Principal Product Designer

Constant Contact • Waltham, MA

5h • Hybrid

About The Position

At Constant Contact, we are seriously awesome people who take ownership and make an impact by operating with the mindset, integrity and courage of a small business owner. There’s something so profoundly rewarding about knowing that your work is empowering people everywhere to pursue their dreams. Here, we all play an integral part in helping business owners, entrepreneurs, non-profits and individuals to succeed by giving them all the help and tools they need to grow online. We’re energized by new challenges and new possibilities-and we’re just getting started!
The Principal Product Designer is the most senior design role within the product organization, responsible for driving the strategy and execution of our most complex and highest-impact product initiatives. You will operate at the intersection of product vision, engineering constraints, and customer needs, solving ambiguous problems that shape the future of our platform. This role requires a leader who can define the design strategy for an entire product pillar and influence design decisions across multiple teams. Depending on your experience and organizational needs, you may operate as a strategic Individual Contributor (IC), focusing purely on high-leverage design and vision work, or take on the responsibility of managing and mentoring a small team of senior designers.

Requirements

• Experience & Impact: 10+ years of progressive experience in Product Design, UX Design, or Interaction Design, with a proven track record of successfully launching complex products that deliver significant business results.
• Strategic Depth: Demonstrated experience defining and driving the design strategy for an entire product vertical or platform, solving foundational problems that span multiple teams.
• Portfolio Excellence: An outstanding portfolio showcasing mastery across the entire design process, with an emphasis on systemic thinking, data-informed strategy, and executive communication.
• Technical Fluency: Deep understanding of modern software architecture, technical constraints, and front-end frameworks, enabling you to partner effectively with Staff and Principal Engineers.
• Influence and Communication: Exceptional ability to articulate complex design concepts, strategies, and trade-offs to a non-design audience, including C-level executives.
• Adaptability: Proven ability to thrive in ambiguous, fast-paced environments and confidently lead design efforts without heavy managerial oversight.
• Leadership Flexibility (Manager Track Requirement): Candidates interested in the managerial track must have 3+ years of experience managing and developing designers with a focus on coaching senior talent.
• Domain Focus: Deep expertise in designing integrated SaaS workflow tools and platforms built for business and consumer users, with a clear understanding of how design impacts conversion, adoption, and retention in a subscription model.
• AI/Future-Forward Design: Familiarity with Generative AI tools and processes used to rapidly iterate on concepts and designs. Experience leveraging AI-driven analysis of customer feedback, research data, and usage patterns to expedite data-driven design decisions.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Vision & Ownership: Define the long-term UX vision and design strategy for a major product pillar, ensuring alignment with overall company objectives and anticipating future market and user needs.
• Complex Problem Solving: Own the end-to-end design lifecycle for the most ambiguous and technically challenging product areas, delivering solutions that are scalable, accessible, and measurable.
• Cross-Organizational Influence: Act as the highest-level design authority in your domain, influencing key stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Data Science, and Executive Leadership to gain consensus and drive decisions.
• Design System Leadership: Serve as a core leader and major contributor to our Design System, identifying system gaps and actively developing new foundational patterns and design principles to elevate the consistency and quality of the entire product suite.
• Research & Data Synthesis: Partner with Research and Data teams to synthesize complex quantitative and qualitative data into clear, actionable design hypotheses and measure the impact of strategic design efforts.
• Team Development: If on the management track, you will be responsible for hiring, mentoring, and coaching a small, high-performing team of senior and staff-level product designers, fostering a culture of excellence and strategic impact.
• Project Oversight: Provide high-level direction and strategic oversight for the projects executed by your direct reports, ensuring their work aligns with the overall product strategy and design system standards.

Benefits

• A generous paid time off policy and a competitive benefits package that supports the health and well-being of you and your family
• At Constant Contact, we’re all about work flexibility and are proud to serve our customers as a hybrid workforce. Our hybrid work model combines the convenience of remote work with access to our great office locations to collaborate in-person, participate in live trainings, and socialize with colleagues.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed