Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer

Company: Zip Security

Location: New York, New York, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / User Experience / Enterprise Security

Date Posted: August 20, 2025

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Design innovative security and IT workflows from conception to implementation, directly addressing complex enterprise cybersecurity challenges.

• Lead product design initiatives end-to-end, encompassing strategy definition, user experience exploration, high-fidelity mockups, and close collaboration with engineering for successful product launches.

• Drive user-centric design processes through prototyping, user testing, and incorporating feedback from design partners and end-users to ensure optimal product solutions.

• Proactively identify and address user experience friction points and gaps within the platform, proposing and executing strategic redesigns to enhance overall usability and cohesion.

• Foster strong cross-functional partnerships with Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams to deeply understand user personas, inform product roadmap prioritization, and articulate user stories effectively.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned for a Product Designer with significant experience in enterprise software, specifically within the cybersecurity domain. The emphasis on "opinionated security tooling" and "synchronizing everything" suggests a need for a designer who can translate complex technical architectures into intuitive user interfaces and workflows, rather than just visual aesthetics. The "end-to-end" project ownership implies a requirement for strong project management and strategic thinking skills, common in mid-to-senior level operations and product roles.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conceptualize and design user-centric workflows for enterprise security and IT management, transforming complex technical requirements into intuitive and visually appealing user experiences.

• Own the entire design lifecycle for new features and products, from initial product strategy outlining and user flow mapping to creating detailed design explorations, high-fidelity mockups, and comprehensive design specifications.

• Develop interactive prototypes to effectively communicate design intent and conduct rigorous user testing sessions to gather actionable feedback, iterating on designs to meet user needs and business objectives.

• Conduct thorough UX audits to identify usability bottlenecks, inconsistencies, and areas for improvement within the existing platform, proposing and implementing strategic redesigns and enhancements.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success, to gather insights into user personas, market needs, and customer pain points, translating these into product roadmap priorities and compelling user stories for go-to-market strategies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic product thinking and execution. The expectation to "break down hard security and IT problems" indicates a need for a designer comfortable with technical complexity and able to simplify it for users. The emphasis on "running projects end to end" and "advocating for building the smallest impactful thing" points towards a results-oriented approach, common in operations-focused roles where efficiency and impact are prioritized.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating proficiency in UX/UI design principles, user-centered design methodologies, and experience in enterprise software is expected. A degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field would be beneficial.

Experience: A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in Product Design, with a proven track record of designing and shipping complex enterprise products, is required. Experience in the cybersecurity or IT management software sector is highly advantageous.

Required Skills:

• Product Design: Expertise in end-to-end product design, from concept and strategy to detailed execution and delivery.

• User Experience (UX) Design: Deep understanding of user-centered design principles, information architecture, and interaction design for complex enterprise applications.

• Prototyping: Proficiency in creating interactive prototypes using tools like Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, or similar, for conveying design concepts and conducting user testing.

• User Testing & Research: Experience planning, conducting, and synthesizing user research and usability testing to inform design decisions and validate solutions.

• Design Strategy: Ability to contribute to product strategy, translate business goals into design solutions, and articulate a clear design vision.

• Technical Problem Solving: Aptitude for understanding complex technical challenges within cybersecurity and IT, and translating them into user-friendly workflows.

• Iterative Design: A willingness and ability to iterate, adapt, and potentially overhaul existing design flows based on feedback and evolving requirements.

• Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including engineering, product management, sales, and customer success.

• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills to present design concepts, articulate rationale, and tell user stories.

Preferred Skills:

• Mentoring: Experience mentoring junior designers, providing constructive feedback, and fostering design talent.

• Visual Design: Strong visual design skills and attention to detail in creating polished, aesthetically pleasing interfaces.

• Product Thinking: A strong product sense and intuition for accessible mental models and intuitive user flows.

• Enterprise Software Experience: Specific experience designing for B2B enterprise platforms, particularly in security, IT management, or SaaS environments.

• Agile Methodologies: Familiarity with agile development processes and working within sprint cycles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 5+ years of experience and the emphasis on independent end-to-end project management suggest a preference for candidates who can operate with a high degree of autonomy, a key trait often sought in operations and strategic roles. The mention of "enterprise products" and "complex technical problems" implies a need for designers who can grasp and simplify intricate systems, aligning with the operational efficiency goals of a GTM strategy.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Case Studies: Showcase 2-3 comprehensive case studies detailing your process from problem identification and user research to design solutions, prototyping, testing, and final implementation.

• Enterprise Product Focus: Highlight projects specifically involving complex enterprise software, demonstrating your ability to design for sophisticated user needs and technical environments.

• Problem-Solving Narrative: Clearly articulate the challenges faced, the design decisions made, and the rationale behind them, emphasizing how your solutions addressed specific user pain points or business objectives.

• Impact & Metrics: Quantify the impact of your designs whenever possible, using metrics related to user engagement, task completion rates, efficiency improvements, or adoption.

• User-Centricity: Demonstrate a clear commitment to user-centered design throughout your portfolio, showcasing how user feedback and research informed your design iterations.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Include examples of how you've mapped out and designed complex user workflows, ensuring logical flow and efficiency.

• Design System Contribution: If applicable, showcase experience with or contributions to design systems, highlighting consistency and scalability in your designs.

• Collaboration Artifacts: Briefly mention how you collaborated with engineers and product managers, perhaps via annotated mockups or design handoff documentation.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role emphasizing end-to-end ownership and complex problem-solving, the portfolio should not just be a gallery of final designs. It needs to demonstrate a structured design process, strategic thinking, and the ability to manage projects autonomously, much like an operations professional would manage a process or a project to improve efficiency. Highlighting the "smallest impactful thing" implies a need for case studies that show iterative improvements and a focus on delivering value quickly.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Given the location (New York City), experience level (5+ years), and the nature of the role in a growing tech startup within a critical sector like cybersecurity, the estimated salary range for a Product Designer is typically between $120,000 - $170,000 per year.

Benefits:

• Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance: Comprehensive coverage for medical, dental, and vision needs.

• Stock Options/Equity: Potential for ownership in a growing startup, aligning employee success with company growth.

• Flexible Work Environment: Hybrid work model offering a balance between in-office collaboration and remote flexibility.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for learning, growth, and skill development, potentially including conferences, workshops, or courses.

• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO): Time off for vacation, sick leave, and holidays to support work-life balance.

• 401(k) Plan: Retirement savings plan with potential company matching.

• Commuter Benefits: For employees working from the New York City office.

Working Hours: Standard full-time working hours, typically 40 hours per week. While the role is hybrid, flexibility in scheduling is often provided, allowing for effective management of design tasks and collaboration, a common practice in operations-oriented environments that value autonomy and results.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on industry benchmarks for Product Designers with 5+ years of experience in a major tech hub like New York City, particularly within the SaaS and cybersecurity sectors. Benefits are typical for a startup environment aiming to attract and retain talent, with a focus on growth potential and employee well-being.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Enterprise Cybersecurity / SaaS. Zip Security operates in the rapidly evolving field of cybersecurity, aiming to simplify and consolidate complex security and IT management tools for businesses. The industry demands innovation, reliability, and a deep understanding of technical threats and solutions.

Company Size: As a startup, Zip Security is likely in a growth phase, suggesting a dynamic and agile environment. The company size (likely under 100 employees based on typical startup stages) fosters close-knit teams and direct impact from individual contributions.

Founded: Zip Security was founded with the mission to address the fragmentation and inefficiency in current enterprise cybersecurity solutions. The founding principles revolve around creating a more streamlined, integrated, and user-friendly approach to security management.

Team Structure:

• The Product Design team likely collaborates closely with Product Management, Engineering, and Go-to-Market (GTM) functions (Sales, Marketing, Customer Success).

• Designers are expected to be integrated into agile development squads, working directly with engineers and product managers on feature development.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Emphasis on using user data, analytics, and feedback to inform design strategy and product roadmap prioritization.

• Lean and Agile Development: Adherence to fast-paced development cycles, prioritizing iterative design and rapid deployment of impactful features.

• User-Centric Design: A core philosophy centered on deeply understanding user needs and pain points to create intuitive and effective solutions.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Integrated workflows that encourage seamless communication and joint problem-solving across different departments.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to simplify enterprise cybersecurity suggests a culture that values clarity, efficiency, and technical competence. The emphasis on "opinionated security tooling" implies a design philosophy that offers strong, well-defined solutions rather than a completely open-ended framework, requiring designers to be decisive and technically informed. The startup environment likely means a culture of high ownership and direct impact.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned at a Mid-Senior level, requiring independent project ownership and a significant contribution to product strategy. It's suitable for designers who can mentor others and drive design initiatives from start to finish.

Reporting Structure: The Product Designer will likely report to a Head of Product, Design Lead, or a similar senior product figure. They will work in close partnership with Product Managers and Engineering Leads, forming part of cross-functional product teams.

Operations Impact: The Product Designer's work directly influences the usability, adoption, and overall effectiveness of Zip Security's platform. By simplifying complex security workflows, the designer contributes to improved customer satisfaction, reduced operational overhead for clients, and ultimately, faster user onboarding and higher retention – key operational metrics for a SaaS company.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership in Design: Opportunity to grow into a Design Lead or Manager role as the company scales, potentially building and mentoring a design team.

• Product Strategy Influence: Deep involvement in shaping the product roadmap and overall product vision, moving beyond execution to strategic contribution.

• Domain Expertise: Developing specialized knowledge in enterprise cybersecurity and IT management, a high-demand field.

• Cross-Functional Skill Development: Gaining experience in product management, sales enablement, and customer success through close collaboration.

• Startup Growth Experience: Contributing to the growth and success of a venture-backed startup, offering invaluable career experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role offers a clear path for growth within a startup environment, moving from individual contribution to potential leadership. The emphasis on "running projects end to end" and "product strategy" aligns with career progression in operations-focused roles where strategic thinking and process ownership are key drivers of advancement.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model with a physical office presence in New York City. This suggests a blend of collaborative in-office days and flexible remote work.

Office Location(s): New York City, New York, United States. This location provides access to a vibrant tech ecosystem and a large talent pool.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The NYC office likely serves as a central point for team collaboration, brainstorming sessions, and strategic planning.

• Tech-Enabled Environment: Expect access to modern design tools, collaboration software, and potentially advanced hardware to support design workflows.

• Cross-Functional Interaction: Opportunities for frequent, informal interactions with various departments, fostering a holistic understanding of the business and customer needs.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time, 40 hours per week. The hybrid nature allows for flexibility in managing personal and professional commitments, aligning with the company's value of balance. This flexibility is crucial for operations roles that often require deep focus during specific periods.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model in a major city like New York indicates a modern work environment that balances the benefits of in-person collaboration with the flexibility of remote work. This setup is conducive to the focused, often iterative work required in design and operations roles.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A brief call with a recruiter to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and interest in the role.

• Portfolio Presentation & Design Challenge: A more in-depth session where the candidate presents their portfolio, discusses their design process, and potentially works through a design challenge relevant to Zip Security's product. This is a critical stage for evaluating design thinking and problem-solving skills.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Product Management, Engineering, and Go-to-Market teams to assess collaboration capabilities and understanding of business context.

• Hiring Manager/Leadership Interview: A final discussion focusing on overall fit, strategic alignment, leadership potential, and vision for the role.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Tell a Story: Structure your portfolio case studies as narratives, clearly outlining the problem, your process, your contributions, and the outcomes.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals, prototypes, and clear explanations to demonstrate your design skills and decision-making process.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, include metrics that showcase the success and business impact of your designs.

• Highlight Process: Emphasize your user-centered approach, research methodologies, and iterative design process.

• Tailor to Enterprise: Focus on examples that demonstrate your ability to handle complex enterprise software and technical challenges.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Zip Security: Research the company's mission, product, target audience, and competitors. Familiarize yourself with the challenges in enterprise cybersecurity.

• Practice Your Pitch: Be ready to articulate your design philosophy, your strengths, and why you're a good fit for Zip Security.

• Prepare for "Why": Be ready to explain the "why" behind every design decision you've made in your portfolio.

• Think Strategically: Consider how your role as a designer contributes to the broader business goals of a cybersecurity startup.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to evaluate not just design skills but also strategic thinking, problem-solving abilities, and cultural alignment. The portfolio presentation and potential design challenge are key opportunities to demonstrate operational thinking by showcasing how you manage design projects and achieve measurable results.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (highly probable, industry standard for collaborative design), Sketch, Adobe XD.

• User Research & Testing: UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze, or similar platforms for remote user testing and feedback collection.

• Collaboration & Communication: Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides).

• Project Management: Jira, Asana, Trello, or similar tools for tracking design tasks and project progress.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics for understanding user behavior within the platform.

• Data Visualization: Tableau, Looker, or similar tools may be used by the product team to present data insights.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot (likely used by Sales and Marketing, designer may need to understand data flow).

• Integration Tools: Understanding how different security and IT tools integrate via APIs is crucial, even if not directly using integration platforms.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency with modern design and collaboration tools is essential. For a role focused on enterprise solutions, understanding how design integrates with broader product development workflows, including analytics and CRM data, provides a significant advantage, mirroring the cross-functional awareness required in operations roles.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Learning and Growth: A strong emphasis on employee development, continuous learning, and career satisfaction, fostering a culture where individuals are encouraged to expand their skills and knowledge.

• High Autonomy, High Trust: Empowering employees with significant ownership and freedom to manage their work, underpinned by trust and open, thoughtful communication.

• Transparency, Equity, and Empathy: Promoting an environment of honest feedback, fair treatment, and mutual understanding, enabling personal and collective growth.

• Speed with Thoughtfulness: Balancing the need to move quickly in a startup environment with a commitment to building robust, well-considered solutions.

• Balance: Striving for equilibrium in various aspects, from work-life balance to the trade-offs between speed and quality, guided by data-driven evaluation.

• Assume Best Intentions: Cultivating a positive and supportive team dynamic where colleagues approach interactions with trust and understanding.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Designers are expected to work seamlessly with product managers, engineers, sales, marketing, and customer success teams, acting as a bridge between user needs and business objectives.

• Feedback Culture: Encouraging frequent, constructive, and empathetic feedback to drive continuous improvement for both individuals and the product.

• Knowledge Sharing: A collaborative environment where insights and best practices are shared openly to foster collective learning and efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The stated values heavily emphasize collaboration, continuous improvement, and a people-centric approach, which are all hallmarks of effective operational teams. The focus on "thoughtful communication" and "assuming best intentions" is critical for seamless cross-functional operations in a fast-paced startup.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Simplifying Complexity: The primary challenge will be translating intricate cybersecurity and IT management concepts into intuitive and user-friendly interfaces and workflows.

• Balancing Speed and Quality: Navigating the startup imperative to move fast while ensuring the design is robust, user-friendly, and doesn't introduce technical debt.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring design vision is understood and supported across diverse teams (Engineering, Product, Sales, Marketing) with potentially different priorities.

• Continuous Learning: Keeping pace with the rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape and user expectations for enterprise software.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: Opportunities to grow into leadership roles, mentor junior designers, and shape design strategy as the company scales.

• Specialized Domain Knowledge: Deepening expertise in enterprise cybersecurity and IT operations, a highly sought-after skill set.

• Product Strategy Influence: Gaining significant experience in product roadmap development and strategic decision-making.

• Industry Exposure: Potential to attend industry conferences and engage with leading professionals in the cybersecurity and design fields.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical for product designers in innovative tech startups, requiring adaptability and strong problem-solving skills, which directly translate to operational effectiveness. The growth opportunities highlight a clear career trajectory within the company.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to design a complex workflow for an enterprise product. What was your process, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on user-centricity, problem-solving, and impact).

• "How do you balance user needs with business requirements and technical constraints when designing?" (Demonstrate strategic thinking and trade-off analysis).

• "How do you approach gathering feedback from different stakeholders (e.g., engineers, sales, customers) and incorporating it into your designs?" (Highlight collaboration and communication skills).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on our values, how would you approach a situation where there's a disagreement between design and engineering on a feature implementation?" (Assess understanding of company values and conflict resolution).

• "How do you stay updated on the latest trends in enterprise cybersecurity and UX design?" (Gauge commitment to continuous learning).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Begin with a brief overview of your design philosophy and career highlights. Then, dive into 2-3 detailed case studies.

• Narrative: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem statement, your specific role and contributions, the design process (research, ideation, prototyping, testing), key decisions, and the final outcome with quantifiable results.

• Visuals: Use high-quality mockups, interactive prototypes (if possible), and process diagrams to illustrate your points effectively.

• Conciseness: Be mindful of time, focusing on the most impactful aspects of each project. Practice your presentation to ensure it flows smoothly and stays within the allotted time.

• Q&A Readiness: Anticipate questions about your design choices, challenges faced, and lessons learned.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparing for these types of questions requires candidates to reflect on their past experiences through an operational lens – focusing on process, impact, collaboration, and strategic thinking, rather than just aesthetic output. Demonstrating how they manage projects and drive results is key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight enterprise product design experience, showcasing end-to-end case studies that demonstrate your user-centric process, problem-solving skills, and measurable impact. Select projects that best align with Zip Security's mission in cybersecurity.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 5+ years of experience, emphasizes achievements in designing complex enterprise software, and includes keywords related to UX, product strategy, collaboration, and technical problem-solving. Quantify your accomplishments where possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, rationale behind your decisions, and how you handle cross-functional collaboration. Prepare to discuss your portfolio in depth and potentially work through a design challenge.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Zip Security, its mission, target market, and company values. Understand the challenges in enterprise cybersecurity and how Zip Security aims to solve them. 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.