Sr. Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Sr. Product Designer Company: The Helper Bees Location: Austin, Texas, United States Job Type: Full-Time Category: Product Design / User Experience Operations Date Posted: 2025-06-11T02:39:16 Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5-10 years) Remote Status: Remote OK (United States)

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive the user experience and product strategy for a mission-driven company focused on improving the lives of seniors and their support networks.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, and internal Operations teams to define and deliver high-quality, user-centric digital products.
• Champion user research, service design, and accessibility best practices to ensure inclusive and effective product solutions.
• Contribute to evolving the organization towards an empowered product team model, demonstrating strong change management and communication skills.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Sr. Product Designer," the description emphasizes collaboration with "internal Operations teams" and optimizing "internal workflows with Operations." This strongly suggests a significant focus on operational efficiency and cross-functional alignment, placing this role within the broader scope of operations support and enhancement, particularly in how product design impacts internal business processes.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and execute the user-facing digital product strategy, focusing on enhancing the experience for seniors, their support people, and insurance carrier partners.
• Apply product thinking, visual design, interaction design, and prototyping skills to envision, design, and ship features for the core digital user experience.
• Conduct comprehensive UX research, including user interviews, lean research methodologies, and stakeholder engagement, to deeply understand user needs and pain points.
• Design intuitive and accessible user interfaces for both mobile and web platforms, ensuring a consistent and positive user journey.
• Optimize service design, with a specific emphasis on improving internal workflows and operational efficiency for the Operations team.
• Develop and maintain a design library to ensure consistency in user experiences across all product touchpoints, adhering to consumer-facing design best practices.
• Collaborate effectively within empowered, outcome-driven product teams, working closely with product managers and tech leads.
• Create rapid prototypes to test and validate design concepts quickly and efficiently.
• Translate user needs and business requirements into compelling and functional design solutions.
• Act as the primary product designer, taking initiative and working independently while also fostering a collaborative design process.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "optimizing service design, especially in improving internal workflows with Operations" is a key differentiator. This indicates the role requires a designer who can not only focus on external user experience but also deeply understand and improve internal operational processes through design, bridging the gap between user needs and operational efficiency.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

• 5+ years of professional experience in product design, with a proven track record of shipping user-centric digital products.
• Demonstrated experience in environments with rapidly changing priorities, requiring adaptability and quick iteration based on new information.
• Proven ability to conduct lean research, user interviews, and engage effectively with customers and internal stakeholders.
• Experience in designing for both mobile and web platforms is essential.
• Solid understanding of service design principles and their application in improving user and operational workflows.
• Familiarity with the healthcare industry is a significant plus.
• Experience with insurance products or e-commerce experiences is considered a bonus.

Required Skills:

• Proficiency in User Experience (UX) research methodologies, including user interviews, surveys, and usability testing.
• Expertise in interaction design, information architecture, and creating intuitive user flows.
• Strong visual design skills with an understanding of UI principles and best practices.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and use prototyping tools (e.g., Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD) for rapid ideation and testing.
• Commitment to accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG), ensuring products are usable by everyone.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions to cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently, take initiative, and manage multiple design projects simultaneously.
• Proficiency in problem-solving and translating complex user needs into elegant design solutions.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with service design to optimize internal operational workflows.
• Familiarity with the healthcare or insurance industries.
• Knowledge of e-commerce design principles.
• Experience working in an agile development environment.
• Understanding of data analysis to inform design decisions and measure impact.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "5+ years of experience... especially in an environment where priorities can change quickly" coupled with the emphasis on independent work as the "first product designer" suggests a need for a highly adaptable, self-starting individual capable of establishing design processes and best practices from the ground up within a scaling organization.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrate a strong understanding of the end-to-end product design process, from discovery and research to ideation, prototyping, and final design.
• Showcase case studies that highlight your ability to conduct user research, analyze findings, and translate them into actionable design solutions.
• Include examples of user flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and high-fidelity visual designs for both web and mobile applications.
• Present projects where you've focused on improving user satisfaction, task completion rates, and overall usability.
• Quantify the impact of your design work with metrics, user feedback, or demonstrable improvements in user behavior or operational efficiency.

Process Documentation:

• Provide examples of how you have documented user journeys, service blueprints, or interaction specifications to ensure clarity and consistency.
• Highlight your approach to iterating on designs based on user feedback, A/B testing results, or performance metrics.
• Showcase experience in developing and maintaining design systems or style guides to ensure consistent brand and user experience across products.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the role's emphasis on improving "internal workflows with Operations," a portfolio should ideally include at least one case study demonstrating how design thinking was applied to solve an internal operational challenge or improve an internal process, showcasing the designer's ability to impact both external users and internal efficiency.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• The stated salary range for this role is $120,000 - $140,000 USD per year.

Benefits:

• The Helper Bees offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employees' well-being and professional development. While specific details are not provided in the listing, typical benefits for a full-time role at a scaling company often include:
  • Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance: Comprehensive medical coverage for employees and their families.
  • Paid Time Off (PTO): Generous vacation, sick leave, and holiday pay.
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan: With potential company matching contributions.
  • Professional Development: Opportunities for training, certifications, and attending industry conferences.
  • Remote Work Flexibility: The ability to work from approved locations within the United States.
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Support services for personal and professional challenges.

Working Hours:

• This is a full-time position. While specific daily hours are not detailed, a standard professional workweek of approximately 40 hours is expected. Remote work flexibility is offered, allowing employees to manage their workday within the needs of the team and project deadlines.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a remote role based in Austin, TX (America/Chicago timezone), the salary range of $120,000-$140,000 is competitive for a Sr. Product Designer with 5+ years of experience. This range generally aligns with market rates in major tech hubs for similar roles, considering the company's focus on a mission-driven impact.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Healthcare Technology, Senior Care Services, Insurance Services. The Helper Bees operates at the intersection of these sectors, aiming to simplify and improve the process of connecting seniors with necessary services and support, often facilitated through insurance partnerships. Company Size: The provided data does not specify company size, but the mention of "scaling our impact" and being the "first product designer" suggests a growing, dynamic, and potentially early-to-mid-stage startup environment. Founded: The founding date is not provided, but the company's mission suggests a focus on innovation within the elder care and insurance technology space.

Team Structure:

• The Senior Product Designer will be the inaugural design hire and will work closely with Product Management and Engineering teams. This implies a relatively flat, collaborative structure where designers have a direct impact on product direction.
• Reporting structure is not explicitly stated, but likely a direct report to a Head of Product, VP of Product, or similar leadership role within the product organization.
• Cross-functional collaboration is a core expectation, involving close partnerships with Product Managers, Tech Leads, Engineering, and importantly, internal Operations teams to optimize workflows.

Methodology:

• The company emphasizes a user-centric approach, driven by deep understanding and a willingness to "try new things, and be wrong." This points to an iterative design process grounded in research and experimentation.
• A focus on "outcome-driven product management" suggests alignment with modern product development frameworks where success is measured by business and user outcomes rather than just feature delivery.
• The drive to evolve towards an "empowered product team model" indicates a commitment to agile methodologies, autonomy for teams, and a focus on solving problems rather than executing tasks.

Company Website: http://thehelperbees.com/careers

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to "help millions of Seniors and their support people identify and fulfill their needs" suggests a strong purpose-driven culture. For a designer, this means opportunities to create work with tangible social impact, which can be a significant motivator. The "first product designer" aspect implies a ground-floor opportunity to shape design processes and culture.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Product Designer role, indicating a mid-to-senior level position. It requires a strong foundation in design principles and the ability to work autonomously, while also contributing to strategic product decisions. The role also has a unique blend of external user-facing design and internal operational workflow improvement. Reporting Structure: While not explicitly stated, a Senior Product Designer typically reports to a Design Lead, Product Manager, or a Director/VP of Product. Given this is the first designer, they might report directly to a top-level product executive. The role will involve close collaboration with Product Managers and Engineering Leads. Operations Impact: The Senior Product Designer's impact extends beyond user satisfaction to directly influencing the efficiency and effectiveness of internal operations. By optimizing workflows through design, this role can significantly reduce operational overhead, improve service delivery speed, and enhance the overall scalability of The Helper Bees' services. This cross-functional impact is a key aspect of the role's significance.

Growth Opportunities:

• Establish Design Practice: Opportunity to build and define the product design function and design system from its inception, setting the standard for future design hires.
• Leadership Potential: As the first designer, there's potential to grow into a Design Lead or Manager role as the company scales and hires more designers.
• Broad Skill Development: Gaining experience in both user-facing product design and internal process optimization offers a unique skill set valuable in many tech and operations roles.
• Industry Expertise: Deepening knowledge in the growing elder care and health-tech sectors, which can open doors to specialized roles in these industries.
• Strategic Influence: Directly contributing to product strategy and influencing the direction of a company making a significant social impact.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "first product designer" status is a significant growth opportunity. It means the individual will have substantial autonomy and the chance to shape the design culture, processes, and tooling, which is a rare and valuable experience for a senior-level professional.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The position is listed as "OFF-SITE" with remote work flexibility within the United States. This indicates a distributed workforce model. Office Location(s): While the primary listing is "OFF-SITE" with an Austin, TX reference, the physical office environment is not detailed. The company likely operates with a distributed team model, meaning the "work environment" is primarily the employee's home office or a suitable remote workspace. Workspace Context:

• As a remote position, the workspace is the employee's responsibility, requiring a professional, quiet environment conducive to focused work and virtual meetings, with reliable internet access.
• Collaboration will primarily occur through digital tools (e.g., Slack, Zoom, project management software), fostering a connected but asynchronous work style.
• The company aims for an "empowered product team model," suggesting a culture of autonomy, trust, and results-oriented work within remote teams.
• The focus on seniors and their supporters implies a compassionate and empathetic approach within the team's interactions and product development.

Work Schedule:

• Full-time, with remote flexibility. Standard business hours are expected, but the distributed nature may allow for some flexibility in daily scheduling as long as collaboration and deliverables are met. This flexibility is beneficial for managing personal commitments alongside work responsibilities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote nature of the role means candidates should be comfortable with digital collaboration tools and self-management. The company's mission suggests a culture that values empathy and impact, which should translate into the virtual workspace's communication and team dynamics.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess qualifications and experience.
• Hiring Manager/Product Lead Interview: A discussion about your background, design philosophy, experience with user research, and understanding of the role's responsibilities, particularly regarding operations.
• Design Challenge/Portfolio Review: A more in-depth session where you'll present your portfolio, walk through key case studies, and potentially complete a design exercise. This will assess your problem-solving skills, design process, and ability to articulate your rationale. Expect questions focused on your experience with internal workflows and service design.
• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with members of the product, engineering, and operations teams to assess collaboration skills and cultural fit.
• Final Interview: Likely with senior leadership to discuss strategic alignment and overall fit for the company.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Impact: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your process, your specific contribution, and the measurable outcomes or impact achieved. Use the performance metrics mentioned in the job description (User Feedback, Usability Testing, Task Completion, Change in User Behavior) as a guide.
• Showcase Research & Strategy: Emphasize your UX research methodologies, how you gathered insights, and how those insights informed your design strategy. Include examples of lean research and user interviews.
• Demonstrate Operational Thinking: Since the role involves optimizing internal workflows, specifically call out any projects where you've designed for internal users or improved operational processes. Explain your approach to service design and workflow optimization.
• Visual Clarity & Storytelling: Present your work clearly and concisely. Use visuals effectively and structure your case studies as compelling stories that highlight your problem-solving journey.
• Preparation for Questions: Be ready to discuss your design decisions, trade-offs you made, challenges you faced, and how you collaborated with teams.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Mission: Research The Helper Bees' mission and value proposition to understand the context of the users (seniors, supporters, insurers) and the operational challenges.
• Service Design: Be prepared to discuss how you approach service design and how it can be applied to improve internal operations.
• Problem-Solving: Practice articulating your approach to solving ambiguous problems, especially those that bridge user experience and operational efficiency.
• Collaboration: Think about examples of how you've collaborated effectively with product managers, engineers, and operations stakeholders in previous roles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will likely focus heavily on the candidate's ability to translate abstract user needs into tangible product features and operational improvements. Given the "first product designer" aspect, expect questions probing your ability to define processes, manage stakeholder expectations, and work autonomously in a fast-paced environment.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Proficiency in industry-standard design tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), and prototyping tools like InVision or Figma's prototyping features is expected.
• Collaboration & Communication: Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet for daily communication and virtual meetings.
• Project Management: Familiarity with tools like Jira, Asana, Trello, or Monday.com for managing design tasks and collaborating with development teams.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Experience with analytics platforms like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, or similar tools to track user behavior, measure feature adoption, and inform design decisions.
• Ability to interpret data and translate insights into design improvements.

CRM & Automation:

• While not explicitly stated as a requirement for the designer, an understanding of how CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and automation tools impact user experience and operational workflows would be beneficial, especially given the focus on internal operations.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the job is for a designer, familiarity with analytics tools is crucial for demonstrating the impact of design decisions and for understanding user behavior that can inform both external product design and internal workflow optimizations.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Impact-Driven: A core value is making a measurable positive difference in the lives of seniors and their support networks, and by extension, improving the efficiency of internal operations.
• User-Centricity: Deep empathy for users, prioritizing their needs and experiences in all design and operational decisions.
• Adaptability & Learning: Embracing change, continuous learning, and a willingness to experiment and learn from mistakes (“thrive on deep understanding, trying new things, and being wrong”).
• Collaboration: Working effectively as part of empowered, cross-functional teams, fostering open communication and shared ownership.
• Efficiency & Effectiveness: A drive to create solutions that are not only user-friendly but also streamline processes and improve overall operational effectiveness.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: The designer will work closely with Product Managers and Engineers, acting as a bridge between user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility.
• Operations Partnership: A key aspect of collaboration will be with internal Operations teams, requiring the designer to understand their challenges and co-create solutions that improve their workflows.
• Iterative Feedback: Expect a culture that values continuous feedback loops, both for design iterations and for improving team processes.
• Empowered Teams: Collaboration within "empowered product teams" suggests a model where teams have autonomy to define their problems and solutions, requiring strong communication and shared accountability.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company’s emphasis on being "the first product designer" implies a culture that is open to establishing new processes and allowing individuals to shape their roles. The blend of user focus and operational efficiency suggests a pragmatic, results-oriented team that values both innovation and practical implementation.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Establishing Design Practice: As the first product designer, a significant challenge will be to build out the design function, including establishing processes, setting standards, and potentially creating a design system from scratch.
• Balancing User Needs and Operational Efficiency: Effectively designing for both external senior users and internal operations teams requires a nuanced understanding of different user contexts and priorities.
• Navigating a Scaling Organization: Working in a company that is "scaling its impact" means adapting to change, evolving priorities, and contributing to a growing team and product suite.
• Remote Collaboration: Ensuring effective communication and collaboration with a distributed team requires strong proactive communication and relationship-building skills.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Design System Development: Opportunity to create and own a design system, a highly valuable skill for any product designer.
• Service Design Mastery: Gaining practical experience in applying service design principles to optimize real-world operational workflows.
• Industry Exposure: Deepening expertise in the rapidly growing and impactful fields of HealthTech and senior care.
• Strategic Product Input: Contributing directly to product strategy and influencing the future direction of a mission-driven company.
• Leadership Experience: The potential to grow into leadership roles as the design team expands.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "challenges" in this role are also significant growth opportunities. The ability to build a design practice from the ground up, influence strategy, and tackle complex problems that span user experience and operations will provide a rich learning environment and a strong foundation for future career advancement.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Product Vision & Strategy: "How would you approach defining the product strategy for The Helper Bees, considering our mission to help seniors and their support people?" Prepare to discuss user research, market analysis, and how design informs strategy.
• User Research & Empathy: "Describe a time you conducted user research that significantly shifted your understanding of a user problem. How did you handle engaging with vulnerable user groups like seniors?" Focus on your methodologies and ethical considerations.
• Operational Workflow Design: "Can you walk us through a project where you improved an internal workflow or service design? What was your process, and how did you measure success?" Be ready to detail your approach to understanding operational pain points and designing solutions.
• Collaboration & Stakeholder Management: "How do you collaborate with product managers and engineers to ensure design vision is realized? How do you handle disagreements or pushback on your design decisions?" Provide specific examples of cross-functional teamwork.
• Problem-Solving & Iteration: "Describe a complex design problem you faced and how you broke it down. How do you approach iterating on designs based on feedback and data?" Highlight your analytical skills and iterative process.

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about The Helper Bees' mission, and how do you see your role contributing to it?" Show genuine interest and alignment with the company's purpose.
• "How do you approach working in a fast-paced, evolving environment as the first product designer on the team?" Demonstrate your adaptability, initiative, and comfort with ambiguity.
• "What are your expectations for collaboration within a remote, empowered product team?" Discuss your communication style and preferred team dynamics.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: Structure your portfolio presentations like compelling stories, clearly outlining the problem, your process, your solution, and the impact.
• Quantify Everything: Whenever possible, use metrics, user feedback quotes, or quantifiable results to support the success of your projects. For operational workflow projects, highlight efficiency gains or time savings.
• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals, wireframes, prototypes, and mockups to illustrate your design thinking and execution.
• Focus on "Why": Be prepared to explain the rationale behind your design decisions and trade-offs.
• Address the Operations Aspect: Make sure to highlight any work that demonstrates your ability to understand and improve internal processes or service design.

Challenge Preparation:

• Scenario-Based Thinking: Anticipate potential design challenges related to user accessibility, complex information architecture, or improving operational efficiency.
• Process Mapping: If given a workflow challenge, be ready to quickly map out the current state and propose improvements.
• Prioritization: Be prepared to discuss how you would prioritize design tasks and features in a dynamic environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will likely assess not only design craft but also strategic thinking, problem-solving skills, and the ability to operate effectively in a "first-of-its-kind" role within a growing company. Be ready to showcase your ability to build and influence, not just execute.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations-aligned design position:

• Submit your application through the provided recruiting link on recruiting.paylocity.com.
• Portfolio Customization: Curate your portfolio to prominently feature projects that demonstrate your user research skills, interaction and visual design expertise, and especially any work involving service design or improving internal operational workflows. Select 2-3 key case studies that best represent your capabilities for this role.
• Resume Optimization: Tailor your resume to highlight your 5+ years of product design experience, emphasizing achievements related to user satisfaction, task completion, and any quantifiable improvements you've driven. Ensure keywords like "UX Research," "Interaction Design," "Service Design," and "Operational Efficiency" are present where relevant.
• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, your approach to user research (including lean methods), and your experience with improving internal processes. Prepare specific examples for collaboration and problem-solving scenarios. Rehearse presenting your portfolio case studies, focusing on impact and rationale.
• Company Research: Thoroughly research The Helper Bees – their mission, values, target users (seniors, support people, insurers), and recent news. Understand how their product aims to solve real-world problems and how your design skills can contribute to both user experience and operational effectiveness.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with The Helper Bees through their official application process before making application decisions. Pay close attention to any specific instructions provided during the application or interview stages.