Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: Harell Data

Location: Bellevue, WA or Palo Alto, CA

Job Type: Full-Time, Salaried

Category: Product Design, GTM Operations Support

Date Posted: May 04, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• This is a foundational, high-impact role as the founding Product Designer, reporting directly to the CTO, with significant ownership over the entire product design lifecycle.

• The position requires transforming complex infrastructure into intuitive user experiences through close collaboration with customers and engineering teams.

• A key responsibility will be establishing the design playbook and developing a scalable design system to support company growth.

• The role emphasizes direct customer engagement, bringing insights back to drive product strategy and direction.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a "founding" Product Designer, indicating a significant opportunity for someone who thrives in ambiguity and wants to build design processes and systems from the ground up. While not strictly a "Revenue Operations" or "Sales Operations" role, the focus on B2B or developer-facing products, complex data, and user experience directly supports GTM efficiency and customer adoption, making it relevant to the broader GTM operations ecosystem.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• End-to-End Product Ownership: Take full responsibility for the product's user experience, encompassing information architecture, interaction design, and visual craft from initial concept to final product delivery.

• Clarifying Complex Problems: Translate intricate technical concepts and infrastructure challenges into clear, user-friendly interfaces that empower users and make them feel in control.

• Building Scalable Design Systems: Develop and implement reusable design patterns and a comprehensive design system to accelerate future product development and ensure consistency as the company scales.

• Direct Customer Engagement: Proactively conduct customer interviews, participate in client calls, and gather direct feedback to inform and shape product strategy and design decisions.

• Setting Design Standards: Define and champion the overall design quality and aesthetic for Harell Data, establishing best practices and contributing to the future hiring of the design team.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with engineering teams to ensure feasible and high-quality implementation of designs, and collaborate with product management (or CTO in this early stage) to align design efforts with business objectives.

• Prototyping and User Testing: Create interactive prototypes to test design concepts and gather user feedback, iterating based on insights to optimize the user journey.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "owning the product experience end to end" and "systematize as we scale" highlights the need for a candidate who can not only design but also strategize and build foundational design operations. This includes defining processes for design critiques, user research, and design system maintenance.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong understanding of design principles, user-centered design methodologies, and human-computer interaction is essential. This could be demonstrated through a degree in Design, HCI, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of dedicated product design experience.

• Proven experience as a 0-to-1 hire or within an early-stage startup environment, demonstrating the ability to build design functions from scratch.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Expertise: Comprehensive skills in all facets of product design, including user research, ideation, wireframing, prototyping, and final visual design.

• Information Architecture (IA): Ability to structure and organize complex information logically and intuitively for user comprehension.

• Interaction Design (IxD): Skill in defining how users interact with the product, ensuring smooth and efficient task completion.

• Visual Design Craft: Strong aesthetic sense and proficiency in creating visually appealing, consistent, and brand-aligned interfaces.

• Design Systems Development: Experience in creating, implementing, and maintaining design systems and component libraries.

• Customer Research & Empathy: Demonstrated ability to conduct user research, synthesize findings, and translate customer needs into design solutions.

• Cross-Functional Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills to collaborate effectively with engineering, product, and customer-facing teams.

• Ambiguity Tolerance: Proven ability to thrive in uncertain environments, define processes, and make decisions with incomplete information.

Preferred Skills:

• Figma/Sketch/Adobe XD Proficiency: Advanced skills in leading design and prototyping tools.

• User Testing Methodologies: Experience with various methods for validating designs with users.

• Agile Development Environment: Familiarity with working within agile or iterative development cycles.

• Data Visualization: Experience in designing effective ways to present and interact with complex data sets.

• Frontend Development Understanding: Basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to better collaborate with engineers.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "5+ years of product design experience, including time at an early-stage startup or as a 0-to-1 hire" strongly suggests they are looking for someone who can build and iterate rapidly without established processes, a common need in early-stage GTM support functions.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Comprehensive Case Studies: Showcase 3-5 in-depth case studies demonstrating your end-to-end design process for complex B2B or developer-facing products.

• Problem Definition & User Needs: Clearly articulate the user problems and business challenges addressed in each case study.

• Design Process Documentation: Illustrate your methodology, including research, ideation, wireframing, prototyping, and user testing phases.

• Systemic Design Contributions: Highlight any experience with creating or contributing to design systems, component libraries, or reusable design patterns.

• Visual & Interaction Design Examples: Provide strong examples of your visual design aesthetics and interaction design solutions.

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

Process Documentation:

• Demonstrate your approach to documenting design decisions, user flows, and system components.

• Showcase how you would establish design processes for a growing team, including onboarding, design reviews, and collaboration workflows.

• Provide examples of how you've translated user insights into actionable design requirements and product direction.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a founding designer role, the portfolio should not only showcase finished products but also the process of building them, including how ambiguity was managed and how foundational design operations were established. This directly relates to building robust GTM support systems.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Based on the Senior Product Designer title, 5-10 years of experience, and the specified locations (Bellevue, WA and Palo Alto, CA), the estimated salary range is:

• $140,000 - $190,000 USD per year.

📝 Enhancement Note: This estimate is derived from current market data for Senior Product Designers in the San Francisco Bay Area (Palo Alto) and Seattle Metropolitan Area (Bellevue), factoring in the early-stage startup environment which may offer equity as part of the compensation package. Salary ranges can vary significantly based on specific candidate experience, negotiation, and the total compensation structure (including equity). Research from sources like Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn Salary for similar roles in these tech hubs supports this range.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health Insurance: Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.

• Stock Options/Equity: Significant equity stake in an early-stage startup, offering potential for substantial financial return as the company grows.

• Flexible PTO Policy: Generous paid time off to encourage work-life balance.

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

• Professional Development Budget: Funds allocated for conferences, courses, books, and other learning opportunities to enhance design skills and industry knowledge.

• Commuter Benefits: Support for commuting to on-site offices in Bellevue and Palo Alto.

• Team Events and Offsites: Opportunities for team building and social interaction.

Working Hours:

• Standard 40-hour work week, with flexibility expected to meet project deadlines and customer needs. The role requires on-site presence, implying a structured workday within office hours.

📝 Enhancement Note: The benefits package for an early-stage startup often emphasizes equity and professional growth, aligning with the "build from scratch" nature of this role and the desire to attract talent who are motivated by ownership and development.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Data & Analytics, Infrastructure Software. Harell Data is operating in a critical but often complex sector of the technology landscape, providing solutions that likely underpin other businesses' data operations and infrastructure management.

Company Size: Early-stage startup. This implies a dynamic, fast-paced environment with a small, agile team where individual contributions have a significant impact. Roles are often broad, requiring adaptability and a willingness to wear multiple hats.

Founded: (Information not provided, but implied to be recent given the "founding designer" context). This suggests a company in its initial growth phases, focused on product development and market validation.

Team Structure:

• Founding Team: As the founding Product Designer, you will report directly to the CTO, indicating a close working relationship with technical leadership.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: You will work intimately with the engineering team, and potentially with early sales or customer success personnel as they are hired, to translate technical capabilities into user-friendly products.

• Future Design Team: The role includes the responsibility of setting the design bar and hiring future designers, suggesting a vision for building out a dedicated design function.

Methodology:

• Customer-Centric Design: A strong emphasis on direct customer interaction to drive product direction and ensure solutions meet real-world needs.

• Iterative Development: Likely operating within an agile framework, focusing on rapid prototyping, testing, and iteration to deliver value quickly.

• Data-Informed Decisions: The nature of Harell Data suggests that data analysis and understanding user behavior with data will be central to design decisions.

Company Website: [Harell Data Website - URL Not Provided]

📝 Enhancement Note: The "founding" aspect is key here. It means the culture is likely still being defined, offering a unique opportunity to shape it. For operations professionals, this means understanding that processes are nascent and require proactive building.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior-level individual contributor role, with significant scope for leadership in the design domain. As the "founding" designer, you are positioned as the de facto design leader and strategist for the company. The role offers a path toward Design Lead or Head of Design as the company scales.

Reporting Structure: You will report directly to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). This close proximity to technical leadership provides direct exposure to strategic decision-making and product vision.

Operations Impact: Your work will directly influence product adoption, user satisfaction, and the overall efficiency of customers using Harell Data's complex infrastructure. By making the product intuitive, you will indirectly support sales enablement and reduce customer support overhead, contributing to revenue growth and operational efficiency.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: The opportunity to build and lead the design team from its inception.

• Strategic Influence: Direct impact on product strategy and company direction through user insights and design vision.

• System Building: Experience in establishing foundational design processes, tools, and a design system that will scale with the company.

• Industry Expertise: Deepen knowledge in B2B SaaS, data infrastructure, and complex UI design.

• Equity Growth: Potential for significant financial upside through stock options as the company grows.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is ideal for a candidate looking to make a substantial impact and grow into a leadership position within a rapidly scaling tech company. The growth is not just in title but in the strategic responsibility and the chance to build something from the ground up.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: On-site. The role requires a physical presence in either the Bellevue, WA or Palo Alto, CA office. This facilitates close collaboration and immersion in the company culture.

Office Location(s):

• Bellevue, WA: A prominent tech hub in the Pacific Northwest, offering access to a vibrant ecosystem.

• Palo Alto, CA: Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, providing proximity to a dense network of startups and established tech companies.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: Expect an open and collaborative workspace typical of early-stage startups, encouraging direct interaction with engineering and leadership.

• Tools and Technology: Access to modern design software and hardware necessary for high-fidelity design and prototyping.

• Team Interaction: Frequent opportunities for informal and formal discussions with colleagues, fostering a strong sense of team and shared mission.

Work Schedule:

• A standard 40-hour work week is expected, but given the startup environment and the nature of a founding role, flexibility will be key. This may involve occasional extended hours to meet critical deadlines or customer needs, balanced by the overall flexibility offered in a growing company.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement is crucial for fostering the close-knit, collaborative environment characteristic of early-stage startups, which is vital for rapid iteration and problem-solving.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A brief call with a recruiter or hiring manager to assess basic qualifications and cultural fit.

• Portfolio Review & Design Challenge: A presentation of your portfolio, focusing on case studies that highlight your process for complex B2B/developer products. You may be asked to complete a short design exercise or discuss a hypothetical problem relevant to Harell Data's product.

• Technical & Collaboration Interviews: In-depth discussions with the CTO and engineering leads to evaluate your technical design skills, problem-solving abilities, and collaboration style. Be prepared to discuss your approach to information architecture, interaction design, and visual systems.

• Customer-Centric Discussion: An interview focusing on your experience with direct customer engagement, how you gather insights, and how you translate them into product direction.

• Final Round: Potentially with other key stakeholders or founders to assess overall fit and strategic alignment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Storytelling: Frame your case studies as narratives, highlighting the problem, your process, your solutions, and the impact.

• Process Focus: Emphasize your thinking and methodology, not just the final visuals. Show your iterative process, your rationale for decisions, and how you handled challenges.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use data (even estimations) to demonstrate the success of your designs (e.g., "reduced task completion time by X%," "improved user satisfaction scores").

• Tailor to B2B/Developer Tools: Highlight projects that showcase your ability to design for complex workflows, data visualization, and technical users.

• Showcase System Thinking: If you have experience with design systems, clearly articulate your contribution and the benefits it provided.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Research Harell Data's industry (data infrastructure, B2B SaaS) and potential user pain points.

• Practice Articulating Your Process: Be ready to walk through your design process for a complex problem concisely and clearly.

• Prepare Questions: Have thoughtful questions ready for the interviewers about the product, the team, the challenges, and the company vision.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a founding design role, interviewers will be heavily focused on your ability to operate autonomously, build from scratch, and collaborate effectively with strong technical leadership. Your portfolio and interview answers should reflect this.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping Software: Proficiency in industry-standard tools such as Figma (highly likely given current trends and collaboration focus), Sketch, Adobe XD, or similar.

• User Research Platforms: Familiarity with tools for conducting user interviews, surveys, and usability testing (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms).

• Collaboration Tools: Experience with tools like Slack, Jira, Confluence, and project management software for seamless team communication and workflow management.

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Experience with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) is not directly required for this design role, but an understanding of how product design impacts sales enablement and customer onboarding processes is valuable.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary focus will be on design and prototyping tools. However, demonstrating an understanding of how design integrates with analytics and broader GTM systems will be a significant advantage.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Ownership & Accountability: Taking full responsibility for your work and driving projects to completion.

• Customer Obsession: A deep commitment to understanding and serving customer needs.

• Clarity & Simplicity: Making complex technical concepts understandable and usable for the target audience.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Openly sharing work, ideas, and feedback with the team.

• Bias for Action: A proactive approach to problem-solving and execution, especially in an early-stage environment.

• Continuous Improvement: A commitment to learning, iterating, and refining processes and designs.

Collaboration Style:

• Direct & Open Communication: Working closely with engineering and leadership, encouraging honest and constructive feedback.

• Partnership Approach: Collaborating as a strategic partner with the CTO and engineers, not just an order-taker.

• User-Centric Integration: Ensuring that customer insights are actively integrated into all stages of the product development lifecycle.

• Design System Advocacy: Promoting the use of the design system to foster consistency and efficiency across the product.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "founding" nature of this role means the candidate will have a significant opportunity to influence and embody these values, shaping the future design culture at Harell Data.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Ambiguity and Establishing Processes: The primary challenge will be building design infrastructure, processes, and a design system from scratch in a fast-paced startup environment.

• Translating Technical Complexity: Designing intuitive user experiences for highly technical users dealing with complex data infrastructure requires deep empathy and strategic thinking.

• Balancing Speed and Quality: The need to ship quickly while maintaining high design standards and building a scalable foundation.

• Defining the Design Vision: Establishing a clear design direction and aesthetic for a new product and company.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Opportunity to grow into a design leadership role, mentored by the CTO.

• Strategic Design Impact: Directly influence product strategy and company growth through design.

• Building a Design Function: Gain invaluable experience in establishing and scaling a design team and its processes.

• Deep Dive into Data Infrastructure: Become an expert in the design challenges of complex data and infrastructure products.

• Industry Conferences & Training: Access to resources for continuous learning and professional development in product design and UX.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are direct opportunities for growth, making this role highly attractive for someone seeking significant professional development and impact.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to build a design system or significant design patterns from scratch. What was your process, and what challenges did you face?" (Focus on your methodology, decision-making, and scalability considerations.)

• "How would you approach understanding the needs of technical users who are dealing with complex data infrastructure?" (Highlight your user research strategies, empathy, and ability to translate technical requirements.)

• "Imagine you're given a vague product requirement from the CTO. How would you go about clarifying it, prototyping a solution, and getting feedback?" (Demonstrate your process for handling ambiguity and iterating towards a solution.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Why are you interested in a founding designer role at an early-stage startup like Harell Data?" (Connect your career goals and desire for impact with the company's stage.)

• "How do you define 'design quality,' and how would you establish that standard here?" (Showcase your vision for design excellence and your ability to lead.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Select High-Impact Case Studies: Choose 2-3 projects that best demonstrate your ability to handle complex B2B/developer tools and your end-to-end design process.

• Focus on Process, Not Just Pixels: Spend ample time explaining your "why" – your research, your iterations, your decision-making rationale.

• Quantify Results: If possible, present metrics or observed outcomes that demonstrate the value of your design work.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Expect detailed questions about your choices, the challenges you faced, and how you overcame them.

• Showcase Ambiguity Management: If a project involved significant ambiguity, highlight how you navigated it.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will heavily scrutinize your ability to operate autonomously, build foundational processes, and collaborate effectively with technical leadership. Your preparation should emphasize these aspects.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the rippling.com ATS.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio clearly showcases 2-3 in-depth case studies of complex B2B or developer-facing products, emphasizing your end-to-end design process and any contributions to design systems.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience with early-stage startups, 0-to-1 product development, and designing for technical or data-intensive applications. Use keywords such as "Product Design," "Information Architecture," "Interaction Design," "Design Systems," "B2B," "Developer Tools," and "Customer Research."

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your design process, your approach to ambiguity, and your vision for building design at Harell Data. Be ready to discuss your customer engagement strategies and how you influence product direction.

• Research Harell Data: Understand their likely market, the challenges of data infrastructure, and the potential needs of their user base. Prepare thoughtful questions about the product roadmap, design team vision, and company culture.

⚠️ 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.

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