📍 Job Overview
Job Title: Senior Product Designer (Risk & Analytics)
Company: Overstory
Location: Remote / US East Coast - Canada
Job Type: Full-Time
Category: Product Design
Date Posted: 2025-06-13T15:58:40
Experience Level: 5-10 years
Remote Status: Remote OK
🎨 Role Summary
- Lead end-to-end product design for a customer-facing platform focused on risk and analytics, leveraging AI and satellite imagery for utility vegetation management.
- Shape the core user experience by translating complex data and insights into intuitive and actionable interfaces for non-technical users.
- Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including product management, engineering, machine learning engineers, and data scientists, to deliver innovative solutions.
- Drive design vision and strategy, iterating quickly from low-fidelity sketches to detailed design specifications while considering technical and business constraints.
- Champion user research, validate solutions with customers, and take ownership of the product's communication and release strategy.
🖼️ Primary Responsibilities
- Conduct comprehensive user research to understand the needs and workflows of utility professionals managing vegetation risk and utilizing analytics.
- Develop wireframes, user flows, and interactive prototypes to explore design solutions and validate concepts with internal teams and external customers.
- Create detailed design specifications and assets for implementation by engineering teams, ensuring high fidelity and adherence to interaction design principles.
- Collaborate with product managers and engineers to define product requirements, prioritize features, and ensure the technical feasibility of design solutions.
- Lead and facilitate design sprints, workshops, and planning sessions to align stakeholders and build consensus around design direction.
- Iterate on designs based on user feedback, usability testing, and product performance data, driving continuous improvement of the product experience.
- Communicate design decisions, rationale, and progress clearly and effectively to cross-functional teams and company leadership.
- Occasionally engage directly with customers through in-person visits, workshops, and field observations to gain deep empathy and validate design hypotheses.
- Stay informed about industry trends, competitor offerings, and emerging technologies in utility operations, vegetation management, AI, and geospatial data visualization.
🎓 Skills & Qualifications
Education: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), or a related field, or equivalent practical design experience is typically expected for a Senior Product Designer role.
Experience: A minimum of 5 years of product design experience, with a strong portfolio showcasing interaction design work and experience in end-to-end (hybrid UX and UI) product design, particularly for enterprise software and early-stage startups is required. Experience working with B2B SaaS products, machine learning engineers, data scientists, and geospatial data is preferred.
Required Skills:
- End-to-end Product Design (UX & UI)
- User Research and Synthesis
- Wireframing and Prototyping
- Interaction Design
- Information Architecture
- Cross-Functional Collaboration (Product, Engineering, Data Science)
- Translating Complex Information into Simple Experiences
- Exceptional Verbal, Written, and Visual Communication
- Leading Design Sprints and Workshops
- Comfort with Ambiguity and Iteration
- Passion for Climate Action and Environmental Solutions
Preferred Skills:
- Experience with B2B SaaS product design
- Collaboration with Machine Learning Engineers and Data Scientists
- Designing for LLMs/AI-powered products
- Experience with Maps and Geospatial Data visualization
- Familiarity with utility industry workflows and challenges
🎨 Portfolio & Creative Requirements
Portfolio Essentials:
- Showcase a diverse range of projects demonstrating end-to-end product design process, from initial research and problem definition to final UI design and iteration.
- Include detailed case studies that articulate your design decisions, rationale, and the impact of your work on user goals and business objectives.
- Highlight your ability to design for complex enterprise software, specifically demonstrating experience with data-heavy interfaces, dashboards, or analytical tools.
- Present examples of interaction design work that illustrate your ability to create intuitive and efficient user flows for sophisticated workflows.
Process Documentation:
- Clearly document your user research process, including methodologies used (interviews, surveys, usability testing), key findings, and how insights informed your design decisions.
- Showcase your ideation and iteration process, including sketches, wireframes, low-fidelity prototypes, and how you explored different design solutions.
- Detail your validation and testing approaches, explaining how you gathered feedback, measured usability, and iterated on designs based on testing outcomes.
💵 Compensation & Benefits
Salary Range: While not explicitly stated, a Senior Product Designer role at a growth-stage, climate-tech startup like Overstory, operating remotely across the US East Coast and Canada, would typically command a competitive salary. Based on market data for similar roles in these regions (considering experience level, remote work, and industry specialization), a likely salary range could be between $120,000 and $160,000 USD annually. This estimate is based on research of Senior Product Designer salaries in major US East Coast tech hubs and Canadian tech centers, adjusted for remote work and the specific industry focus on AI/Climate Tech. Specific compensation will depend on the candidate's experience, location, and negotiation.
Benefits:
- Competitive Salary and Equity Package
- Flexible Working Environment with High Autonomy
- Remote Working Budget to Support Home Office Setup
- Educational Budget for Professional Development and Skill Enhancement
- Dedicated Time for Developing New Skills and Learning
- Opportunity to Contribute to a Mission-Driven Company Focused on Climate Action
- Annual In-Person Team Gathering Event
- Option for Occasional In-Person Collaboration
Working Hours: Overstory emphasizes a flexible working environment with a lot of autonomy ("We build our work days around our lives, not the other way around"). While a standard full-time commitment is expected (likely around 40 hours per week), the specific working hours offer flexibility to accommodate individual needs, creative flow, and collaboration across different time zones (US/Canada and Europe). Occasional travel for customer visits and industry events is required.
🎯Team & Company Context
🏢 Company & Design Culture
Industry: Software Development, specifically focusing on AI-powered vegetation intelligence for the utility industry. This positions Overstory at the intersection of climate tech, enterprise software, and geospatial data analysis, offering unique design challenges related to visualizing complex environmental data and operational insights for critical infrastructure.
Company Size: 51-200 employees (LinkedIn data: 104 employees). This size suggests a growth-stage company where individual contributions have significant impact and the design team likely operates with a degree of autonomy and influence within the product development process.
Founded: 2018. Founded in 2018, Overstory is a relatively young company with a strong mission-driven focus on addressing the climate crisis. This likely translates to a dynamic, fast-paced culture with a strong emphasis on innovation and impact.
Team Structure:
- The Senior Product Designer will be embedded within the team responsible for the core customer-facing product experience, specifically focusing on Risk & Analytics.
- The team is cross-functional, including Product, Engineering, and Design, and is distributed across the US, Canada, and Europe.
- Collaboration is emphasized, requiring strong communication skills to work effectively across different disciplines and time zones.
Methodology:
- The company likely employs agile development methodologies given its startup nature and focus on rapid iteration.
- Design thinking and user-centered design principles are likely integral to the product development process, as indicated by the emphasis on user research and validating solutions with customers.
- Collaboration tools and practices are essential for effective teamwork across a distributed team.
Company Website: https://www.overstory.com
📈 Career & Growth Analysis
Design Career Level: This is a Senior-level Product Designer role. At this level, individuals are expected to take significant ownership of product areas, lead design initiatives, mentor junior designers (if applicable, though not explicitly stated), and influence product strategy. The focus on "playing a leading role" and "laying out a design vision" reinforces this senior standing.
Reporting Structure: While not explicitly stated, a Senior Product Designer typically reports to a Design Lead, Design Manager, or Head of Design. Given the company size, it's possible the role reports directly to a Product Lead or Head of Product, particularly in an early-stage environment where design leadership structures may be leaner.
Design Impact: As a Senior Product Designer embedded in a core product team, this role has a direct and significant impact on the user experience for Overstory's customers. The ability to translate complex risk and analytics data into clear, actionable interfaces directly contributes to the effectiveness of the product in preventing outages and reducing wildfire risks.
Growth Opportunities:
- Potential for advancement to a Lead Product Designer or Design Manager role as the design team and company grow.
- Opportunities to specialize in designing for AI/ML-driven products, geospatial data visualization, or the utility industry domain.
- Growth through leading design sprints and workshops, enhancing facilitation and strategic design skills.
- Development of expertise in translating complex technical concepts into user-friendly designs, a highly valuable skill in the climate tech sector.
🌐 Work Environment
Studio Type: Remote-first with a distributed team. The primary work environment is remote, allowing flexibility in location within the US East Coast and Canada. The company supports a remote-friendly culture with a dedicated remote working budget.
Office Location(s): While primarily remote, Overstory has physical locations in Somerville, Massachusetts, US, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The job description mentions optional in-person collaboration opportunities, which may involve meeting at these locations or other mutually agreed-upon sites.
Design Workspace Context:
- The remote setup requires strong self-discipline, time management, and effective communication using digital tools.
- The company provides a remote working budget, suggesting support for creating a comfortable and productive home office environment.
- Collaboration with team members across different time zones necessitates flexible scheduling and asynchronous communication strategies.
Work Schedule: Flexible working hours with a lot of autonomy. While a full-time commitment is expected, the specific schedule is flexible, allowing individuals to tailor their workdays. Occasional travel for customer visits and team gatherings is required.
📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process
Design Interview Process:
- Initial screening call to assess basic qualifications and fit.
- Portfolio review session where you'll present selected case studies and discuss your design process and impact. Be prepared to walk through your approach to solving complex problems, particularly in the enterprise or data visualization space.
- Interviews with key team members, including the hiring manager, product managers, engineers, and potentially data scientists, to assess collaboration skills, technical understanding (relevant to interacting with ML/AI teams), and cultural fit.
- A design exercise or challenge may be required to evaluate your problem-solving skills, design thinking process, and ability to translate complex requirements into practical design solutions. This might involve a take-home assignment or a live whiteboard/Figma session.
- Final interviews to discuss compensation, benefits, and alignment with company values and mission.
Portfolio Review Tips:
- Curate case studies that specifically demonstrate your experience designing for enterprise software, data visualization, analytics, or complex workflows.
- Clearly articulate the problem you were solving, your design process (including research, ideation, and iteration), your role in the project, and the impact of your design decisions.
- Quantify results or impact whenever possible (e.g., improvements in task completion time, reduction in errors, positive user feedback).
- Highlight your ability to simplify complex information and present data in an understandable and actionable way.
Challenge Preparation:
- If a design exercise is given, approach it systematically, demonstrating your design thinking process from understanding the problem to proposing and iterating on solutions.
- Clearly articulate your assumptions, constraints, and design rationale during the challenge.
- Be prepared to discuss your design decisions and receive feedback constructively.
ATS Keywords: Product Design, UX Design, UI Design, Interaction Design, User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, Design Systems, Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision, Usability Testing, Design Sprints, Agile, Scrum, Enterprise Software, B2B SaaS, Data Visualization, Analytics, Geospatial Data, AI, Machine Learning, Climate Tech, Remote Work, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Communication, Problem Solving, Design Thinking, Information Architecture, User Flows, Case Studies, Portfolio, Usability, Accessibility.
🛠 Tools & Technology Stack
Primary Design Tools:
- Specific design tools are not explicitly mentioned, but industry standards for product design include Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD. Proficiency in at least one of these is essential for wireframing, prototyping, and creating high-fidelity UI designs.
- Experience with prototyping tools like InVision, Axure, or similar is likely required to create interactive prototypes for user testing and stakeholder presentations.
Collaboration & Handoff:
- Tools for project management and collaboration (e.g., Jira, Asana, Trello) are likely used for tracking design tasks and collaborating with engineering and product teams.
- Handoff tools or features within primary design software (e.g., Figma's Inspect feature, Zeplin) are necessary for providing developers with design specifications, assets, and redlines.
- Documentation tools (e.g., Confluence, Notion) might be used for maintaining design documentation, style guides, or design system documentation.
Research & Testing:
- Tools for conducting user interviews and usability testing (e.g., Zoom, Lookback, UserTesting.com) are likely employed for gathering user feedback.
- Survey tools (e.g., SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google Forms) might be used for quantitative user research.
- Analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude) could be used to track user behavior and measure the impact of design changes.
👥 Team Culture & Values
Design Values:
- Tackling the climate crisis is our greatest mission: Design decisions are likely guided by the urgency and impact of addressing climate change through the product.
- Our curiosity fuels our growth: The design team likely values exploration, continuous learning, and adapting to change in the climate tech and AI space.
- We're rooted in diversity: The company emphasizes diversity and inclusion, suggesting a design team that values different perspectives and backgrounds in the creative process.
- We care for each other: A supportive and collaborative team environment is valued, fostering open communication and mutual respect among designers and cross-functional partners.
- Trust is fundamental: Open communication and sharing ideas are encouraged within the design team and across the organization, promoting a culture of psychological safety.
Collaboration Style:
- Cross-functional collaboration is emphasized, with designers working closely with product managers, engineers, and data scientists throughout the product development lifecycle.
- A collaborative design critique culture is likely in place, providing opportunities for designers to share their work, receive feedback, and iterate effectively.
- Knowledge sharing and contribution to design systems or shared design resources are likely encouraged within the design team.
⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities
Design Challenges:
- Designing intuitive interfaces for complex data visualization and analytics related to vegetation risk and geospatial information for a non-technical enterprise audience.
- Translating insights from AI and machine learning models into user-friendly and actionable product features.
- Working effectively within a distributed team across multiple time zones, requiring strong communication and asynchronous collaboration skills.
- Balancing the need for rapid iteration in an early-stage startup environment with the need for robust and scalable design solutions for enterprise clients.
Learning & Development Opportunities:
- Deepen expertise in designing for AI/ML products, geospatial data visualization, and the specific challenges of the utility industry.
- Develop leadership skills by leading design initiatives, facilitating workshops, and potentially mentoring other designers.
- Expand knowledge in climate tech and the application of technology to environmental challenges.
- Utilize the educational budget for courses, conferences, or workshops related to design, AI, data visualization, or the utility sector.
💡 Interview Preparation
Design Process Questions:
- Be prepared to discuss your end-to-end design process for a complex project, highlighting your approach to research, ideation, prototyping, and testing. Use examples from your portfolio.
- Explain how you collaborate with product managers, engineers, and data scientists throughout the design lifecycle. Provide examples of successful cross-functional collaboration.
- Describe a time you had to simplify a complex technical concept or data set for users. Explain your approach and the outcome.
Company Culture Questions:
- Research Overstory's mission and values. Be prepared to discuss why you are passionate about climate action and how your values align with the company's.
- Discuss your experience working in an early-stage startup environment or a fast-paced, iterative setting.
- Explain how you approach collaboration and communication within a distributed team environment.
Portfolio Presentation Strategy:
- Select 2-3 case studies that best showcase your relevant experience, particularly in enterprise software, data visualization, or complex systems.
- For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role, your process, key design decisions (and the rationale behind them), and the impact of your work.
- Focus on demonstrating your ability to simplify complexity and deliver valuable solutions for users.
📌 Application Steps
To apply for this design position:
- Submit your application through this link
- Tailor your resume and cover letter to highlight your experience in product design, particularly in enterprise software, data visualization, or related fields. Use relevant ATS keywords from the list provided.
- Prepare your portfolio to showcase case studies that demonstrate your end-to-end design process, ability to simplify complex information, and impact on user experience and business outcomes.
- Research Overstory's website and mission to understand their work in climate tech and the utility industry, and be prepared to discuss your interest and alignment.
- Practice articulating your design process and discussing your portfolio projects clearly and concisely, focusing on the problem, your approach, and the results.