Staff Product Designer, Patterns & Design Innovation

Pinterest • San Francisco, CA

14h • Remote

About The Position

Millions of people around the world come to Pinterest's platform to find creative ideas, dream about new possibilities and plan for memories that will last a lifetime. Pinterest's mission is to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love, and that starts with the people behind the product. The company encourages a career where individuals ignite innovation for millions, transform passion into growth opportunities, celebrate each other’s unique experiences and embrace the flexibility to do their best work. At Pinterest, AI is a powerful partner that augments creativity and amplifies impact, and candidates are expected to be excited about being a part of that. The interview process explores foundational skills and collaboration with AI, emphasizing the ability to explain one's approach and thinking. Pinterest aims to deliver delightful and intuitive experiences through the quality and consistency of its design foundation. The Staff Product Designer will join the Personalisation Patterns team, acting as a hands-on, horizontal leader focused on systematizing quality and advocating for world-class experiences across Pinterest’s core surfaces. This role involves shaping the next generation of Pinterest’s design systems and component libraries, partnering with cross-functional teams, and delivering on the company's ambitious mission in an effective, scalable, and human-centered way. This position is for a designer with a rare blend of methodological systems thinking, craft championship, and design technologist skills, with an impact stretching across teams, product lines, and the foundational building blocks of Pinterest.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in product design, with significant time spent driving or evolving design systems or pattern libraries.
• Portfolio demonstrating polished interface design, systemic thinking, component-based UIs, and tangible influence across large organizations.
• Track record in staff/principal-level roles, influencing horizontally, upholding design craft quality, and partnering cross-functionally—ideally in large-scale consumer or platform environments.
• Design technologist mindset: Comfortable experimenting with Figma prototypes, AI, and (optionally) front-end code; curious and opinionated about technical feasibility, accessibility, and how we can streamline design workflows and processes through systems and tools.
• Expert-level motion and visual design skills, with a deep understanding of principles and their impact on usability, comprehension, and overall experience quality — using animation and transitions to enhance clarity, convey emotion, and drive user engagement.
• Excellent communicator who can synthesize ambiguity into actionable design problems and unite teams through clarity, documentation, and collaboration.
• Growth mindset with a passion for ongoing learning, experimentation, and mentoring others.
• Demonstrated commitment to inclusion, accessibility, and crafting systems that serve diverse audiences.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as design, or equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading platform-wide or multi-product design system initiatives.
• Familiarity with personalization, large consumer apps, or rapid scale environments.
• Contributions to public design systems, open-source libraries, or industry talks/writing.

Responsibilities

• Drive System Quality: Lead the stewardship, evolution, and adoption of our core design patterns, component libraries, and gestalt subsystems—ensuring cohesive, delightful, and accessible user experiences at scale.
• Partner Horizontally: Act as a strategic advisor and a hands-on partner to product, engineering, and design teams across Personalisation and core surfaces, empowering them to leverage best-in-class patterns and ship with confidence.
• Advance Systemic Thinking: Apply methodical, systematic approaches to pattern creation: balancing product usability, craft, accessibility, and business needs—with input from a wide range of stakeholders.
• Prototype & Technologize: Rapidly visualize, prototype, and validate new ideas; translate abstract solutions into practical, scalable patterns using Figma, code, AI, or whatever is needed to inspire clarity and adoption.
• Uphold and Elevate Craft: Conduct quality audits, review flows and handoffs, and directly contribute hands-on design when needed—always advocating for the highest standards.
• Mentor & Scale Impact: Inspire and guide other designers in craft, systemic thinking, and best practices through critique, guidance, and sharing your expertise across teams.
• Champion Accessibility & Inclusion: Ensure our design systems support diverse user needs and raise the bar on inclusion and accessibility from the ground up.
• Communicate & Influence: Clearly articulate your design thinking, rationale, and vision—presenting work to teams, leaders, and executives, and rallying consensus.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees