Staff Product Designer

Black Airplane

1d•$108,000 - $131,000•Remote

About The Position

Black Airplane is a digital product agency that designs and builds software for a wide range of organizations. We are hiring a Staff Product Designer to lead client engagements, elevate our design practice, and explore AI-enhanced design workflows. This role involves end-to-end project leadership, team mentorship, driving our AI practice, and contributing to pre-sales discovery. The ideal candidate is a design leader with a portfolio of shipped products and design systems, a strong systems thinker, an autonomous builder, a strategic partner, and an AI-fluent practitioner who uses AI as leverage rather than a substitute for design judgment.

Requirements

Portfolio of shipped products and design systems across web and mobile.
Strong systems thinking ability, capable of turning ambiguous problems into actionable plans and managing tradeoffs.
Ability to carry complex engagements independently while designing for team and engineer collaboration.
Experience as a builder who prioritizes shipping over perfectionism, while understanding collaborative work.
Ability to translate business goals into product direction.
Demonstrable use of AI tooling in the design process, impacting workflows and client deliverables.
Experience in product design, with the complexity expected for leading engagements.
Expert proficiency in Figma, including design systems, tokens, prototyping, and engineering handoff.
Comfort working closely with code.
Demonstrable use of AI tooling in your design process (e.g., prototyping in code, AI-assisted ideation/research) with a clear point of view on their application.
Excellent communication skills (written, verbal, client-facing), including presenting and defending work, and managing client pushback.
Accurate estimation skills for complex projects.
Formal degree is optional.

Nice To Haves

Pre-sales experience.

Responsibilities

Lead complex client engagements end-to-end, including discovery, strategy, IA, design, prototyping, and handoff.
Anticipate and resolve issues that could derail design teams.
Advance our AI practice by running experiments, sharing findings, and moving towards an AI-native design team.
Build durable design systems within complex engagements, including tokens, components, documentation, and conventions.
Participate in pre-sales activities, including scoping new work, estimating complex engagements, identifying risks, and shaping proposals.
Mentor designers, set high standards for craft, and help the team adopt new tools and workflows.
Proactively identify and propose solutions for broken processes.