership role on the Product Design team, within their cross-functional team, and the Tech team overall. It is accountable for design quality and cohesion across many product areas and flags quality concerns to the responsible designers and design leaders. Helps fellow designers advocate for best practices and solutions with their teams, providing a strong voice for design within product development. Additionally, regularly evaluates existing staffing, processes, design documentation and tooling and makes recommendations to design management when something can be improved.
Culture
Contributes to the culture of their product team and the company by identifying, advocating for and driving the execution of design-driven projects and initiatives that have an impact (in total) across the entire department. Also contributes to the culture of the Product Design team by participating in design-led projects, events and discussions to spread design thinking and enthusiasm throughout the company and the wider design community. Embodies the team's values, following the framework for how we want to work. Also contributes to the culture of the Product Design team by participating in design-led projects, events and discussions to spread design thinking and enthusiasm throughout the company and the wider design community. Embodies the team's values, following the framework for how we want to work.
Recruiting
Takes ownership of Product Design recruiting by providing interview training to the Product Design team and process feedback and recommendations for improvement to the design leaders. Regularly reaches out to designers in our recruiting list, conducts screening calls, participates in Product Design interview loops and ensures their written and verbal feedback are thoughtful and represents our role documentation.
Product Design Director
Product Design Directors are leaders within the Design organisation and Tech, leading projects and teams across product areas. They assume responsibility for the design quality of our products and our processes on the team and mentor and coach individual contributors and leaders from all disciplines. They are responsible for the health and effectiveness of the design team.
Product Design Directors manage multiple designers and, at times, design leaders. They actively manage the careers and performance of their team, understanding their goals and identifying growth opportunities for each person.
Product Design Directors provide strategic input to their teams and adjacent product teams, and they influence our overall Tech product strategy over time.
Mentorship
Demonstrates consistent, effective, growth-centred mentorship to the people they manage, as measured by the growth and success of people on their team. Through regular 1:1s and informal interactions, identifies and coaches Product Designers through complex design problems, product ideation, collaboration or communication issues that arise. Demonstrates strong intuition for when to involve themselves directly and when to coach Product Designers to solve problems on their own. Takes on opportunities to coach and mentor individual contributors and leaders in design as well as individuals from other disciplines, as measured by the growth and success of their mentees, building strong relationships across the entire team over time.
Career Growth
Understands the designers' personal and professional objectives across the Product Design team. Flags successes and opportunities to other leaders. Actively helps designers across the team achieve their goals. Helps set clear, realistic, action-oriented goals with each designer they manage based on the Product Design Roles and Tech Leadership Principles. Regularly checks in on those goals, providing feedback, support and guidance while simultaneously holding each designer accountable for what they've committed to accomplishing. Performs midyear and annual levelling calibrations with Product Designers, exposing and resolving misalignments, identifying growth opportunities, and ensuring each designer's goals are focused and reasonably achievable between review cycles.
Communication
Displays consistent excellence in written and verbal communication. Consistently delivers clarity for others:
- Describing a complex project with many dependencies
- Delivering design critique
- Writing documentation for the Product Design team
- Giving feedback in a 1:1
- Working with leadership
Coaches leaders on how to deliver clarity and improve communication. It gives thoughtful, direct, and actionable feedback to the people they manage, their own leader, other leaders, and people in other disciplines. When faced with a difficult situation, he has a track record of improving communication to remove friction or uncertainty. Additionally, they actively assist designers they manage with improving their communication skills by providing regular feedback on the substance and strategy of their communications in Basecamp, Design Critiques, Product Reviews, etc.
Fluency
Proven track record of effectively communicating with other leaders, leadership and stakeholders across the company. Balances the needs and concerns of their team and the wider Product Design team with those of other teams and departments. Promotes a healthy understanding of, trust in and appreciation for design processes and outcomes across the company and provides strategies to their designers so they can do the same. Advocates for and aids in creating necessary cross-discipline initiatives, engaging the right people to lead and participate in those initiatives.
Product Leadership
Collaborates closely with Product, Engineering and Data Science leadership to define and communicate a strategic vision and high-level objectives for the product areas they manage. Possesses a deep understanding of the company's various business lines and goals related to their teams' products, customers and key health metrics and a proven track record of influencing strategy across Tech by giving informed and helpful feedback to project proposals and ongoing product work. Ensures team roadmaps are user-centred, data-informed and consider the entire product ecosystem. Works with designers across the team to build their product thinking skills. Proactively identifies which initiatives and teams need more direct support and tactically engages with those teams and designers to guide the design and product development process.
Culture
Establishes and maintains a healthy, collaborative culture across the entire organisation. Regularly reminds their team to celebrate accomplishments and identify opportunities together in a blameless, direct, improvement-centred way. Identifies and executes design-specific initiatives, evolutions of current cultural artifacts and practices, and other potential improvements. Highly comfortable discussing, shaping, and advocating for DI&B principles across the Tech organisation. Additionally, identifies and organise opportunities for themselves and others on the Product Design team (such as internal or external speaking engagements, local meetups, participating in open source projects, writing blog posts, etc.) to spread design thinking and enthusiasm throughout the company and the wider design community.
Recruiting
Takes ownership of Product Design recruiting by regularly reviewing, shaping and evolving the entire recruiting process. Proactively engages designers in various venues (social media, events, one-on-one), identifying and activating potential candidates. Interviews and evaluates candidates consistently, using this document to justify decision-making. Additionally, it supports interview loops and coaches design leaders and participants across disciplines to interview effectively. Runs both pre-huddles and post-huddles, assigning focus areas to each interviewer and holding them accountable for the quality of their feedback. Provides feedback and input to recruiting processes across the entire Tech organisation. Participates fully in the cross-department hiring process, providing thoughtful feedback and recommendations.
Design Operations
Assumes ownership across various operational aspects of Product Design, including but not limited to Product Design Critique structures, role documentation, recruiting, intern programs, conference budgets, outing budgets, design-owned events and swag. Uses historical data to make informed proposals for future funding and process improvements. Additionally, delegates various operational aspects of Product Design to other leaders and directors, holding them accountable for success. Provides helpful input when discussing operational aspects they do not own. Identifies new areas of design operations needed to support the team and, when appropriate, leads those operations.
Design Direction
Defines and sets the standard for design quality on the Product Design team. Communicate that standard to leaders and designers so the team clearly understands. Evaluate design work and give strong UX and Visual Design direction based on the entire design ecosystem. Coaches design leaders on how to provide strong direction and develop good judgment in when to give direction. Additionally, it works with designers on the team to establish a holistic vision for how our products should look, feel and interact with each other, as well as an effective strategy for executing that vision. Continuously reminds designers on the team of our Design Principles and vision through critique, project kick-offs, etc.
