Principal Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Principal Product Designer Company: Coursera Location: United States Job Type: Full-time Category: Product Design / User Experience Operations Date Posted: 2025-08-21T20:57:50 Experience Level: 10+ Years Remote Status: Remote OK

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and define the strategic product design vision for Coursera's Learning Content Experience, impacting over 183 million learners globally.
• Drive organizational change and scale design practices across multiple distributed teams, navigating ambiguity at an enterprise level.
• Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the design function through mentorship and coaching.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to align product strategy with user-centered design principles and business objectives.
• Champion design excellence by optimizing design standards, methodologies, and leveraging design systems for novel solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a senior leadership position within the product design function, focused on strategic impact, team enablement, and high-level problem-solving. The "operations" aspect is derived from the need to scale design practices, manage complex initiatives across numerous product pods, and influence organizational processes for design execution.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Strategic Vision & Roadmap: Define and articulate the long-term product design vision for the Learning Content Experience, ensuring alignment with Coursera's mission and company strategy.
• Problem Framing & Solutioning: Lead the identification and definition of complex, ambiguous problem spaces, translating user, business, and operational insights into actionable design initiatives and strategic perspectives.
• Cross-functional Leadership: Drive the end-to-end execution of high-impact initiatives involving multiple product offerings, coordinating with design, product management, engineering, research, and other stakeholders.
• Design Practice Optimization: Enhance and refine design standards, methodologies, and processes across the organization to elevate design quality, speed, and scale.
• Mentorship & Team Development: Mentor and coach a team of designers, fostering their professional growth, promoting a collaborative environment, and building capabilities in advanced design thinking and execution.
• Stakeholder Management & Influence: Engage and influence senior stakeholders through user-centered storytelling and data-driven advocacy to secure buy-in and support for strategic design initiatives.
• Brand & Product Integration: Connect brand identity and product design thinking to create cohesive, compelling, and user-friendly learning experiences across the platform.
• Business Impact Measurement: Contribute to defining and tracking key business success metrics that incorporate UX and brand quality, demonstrating the impact of design on market position and business goals.
• Emerging Technology Integration: Explore and integrate emerging technologies, particularly AI and GenAI, into the product design strategy and execution, teaching others to leverage these advancements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strategic, leadership-oriented role focused on organizational impact and process improvement within the design domain. The emphasis on scaling practices, cross-functional collaboration, and influencing senior stakeholders points towards a significant operational component in managing design initiatives.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio and extensive experience in UX/Product Design are paramount. Relevant degrees in Human-Computer Interaction, Design, Psychology, or a related field are beneficial.

Experience: 10+ years of progressive experience in User Experience (UX) and Product Design, with a demonstrated ability to lead strategic, org-wide design systems and product initiatives across multiple teams.

Required Skills:

• Strategic Design Leadership: Proven ability to set and drive product design vision, connect it to business strategy, and lead organizational change.
• Complex Problem Solving: Expertise in defining and navigating ambiguous, complex problem spaces and framing initiatives based on comprehensive insights.
• Design Tool Proficiency: Mastery of industry-standard design and collaboration tools such as Figma, FigJam, and similar platforms.
• UX Design Mastery: Comprehensive understanding and application of UX principles, including workshop facilitation, solution framework application, user flow mapping, information architecture (IA), wireframing, and prototyping.
• Visual & UI Design Expertise: Strong visual design skills with experience in leveraging, building upon, and evolving design systems to ensure consistency and quality.
• Mobile-First Design: Demonstrated expertise in designing with a mobile-first lens, ensuring optimal user experiences across diverse devices.
• Mentorship & Coaching: Experience in mentoring and coaching design professionals to foster growth and skill development.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Exceptional ability to engage and align diverse stakeholders at all organizational levels.
• User-Centered Storytelling: Skill in using user insights and narratives to advocate for design solutions and secure buy-in.

Preferred Qualifications:

• AI & Emerging Technologies: Experience designing for AI products, including prompt engineering and novel interaction patterns, and a passion for teaching others about these technologies.
• EdTech/SaaS Design: Experience designing for consumer SaaS products, Learning Management Systems (LMS), enterprise products, or consumer mobile applications.
• Teaching/Instructional Experience: Previous experience as a course instructor or teaching assistant, demonstrating an understanding of the learning journey.

📝 Enhancement Note: The qualifications emphasize a senior level of expertise in design strategy, execution, and leadership. The preference for AI and EdTech experience directly aligns with Coursera's core business and future growth areas, suggesting a need for designers who understand these domains deeply.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Strategic Impact Showcase: Demonstrate a portfolio that clearly illustrates your ability to lead strategic design initiatives, from conception through to successful organizational-level implementation.
• Complexity Navigation: Include case studies that highlight experience in defining and solving complex, ambiguous problems, showcasing your process for creating clarity and driving solutions.
• Design System Contributions: Present examples of your work contributing to, evolving, or establishing design systems, emphasizing consistency, scalability, and reusability.
• Cross-functional Collaboration Proof: Showcase projects where you effectively collaborated with product management, engineering, research, and other cross-functional teams, detailing your role and impact.
• Process Improvement Examples: Provide evidence of how you have optimized design standards, methodologies, or team processes to improve efficiency, quality, or scale.
• User-Centered Storytelling: Ensure each case study clearly articulates the user problem, your design process, the rationale behind key decisions, and the measurable outcomes achieved.

Process Documentation:

• Design Process Frameworks: Document experience with various design process frameworks (e.g., Design Thinking, Lean UX, Agile UX) and how you adapt them to different project needs and organizational contexts.
• Workflow Design & Optimization: Detail your approach to designing and optimizing user workflows, ensuring efficiency, intuitiveness, and alignment with user goals.
• System Implementation & Governance: Showcase experience in implementing and governing design systems, ensuring their adoption and effective use across teams.
• Metrics & Performance Analysis: Illustrate how you integrate user feedback and key performance indicators (KPIs) into the design process to measure impact and drive continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong portfolio is critical for this role, demonstrating not just design execution but also strategic thinking, leadership, and process management capabilities crucial for a Principal Designer. The emphasis on demonstrating impact and process optimization is key for operations-focused evaluation.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• US Zone 1 (SF Metro, NYC Metro, Seattle Metro): $200,000 - $255,000 USD annually
• US Zone 2 (Other CA, CO, CT, DC, GA, IL, MA, MD, NY/NJ (other than NYC), OR, RI, TX, VA, WA (other than Seattle)): $175,000 - $220,000 USD annually
• US Zone 3 (All other US locations): $164,000 - $205,000 USD annually

Benefits:

• Bonus Program: Eligibility for an annual bonus, reflecting company and individual performance.
• Equity: Opportunity to receive Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), aligning employee interests with long-term company success.
• Comprehensive Health & Wellness: Standard benefits likely include medical, dental, and vision insurance, along with wellness programs.
• Paid Time Off: Generous PTO, including holidays, vacation, and sick leave, to support work-life balance.
• Professional Development: Access to resources for continuous learning and career growth, including Coursera's own platform.
• Retirement Savings Plan: Options for 401(k) or similar retirement savings plans.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility expected to manage cross-functional collaboration across time zones and ensure project success.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary ranges provided are specific to US locations and indicate a significant compensation package for a senior-level role. The inclusion of bonus and equity highlights a total rewards approach common in tech companies. The noted "US Zone" structure is a standard practice for salary banding based on cost of living and market rates.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Online Education Technology (EdTech), Higher Education, Professional Development. Coursera operates at the intersection of technology and education, aiming to democratize access to world-class learning. Company Size: Large (1,000+ employees). This size indicates established processes, cross-functional teams, and significant resources, but also a need for strong leadership to maintain agility and clear communication. Founded: 2012. With over a decade of operation, Coursera has a mature business model, a strong brand presence, and a well-established platform, but continues to innovate rapidly, particularly in areas like AI.

Team Structure:

• Design & Research: The role sits within a larger Design & Research organization responsible for gathering user insights and translating them into product improvements.
• Learning Content Experience: Specifically, this Principal Designer will lead initiatives within the Learning Content Experience, a domain likely comprising multiple "pods" (teams) each with their own designers. This implies a need for leadership and coordination across several product areas focused on how learners interact with course materials.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Expect close collaboration with Product Management, Engineering, Data Science, Marketing, and potentially Academic/Industry Partnerships teams.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decisions: Coursera leverages learner and educator data extensively to inform product strategy and design decisions. Expect a strong emphasis on analytics, A/B testing, and user research.
• Agile Development: The company likely operates with agile methodologies, requiring designers to be adaptable, iterative, and comfortable working in fast-paced sprints.
• User-Centricity: A core tenet is understanding and prioritizing the needs of learners and educators, translating these into seamless and effective experiences.

Company Website: https://www.coursera.org/

📝 Enhancement Note: Coursera's mission-driven culture, combined with its scale and focus on innovation in EdTech and AI, suggests an environment that values impact, collaboration, and continuous learning. The structure of multiple "pods" within the Learning Content Experience implies a matrixed or federated approach to product development, requiring strong design leadership to ensure coherence.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Principal. This is a senior individual contributor role, often considered equivalent to a Director or Senior Manager in other fields, focusing on strategic impact, thought leadership, and team enablement rather than direct people management (though mentorship is key). It signifies a high level of expertise and influence.

Reporting Structure: Likely reports to a Director or VP of Product Design or User Experience. The role will have influence over designers working on various product pods within the Learning Content Experience, potentially through a dotted-line reporting or mentorship structure.

Operations Impact: This role directly impacts the effectiveness and scalability of the design operations within a critical product area. By setting the vision, refining processes, and mentoring designers, the Principal Designer ensures that the design function can efficiently deliver high-quality, user-centered experiences that drive learner engagement, completion rates, and overall platform success. This operational efficiency translates directly to business outcomes in the competitive EdTech market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Strategic Leadership Expansion: Potential to expand influence to broader product areas or even across the entire Coursera platform.
• Design Operations Leadership: Opportunity to shape and lead larger design initiatives, potentially taking on formal people management responsibilities or leading specialized design guilds.
• Domain Expertise: Deepen expertise in EdTech, AI in education, and large-scale platform design, becoming a recognized authority in these fields.
• Industry Influence: Contribute to the broader design community through speaking engagements, publications, or open-source contributions related to design systems or AI design.
• Executive Alignment: Build strong relationships and influence at the executive level, contributing to company-wide strategy.

📝 Enhancement Note: The Principal level signifies a move from executing design to shaping and scaling the design practice itself. This involves significant operational thinking around process, team enablement, and strategic alignment, offering substantial career growth potential within a leading EdTech organization.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Coursera emphasizes flexibility, allowing employees to choose their main way of working: from home, in one of their offices/hubs, or a co-working space. This suggests a hybrid or remote-first approach to workplace strategy.

Office Location(s): While the job is posted for the "United States," Coursera has a global presence. For this role, candidates need eligible working rights and timezone overlap with their team. Specific office hubs for designers might exist in major tech centers, but the emphasis on remote flexibility is strong.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative & Flexible: The culture supports flexible work arrangements, encouraging collaboration through virtual tools and team rituals. Expect a focus on asynchronous communication where appropriate, balanced with synchronous sessions for key discussions and workshops.
• Technology-Rich: Access to industry-standard design tools (Figma, FigJam) and potentially other collaboration and project management software. The company will likely support the necessary technology for effective remote or hybrid work.
• Impact-Oriented: The environment is geared towards driving impact on a large scale. Designers are expected to contribute meaningfully to product strategy and user experience improvements that affect millions of learners.

Work Schedule:

• While a standard 40-hour week is typical, flexibility is provided to accommodate different working styles and geographic distributions. Core collaboration hours will be important for team alignment, but the emphasis is on results and effective contribution rather than strict time adherence.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on flexibility and remote work indicates a modern, adaptive workplace. This requires strong self-management and communication skills from designers, focusing on outcomes and effective virtual collaboration to maintain team cohesion and productivity.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or Recruiter call to assess basic qualifications, interest, and cultural fit.
• Hiring Manager Interview: Discussion with the hiring manager to delve deeper into experience, strategic thinking, and alignment with the role's objectives.
• Design Portfolio Review & Presentation: A key stage where candidates present their portfolio, focusing on strategic initiatives, problem-solving, and impact. This is often a collaborative session with design leadership and potentially cross-functional partners.
• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Management, Engineering, and potentially Research leads to assess collaboration skills and technical understanding.
• Leadership/Executive Interview: A final conversation with senior leadership to evaluate strategic alignment, vision, and potential impact on the organization.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for Strategy: Select 3-4 of your most impactful projects that showcase your ability to lead strategic initiatives, tackle complex problems, and drive significant outcomes. Prioritize quality over quantity.
• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly articulate:
  • The problem statement and its business/user context.
  • Your specific role and contributions as a Principal Designer.
  • The design process followed, including research, ideation, prototyping, and iteration.
  • Key design decisions and the rationale behind them.
  • The challenges encountered and how you overcame them.
  • Measurable results and impact (quantify whenever possible using metrics like engagement, conversion, satisfaction).
• Highlight Process & Systems Thinking: Emphasize how you influenced design systems, optimized processes, or scaled practices. Demonstrate your ability to think beyond a single product to systemic solutions.
• Showcase AI/Emerging Tech: If applicable, include projects related to AI or emerging technologies, highlighting your understanding and application in these forward-looking areas.
• Practice Your Presentation: Rehearse your presentation to ensure it flows well, stays within the allocated time, and clearly communicates your strategic thinking and impact. Be prepared for deep dives into specific aspects of your work.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design Strategy Exercise: Be prepared for a potential take-home assignment or a live design exercise that assesses your ability to frame a problem, outline a strategic approach, and present potential solutions, demonstrating your thought process and strategic thinking.
• Stakeholder Alignment Scenarios: Think about how you would approach aligning disparate stakeholder needs or gaining buy-in for a design direction that might face resistance.
• Process Improvement Ideas: Consider how you might approach improving design operations at Coursera, based on your understanding of the role and company.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is rigorous and designed to assess strategic thinking, leadership, and execution capabilities at a senior level. The portfolio presentation is a critical component, requiring candidates to articulate their impact and strategic approach effectively.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, prototyping, and collaborative workflows. Expected proficiency in creating complex designs, component libraries, and interactive prototypes.
• FigJam: Likely used for ideation, workshop facilitation, journey mapping, and brainstorming.
• Design Systems Tools: Experience with tools and methodologies for building, maintaining, and scaling design systems (e.g., Storybook, Zeroheight, or similar component management platforms).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Platforms: Familiarity with tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics for understanding user behavior, tracking feature adoption, and measuring impact.
• Data Visualization Tools: Experience with tools like Tableau, Looker, or Power BI for analyzing data and creating dashboards to communicate insights to stakeholders.
• User Research Platforms: Proficiency with tools for conducting user interviews, usability testing, and surveys (e.g., UserTesting.com, SurveyMonkey, Lookback).

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a CRM role, understanding how design integrates with CRM (like Salesforce) and marketing automation platforms can be beneficial for context, especially regarding user data and customer journeys.

Other Relevant Tools:

• Prototyping Tools: Proficiency beyond Figma, such as ProtoPie, InVision, or Adobe XD, might be advantageous for specific complex interactions.
• Project Management Tools: Familiarity with tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for managing design tasks within agile workflows.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma and design systems is non-negotiable. Familiarity with analytics and user research tools demonstrates a data-driven approach, crucial for measuring the impact of design operations and initiatives.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Learner Obsession: A deep commitment to understanding and serving the needs of learners and educators, driving decisions with empathy and data.
• Innovation & Experimentation: Encouragement to explore new ideas, technologies (especially AI), and design approaches to push the boundaries of online learning.
• Collaboration & Inclusivity: Valuing diverse perspectives and fostering an environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute and challenge the status quo.
• Impact & Accountability: A focus on delivering measurable results and taking ownership of outcomes, aligning design efforts with business objectives.
• Continuous Improvement: A dedication to refining processes, learning from mistakes, and constantly seeking ways to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in design execution.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Seamless integration with product, engineering, and research teams, working as a unified force to bring products to life.
• Open Communication: Encouraging candid feedback and transparent discussions to ensure alignment and shared understanding across distributed teams.
• Design Guilds/Communities of Practice: Potential participation in or leadership of groups that share best practices, solve common challenges, and advance the design discipline within Coursera.

📝 Enhancement Note: Coursera's values are strongly aligned with its mission. For a Principal Designer, embodying these values means not only practicing them in their own work but also fostering them within the teams they influence, acting as a cultural ambassador for design excellence and user-centricity.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Design Systems: Ensuring the design system remains robust, scalable, and consistently adopted across a growing platform with diverse content types and features.
• Navigating Ambiguity: Defining clear design strategies and roadmaps for complex, evolving areas like AI-powered learning experiences or new content formats.
• Balancing Innovation with Execution: Driving cutting-edge design solutions while ensuring timely delivery and integration within existing product roadmaps and technical constraints.
• Influencing Cross-Functional Teams: Effectively aligning diverse stakeholder priorities and perspectives to champion user-centered design and strategic initiatives.
• Mentoring and Developing Talent: Cultivating growth and expertise within a distributed team of designers, ensuring they have the skills and support to excel.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI in Education Specialization: Deepen expertise in applying AI and GenAI to educational contexts, becoming a thought leader in this rapidly evolving field.
• Platform Design Strategy: Gain insights into the operational complexities of managing and evolving a large-scale global EdTech platform.
• Leadership Development: Opportunities to hone strategic leadership, influence, and team-building skills through high-impact projects and mentorship.
• Industry Exposure: Engage with leading universities and industry partners, understanding diverse educational needs and trends.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role presents significant challenges related to scaling, strategic leadership, and navigating the complexities of a global EdTech platform, particularly with the integration of AI. These challenges are directly tied to substantial growth opportunities for a motivated designer.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you defined a long-term product design vision. How did you align it with business strategy and gain buy-in from stakeholders?" (Focus on strategic thinking, communication, and stakeholder management).
• "Walk us through a complex problem space you had to navigate. How did you frame the problem, gather insights, and lead your team to a solution?" (Highlight problem-solving methodology, research integration, and leadership in ambiguity).
• "How would you approach optimizing design standards and scaling design practices across multiple product teams at Coursera?" (Focus on operational thinking, process improvement, and systemic impact).
• "Tell us about a time you mentored or coached a designer. What was your approach, and what was the outcome?" (Demonstrate leadership, empathy, and commitment to team growth).
• "How do you balance innovation with the need to deliver on business objectives and technical constraints?" (Assess pragmatism, strategic prioritization, and understanding of product lifecycle).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you most about Coursera's mission and the Learning Content Experience?" (Show genuine interest and alignment with the company's purpose).
• "How do you approach building relationships and influencing stakeholders from different disciplines (e.g., Engineering, Product Management)?" (Assess collaboration and communication skills).
• "Given Coursera's focus on AI, how do you see design playing a role in its future development?" (Demonstrate forward-thinking and understanding of emerging technologies).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Start with the "Why": Clearly articulate the strategic intent and business impact of each project.
• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals, prototypes, and key artifacts to illustrate your design process and solutions.
• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, present data and metrics that demonstrate the success of your design work.
• Focus on Leadership: Emphasize your role in driving strategy, influencing teams, and overcoming challenges.
• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your process, decisions, and outcomes. Practice articulating your rationale clearly and concisely.
• Connect to Coursera: Where possible, draw parallels between your experience and Coursera's context, products, and mission.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, operational impact, and leadership capabilities, not just individual design execution. Articulating how your past work aligns with Coursera's mission and future direction, especially concerning AI, will be critical.

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📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Principal Product Designer position at Coursera:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Greenhouse job board.
• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight 3-4 strategic projects that best demonstrate your experience in leading large-scale initiatives, navigating complex problems, and driving measurable impact within a product or design system context. Focus on projects showing systemic thinking and process optimization.
• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 10+ years of experience, leadership in design strategy, proficiency with key tools (Figma, design systems), and any experience with AI or EdTech. Use keywords like "strategic vision," "organizational change," "mentorship," "design systems," and "user-centered design."
• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, strategic rationale, and the impact of your work. Prepare specific examples addressing leadership, collaboration, and problem-solving scenarios relevant to a Principal Designer role. Rehearse your portfolio presentation to ensure it is compelling, concise, and impactful.
• Company Research: Familiarize yourself thoroughly with Coursera's mission, products, recent news (especially regarding AI initiatives), and company culture. Understand their approach to online learning and how design contributes to their success.

⚠️ 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.