Staff Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer

Company: Benevity

Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design / GTM Operations

Date Posted: 2026-02-17

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the strategic evolution of Benevity's donation experience, focusing on eCommerce-grade optimization and behavioral science to enhance global giving impact.

• Drive product experience excellence by translating ambiguous problem spaces into intuitive, elegant, and durable solutions through a strong user-centered design approach.

• Act as a thought leader in design systems, specifically stewarding and evolving the "Skyline" design system to ensure consistency, scalability, and accessibility across the product ecosystem.

• Leverage deep qualitative and quantitative insights to define problems, evaluate design trade-offs, and connect user experience outcomes to tangible business results and user conversion metrics.

• Champion accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1/2.2) and user-centered logic, ensuring AI-assisted discovery and development cycles are guided by high-quality design principles.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Staff Product Designer," the core responsibilities heavily emphasize optimization, user conversion, behavioral science, and connecting user experience to business results. This strongly aligns with GTM (Go-To-Market) operations principles, particularly in optimizing conversion funnels and user journeys that directly impact revenue (giving impact). The role requires a blend of strategic product design and a data-driven, performance-oriented mindset common in GTM operations.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Spearhead the transformation of Benevity's donation experience, applying advanced optimization strategies and behavioral science principles to minimize friction and maximize philanthropic impact.

• Utilize a robust understanding of user psychology and motivational design to craft experiences that encourage and increase user conversion and retention.

• Conduct in-depth qualitative and quantitative user research and analysis to identify pain points, validate design hypotheses, and measure the impact of design decisions on key business metrics.

• Lead and facilitate cross-functional design explorations and workshops, ensuring alignment between Product, Engineering, Data, and Research teams around shared problem definitions and strategic design direction.

• Steward and actively contribute to the "Skyline" design system, identifying systemic design gaps, influencing standards, and ensuring adherence to consistency, scalability, and accessibility best practices across all product touchpoints.

• Elevate the team's craft and standards through leading design critiques, mentoring junior designers, and demonstrating an exceptional attention to detail in typography, layout, color, and overall aesthetic quality.

• Define, track, and report on key success metrics for usability and impact, using data and user feedback to drive continuous, quantifiable improvements in user conversion and retention rates.

• Collaborate closely with Product and Engineering leadership to translate complex business needs and ambiguous problem spaces into clear, actionable, and user-centric design solutions.

• Ensure all design deliverables meet high standards for accessibility, adhering to WCAG 2.1/2.2 guidelines, and integrate AI-assisted discovery and development processes with user-centered logic.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "optimization strategies," "behavioral science," "user conversion," "retention," and "connecting user experience outcomes to business results" strongly suggests this role requires a deep understanding of GTM and potentially revenue operations principles. The responsibilities involve not just creating user interfaces but optimizing them for performance, which is a core function within GTM operations.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating a deep understanding of design principles, user psychology, and optimization strategies is paramount. Equivalent practical experience is highly valued.

Experience:

• A proven track record of 10+ years in designing and scaling high-traffic, consumer-facing products, with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, or fundraising platforms.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Leadership: Proven ability to lead complex design explorations, influence product strategy, and drive design vision for significant product areas.

• Optimization & Conversion Design: Deep understanding of conversion funnels, user drop-off points, and designing for high-performance outcomes, particularly in transactional flows.

• Behavioral Science & User Psychology: Ability to articulate how psychological nudges and motivational design principles drive user action and engagement.

• Design Systems Stewardship: Experience in stewarding, evolving, and influencing design system standards for consistency, scalability, and maintainability.

• Accessibility Expertise: In-depth knowledge of WCAG 2.1/2.2 standards and a portfolio demonstrating practical application in inclusive design.

• Figma Mastery: High proficiency in Figma for creating detailed mockups, high-fidelity prototypes, and design system components.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Ability to define success metrics, analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and use insights to drive iterative design improvements.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Strong ability to partner effectively with Product Management, Engineering, Data, and Research teams.

Preferred Skills:

• AI-Native Tools: Familiarity with and ability to leverage emerging AI tools in design and development workflows.

• E-commerce Best Practices: Extensive knowledge of current e-commerce trends and optimization techniques.

• Fundraising/Philanthropy Tech: Experience within the social impact or fundraising technology sector.

• Data Storytelling: Ability to present data-backed insights and design rationale clearly to senior stakeholders.

• Visual Design Craft: An exceptional eye for detail in typography, layout, balance, and aesthetics, creating premium and trustworthy interfaces.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "10+ years," "scaling high-traffic consumer-facing products," "e-commerce, fintech, or fundraising," "checkout experience," "conversion funnels," and "math of a transaction" indicates this role is not just about aesthetics but about driving measurable business outcomes through design, which aligns with GTM operations goals.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies of Optimization: Showcase 2-3 detailed case studies demonstrating your direct impact on user conversion, retention, or transaction volume for high-traffic consumer-facing products. Clearly articulate the problem, your design process, the specific optimization strategies employed, and the quantifiable results.

• Checkout/Transaction Flow Design: Include examples specifically highlighting your design approach to complex checkout or transactional flows, illustrating how you've reduced friction and enhanced the user experience during critical conversion moments.

• Design System Contribution: Provide examples of your contributions to a design system (e.g., "Skyline"), demonstrating how you've ensured consistency, scalability, and accessibility across multiple product touchpoints.

• Accessibility Integration: Clearly showcase how accessibility (WCAG 2.1/2.2) was integrated into your design process and deliverables, with specific examples of inclusive design solutions.

• Data-Driven Iteration: Illustrate how you've used qualitative and quantitative data and user feedback to iterate on designs and drive measurable improvements.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design for Optimization: Be prepared to discuss your process for identifying optimization opportunities within user flows, from initial hypothesis generation to A/B testing and implementation.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Detail your methods for facilitating collaboration and achieving alignment with Product, Engineering, and Data teams on complex design challenges.

• Metrics Definition & Tracking: Explain how you define success metrics for design initiatives, particularly those related to conversion, engagement, and impact, and how you track these metrics post-launch.

📝 Enhancement Note: The demand for detailed case studies on "optimization strategies," "user conversion," "retention," and "quantifiable results" directly aligns with the expectations for GTM and Revenue Operations professionals who must demonstrate their ability to impact business metrics through process improvements and strategic execution.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: For a Staff Product Designer with 10+ years of experience in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a competitive salary range would typically fall between CAD $150,000 to CAD $200,000 annually, depending on specific experience, skills, and performance during the interview process.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health & Wellness: Extended health, dental, and vision coverage, potentially including mental health support and wellness programs.

• Retirement Savings Plan: Contributions to a RRSP or similar retirement savings plan, potentially with employer matching.

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

• Generous Paid Time Off: Vacation days, personal days, and paid holidays to support employee well-being and rejuvenation.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for continuous learning, including access to training, conferences, and resources to advance skills in product design, optimization, and behavioral science.

• Purpose-Driven Work: Opportunity to contribute to a mission-driven company focused on social impact and making a positive difference through technology.

Working Hours: The standard full-time working hours are approximately 40 hours per week. The hybrid work arrangement offers flexibility in scheduling, with an expectation of collaboration during core business hours and potential for some in-person engagement as needed for team alignment and project work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on industry benchmarks for senior/staff-level design roles in major Canadian tech hubs like Calgary, considering the requirement for extensive experience and specialized skills in optimization and behavioral science. Benevity's focus on social impact and its B Corp status suggest a strong emphasis on benefits that support employee well-being and purpose.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology (SaaS), Social Impact Technology, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Platforms. Benevity operates at the intersection of technology and philanthropy, enabling companies to manage and amplify their social impact initiatives.

Company Size: Benevity is a significant player in its niche, likely employing several hundred to over a thousand individuals globally, indicating a mature, well-resourced organization with established processes but still agile enough for impactful design work.

Founded: Benevity was founded in 2008, giving it over a decade of experience in the social impact technology space. This history suggests a company with a deep understanding of the market, a stable foundation, and a proven track record of innovation and growth.

Team Structure:

• The Product team is likely structured around product lines or key customer journeys, with Product Designers embedded within these pods.

• This Staff Product Designer will likely report to a Director or VP of Product Design or a Head of Product, with a dotted line to Product Management and Engineering leads for specific initiatives.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Emphasis on using analytics, user research, and A/B testing to inform design decisions and measure impact on business objectives like user conversion and engagement.

• Agile Development: Likely operates within an Agile or hybrid Agile framework, requiring designers to be adaptable and responsive to evolving requirements and feedback.

• User-Centered Approach: A strong commitment to understanding user needs, behaviors, and motivations through research and empathy.

• Design System Integration: Active use and contribution to a centralized design system ("Skyline") to ensure product consistency, efficiency, and scalability.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: Benevity's positioning as a B Corp and its mission to "do good" suggest a company culture prioritizing purpose, ethical practices, and employee well-being alongside business success. The "Skyline" design system implies a mature design practice focused on scalability and consistency.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a "Staff" level role, indicating a senior individual contributor position. It signifies a high degree of autonomy, strategic influence, and expertise. Staff designers are expected to tackle ambiguous problems, drive significant product initiatives, mentor others, and contribute to the overall design practice and strategy. They are key players in translating business objectives into user-centered solutions that drive measurable impact.

Reporting Structure: The Staff Product Designer will likely report to a senior design leader (e.g., Director/VP of Design or Head of Product Design) and work collaboratively within cross-functional product teams. While reporting to a design leader, the role's success will heavily depend on influencing Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and potentially GTM stakeholders.

Operations Impact: The impact of this role is directly tied to optimizing the "donation experience" and driving "global giving impact." This translates to significant revenue generation (through increased transaction volume and value) and positive social impact. The optimization focus means the role is inherently tied to GTM performance metrics like conversion rates, user engagement, and customer lifetime value as it relates to philanthropic activity.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership Track: Potential to move into Principal or Director-level design roles, leading larger teams or defining design strategy for entire product areas.

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in areas like behavioral economics, conversion rate optimization (CRO), or accessibility standards, becoming a go-to expert within the organization.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Transition into Product Management or GTM strategy roles, leveraging a deep understanding of user experience and business drivers.

• Mentorship & Practice Improvement: Play a key role in shaping the design team's processes, standards, and culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" designation and emphasis on strategic impact and cross-functional influence position this role as a critical contributor with significant growth potential, especially given its direct link to GTM performance metrics.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Benevity operates a hybrid work model, valuing in-person collaboration for onboarding, project alignment, and team bonding, while also supporting remote flexibility. This suggests a modern, adaptable office space designed for collaboration, meetings, and focused work.

Office Location(s): While the primary location listed is Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Benevity has a global presence. For this role, the hybrid model implies that individuals in or near Calgary will have opportunities to engage at a local office, while still benefiting from remote flexibility.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: Offices are likely equipped with meeting rooms, brainstorming areas, and collaborative zones to facilitate cross-functional teamwork.

• Technology-Enabled: Access to necessary design tools (Figma, AI tools), high-speed internet, and communication platforms to support both in-office and remote work.

• Inclusive Atmosphere: Emphasis on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) suggests an environment where diverse perspectives are welcomed and celebrated, fostering a sense of psychological safety for designers to share ideas and feedback.

Work Schedule: The hybrid model allows for flexibility in work hours, accommodating personal needs while ensuring availability for team collaboration and critical project deadlines. The focus is on delivering impactful results rather than strict adherence to rigid schedules.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid approach and emphasis on DEIB suggest a modern, people-centric workplace that values both individual contribution and collaborative synergy, important for a senior design role influencing complex product areas.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will likely review your application and portfolio, assessing alignment with the core requirements and experience level.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: Expect a session where you present 1-2 key case studies from your portfolio, focusing on your strategic approach, problem-solving process, optimization strategies, and quantifiable results. This is where your understanding of conversion and behavioral science will be heavily scrutinized.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and potentially other designers or researchers to assess collaboration skills, technical understanding, and design process.

• Staff-Level Strategic Interview: A conversation with senior design or product leadership focusing on your strategic thinking, ability to tackle ambiguous problems, leadership potential, and impact on business outcomes.

• Final Interview/Offer: Typically with a senior executive or VP, focusing on cultural fit, leadership alignment, and final compensation discussions.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your specific role, the design solutions, the strategic rationale (especially regarding optimization and behavioral science), and the measurable business impact (e.g., % increase in conversion, reduction in drop-off).

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals of your designs, wireframes, prototypes, and data charts to illustrate your process and results.

• Highlight Optimization & Psychology: Explicitly call out how you applied optimization strategies, psychological principles, or data analysis to achieve positive outcomes.

• Demonstrate Process: Walk through your thought process, decision-making, and how you collaborated with cross-functional teams.

• Accessibility Integration: Ensure your portfolio clearly demonstrates how you incorporate accessibility standards into your design workflow.

• Tailor to Benevity: Research Benevity's mission and existing products to tailor your presentation and highlight relevant experiences.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design a Donation Flow: Be prepared for a hypothetical challenge to design or optimize a specific part of a donation flow, requiring you to articulate your strategy, consider user psychology, and identify potential optimization points.

• Problem-Solving Scenarios: Anticipate questions about how you would approach ambiguous problems, handle conflicting stakeholder feedback, or measure the success of a new feature.

• Design System Thinking: Be ready to discuss how you'd contribute to or evolve a design system like "Skyline."

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on portfolio case studies showcasing "optimization strategies," "user conversion," and "quantifiable results" is critical. This role requires a GTM-oriented approach to design, focusing on driving business metrics through user experience.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The primary tool for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration. Mastery is essential.

• AI-Native Tools: Proficiency or familiarity with emerging AI tools for design assistance, ideation, or prototyping.

• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma, potentially experience with other advanced prototyping software for high-fidelity or interactive prototypes.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Analytics Platforms: Experience with tools like Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel, or similar for analyzing user behavior, conversion funnels, and engagement metrics.

• A/B Testing Tools: Familiarity with platforms like Optimizely, VWO, or in-house A/B testing frameworks for experimental design and validation.

• Data Visualization Tools: Ability to interpret and potentially create dashboards or reports using tools like Tableau, Looker, or Power BI to communicate insights.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a CRM/automation role, understanding how design impacts CRM data capture and automated user journeys is beneficial. Familiarity with how user actions within the donation flow might feed into CRM systems or trigger automated communications could be advantageous.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma is a given, but the emphasis on "AI-assisted discovery" and the need to "use data and user feedback to drive continuous, quantifiable improvements" highlights the importance of analytics and A/B testing tools, aligning the role with performance-driven GTM operations.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Purpose-Driven: A strong commitment to Benevity's mission of enabling social good, translating into a desire to create impactful and meaningful user experiences.

• Data-Informed & User-Centric: Decisions are guided by both user needs and quantitative data, with a focus on measurable outcomes.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Open communication and teamwork across functions (Product, Engineering, Data, GTM) to achieve shared goals.

• Excellence & Craftsmanship: A dedication to high-quality design, meticulous attention to detail, and a continuous drive to elevate standards.

• Innovation & Adaptability: Embracing new technologies (like AI) and methodologies to continuously improve processes and product experiences.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Designers are expected to be active participants in product development, working closely with PMs and Engineers from ideation through launch and iteration.

• Feedback-Rich Environment: A culture that encourages constructive critique and open feedback to foster growth and improve design quality.

• Data-Driven Storytelling: Collaborating with Data Analysts to leverage insights and communicate design rationale and impact effectively to stakeholders.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values emphasize a blend of mission-driven work with a rigorous, data-informed approach to design and optimization, mirroring the expectations in high-performing GTM operations teams.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Impact and Scale: Designing for a global audience with diverse needs and ensuring the donation experience is both highly optimized for conversion and universally accessible and intuitive.

• Translating Ambiguity into Action: Taking complex business objectives and vague problem statements and translating them into concrete, user-centered design solutions that drive measurable results.

• Championing Design Excellence: Maintaining high standards for craft, accessibility, and user experience in a fast-paced environment while influencing stakeholders across different departments.

• Integrating Emerging Technologies: Effectively incorporating AI-assisted tools into the design workflow without compromising user-centered principles or design quality.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Optimization Techniques: Deepen expertise in conversion rate optimization (CRO), A/B testing methodologies, and behavioral economics applied to user journeys.

• Design System Leadership: Opportunities to take on more significant leadership roles within the "Skyline" design system, influencing its future direction and adoption.

• Cross-Functional Acumen: Develop a deeper understanding of product management, engineering constraints, and GTM strategies through close collaboration.

• Mentorship & Coaching: Opportunity to mentor junior designers and contribute to the growth and development of the broader design team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges highlight the need for strategic thinking, data-driven optimization, and strong cross-functional influence, all key attributes for success in GTM operations.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you significantly improved a user conversion funnel for a high-traffic consumer product. What data did you use, what strategies did you employ, and what were the quantifiable results?" (Focus on optimization, data, and measurable impact.)

• "How do you leverage behavioral science or psychological principles to design for user engagement or to influence user action in a transaction-heavy flow?" (Demonstrate understanding of user motivation.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Benevity's mission is to do good. How would you ensure our donation experience design not only drives impact but also effectively communicates our mission and values to users?" (Connect design to company mission.)

• "How do you approach collaborating with Product Managers and Engineers on complex, ambiguous problems? Can you provide an example?" (Assess cross-functional collaboration.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Quantify Everything: For each case study, lead with the business impact. Use clear numbers and percentages to demonstrate your contribution to conversion rates, revenue, or user engagement.

• Structure for Impact: For each case study, follow a clear narrative: Problem -> Your Role -> Process & Strategy (Optimization, Psychology) -> Solution -> Results (Quantified).

• Highlight Design Craft: Showcase your attention to detail in UI elements, typography, and layout, but always tie it back to how it supports the user experience and business goals.

• Showcase Collaboration: Be ready to discuss how you worked with other teams, handled feedback, and iterated based on their input.

• Accessibility as a Core: Integrate discussions about accessibility into your case studies, demonstrating it's a fundamental part of your process, not an add-on.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation strongly emphasizes demonstrating quantifiable impact, understanding of optimization and behavioral science, and cross-functional collaboration, all critical elements for a role that bridges design with GTM performance.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Benevity careers page.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to prominently feature 2-3 case studies that specifically highlight your experience in optimizing consumer-facing products, conversion funnels, and leveraging behavioral science. Ensure each case study clearly articulates the problem, your process, the strategic design choices made for optimization, and the quantifiable business impact (e.g., % increase in conversion, reduction in drop-off).

• Resume Optimization: Update your resume to emphasize your 10+ years of experience, specific achievements in e-commerce, fintech, or fundraising product design, and proficiency in optimization strategies, behavioral science, WCAG accessibility, and Figma. Use keywords from the job description naturally.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, strategic thinking, and data-driven decision-making. Prepare to discuss how you would approach optimizing Benevity's donation experience and be ready to present your portfolio case studies with a strong focus on measurable results and user psychology.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Benevity's mission, values, B Corp status, and its current product offerings. Understand their commitment to social impact and how your design expertise can contribute to their goals.

⚠️ 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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