📍 Job Overview
Job Title: Senior Product Designer – Developer Experience & Applications
Company: Cerebras Systems
Location: Remote Office, Sunnyvale CA, Toronto Canada
Job Type: Full-time
Category: Product Design, Developer Experience (DevEx), AI Applications Design
Date Posted: 2025-06-10T16:25:23
Experience Level: Senior (5+ years)
Remote Status: Hybrid/Remote Options Available
🎨 Role Summary
- Lead the UX strategy for end-to-end developer experiences, including consoles and onboarding flows for Cerebras' advanced AI infrastructure.
- Design and prototype novel applications and interactive demonstrations that showcase the unique capabilities of the Cerebras AI platform.
- Invent and define new interaction patterns and design language specifically for real-time AI interfaces.
- Collaborate closely with engineering, AI research, product, and customer success teams to translate complex technical concepts into intuitive user experiences.
🖼️ Primary Responsibilities
- Design comprehensive end-to-end product experiences for the Developer Console, Admin Console, and user onboarding flows, focusing on making complex AI infrastructure intuitive and effortless for developers.
- Prototype and build functional, interactive demos and novel applications that effectively showcase the unique capabilities and performance of the Cerebras AI platform.
- Research, invent, and define new interaction patterns and a distinct design language tailored specifically for real-time AI experiences and AI-native interfaces.
- Drive design projects from initial concept and ideation through to pixel-perfect shipped product, collaborating closely with cross-functional engineering teams throughout the development lifecycle.
- Partner strategically with AI researchers, product managers, and customer success teams to deeply understand developer workflows, challenges, and needs when working with cutting-edge AI, translating these insights into actionable design solutions.
- Develop and maintain scalable design systems and patterns that can accommodate the introduction of new capabilities and push the boundaries of what AI can achieve.
🎓 Skills & Qualifications
Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field is typically preferred, or equivalent practical experience demonstrating a strong foundation in design principles and technical understanding.
Experience: Minimum of 5+ years of professional product design experience with a strong portfolio showcasing successful lead roles on complex projects and a track record of shipping impactful products, particularly in technical or developer-focused domains.
Required Skills:
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex product design projects independently from concept to launch.
- Strong understanding of the intersection between AI (especially LLMs, inference), developer workflows, and user experience design.
- Proven ability to balance high-quality design craft and attention to detail with the need for speed and business impact, knowing when to iterate and when to ship.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions clearly through visual storytelling and logical reasoning, and effectively collaborate with engineers, researchers, and product stakeholders.
- Exceptional analytical skills to untangle complex technical concepts and translate them into intuitive and accessible user interfaces, particularly for advanced AI capabilities.
- Expert proficiency in standard design and prototyping tools (e.g., Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite).
Preferred Skills:
- Strong coding and prototyping abilities (e.g., JavaScript, React, Python, or similar) to build functional demos and interactive prototypes.
- Prior experience designing developer tools, cloud platforms, enterprise software, or other products targeting technical users.
- Demonstrated ability to invent novel interaction patterns and contribute to defining design languages for emerging technologies, particularly in the AI space.
- Experience contributing to or leading the development of design systems.
- A portfolio that includes case studies specifically demonstrating design solutions for complex technical or data-intensive applications.
🎨 Portfolio & Creative Requirements
Portfolio Essentials:
- Your portfolio must clearly demonstrate your process for tackling complex design challenges, particularly those involving technical users or abstract systems.
- Include detailed case studies that walk through your approach to understanding user needs (specifically developers), translating technical requirements into design solutions, and iterating based on feedback.
- Showcase projects where you have designed end-to-end experiences for technical products, developer tools, or enterprise software, highlighting your contribution and impact.
- Visual presentation should be clean, professional, and effectively communicate the 'why' behind your design decisions, not just the final output.
Process Documentation:
- Document your approach to user research and discovery, especially how you gather insights from technical users like developers and AI researchers.
- Illustrate your ideation and iteration methods, showing how you explore different design concepts and refine them based on technical constraints and user feedback.
- Detail your approach to validation and testing, particularly how you test complex interfaces or interactive prototypes with technical audiences.
💵 Compensation & Benefits
Salary Range: Based on market data for Senior Product Designer roles in the specified locations (Sunnyvale, CA and Toronto, Canada) and factoring in the specialized nature of designing for AI/Developer Experience, a competitive salary range is estimated. For Sunnyvale, CA, a range of $150,000 - $200,000+ annually is typical for a Senior Product Designer at a tech company of this size focusing on advanced technology. For Toronto, Canada, a comparable range would be approximately CAD $110,000 - $150,000+ annually, adjusted for local market conditions and cost of living. This estimate is based on publicly available salary data for similar roles and locations on platforms like Glassdoor, Payscale, and LinkedIn Salary. The final compensation will depend on the candidate's experience, skills, and negotiation.
Benefits:
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
- Retirement savings plan (e.g., 401k in the US, RRSP in Canada) with potential company match.
- Paid time off, including vacation, sick leave, and company holidays.
- Stock options or equity in a growing AI hardware company.
- Potential for professional development opportunities, such as conference attendance or training.
- Access to cutting-edge AI hardware and technology for design and prototyping.
Working Hours: Typically a standard full-time work schedule (e.g., 40 hours per week), with potential for flexibility to accommodate collaboration across different time zones, especially given the remote/hybrid nature and locations in California and Canada. The nature of designing for a fast-paced tech company may require flexibility based on project deadlines.
🎯Team & Company Context
🏢 Company & Design Culture
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hardware and Software, Deep Learning, High-Performance Computing.
Company Size: Cerebras Systems is a growth-stage company, likely falling into the medium to large range (hundreds of employees) based on public information and funding rounds. This suggests a dynamic environment with established processes but still opportunities for significant individual impact.
Founded: Cerebras Systems was founded in 2015, indicating a company with a solid foundation and several years of operation in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
Team Structure:
- The design team likely works closely with engineering, product management, AI researchers, and customer success.
- Reporting structure is likely to a Design Lead, Manager, or Director within a broader Product or Engineering organization.
- Cross-functional collaboration appears to be a key aspect, working with diverse technical teams.
Methodology:
- Given the technical nature, design processes likely involve deep user research with developers and AI experts.
- Ideation may involve design thinking workshops and collaborative sketching with technical teams.
- Validation will likely involve user testing with the target technical audience and iterative prototyping.
Company Website: https://www.cerebras.net/
📈 Career & Growth Analysis
Design Career Level: This is a Senior Product Designer role, indicating a position requiring significant experience, independent ownership, and leadership in design thinking and execution. Senior designers are expected to mentor junior designers (if applicable), drive complex projects, and have a strong influence on product strategy.
Reporting Structure: As a Senior role, you would likely report to a Design Manager or Director, or potentially a Head of Product, depending on the organizational structure. This position implies a level of autonomy and the expectation to lead design initiatives.
Design Impact: Design at Cerebras appears to have a direct and significant impact on the usability and accessibility of their core AI platform for developers. By designing intuitive consoles and applications, this role directly influences user adoption and the effectiveness of their cutting-edge technology.
Growth Opportunities:
- Potential for advancement to a Lead Product Designer or Design Manager role, taking on more leadership and team management responsibilities.
- Opportunity to specialize further in AI interface design, developer experience, or designing for high-performance computing.
- Growth through learning about cutting-edge AI technology and translating it into user-friendly interfaces.
🌐 Work Environment
Studio Type: The job description mentions "Remote Office," "Sunnyvale CA," and "Toronto Canada," indicating a likely hybrid or distributed work environment. The Sunnyvale location is likely the company headquarters, providing a traditional office/studio setting, while Toronto and Remote options offer flexibility.
Office Location(s): Primary locations are Sunnyvale, California, USA, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Remote work is also an option, suggesting a distributed team structure.
Design Workspace Context:
- For on-site work (Sunnyvale/Toronto), expect a typical tech company office environment designed to facilitate collaboration and focused work.
- Remote work requires a suitable home office setup and strong skills in remote collaboration tools.
- The environment is likely fast-paced and technically driven, requiring comfort with ambiguity and rapid iteration.
Work Schedule: While a standard full-time schedule is expected, the distributed nature of the team across different time zones (Pacific Time and Eastern Time) and the potential for remote work may involve some flexibility in working hours to accommodate cross-team meetings and collaboration.
📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process
Design Interview Process:
- Initial Screening: Likely involves a review of your resume and portfolio to assess relevant experience, skills, and the quality of your design work, particularly focusing on complex technical or developer-focused projects.
- Portfolio Review/Presentation: A dedicated session where you present selected case studies from your portfolio, focusing on your process, problem-solving approach for technical challenges, and the impact of your design solutions. Expect detailed questions about your decisions and collaboration methods.
- Design Exercise or Challenge: A common step for senior design roles, this might involve a take-home assignment or a live whiteboarding session to assess your problem-solving skills, design thinking, and ability to quickly conceptualize solutions for a given problem, possibly related to AI or developer tools.
- Team/Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with members of the design team, engineering, product management, and potentially AI researchers or customer success to assess collaboration skills, technical understanding, cultural fit, and ability to work with diverse stakeholders.
- Final/Leadership Interviews: Discussions with design leadership or hiring managers to discuss your experience, career goals, and strategic thinking.
Portfolio Review Tips:
- Select case studies that specifically demonstrate your experience designing for technical users (developers, engineers) and complex systems, highlighting how you tackled challenges related to abstract data, workflows, or performance visualization.
- Structure your case studies to clearly articulate the problem, your role, your process (including research with technical users, ideation, iteration), key design decisions and the rationale behind them, and the impact of your work.
- Be prepared to discuss the technical constraints you faced and how you collaborated with engineering teams.
- If you have projects involving AI or machine learning interfaces, be sure to highlight those and explain your approach to designing for these unique interactions.
Challenge Preparation:
- If given a take-home exercise, clearly document your process, assumptions, and design rationale. Present your solution in a clear and organized manner.
- For a live whiteboarding session, focus on articulating your thought process, asking clarifying questions, and collaborating with the interviewer. Don't aim for a perfect visual design, but rather demonstrate your problem-solving approach.
- Practice explaining complex technical concepts in a simple and understandable way, as you'll likely need to do this during the challenge and interviews.
ATS Keywords: Product Design, UX Design, UI Design, Developer Experience (DevEx), AI Interface Design, Console Design, Onboarding Flows, User Experience, User Interface, Prototyping, Wireframing, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Design Systems, Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, JavaScript, React, Python, Developer Tools, Cloud Platforms, Enterprise Software, Technical Concepts, User Research, Usability Testing, Design Thinking, Agile, Cross-functional Collaboration, Stakeholder Management, Information Architecture, Workflow Design, Data Visualization, AI/ML, Large Language Models (LLMs), Inference, High-Performance Computing.
🛠 Tools & Technology Stack
Primary Design Tools:
- Expect proficiency in industry-standard design tools like Figma or Sketch for UI design, wireframing, and prototyping.
- Experience with collaborative design platforms is likely required for team workflows.
- Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator) may be beneficial for visual asset creation.
Collaboration & Handoff:
- Tools like Zeplin, Avocode, or similar platforms for design-to-developer handoff are likely used to ensure accurate implementation.
- Collaboration tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, or similar platforms for communication and project coordination.
- Project management tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for tracking design tasks and integrating with engineering workflows.
Research & Testing:
- Tools for conducting user interviews and usability testing (remote or in-person) with technical users.
- Analytics platforms to understand user behavior within the product and inform design decisions.
👥 Team Culture & Values
Design Values:
- A strong emphasis on creating intuitive and accessible experiences for complex technical users (developers).
- Value placed on balancing high-quality design craft with the need for speed and iterative development in a fast-paced environment.
- A culture of strong design opinions balanced with active listening and effective collaboration with diverse technical stakeholders.
- A focus on translating complex technical concepts into simple, understandable, and usable interfaces.
Collaboration Style:
- Highly collaborative, working closely with engineering, product management, and AI research teams.
- Emphasis on clear communication and visual storytelling to articulate design decisions to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Likely involves regular design critiques and feedback sessions.
⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities
Design Challenges:
- Designing for a highly technical and sophisticated user base (developers and AI researchers) with specific needs and workflows.
- Translating cutting-edge AI concepts and complex infrastructure into intuitive and easy-to-use interfaces.
- Inventing new interaction patterns for real-time AI experiences where established design conventions may not exist.
- Balancing the need for detailed design craft with the rapid pace of innovation in the AI and hardware industries.
Learning & Development Opportunities:
- Significant opportunity to deepen expertise in designing for AI and developer experience, a rapidly growing and high-demand field.
- Learning from and collaborating with world-class AI researchers and engineers working on groundbreaking technology.
- Potential for professional development through exposure to cutting-edge AI hardware and software development.
💡 Interview Preparation
Design Process Questions:
- Be prepared to walk through your end-to-end design process for a complex technical project, highlighting how you approached user research with technical users, translated requirements, and iterated on your designs.
- Discuss your experience designing for developer tools or platforms, focusing on specific challenges you faced and how you solved them.
- Explain your approach to defining interaction patterns and designing user interfaces for novel or emerging technologies.
Company Culture Questions:
- Research Cerebras Systems' work in AI and their target audience (developers). Be prepared to discuss why you are interested in designing for this specific domain and company.
- Think about how you balance design craft with speed and business impact; be ready to provide examples from your past work.
- Discuss your collaboration style and how you effectively work with cross-functional teams, particularly engineers and technical experts.
Portfolio Presentation Strategy:
- Curate your portfolio presentation to heavily feature projects involving complex interfaces, technical users, or abstract data visualization.
- For each case study, clearly articulate the problem you were solving for the technical user, your design process, key decisions, and the outcome or impact.
- If you have examples of prototypes or interactive demos you built, be prepared to showcase them and explain the code/technology used.
📌 Application Steps
To apply for this design position:
- Submit your application through this link
- Customize your design portfolio to prominently feature projects demonstrating experience with technical users, complex systems, developer tools, or AI interfaces. Prepare detailed case studies that showcase your process and impact in these areas.
- Optimize your resume to include relevant keywords from the "ATS Keywords" list, highlighting your experience with product design, UX, UI, prototyping, and working on developer-focused products or technical domains.
- Practice presenting selected case studies from your portfolio, focusing on clearly articulating your design process, problem-solving approach for technical challenges, and collaboration with engineering teams.
- Research Cerebras Systems, their AI technology, and their target developer audience to demonstrate your understanding and interest during interviews.