Digital Product Designer, Principal

REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.)•Seattle, WA

About The Position

REI is a different kind of company. As a co-op, we put purpose before profits and act in the long-term interests of our members. We believe time outside is fundamental to a life well lived, and as a member of the User Experience team, you’ll contribute to REI’s mission to connect every person to the power of the outdoors and engage them in the fight to protect it. Our designers strive to deliver customer-centric experiences that are inspiring, inclusive, human, purposeful & trustworthy. The User Experience (product/platform) team is looking for a Principal Digital Product Designer. In this role, you play a critical role in shaping high‑impact digital experiences across REI’s platforms. You help define product direction, contribute deep craft, and partner closely with product, engineering, research, and brand to deliver work that’s thoughtful, human, inclusive, and aligned with REI’s mission. In this role, you play a critical role in shaping high‑impact digital experiences across REI’s platforms. You help define product direction, contribute deep craft, and partner closely with product, engineering, research, and brand to deliver work that’s thoughtful, human, inclusive, and aligned with REI’s mission. You’ll operate as both a lead designer and a cross‑functional partner—comfortable zooming out to long‑term vision and zooming in to hands‑on execution. You’ll guide teams through ambiguity, elevate design quality, influence strategy, and connect work across journeys and systems. You also help support and mentor designers without having full organizational leadership responsibilities. Candidates must be proactive, responsive, flexible, and able to succeed in a fast-paced, transforming, collaborative environment without supervision.

Requirements

10+ years’ experience in User Experience, interaction design, information architect, Service design or similar plus.
3+ years leading projects/mentoring teams.
Experience in leadership, collaboration, communicating and influencing design strategy.
Excellent problem-solving skills and familiarity with technical constraints and limitations when designing for platforms.
Proficient at building and shipping features/products at a department level, leading the end-to-end experience across a variety of platforms.
Demonstrable track record in leading strategic thinking across a large product space, developing product goals, identifying opportunities and outcomes while continuously developing relationships with cross-functional peers.
Experience at developing design standards, patterns, style guides, best practices, and frameworks which are accessible and utilize human-centered methodologies.
Experience presenting work to executives, clearly and succinctly articulating the goals and concepts.
A portfolio demonstrating excellent User Experience design skills for solving complex problems with clear results.
Bachelor’s degree in Design, HCI, Interaction or similar area, or equivalent practical experience.
Actively participates and collaborates with others on one's own team and across REI for the achievement of business goals.
Flexible in one's viewpoints and positions in order to support the direction taken by others at REI.
Uses business knowledge, innovative thinking, and sound judgment in the solution of problems or the pursuit of business opportunities.
Consolidates information from various sources including feedback from others to reach sound decisions.
Considers the ultimate impact of decisions and actions on internal and external customers.
Works smart by setting effective work goals, establishing priorities, and planning well in order to produce quality work.
Executes effectively by using resources efficiently, meeting deadlines, and keeping others informed of work plans and progress toward goals.
Clearly conveys and accurately receives information by a variety of methods and in various situations.
Builds rapport with all kinds of people inside and outside the organization.
Acts upon opportunities and involves and influences others in the accomplishment of worthwhile organizational goals.
Challenges the status quo, champions change and influences others to change.
Builds capacity of individuals and teams through effective employee development, involvement, communication, and supervision efforts.
Creates a strong, mutually supportive work spirit and culture where people can do their best.
Establishes trust and inspires others.
Makes effective organization and people decisions in a manner consistent with REI's values and ethics.
Delivers on commitments and holds others to same.
Champions the organization and advocates solutions in the overall Company's best interest.
Fosters change in company direction.
Effectively plans and executes changes.

Nice To Haves

Previous experience supporting retail industry or e-commerce apps and sites.
Experience in a highly agile/scrum environment.
Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

Discovers and frames ambiguous problems and drives solutions for one or more critical products or strategic projects on digital platforms
Craft artifacts that communicate solutions. Including implementation of prototypes, mockups, task analysis, usability studies, personas, user flows, wireframes, style guides, navigational structures, and affinity diagrams
Identifies and leads building out design standards and patterns, style guides, and frameworks for our design systems
Leads new design standards and practices, in collaboration with product, marketing, and engineering teams
Facilitate collaboration with various product managers, engineers, analytics, research, and ensures that the customer’s desires are being fulfilled
Contribute to task & dependency analysis, scheduling, and risk mitigation plans
Champions user research, leads both generative & evaluative User Experience research
Provide mentorship and coaching to grow team
Evangelizes design best practices while uncovering novel and unexpected solutions