Senior Visual Designer, Android XR

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Visual Designer, Android XR

Company: Google

Location: New York, New York, United States

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Visual Design, Product Design, UX/UI Design

Date Posted: June 11, 2025

Experience Level: Senior (6+ years)

Remote Status: On-site

🎨 Role Summary

• Lead the visual language and design system for the Android Extended Reality (XR) platform, focusing on headset UI and experiences.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams including UX Designers, Researchers, Engineers, and Product Managers to deliver industry-leading user experiences.
• Utilize strong visual design skills, including typography, color theory, layout, and visual hierarchy, to create beautiful and accessible products within the Google design language.
• Drive design specification development and produce high-fidelity, production-ready assets for implementation.

🖼️ Primary Responsibilities

• Own and drive the visual language and design system for Extended Reality (XR) headset platform UI and experiences in partnership with cross-functional teams.
• Work directly with Visual Design leads to define, align, and prioritize work streams related to XR visual design.
• Drive design specification development, creating detailed documentation and production-ready assets for engineering teams.
• Communicate design concepts and user experiences effectively to partners at various stages of the design process through engaging visuals and presentations.
• Collaborate with the wider XR UX team to ensure consistency and scalability of visual design elements across the entire design system.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience demonstrating a strong foundation in design principles and methodologies.

Experience: Minimum of 6 years of dedicated visual design experience within product design or UX/UI design roles, with a proven track record of successfully shipping complex digital products. Experience designing for hardware/software interaction and contributing to design systems is particularly valued. A strong portfolio showcasing relevant work is essential.

Required Skills:

• Expert proficiency in visual design principles: typography, color theory, layout, visual hierarchy, and composition.
• Proven experience with industry-standard design tools such as Figma, Adobe After Effects, and the Adobe Creative Suite (e.g., Photoshop, Illustrator).
• Ability to translate user-centered design methods into compelling visual concepts and finished designs.
• Experience creating and maintaining design specifications and production-ready assets.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience collaborating effectively with multidisciplinary teams including Designers, Researchers, Engineers, and Product Managers throughout the entire product development lifecycle.
• Knowledge of motion design principles and experience with 3D design tools relevant to XR environments.
• Familiarity with the Android operating system and Google Material Design guidelines.
• Ability to take design concepts from initial ideation through to successful implementation and shipping of features.
• A portfolio demonstrating experience in hardware/software interaction design, contributing to or leading design systems, and designing for mobile UX.

🎨 Portfolio & Creative Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Present a curated selection of projects showcasing your strongest visual design work for digital products, with a focus on UI and interaction design.
• Include detailed case studies that clearly articulate your design process, from initial problem definition and user research synthesis through to ideation, iteration, and final execution.
• Demonstrate exceptional visual polish, attention to detail, and mastery of design principles across various form factors, ideally including mobile and hardware interfaces if possible.
• If applicable, include examples of motion design, 3D elements, or interaction design explorations relevant to immersive or spatial computing environments.

Process Documentation:

• Clearly document the research and discovery phase of your projects, explaining how user insights and technical constraints informed your design decisions.
• Illustrate your ideation and iteration methods, showing sketches, wireframes, prototypes, and how feedback influenced your design evolution.
• Explain your approach to validation and testing, detailing how you gathered user feedback and measured the success of your designs.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: The US base salary range for this full-time position in New York, NY is $151,000 - $222,000 per year. This range is determined by role, level, and location, with individual pay influenced by work location and factors such as job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. This range reflects the base salary only and does not include potential bonus, equity, or benefits.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
• Retirement savings plans, including a 401(k) with company match.
• Generous paid time off and holidays.
• Parental leave and support programs.
• Access to employee assistance programs and wellness resources.
• Opportunities for professional development and continuous learning.
• Potential for performance-based bonuses.
• Equity compensation (stock options or restricted stock units).

Working Hours: This is a full-time position, typically requiring approximately 40 hours per week. While standard business hours are expected, flexibility may be available to accommodate collaboration with teams across different time zones and to support creative workflow needs.

🎯Team & Company Context

🏢 Company & Design Culture

Industry: Software Development, with significant investment and innovation in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Mobile, and Virtual/Extended Reality.

Company Size: Google is a very large organization with over 310,000 employees globally, indicating a complex and matrixed reporting structure with numerous teams and projects.

Founded: Google was founded in 1998.

Team Structure:

• The UX team at Google is composed of multidisciplinary professionals including UX Designers, Researchers, Writers, Content Strategists, Program Managers, and Engineers.
• Designers collaborate closely within their immediate teams and cross-functionally with engineering and product management counterparts.
• This role is specifically within the Android XR team, suggesting a focus on a dedicated product area within the larger Android ecosystem, likely with its own specific team dynamics and goals.

Methodology:

• Google's design process is user-centered, emphasizing gathering insights about user behaviors and perceptions to inform design decisions.
• The team utilizes collaborative methods throughout the design process, working closely with engineering and product teams from concept to execution.
• Designers are expected to leverage and evolve the Google design language, suggesting a blend of adherence to established standards and innovation within a specific product context.

Company Website: https://www.google.com

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Design Career Level: This is a Senior Visual Designer position, indicating a role for an experienced professional capable of leading design initiatives, mentoring junior designers (though not explicitly stated, it's common at this level), and influencing product direction through visual design expertise. The scope of responsibility includes owning and driving the visual language for a key platform.

Reporting Structure: The role reports directly to a Visual Design lead, suggesting a clear path for guidance and mentorship within the design discipline while providing significant autonomy in executing responsibilities.

Design Impact: As the owner of the visual language for Android XR, this role has a direct and significant impact on the user experience and aesthetic quality of Google's immersive computing platform. The designs created will influence how users interact with the Android ecosystem in a spatial environment.

Growth Opportunities:

• Opportunity to specialize further in XR design, becoming a subject matter expert in a rapidly growing field.
• Potential to transition into a Lead Visual Designer or Design Manager role, overseeing a team and driving larger visual design initiatives within XR or other product areas.
• Opportunity to contribute to the evolution of Google's overall design language and design systems, particularly as they extend into new platforms.

🌐 Work Environment

Studio Type: This is an on-site position based in Google's New York office. Large tech company offices like Google's typically feature modern, well-equipped workspaces designed to foster collaboration and creativity, often including dedicated design studio areas.

Office Location(s): The primary location is New York, NY, United States. Google has a significant presence in New York, with large office spaces that support various teams and functions.

Design Workspace Context:

• The workspace likely includes dedicated areas for focused work, collaborative spaces for team meetings and brainstorming, and potentially specialized labs or equipment for testing on XR hardware.
• Access to necessary hardware (XR headsets) and software tools will be provided to facilitate the design process for immersive environments.
• The on-site nature encourages frequent, in-person collaboration with the multidisciplinary team, which is particularly valuable for designing complex hardware/software interactions in XR.

Work Schedule: Full-time on-site presence is required. The standard work schedule is typically Monday through Friday during business hours, with some flexibility to accommodate project needs and collaboration across time zones.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Design Interview Process:

• The process typically begins with an initial recruiter screening, followed by one or more interviews with design team members and potentially cross-functional partners (e.g., engineering, product management).
• Expect in-depth portfolio reviews where you will be asked to walk through your case studies, explaining your process, decisions, and the impact of your work. Be prepared to discuss the challenges and learnings from each project, particularly those relevant to visual design, systems thinking, and potentially hardware/software interaction.
• A design challenge or whiteboard exercise may be included to assess your problem-solving skills, design thinking process, and ability to articulate your approach under pressure. This could involve designing for a specific XR scenario.
• Interviews will also assess cultural fit, collaboration style, and ability to thrive in a large, fast-paced organization like Google.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure your case studies to clearly highlight the problem, your role, your process, key design decisions (especially visual ones), and the outcome or impact.
• Focus on demonstrating your expertise in visual design principles, showing how you applied typography, color, layout, and hierarchy to create effective and aesthetically pleasing interfaces.
• If you have relevant work in XR, motion design, 3D, or hardware/software interaction, ensure it is prominently featured and clearly explained. Even if not directly in XR, highlight projects that demonstrate transferable skills like systems thinking, adapting designs to new constraints, or designing for complex interactions.
• Be prepared to articulate the rationale behind your visual design choices and how they serve the user and business goals.

Challenge Preparation:

• Familiarize yourself with common design challenge formats for senior roles (e.g., on-site whiteboard sessions, take-home assignments).
• Practice articulating your design process step-by-step, explaining your assumptions, explorations, and decision-making criteria.
• For an XR role, consider how you would approach designing for spatial interaction, user comfort, and visual clarity in an immersive environment.

ATS Keywords: Visual Design, UX Design, UI Design, Product Design, Extended Reality (XR), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Headset UI, Spatial Design, Design System, Visual Language, Typography, Color Theory, Layout, Visual Hierarchy, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe After Effects, Motion Design, 3D Design, Hardware/Software Interaction, Design Specifications, Production Assets, User-Centered Design, Collaboration, Cross-functional Teams, Android, Google Material Design, Portfolio, Case Study, Iteration, Prototyping, User Research, Design Thinking, Senior Designer, Leadership, Communication, Problem-Solving.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Design Tools:

• Figma: Likely used for UI design, prototyping, and collaborative design work, including creating and managing design systems. Proficiency at a senior level is expected, including advanced features and team library management.
• Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator): Essential for visual asset creation, illustration, photo manipulation, and potentially some visual exploration.
• Adobe After Effects: Used for creating motion graphics, animations, and visual effects, indicating the importance of motion design in the XR interface.
• Other Design Tools: This could include other prototyping tools (e.g., Principle, ProtoPie), vector graphics editors, or potentially specialized tools for 3D design or XR content creation, depending on the specific workflow.

Collaboration & Handoff:

• Collaboration tools integrated with the design workflow (e.g., comment features in Figma, internal communication platforms).
• Design handoff tools or processes to provide engineers with detailed specifications, assets, and interactive prototypes.
• Documentation tools for maintaining design systems, style guides, and visual design principles.

Research & Testing:

• Access to tools and platforms used by the UX Research team for gathering user insights.
• Prototyping tools (potentially integrated with primary design tools) for testing interactions and user flows in an XR context.
• Likely access to analytics platforms to understand the usage and performance of shipped designs.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Design Values:

• Focus on the User: Deep commitment to understanding user needs and behaviors to inform design decisions, ensuring products are useful and delightful.
• Beauty and Accessibility: Striving to create products that are not only visually appealing but also accessible to a wide range of users, adhering to inclusion principles.
• Craftsmanship and Detail: High standards for visual polish, attention to detail, and quality in all design output.
• Innovation and Evolution: Willingness to push creative boundaries, explore new design paradigms (especially in XR), and evolve the Google design language.

Collaboration Style:

• Highly collaborative environment with close partnership between design, engineering, and product management teams throughout the product lifecycle.
• Emphasis on open communication, constructive critique, and knowledge sharing within the design team and across disciplines.
• Working within a larger design organization, contributing to and leveraging established design systems and best practices.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Design Challenges:

• Designing for a new and evolving platform (XR) with unique technical constraints, interaction paradigms, and user considerations (e.g., motion sickness, spatial awareness, rendering performance). This requires significant adaptability and problem-solving skills.
• Establishing and maintaining a consistent visual language and design system for XR that aligns with the broader Android and Google design ecosystems while addressing the specific needs of immersive interfaces.
• Collaborating effectively with multidisciplinary teams on a complex, cutting-edge product, requiring strong communication and negotiation skills.
• Balancing aesthetic goals with performance requirements and technical feasibility in a resource-constrained environment like a mobile XR headset.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Opportunity to become a leading expert in visual design for Extended Reality, a highly sought-after and growing specialization.
• Access to internal training, workshops, and potentially external conferences focused on XR development, design, and emerging technologies.
• Mentorship opportunities within Google's large and experienced design organization.
• Chance to contribute to patents and publications related to XR design and interaction.

💡 Interview Preparation

Design Process Questions:

• Be prepared to discuss your end-to-end design process for a complex project, focusing on how you approached problem definition, research synthesis, ideation, and iteration. Use examples from your portfolio, specifically highlighting projects that demonstrate systems thinking or adaptation to new platforms/constraints.
• Articulate how you collaborate with engineers and product managers throughout the design lifecycle, including how you handle feedback, manage design debt, and ensure successful implementation of your designs.
• Discuss your approach to visual problem-solving, explaining how you use design principles (typography, color, layout) to solve specific UI or interaction challenges.

Company Culture Questions:

• Research Google's design principles and values (like "Focus on the user") and be prepared to discuss how they resonate with your own design philosophy and process.
• Showcase examples of how you've collaborated effectively in large, multidisciplinary teams, highlighting your communication skills and ability to build consensus.
• Discuss your experience working with or contributing to design systems and how you balance adherence to standards with innovation.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Select a few key projects (ideally 2-4) that best showcase your senior-level visual design skills, systems thinking, and relevant experience (XR, motion, 3D, hardware/software interaction, mobile UX).
• For each project, tell a compelling story that outlines the challenge, your role, your process (briefly but effectively), your key visual design decisions, and the impact of your work.
• Be prepared to dive deep into the visual details, explaining your choices around typography, color palettes, iconography, layout, and motion, and how they contribute to the overall user experience and product goals.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this design position:

• Submit your application through this link on the Google Careers website.
• Ensure your resume is up-to-date and highlights your relevant visual design experience, particularly any work related to product design, UX/UI, design systems, or emerging technologies like XR. Optimize your resume with relevant ATS keywords listed above.
• Prepare your online portfolio or website link. Ensure it is easily accessible and clearly showcases your strongest visual design projects and case studies, tailored to demonstrate your skills and experience relevant to this role and the XR domain.
• Review your portfolio case studies and be ready to articulate your design process, decisions, and the impact of your work in detail, focusing on your visual design contributions.
• Research Google's design culture, products (especially Android and any public information on XR initiatives), and values to prepare for interview questions and demonstrate your genuine interest and alignment.