Product Design Lead

Manage the end-to-end product experience for both admin and learner platforms, collaborating closely with engineering and product leadership. UX Design Leadership: Guide design efforts from concept to execution, including research, wireframing, prototyping, and high-fidelity design. User-Centric Research: Conduct user interviews and testing to identify friction points and validate new designs. Data-Driven Improvements: Use data and customer feedback to drive continuous product enhancements...

Responsibilities

We're seeking a Product Design Lead to own the end-to-end product experience across both the admin and learner platforms. You’ll collaborate closely with Co-founder & Head of Product and Engineering and the engineering team to design seamless workflows, conduct UX research, and ensure every feature launch meets high usability and quality standards.

This role is ideal for a designer with deep experience in SaaS products, strong product sense, and a passion for data-informed design that drives measurable impact.

Lead UX design efforts from concept to execution — including research, wireframing, prototyping, and high-fidelity design.

Conduct user interviews and UAT to identify friction points and validate new experiences.

Create intuitive user flows and workflows that improve engagement and self-service capabilities.

Use data and customer feedback to drive continuous product improvement.

Partner cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, and Customer Success to align design goals with business objectives.

Qualifications

You’ll be stepping into a high-impact design leadership role where craft meets scale. Arist is looking for a designer who’s not only exceptional at creating beautiful, intuitive interfaces but who’s also led design for products that have grown to meaningful traction — real customers, real revenue, and measurable outcomes. The ideal candidate has shaped SaaS experiences at scale (7–8 figures in ARR), understands the nuances of building with AI, and thrives in fast-moving startup environments where design decisions directly influence company growth. 

8+ years of experience in UX/UI or Product Design, ideally within high-growth SaaS environments.

Proven track record leading product design for platforms generating 7–8 figures in ARR, demonstrating deep ownership from concept to launch.

Strong proficiency with Figma and modern design systems.

Experience designing AI-powered products or interfaces that leverage machine learning, automation, or personalization.

Bonus: Background at a Y Combinator company or other venture-backed startup where speed, experimentation, and tight product loops were essential.

Excellent communication skills and ability to thrive in cross-functional, founder-led environments.

Data-driven mindset with sharp product intuition and a bias toward simplicity and clarity in design.

Ideal Candidate

What makes you a strong fit

Owns end-to-end product experience at scale — led design for SaaS products that reached 7–8 figures ARR, translating complex workflows (admin + learner) into intuitive flows and measurable outcomes (usability, NPS, self-serve rates).

AI & data-literate — comfortable designing AI-powered experiences (automation, personalization, assistants, RAG-like flows) and using product analytics/UAT to prioritize work.

Design systems + speed — builds/maintains robust design systems in Figma, ships quickly with engineers, and raises quality through clear specs, reviews, and UAT.

Startup-ready leadership — collaborates tightly with founders/Eng/Product/CS, can interview customers, run discovery, and make crisp, business-aware trade-offs. YC or similar venture-backed experience is a plus.

Benchmark profile (from founders)

Senior/Staff Product Designer (or Design Lead) from a YC or high-growth SaaS company (e.g., Retool, Vanta, Scale AI, Linear, Segment) who has: owned a core surface, shipped roadmap with clear metrics, and stood up/leveled a design system.

Signals we’re likely to pass

Portfolio is mostly visual polish with little evidence of shipped, user-validated impact (no metrics, no before/after).

No enterprise/ops workflow depth (only marketing sites or B2C surface work).

Can’t work US hours or needs future visa sponsorship.

Limited collaboration stories with Eng/PM or weak rationale behind decisions.

Why this is exciting 

Direct line to founders, shaping a mission product used by global enterprises.

Chance to define the admin + learner experience and the design system that powers it.

Your work moves business metrics (self-serve, satisfaction, adoption) and learning outcomes—fast feedback loops, fast shipping