Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer

Company: Epic Kids Inc.

Location: Remote

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design / User Experience

Date Posted: 2026-04-20

Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Design and deliver end-to-end product experiences for web and mobile platforms, focusing on user engagement and educational efficacy.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including product managers, engineers, researchers, and data analysts to translate user needs and business goals into intuitive designs.

• Enhance key user journeys such as onboarding, content discovery, search, recommendations, and subscription flows to improve user experience and drive business outcomes.

• Contribute to the development and evolution of a comprehensive design system, ensuring consistency and scalability across the Epic platform.

• Utilize user insights, product data, and experimentation results to iterate on designs and inform product strategy.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role is explicitly seeking a "thoughtful and execution-oriented Product Designer" with a strong emphasis on user experience and complex problem-solving. The target candidate should be comfortable with a data-driven approach, including experimentation and iteration, which is crucial for optimizing user engagement in a digital reading platform for children. The requirement for Mandarin Chinese fluency suggests potential collaboration with global teams or a focus on specific international markets.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conceptualize, design, and execute end-to-end product experiences across web and mobile interfaces, from initial ideation through to polished, high-fidelity designs.

• Actively partner with product management, engineering, and data science teams to identify user pain points, explore innovative solutions, and deliver high-quality, user-centric features.

• Develop detailed wireframes, user flows, interactive prototypes, and final visual designs for new features and enhancements that align with product roadmaps.

• Optimize critical user pathways, including but not limited to onboarding sequences, content discovery mechanisms, search functionality, personalized recommendation engines, user engagement loops, and subscription management flows.

• Leverage qualitative user feedback, quantitative product analytics, and A/B testing outcomes to iteratively refine designs and provide actionable insights for product decision-making.

• Contribute to the growth and maintenance of Epic's design system, ensuring brand consistency, design efficiency, and scalability across all product touchpoints.

• Strategically balance user needs, business objectives, and technical limitations within a dynamic and fast-paced development environment.

• Foster effective collaboration with diverse, cross-functional partners across various time zones, clearly articulating design rationale and advocating for user-centered design principles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a full product lifecycle ownership for the designer, from ideation to iteration. The mention of specific user journeys like "onboarding, content discovery, search, recommendations, engagement, and subscription flows" indicates a focus on conversion optimization, user retention, and a sophisticated understanding of consumer product funnels, particularly within an educational context.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: [While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field is often preferred for mid-level design roles. Candidates with equivalent practical experience will also be considered.]

Experience: 2–5 years of dedicated experience in product design, UX design, interaction design, or a closely related design discipline.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated expertise in designing end-to-end product experiences, showcased through a strong, comprehensive portfolio.

• Proficient in creating wireframes, user flows, and high-fidelity interactive prototypes for both web and mobile applications.

• Strong understanding of user-centered design principles and methodologies.

• Ability to translate complex user problems and business requirements into clear, intuitive, and engaging user interfaces.

• Experience in designing for consumer-facing digital products, with a preference for those in education technology or personalized content systems.

• Proficiency in leveraging user insights, product data, and experimentation results to drive design decisions and iterate on solutions.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to articulate design rationale effectively to diverse stakeholders.

Preferred Skills:

• Prior experience designing specifically for educational technology (EdTech), children's products, family-focused applications, or educator-facing tools.

• Experience working within a startup environment or a fast-paced, high-growth company.

• Familiarity with contributing to or actively maintaining a design system.

• Experience collaborating with global, cross-functional teams across different time zones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience requirement of 2-5 years positions this as a mid-level role, expecting a solid foundation in design principles and a proven track record. The dual language requirement (English and Mandarin Chinese) is a significant differentiator and suggests a need for candidates who can bridge communication gaps, potentially for international product development or user research. The "Nice to Have" section clearly signals areas where candidates can further differentiate themselves, particularly in domain expertise (EdTech, children's products).

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing end-to-end product design thinking, from problem definition to final execution, for digital products.

• Demonstrations of complex problem-solving skills, particularly in areas like user onboarding, content discovery, and personalized content systems.

• Examples of high-quality interaction design and user interface execution across web and mobile platforms.

• Case studies that highlight the designer's process, including user research, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration based on data and feedback.

Process Documentation:

• Clearly articulate your design process, including how you approach user research, problem definition, ideation, and solution validation.

• Detail how you use qualitative feedback (user interviews, usability testing) and quantitative data (analytics, experimentation) to inform and refine design decisions.

• Showcase your ability to simplify complex workflows into intuitive and effective user experiences.

• Provide examples of how you have collaborated with product managers, engineers, and data partners throughout the design lifecycle.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio is critical for this role, serving as the primary evidence of the candidate's capabilities. The emphasis on "end-to-end product thinking" and "execution" means portfolios should go beyond visual design and demonstrate strategic thinking, user empathy, and a data-informed approach to problem-solving. Case studies that explicitly detail the impact of design decisions on user behavior and business metrics will be highly valued.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a remote Product Designer with 2-5 years of experience in the US tech market, the estimated salary range is $90,000 - $130,000 USD per year. This range can vary based on specific location (if applicable within remote guidelines), candidate experience, and negotiation.

Benefits:

• Remote-Friendly Work Environment: Flexibility to work from anywhere, promoting work-life balance.

• Meaningful Impact: Opportunity to contribute to a mission-driven product that shapes how millions of children read and learn globally.

• Global Reach & Growth Potential: Work on a product with a significant international user base and strong growth trajectory.

• Collaborative & Thoughtful Team: Be part of a supportive and experienced team dedicated to high-quality product development.

• Professional Development: Potential for growth within a fast-paced, high-growth environment, with opportunities to contribute to design systems and work on engaging user experiences.

• [Additional standard benefits such as health insurance, paid time off, retirement plans, etc., are typically offered by companies of this size and stage, though not explicitly detailed in the provided text.]

Working Hours: The role is expected to require approximately 40 hours per week. While remote, effective collaboration across time zones will necessitate some flexibility in working hours to accommodate team meetings and project deadlines.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary is estimated based on standard US tech industry compensation for a mid-level Product Designer in a fully remote capacity. The provided benefits highlight the mission-driven nature of Epic and the advantages of a remote, global-facing role. The explicit mention of a "remote-friendly work environment" is a key benefit for candidates seeking flexibility.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology, specifically EdTech (Educational Technology) and Digital Media for Children. Epic is a leader in providing digital reading resources for K-12 students.

Company Size: [While not explicitly stated in the raw data, Greenhouse job postings often indicate company size. Assuming a growth-stage company, Epic likely falls into the 51-200 or 201-500 employee range, indicating a dynamic, fast-paced environment with established processes but still agile enough for significant impact.]

Founded: [The founding date is not provided, but Epic has been a prominent player in the digital reading space for several years. This suggests a company with a proven product-market fit and a stable foundation, now focused on scaling and innovation.]

Team Structure:

• The Product Design team is likely integrated within product development squads, working closely with Product Managers, Engineers (front-end and back-end), Researchers, and Data Analysts.

• Designers will report into a Design Lead or Head of Product Design, with a matrixed reporting structure to project leads within their respective product areas.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Emphasis on using user data, A/B testing, and analytics to inform design decisions and measure impact.

• Agile Development: Likely operates within agile frameworks, requiring designers to be adaptable and iterative.

• User-Centricity: A strong focus on understanding and addressing the needs of children, families, and educators.

• Iterative Improvement: Continuous refinement of product experiences based on user feedback and performance metrics.

Company Website: [The provided URL is to Greenhouse, a job board. The company's primary website is likely www.getepic.com.]

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is characterized by its mission to impact children's literacy, a blend of technology and education, and a growth-oriented, collaborative environment. The remote-first nature suggests a culture that values autonomy, clear communication, and asynchronous work practices.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This Product Designer role is positioned at a mid-level. It requires a solid foundation of 2-5 years of experience, expecting the candidate to be largely autonomous in executing design tasks and to contribute meaningfully to product strategy and user experience improvements. The role involves designing across key user journeys and contributing to a design system, indicating a scope beyond single feature ownership.

Reporting Structure: The designer will likely report to a Design Manager or Lead within the Product organization. They will work in close collaboration with Product Managers and Engineering Leads for specific product initiatives or squads.

Operations Impact: Product Designers at Epic have a direct impact on user acquisition, engagement, retention, and overall product success. By improving onboarding, content discovery, and user experience, they directly influence subscription rates, active user counts, and the platform's educational efficacy. The role is integral to driving the company's mission and business growth through user-centered design.

Growth Opportunities:

• Skill Specialization: Deepen expertise in specific areas like personalization, edtech design, or mobile interaction design.

• Design System Leadership: Take on more responsibility in evolving and maintaining the design system, potentially leading design system initiatives.

• Cross-Functional Influence: Grow into a role that has greater influence on product strategy and roadmap prioritization through strong design advocacy and data-backed insights.

• Mentorship: Opportunities to mentor junior designers as the team grows.

• Senior/Lead Designer Roles: Potential progression to Senior Product Designer or Design Lead roles, managing projects and leading design efforts for larger product areas.

📝 Enhancement Note: The career path for a Product Designer at Epic is geared towards deepening expertise and increasing impact within the edtech space. The emphasis on data-driven design and collaboration with engineering/product teams provides a strong foundation for growth into senior or lead positions, where strategic input and team leadership become more prominent.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. This indicates a distributed workforce, with no central physical office required for this role.

Office Location(s): N/A (Fully Remote). However, given the Mandarin Chinese language requirement, there might be a presence or focus on teams/users in Greater China, though the role itself is not tied to a physical location.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: Despite being remote, the company fosters a collaborative culture through digital tools for communication, design critique, and project management.

• Tools & Technology: Designers will have access to standard design and collaboration software necessary for remote work and product development.

• Team Interaction: Regular virtual meetings, design reviews, and cross-functional syncs will be key to staying connected and ensuring alignment.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, typically around 40 hours per week. As a remote position, there's an expectation of flexibility to accommodate team needs and global collaboration, which may involve occasional meetings outside standard business hours depending on your specific time zone and team composition.

📝 Enhancement Note: The fully remote nature is a primary characteristic of the work environment. This necessitates strong self-management, proactive communication, and comfort with digital collaboration tools. The company's commitment to a "remote-friendly" environment suggests they have invested in the infrastructure and culture to support distributed teams effectively.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will review your application and portfolio to assess basic qualifications and design capabilities.

• Portfolio Presentation & Design Challenge: You will likely be asked to present your portfolio, discussing specific projects that demonstrate your end-to-end design process, problem-solving skills, and impact. A design challenge or case study exercise, focused on a relevant product problem, might be assigned.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers, Engineers, and potentially other Designers to assess collaboration skills, technical understanding, and design thinking.

• Final Interview: Potentially with a senior leader (e.g., Head of Product, VP of Design) to evaluate cultural fit, strategic thinking, and overall suitability for the role and company.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 2-3 projects that best showcase your end-to-end design process, problem-solving skills, and impact relevant to Epic's product (consumer, education, discovery, personalization).

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the process you followed, key decisions made, trade-offs considered, and the measurable outcomes or learnings. Use visuals effectively.

• Highlight Data & Iteration: Emphasize how you used user research, data analysis, and experimentation to inform your design decisions and iterate towards better solutions.

• Showcase System Thinking: If you have experience with design systems, demonstrate how you've contributed to or leveraged them for consistency and efficiency.

• Prepare for Questions: Be ready to discuss your design rationale, trade-offs, and how you handle feedback and critiques.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the User: If given a design challenge, thoroughly research Epic's existing product and target users (children, parents, educators) to inform your approach.

• Focus on Process: Demonstrate your thinking process, not just the final solution. Outline your assumptions, research methods, ideation, and decision-making.

• Consider Constraints: Acknowledge business goals, technical limitations, and the need for scalability.

• Practice Articulation: Be prepared to clearly and concisely present your challenge solution and defend your design choices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to thoroughly assess both design craft and collaborative effectiveness. A strong portfolio is paramount, and candidates should be prepared to articulate their design process with a focus on user-centricity, data, and measurable impact, especially relevant for a role in an educational technology company.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), InVision, ProtoPie (or similar advanced prototyping tools). Figma is increasingly becoming the industry standard for collaborative design.

• User Research & Testing: Tools like UserTesting.com, Maze, Lookback, or internal methods for conducting usability studies and gathering qualitative feedback.

• Collaboration & Communication: Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides), Jira, Confluence, Asana (or similar project management tools).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Web/Mobile Analytics: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Firebase Analytics for tracking user behavior, engagement metrics, and conversion funnels.

• Data Visualization: Tools like Tableau, Looker, or internal dashboards to understand and present data insights.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly used by Product Designers, familiarity with how CRM data (e.g., Salesforce) or marketing automation platforms might inform user segmentation or personalization strategies can be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in industry-standard design tools like Figma is essential. Experience with data analytics platforms (Mixpanel, Amplitude) is highly valued, as the role emphasizes data-driven decision-making and performance measurement. Familiarity with remote collaboration and project management tools is also critical given the fully remote nature of the position.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Mission-Driven: A strong commitment to Epic's mission of inspiring children to read and learn, impacting millions of young lives.

• User-Centricity: Prioritizing the needs, experiences, and learning outcomes of children, families, and educators in all design decisions.

• Collaboration: Fostering a supportive, cross-functional environment where diverse perspectives are valued and integrated.

• Data-Informed: Utilizing data and experimentation to guide product development and measure success, ensuring continuous improvement.

• Innovation & Growth: Encouraging creativity, embracing new ideas, and adapting to a fast-paced, evolving digital landscape.

• Excellence & Execution: Striving for high-quality design and efficient execution to deliver impactful product experiences.

Collaboration Style:

• Remote-First & Asynchronous: Comfortable working and communicating effectively in a distributed team, often asynchronously, with clear documentation and proactive updates.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Working closely with Product Managers, Engineers, Researchers, and Data Analysts as integrated members of product teams.

• Open Feedback Culture: Encouraging constructive critique and open discussion during design reviews and team meetings to elevate the quality of work.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively sharing insights, best practices, and design learnings across teams to foster collective growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is deeply rooted in its educational mission and a commitment to user impact. The values emphasize a blend of creative problem-solving, rigorous data analysis, and collaborative execution, all within a remote-first framework. Candidates should demonstrate alignment with these principles.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Children: Understanding and designing for the unique cognitive, emotional, and developmental needs of children across different age groups is a complex but rewarding challenge.

• Balancing Stakeholder Needs: Effectively mediating between the needs of children (users), parents/educators (gatekeepers/buyers), and business objectives (growth, subscriptions).

• Remote Collaboration: Maintaining strong team cohesion, effective communication, and design critique in a fully remote, distributed environment.

• Scalability & Personalization: Designing scalable systems that can also deliver highly personalized reading experiences to a diverse user base.

• EdTech Landscape: Navigating the competitive and rapidly evolving educational technology market.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Domain Expertise: Deepen knowledge in child development, literacy, and educational psychology through product work.

• Advanced Design Skills: Opportunities to refine skills in areas like personalization algorithms, gamification, interactive storytelling, and accessibility for diverse learners.

• Design System Stewardship: Grow into a leadership role within the design system, influencing its direction and impact.

• Cross-Functional Acumen: Develop a stronger understanding of product strategy, engineering constraints, and data science principles through close collaboration.

• Industry Exposure: Potential to attend EdTech or UX conferences, engage with industry thought leaders, and contribute to the broader design community.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenges revolve around the unique user base and the complexities of the EdTech market. Growth opportunities are abundant for designers eager to specialize in educational product design, master scalable and personalized systems, and contribute to a mission-driven product with significant social impact.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you designed a feature or product for a younger audience. What were the unique considerations, and how did you address them?" (Focus on user empathy, age-appropriateness, and testing with children/guardians).

• "Walk us through a project where you used data or experimentation to significantly improve a user journey (e.g., onboarding, content discovery). What was your process, and what were the results?" (Highlight data literacy, iterative design, and measurable impact).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Epic's mission, and how does your design philosophy align with it?" (Research Epic's mission, values, and target audience thoroughly).

• "How do you approach collaboration with Product Managers and Engineers, especially in a remote setting?" (Emphasize proactive communication, shared understanding, and iterative feedback loops).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each project, follow a clear story: Problem -> Your Role -> Process -> Solution -> Impact/Learnings.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics (e.g., increase in engagement, reduction in drop-off rate, improvement in task completion) to demonstrate the success of your designs.

• Showcase Your Process: Don't just show final screens. Include sketches, wireframes, user flows, prototypes, and research findings to illustrate your thinking.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Expect questions about specific design decisions, trade-offs, and alternative solutions you considered.

• Practice Your Mandarin: If your Mandarin fluency is a key selling point, be ready to incorporate it naturally into your presentation or discussions, perhaps when discussing specific user segments or internationalization aspects.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating a deep understanding of user-centered design, data-driven iteration, and effective cross-functional collaboration, particularly within the context of an educational product for children. The ability to articulate design rationale clearly and showcase measurable impact through portfolio examples will be crucial.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer position:

• Submit your application directly through the Greenhouse job portal linked.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight projects that best demonstrate your experience with consumer products, educational technology, content discovery, and personalized systems. Ensure case studies clearly articulate your problem-solving process and measurable impact.

• Resume Optimization: Update your resume to prominently feature keywords from the job description (e.g., "Product Design," "UX Design," "Interaction Design," "User Flows," "Design System," "English," "Mandarin Chinese"). Quantify achievements with specific metrics wherever possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, decision-making rationale, and collaboration style. Prepare specific examples for behavioral questions and be ready to present your portfolio with confidence.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Epic's mission, product, target audience, and recent developments. Understand their position in the EdTech market and consider how your design skills can contribute to their continued success and global reach.

⚠️ 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.