Lead Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Lead Product Designer Company: Atlassian Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia / Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Job Type: Other (Full-time assumed) Category: Product Design / Growth Design Date Posted: November 01, 2025 Experience Level: 8+ Years Remote Status: Remote OK

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead strategic design initiatives within the Growth Design team, focusing on enhancing the customer's time-to-value for Atlassian's primary apps and Team Work Collection.
• Drive innovation and execution of 'AI First' experiences by leveraging AI tooling and advanced motion design techniques.
• Champion data-driven design methodologies, utilizing experimentation and qualitative/quantitative analysis to inform product improvements and advocate for growth design across the organization.
• Collaborate with product managers, engineers, and other cross-functional partners to define and implement the broader Growth strategy, ensuring cohesive and high-quality user experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor with leadership responsibilities within the Growth Design team. The focus on "AI First" experiences and "Growth Design" indicates a strategic imperative for Atlassian to leverage artificial intelligence and optimize user acquisition, activation, and retention. The "telecommute" location type combined with the distributed-first company approach suggests a highly flexible remote work environment.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Partner closely with leadership, stakeholders, and cross-functional teams to conceptualize and implement improvements for 'AI First' experiences across Atlassian's core applications (Rovo, Jira, Confluence, Loom) and the Team Work Collection.
• Develop high-fidelity designs and interactive prototypes, integrating cutting-edge AI tooling and sophisticated motion design principles to create engaging and intuitive user interfaces.
• Champion and demonstrate excellence in applying experimentation and data-driven design decision-making to validate design hypotheses and measure the impact of implemented solutions.
• Actively advocate for the strategic importance of designing for growth across the business, educating teams on best practices and the impact of user-centric growth initiatives.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, Engineering teams, and other key partners to define the overarching Growth strategy, ensuring alignment with company objectives and user needs.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to fellow designers within the Growth team, fostering a culture of continuous craft improvement and design excellence.
• Contribute the unique perspective and needs of Growth design to broader, company-wide design strategic projects, ensuring a holistic approach to product development.
• Participate in and contribute to programs outside of immediate Growth design responsibilities that aim to enhance the overall design capability and maturity of the organization.
• Foster strong collaborative relationships with Designers, Engineers, Product Managers, Content Designers, Data Scientists, Researchers, Marketing Experts, and Analysts to advocate for and deliver exceptional user experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic thinking, hands-on design execution, and leadership through mentorship and advocacy. The emphasis on "AI First" and "Growth Design" requires a candidate proficient in modern design tools and methodologies, with a strong understanding of user acquisition and retention drivers. The need to work across multiple products (Jira, Confluence, Loom) implies a requirement for understanding complex enterprise software ecosystems and design system consistency.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: No specific degree mentioned. Emphasis is on demonstrated experience and skill. Experience: 8+ years of product design experience, specifically in designing complex or enterprise-level software solutions.

Required Skills:

• End-to-End UX/Product Design: Proven ability to manage the full design lifecycle, from problem definition to impactful solution design.
• AI Tooling & Motion Design: Proficiency in designing with and developing prototypes using AI tools, coupled with strong motion design capabilities.
• Data-Driven Design: Demonstrated experience in using experimentation, qualitative methods, and quantitative analysis to inform and validate design decisions.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Excellent facilitation and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to integrate work from multiple teams, synthesize feedback, and lead design discussions that drive company-wide outcomes.
• Design Systems Acumen: Experience with design systems, including the ability to identify and leverage common components to support diverse customer use cases.
• Customer Needs & Business Goals Alignment: Ability to balance user needs with business objectives, market viability, and technical feasibility constraints.
• Storytelling & Communication: Strong passion for storytelling and the ability to articulate design direction and rationale through compelling narratives.
• Process Improvement: Experience in identifying and implementing improvements to design processes and methodologies to enhance product outcomes.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in Growth Design or related fields focused on user acquisition, activation, and retention.
• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts and their application in product design.
• Experience mentoring junior designers or leading design initiatives.
• Familiarity with Atlassian's product suite (Jira, Confluence, Loom).

📝 Enhancement Note: The qualifications emphasize a senior-level designer with a strategic mindset and a deep understanding of enterprise software design. The inclusion of "AI tooling," "motion design," and "data-driven design" points to a need for modern skill sets. The "process improvement" requirement is a strong indicator of the role's focus on operational efficiency within the design function.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies in Growth & AI: Showcase detailed case studies demonstrating your experience in designing for growth, user acquisition, or AI-driven features.
• End-to-End Design Process: Clearly articulate your process from problem identification, user research, ideation, prototyping, user testing, to final implementation and iteration.
• Data & Experimentation Integration: Provide examples of how you've used qualitative and quantitative data, as well as experimentation (A/B testing), to inform and measure the success of your design solutions.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration Examples: Highlight instances where you've successfully collaborated with product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders to deliver complex design solutions.
• Design System Application: Demonstrate how you've applied or contributed to design systems in previous roles, showing an understanding of scalability and consistency.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Evidence of designing and optimizing workflows for user onboarding, feature adoption, or other growth-related user journeys.
• AI Integration Methodologies: Examples of how you've approached integrating AI capabilities into user experiences, focusing on usability and value delivery.
• Performance Measurement & Analysis: Showcase how you've defined and tracked key design metrics (e.g., conversion rates, engagement, time-to-value) and analyzed performance to drive iterative improvements.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Lead Product Designer role, especially one focused on Growth and AI, the portfolio is critical. It should not just showcase visual design but demonstrate strategic thinking, problem-solving capabilities, and a deep understanding of the design process within a complex product environment. Emphasis on data and experimentation is key, as is the ability to articulate how designs contribute to business outcomes.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: As Atlassian operates in Australia and New Zealand, and this is a Lead role with significant experience requirements, a competitive salary range is expected.

• Sydney, Australia: Based on industry benchmarks for Lead Product Designers with 8+ years of experience in major tech hubs, a range of AUD $180,000 - $250,000 per annum is a reasonable estimate. This accounts for the senior level, the critical nature of growth design, and the cost of living in Sydney.
• Auckland, New Zealand: For a comparable role in Auckland, a range of NZD $170,000 - $230,000 per annum is estimated, reflecting a slightly lower cost of living and market rates compared to Sydney, while still acknowledging the senior leadership aspect of the role.

Benefits:

• Health and Wellbeing Resources: Comprehensive support for physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.
• Paid Volunteer Days: Opportunities to give back to the community, aligning with Atlassian's values.
• Flexible Work Arrangements: Remote work options and the ability to balance personal and professional priorities.
• Professional Development: Opportunities for learning, skill enhancement, and career growth.
• Retirement/Superannuation Contributions: Standard employer contributions as per local regulations (e.g., Superannuation in Australia, KiwiSaver in New Zealand).
• Stock Options/Equity: Potential for equity participation in a successful global tech company.

Working Hours: While not explicitly stated, standard full-time working hours (approximately 40 hours per week) are assumed. Given the remote and flexible nature, there's likely a degree of autonomy in managing one's schedule, provided core collaboration hours and delivery expectations are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary estimations are based on a combination of industry salary data for Lead Product Designers in Australia and New Zealand, considering the specified experience level (8+ years), the tech industry context of Atlassian, and the specialized focus on Growth and AI. The provided ranges are indicative and should be verified with the company. The benefits listed are directly from the job description and are supplemented with common tech industry offerings.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software / Technology / Collaboration Tools. Atlassian operates in the high-growth SaaS market, providing productivity and collaboration software for teams. Company Size: Large (Atlassian is a global company with thousands of employees, indicated by its scale and public presence). This implies a structured environment with established processes, but also opportunities for significant impact due to the large user base. Founded: Atlassian was founded in 2002, giving it a long history and mature product lines, but also a culture of innovation and adaptation.

Team Structure:

• Growth Design Team: This role is part of a dedicated Growth Design team, indicating a focused effort on user acquisition, activation, and retention strategies.
• Reporting: The Lead Designer reports into the Head of Design, Onboarding, Cross-Flow, suggesting a hierarchical structure within the design organization, with clear leadership and strategic direction.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: The role necessitates close partnerships with Product Management, Engineering, Data Science, Research, and Marketing teams, emphasizing a highly collaborative and integrated GTM (Go-To-Market) approach.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: A core tenet, utilizing experimentation, analytics, and user research to inform design choices and measure impact.
• AI-First Approach: A strategic focus on integrating AI into user experiences to enhance functionality and user value.
• User-Centric Design: A commitment to understanding and addressing customer needs and business goals simultaneously.
• Design System Utilization: Emphasis on building and leveraging consistent design components for scalability and efficiency.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: Atlassian is known for its strong engineering culture and focus on collaboration tools. The "Growth Design" team's focus implies a data-intensive, iterative approach to product development, aiming to optimize key business metrics. The company's distributed-first, yet legally present in multiple countries, model reflects a modern approach to global talent acquisition.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Lead Product Designer. This signifies a senior individual contributor role with significant influence. It requires not only deep design expertise but also strategic thinking, mentorship capabilities, and the ability to drive initiatives across multiple product areas and teams. The focus on "Growth Design" and "AI First" experiences positions this role at the forefront of strategic product evolution. Reporting Structure: The role reports to the Head of Design, Onboarding, Cross-Flow. This indicates a clear line of reporting and access to senior design leadership, allowing for strategic alignment and guidance. Collaboration extends across multiple cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, Data Science, Research, Marketing), providing broad exposure and influence. Operations Impact: This role has a direct and significant impact on Atlassian's ability to grow its customer base and ensure users derive value quickly from its products. By improving AI-driven experiences and optimizing onboarding/cross-flow, the Lead Designer influences customer acquisition, retention, and overall customer lifetime value. The scale of Atlassian's user base (tens of thousands of customers, millions of users) means even marginal improvements can have a substantial business impact.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership in Design: Potential to grow into a Design Manager or Director role, leading larger design teams or strategic design functions within Atlassian.
• Specialization in AI/Growth: Deepen expertise in cutting-edge areas like AI in design and advanced growth strategies, becoming a recognized subject matter expert.
• Cross-Product Influence: Gain experience driving design strategy across a diverse portfolio of market-leading products (Jira, Confluence, Loom), broadening your understanding of complex SaaS ecosystems.
• Mentorship & Skill Development: Opportunities to hone leadership and mentoring skills, contributing to the development of other designers and the overall design craft at Atlassian.
• Strategic Impact: Contribute to high-level product and business strategy, influencing the future direction of Atlassian's offerings.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Lead" title implies a pathway to further leadership, either through managing teams or by becoming a principal-level individual contributor with broad strategic influence. The focus on growth and AI is a forward-looking specialization that offers significant career development potential in the current tech landscape.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Atlassian operates under a "distributed-first" model. This means that while they have a legal presence in key locations (Sydney, Auckland), the primary mode of operation is remote. Employees can choose to work from home, a co-working space, or a hybrid model. Physical office spaces, if utilized, are likely designed for collaboration and connection rather than traditional, full-time desk work. Office Location(s): Sydney, Australia (NSW) and Auckland, New Zealand. These are key hubs for Atlassian's APAC operations. The remote nature means candidates from anywhere Atlassian has a legal entity can apply, but these locations represent primary team bases.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative & Flexible: The workspace is designed to support collaboration regardless of physical location. This involves leveraging digital tools for communication, design reviews, and team syncs.
• Technology-Rich: Expect access to and use of modern design software, collaboration platforms, and AI tooling. The environment encourages experimentation with new technologies.
• Team Interaction: While remote, there are structured opportunities for team interaction, including virtual meetings, design critiques, and potential for occasional in-person meetups or offsites if feasible and desired.

Work Schedule: The "distributed-first" and "telecommute" nature suggests a high degree of flexibility in managing working hours. However, collaboration with teams across different time zones (North America and Australia) will require some alignment and responsiveness during overlapping working hours. A standard full-time commitment is expected.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "telecommute" and "distributed-first" nature of Atlassian is a significant aspect of their work environment. It indicates a strong emphasis on autonomy, trust, and the use of technology to enable seamless collaboration across distances. Candidates should be comfortable with remote work tools and communication practices.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter will likely assess your application against the core requirements, focusing on years of experience, key skills, and alignment with the role's strategic focus (Growth, AI).
• Portfolio Review & Discussion: Expect a deep dive into your portfolio. Be prepared to walk through 2-3 significant projects, detailing your role, process, challenges, and outcomes. Focus on projects demonstrating your experience with complex software, data-driven design, and ideally, growth or AI-related initiatives.
• Design Challenge/Case Study: A common step for senior design roles. This might involve a take-home assignment or an in-person/virtual workshop where you'll be asked to solve a design problem, present your approach, and justify your decisions using data and user-centric principles.
• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers, Engineers, and potentially other designers or stakeholders you'd collaborate with. These assess your collaboration skills, communication style, and ability to integrate design into the broader product development cycle.
• Hiring Manager/Head of Design Interview: A final discussion to assess strategic thinking, leadership potential, cultural fit, and overall alignment with the team's vision and Atlassian's values.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Quantify your contributions wherever possible. Use metrics (e.g., conversion rate increases, engagement improvements, time-to-value reduction) to demonstrate the business impact of your designs.
• Showcase Process, Not Just Pixels: Detail your thought process, research methodologies, iteration cycles, and how you navigated trade-offs. Explain why you made certain design decisions.
• Tailor to Growth & AI: Highlight projects that specifically address user growth, acquisition, retention, or leverage AI/ML in innovative ways. If direct experience is limited, draw parallels from complex system design.
• Tell a Story: Structure your case studies as narratives with a clear beginning (the problem), middle (your solution and process), and end (the outcome and learnings).
• Be Prepared for Questions: Anticipate questions about your design philosophy, how you handle feedback, your approach to ambiguity, and how you measure design success.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Growth Context: Familiarize yourself with common growth loops, user onboarding funnels, and engagement metrics relevant to SaaS products.
• Think Data-Driven: Be ready to hypothesize about metrics, suggest testing methodologies, and justify your design choices with data or logical reasoning based on user behavior.
• Consider AI Applications: Think about how AI could genuinely enhance user experience, not just as a buzzword. Focus on practical applications that solve user problems or improve efficiency.
• Structure Your Presentation: Clearly outline your approach, key decisions, and recommendations. Be concise and articulate.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Lead role, interviewers will be looking for more than just design execution. They will want to see strategic thinking, leadership potential, and a deep understanding of how design contributes to business outcomes, particularly in growth and emerging AI areas. A well-curated portfolio that tells a compelling story of impact is paramount.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping Software: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), possibly specialized tools for motion design (e.g., After Effects, Principle).
• AI Tooling: Proficiency with AI-powered design tools or platforms that assist in design generation, iteration, or user insights (specific tools may vary, but familiarity with the concept and application is key).
• Prototyping Tools: InVision, Marvel, or built-in prototyping features within design software.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Platforms: Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics, or internal Atlassian analytics tools for tracking user behavior, feature adoption, and conversion funnels.
• Data Visualization Tools: Tableau, Power BI, or similar for presenting data insights to stakeholders.
• A/B Testing Platforms: Optimizely, VWO, or internal experimentation frameworks.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a CRM role, understanding how design impacts CRM data and user lifecycle stages is beneficial. Familiarity with CRM concepts (e.g., Salesforce) might be a plus.
• Collaboration & Project Management: Jira (of course, given the company), Confluence, Trello, Asana for managing design tasks, projects, and documentation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The mention of "AI tooling" and "Motion Design" points to a need for designers who are not only proficient in standard design software but are also exploring and integrating newer technologies into their workflow. Familiarity with data analytics and experimentation platforms is crucial for a data-driven design role.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Unleash the Potential of Every Team: This is Atlassian's core mission, implying a culture that empowers collaboration, productivity, and innovation. For designers, this means creating tools that enable teams to do their best work.
• Data-Driven & Customer-Focused: A strong emphasis on understanding user needs and using data to inform decisions, ensuring that designs deliver tangible value and meet business objectives.
• Collaboration & Inclusivity: Atlassian fosters a collaborative environment where diverse perspectives are valued. This extends to design, where cross-functional input is sought and integrated.
• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: A culture that encourages experimentation, learning from failures, and constantly seeking ways to improve products, processes, and skills.
• Integrity & Respect: A commitment to ethical practices and treating all individuals with respect, as highlighted in their EEO statement.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Highly collaborative, working closely with product managers, engineers, researchers, data scientists, and marketers to ensure a holistic approach to product development.
• Open Feedback Culture: Encourages constructive feedback loops within design teams and across departments to refine craft quality and product direction.
• Knowledge Sharing: Actively promotes sharing insights, best practices, and learnings across teams to elevate the collective design capability.
• Iterative & Agile: Embraces iterative design processes, often working in agile sprints, and is comfortable adapting designs based on feedback and performance data.

📝 Enhancement Note: Atlassian's culture is generally perceived as collaborative, innovative, and driven by its mission. For a Lead Product Designer, understanding how to foster these values within design projects and collaborations is key to success. The emphasis on "unleashing potential" suggests a desire for proactive individuals who can identify opportunities for improvement.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Impact Across Products: Designing for multiple complex products (Jira, Confluence, Loom) requires balancing consistency with product-specific needs and user contexts.
• Integrating AI Effectively: Moving beyond superficial AI features to genuinely enhance user experience and deliver value can be challenging, requiring deep understanding of both AI capabilities and user needs.
• Driving Growth in Mature Markets: Optimizing growth for established products requires sophisticated strategies and a deep understanding of user behavior at scale.
• Managing Stakeholder Expectations: Balancing diverse needs and priorities from leadership, product, engineering, and marketing teams while advocating for design excellence.
• Leading Without Direct Reports: As a Lead Individual Contributor, influencing and mentoring without direct line management authority requires strong interpersonal and persuasive skills.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI in Product Design: Deepen expertise in leveraging AI tools and principles to create innovative user experiences, a highly sought-after skill.
• Growth Hacking & Optimization: Develop advanced strategies for user acquisition, activation, and retention, becoming a specialist in driving business metrics through design.
• Leadership & Mentorship: Hone leadership skills by mentoring junior designers, leading strategic initiatives, and influencing design direction at a senior level.
• Complex SaaS Ecosystems: Gain extensive experience with large-scale enterprise software, understanding the nuances of designing for diverse user segments and complex workflows.
• Industry Conferences & Training: Potential to attend relevant design, AI, or growth conferences and pursue certifications to stay at the forefront of the industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical for senior roles in large tech companies, particularly those focused on strategic initiatives like AI and growth. The growth opportunities are directly tied to excelling in these areas and leveraging the company's scale and resources for professional development.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you significantly improved a user's 'time to value' through design. What was your process, and how did you measure success?" (Focus on your Growth Design approach and data utilization.)
• "How would you approach designing an 'AI First' experience for [specific Atlassian product, e.g., Confluence]? What are the key considerations and potential pitfalls?" (Assess your understanding of AI in UX and practical application.)
• "Walk me through a complex enterprise software design challenge you faced. How did you balance user needs, business goals, and technical constraints?" (Evaluate your experience with complex systems and trade-off management.)
• "How do you advocate for design within cross-functional teams, especially when there are differing opinions or priorities?" (Assess your collaboration, communication, and influencing skills.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Atlassian's mission to 'unleash the potential of every team'?" (Demonstrate understanding of the company's core purpose.)
• "How do you see your role as a Lead Designer contributing to Atlassian's culture of innovation and collaboration?" (Align your approach with company values.)
• "Describe your experience working in a distributed or remote-first environment. What are the keys to success?" (Show comfort and effectiveness in a remote setting.)
• "How do you approach mentoring and elevating the craft of other designers?" (Highlight your leadership and team development aspirations.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure as a Narrative: Begin with the problem/opportunity, detail your strategic approach and design process (research, ideation, iteration), showcase key design artifacts (wireframes, prototypes, final UI), and conclude with the measured impact and learnings.
• Emphasize Your Role: Clearly define what you contributed, especially in collaborative projects. Use "I" when discussing your specific actions and "we" when referring to team efforts.
• Quantify Outcomes: Use data and metrics to demonstrate the success of your designs. If exact numbers are unavailable, discuss hypotheses and expected outcomes.
• Highlight Problem-Solving: Focus on the challenges you encountered and how you overcame them with creative, data-informed solutions.
• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions about specific design decisions, technical feasibility, alternative approaches, and how you would iterate further.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a Lead role will heavily emphasize strategic thinking, problem-solving, and leadership potential. Candidates should prepare to articulate their process, demonstrate impact with data, and show how they can influence both product direction and team craft.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Lead Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the Atlassian careers portal via the provided URL.
• Curate Your Portfolio for Impact: Select 2-3 of your most impactful projects that showcase end-to-end product design, particularly those involving complex software, data-driven decision-making, or ideally, growth initiatives and AI integration. Ensure each case study clearly articulates the problem, your process, your specific contributions, and measurable outcomes or learnings.
• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your 8+ years of experience, specific skills in UX/product design, prototyping, data analysis, collaboration, and any experience with AI tooling or growth strategies. Use keywords from the job description to ensure ATS compatibility.
• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your portfolio projects concisely and compellingly. Be ready to discuss your design philosophy, how you approach challenges, and your leadership/mentorship style. Think about how to answer strategy questions related to growth and AI.
• Research Atlassian's Products & Culture: Familiarize yourself with Jira, Confluence, and Loom. Understand Atlassian's mission, values, and their "distributed-first" approach to work. This will help you tailor your responses and demonstrate genuine interest.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.