Staff Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer
Company: Ditto
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, United States; San Francisco, California, United States; Remote
Job Type: Full-time
Category: Product Design / Engineering Operations
Date Posted: 2025-11-01
Experience Level: 5-10 Years
Remote Status: Fully Remote Eligible

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the design of innovative, no-code, AI-enabled app builders for native and web applications, focusing on resilient, real-time functionality.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive design systems to ensure consistency and flexibility across web, iOS, iPadOS, and Android platforms.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management to define product vision and strategy, and partner with Engineering to ensure high-quality, rapid delivery of user experiences.
• Contribute to the design of customer applications, sales demo apps, and the management portal for Ditto's core developer product, ensuring a coherent information architecture and end-to-end user journey.
• Lead the design discipline within the team, influencing tools, frameworks, and best practices for creating exceptional user interfaces and user experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a "Staff Product Designer," indicating a senior individual contributor role with significant influence. The emphasis on leading design as a discipline suggests a need for strategic thinking and mentorship beyond individual contributions. The focus on an "AI-enabled app builder" and "offline-first software" points towards a complex, system-level design challenge within a rapidly evolving technological landscape. This aligns with a high-impact role in GTM operations, particularly in product enablement and developer experience.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design and iterate on a no-code, AI-enabled platform that empowers users to create native and web applications with offline-first capabilities.
• Architect and evolve robust design systems that support a wide array of flexible applications across web, iOS, iPadOS, and Android, ensuring brand consistency and user familiarity.
• Conceptualize and design customer-facing applications and compelling demo applications for the sales team to showcase Ditto's capabilities.
• Contribute to the strategic design of the management portal for Ditto's existing developer product, enhancing usability and efficiency for technical users.
• Map and design coherent information architectures and end-to-end customer journeys for both internal tools and external-facing products.
• Champion and lead the design discipline, defining and implementing best practices, tools, and frameworks for design operations and execution.
• Craft thoughtful, high-quality user interfaces for both native mobile and web applications, prioritizing usability and aesthetic appeal.
• Design study plans and facilitate both generative and evaluative user research sessions to deeply understand customer needs and validate design solutions.
• Actively collaborate with product management to shape product direction, define roadmaps, and translate strategic vision into tangible design outcomes.
• Foster strong partnerships with engineering teams, ensuring seamless collaboration for the efficient and high-quality delivery of design solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic product design, system design, and leadership within the design function. The inclusion of "AI-enabled app builder" and "offline-first technologies" suggests a need for designers who can think abstractly and systemically, anticipating the complexities of data synchronization and distributed systems. The emphasis on supporting sales demos and a management portal indicates a need for understanding different user personas, from citizen developers to technical users, and aligning design efforts with broader Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent practical experience in product design, human-computer interaction, or a related field is expected.

Experience:

• 5-10 years of progressive experience in product design, with a focus on user-centered design methodologies and system thinking.
• Proven experience leading design efforts as a design lead or solo designer on cross-functional product teams.
• Demonstrated experience conducting generative and evaluative user research to inform design decisions and validate solutions.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Leadership: Ability to lead design initiatives, mentor junior designers, and influence product strategy.
• System Design Thinking: Proficiency in thinking in systems before interfaces to ensure consistent and coherent user experiences across complex products.
• User Interface (UI) Design: Expertise in designing high-quality, intuitive interfaces for both web and mobile applications.
• Information Architecture (IA) & User Journeys: Skill in creating robust information architectures and mapping comprehensive end-to-end customer journeys.
• User Research: Experience designing study plans and facilitating generative (e.g., interviews, ethnographic studies) and evaluative (e.g., usability testing, A/B testing) research.
• Cross-Platform Design: Ability to design flexible applications across web, iOS, iPadOS, and Android platforms.
• Collaboration & Communication: Strong ability to collaborate effectively with product management, engineering, and other stakeholders, articulating design decisions clearly.
• Customer-Centricity: A deep curiosity and customer focus, grounding design work in solving real customer problems.
• Agile Methodologies: Experience working within agile development environments, iterating quickly and adapting to feedback.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing app builders, design tools, or adjacent products.
• Experience with technical/developer products and working with technical users.
• Understanding of software engineering principles and the software development lifecycle.
• Expertise designing for offline-first technologies and distributed systems.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled tools and their application in product development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" title and the emphasis on "leading design as a discipline" suggest that candidates should be prepared to discuss their experience in setting design standards, advocating for design best practices, and potentially mentoring other designers. The "Great to Haves" are crucial for understanding the nuances of Ditto's product and target market, particularly the offline-first aspect and developer-facing tools. This indicates a need for designers who can translate complex technical concepts into user-friendly experiences.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a minimum of 2-3 in-depth case studies demonstrating your design process from problem identification to solution implementation.
• Highlight experience with complex systems, information architecture, and cross-platform design challenges.
• Include examples of how you've leveraged user research to inform design decisions and measure impact.
• Demonstrate proficiency in creating and utilizing design systems for scalable product development.
• Present work that reflects an understanding of AI-enabled tools or complex technical products, if applicable.

Process Documentation:

• Case studies should clearly outline the design process followed, including discovery, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration phases.
• Detail the methodologies used for user research, usability testing, and how insights were translated into design improvements.
• Illustrate the creation and application of design systems, component libraries, and style guides.
• For AI-related projects, explain the approach to designing for AI-driven features and user interactions.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Staff-level Product Designer role, the portfolio should go beyond just showcasing final UIs. It needs to demonstrate strategic thinking, problem-solving capabilities, and a deep understanding of the end-to-end design process. Candidates should be prepared to articulate the "why" behind their design decisions, the trade-offs considered, and the measurable impact of their work, especially in the context of complex systems and innovative technologies like AI and offline-first solutions.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: The base salary range for this position is $180,000 to $300,000 USD annually.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Life & Disability: Life insurance and disability insurance coverage.
• Retirement Planning: 401(k) plan with potential company match and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs).
• Global Benefits: In the UK, private healthcare through Vitality and a pension plan. For other international locations, equitable benefits and coverage are provided through a global employer platform.
• Flexible Time Off: Generous, flexible paid time off policy for all employees.
• Equity: Meaningful equity stake in the company, reflecting a shared stake in Ditto's success.
• Office Access: Optional access to Ditto's Atlanta and San Francisco offices for work or team meetups.

Working Hours: A standard 40-hour work week is expected, with flexibility to accommodate remote work and asynchronous collaboration across time zones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is broad, reflecting Ditto's location-based compensation model. Actual offers will depend on the candidate's specific location (cost of living and market data), skills, and experience. The benefits package is comprehensive and globally considerate, with a strong emphasis on equity, which is common in fast-growing startups. The "Apply Anyway" section in the original description suggests a company culture that values potential and passion over strict adherence to requirements, which is a positive signal for candidates.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology, specifically focusing on data synchronization and connectivity solutions at the edge, powering offline-first software applications. Company Size: Ditto is a fast-growing startup, indicated by its significant funding rounds ($145M+) and global distribution. This suggests an environment that is dynamic, agile, and offers substantial opportunities for impact. Founded: While the founding year isn't explicitly stated, the company's significant funding and established customer base (Chick-fil-A, Delta Airlines, U.S. military) indicate a mature startup phase, likely founded within the last 5-10 years.

Team Structure:

• Distributed & Collaborative: Ditto operates as a globally distributed team, emphasizing remote work and asynchronous collaboration.
• Cross-Functional Integration: The Product Design role requires close collaboration with Product Management and Engineering, indicating a highly integrated, cross-functional approach to product development.
• Scrappy & Impactful: The description mentions a "small, scrappy and highly collaborative team," suggesting an environment where individuals can make a significant impact and contribute directly to product direction.

Methodology:

• Customer-Centric & Problem-Driven: The company mission is to solve hard connectivity problems, and roles are expected to be grounded in real customer problems.
• Iterative Design & Development: The culture encourages quick iteration and continuous evaluation of work to maintain quality and coherence.
• Data-Informed Decision Making: While not explicitly detailed for design, the emphasis on "gathering just enough data" suggests a pragmatic, data-informed approach to design and product development.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: Ditto's focus on "redefining how data moves at the edge" and enabling "offline-first software" places it at the forefront of connectivity technology. This mission-critical aspect means that design decisions have a significant impact on user experience and operational reliability, particularly for enterprise and defense clients. The startup environment, combined with significant funding and high-profile clients, suggests a culture that values innovation, resilience, and rapid execution.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is classified as "Staff Product Designer," which typically represents a senior individual contributor level. This means the designer is expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, tackle complex challenges, and influence product strategy and design direction. It's a role that bridges individual contribution with leadership in design methodology and execution.

Reporting Structure: The designer will likely report to a Head of Product, Design Lead, or VP of Engineering/Product. Collaboration will be integral with Product Managers and Engineering leads, forming cross-functional product teams. The "lead design as a discipline" aspect suggests potential for influencing design team structure and processes as the company scales.

Operations Impact: The impact of this role is significant, directly shaping the user experience of Ditto's core products: the AI-enabled app builder, the developer management portal, and customer-facing applications. By enabling developers and citizen developers to build resilient, offline-first applications, this role contributes to Ditto's mission-critical solutions across various industries, thereby impacting revenue and market expansion.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: Opportunity to grow into a formal design leadership role (e.g., Design Manager, Head of Design) as the company scales, shaping the design team's strategy and processes.
• Specialization & Expertise: Deepen expertise in complex domains like AI-enabled tools, offline-first technologies, and system design, becoming a subject matter expert.
• Product Strategy Influence: Contribute significantly to product vision and roadmap, influencing the direction of Ditto's core offerings and market position.
• Cross-Functional Mentorship: Mentor and guide engineers and product managers on design thinking and user-centric development practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" designation implies a career path that emphasizes deep technical and strategic design skills rather than pure people management, although leadership within the design discipline is expected. Growth opportunities are likely tied to the company's scaling trajectory, offering chances to build out design functions, influence product strategy, and tackle increasingly complex technical and user challenges.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Ditto is a globally distributed, remote-first company. While they maintain physical offices in Atlanta and San Francisco, these serve as optional co-working spaces or hubs for in-person collaboration rather than mandatory work locations.

Office Location(s):

• Atlanta, Georgia, United States
• San Francisco, California, United States

Workspace Context:

• Remote-First Culture: The primary work environment is remote, requiring strong self-discipline, effective asynchronous communication, and comfort with digital collaboration tools.
• Collaborative Digital Space: Expect a highly digital workspace with extensive use of tools for communication (e.g., Slack), project management (e.g., Jira, Asana), and design collaboration (e.g., Figma, Miro).
• Cross-Functional Interaction: Opportunities for deep collaboration with product, engineering, and potentially sales and marketing teams through virtual meetings, shared design files, and collaborative platforms.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is implied, the remote-first and globally distributed nature of the team allows for flexibility in scheduling. The emphasis is on delivering high-quality work and effective collaboration rather than strict adherence to 9-to-5 hours, accommodating different time zones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote-first nature of Ditto means candidates must be comfortable with self-management and proficient in digital collaboration tools. The optional office spaces offer flexibility for those who prefer in-person interaction or need a dedicated workspace. The company's commitment to supporting diverse locations implies robust infrastructure for remote operations and team cohesion.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A brief call with a recruiter to assess basic qualifications and cultural fit.
• Hiring Manager Interview: Discussion with the hiring manager to delve into experience, role expectations, and team dynamics.
• Portfolio Presentation & Design Challenge: A critical stage where candidates present their portfolio, showcasing 1-2 in-depth case studies. This may be accompanied by a design exercise or a discussion of a hypothetical design problem relevant to Ditto's products.
• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Product Management and Engineering to evaluate collaboration skills, technical understanding, and strategic thinking.
• Final Round/Executive Interview: Potential discussion with senior leadership to assess overall fit, strategic alignment, and long-term vision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Focus on 1-2 deeply detailed case studies that illustrate your end-to-end design process, problem-solving skills, and impact.
• Highlight Systemic Thinking: Emphasize how you approached complex systems, information architecture, and cross-platform consistency, especially relevant for the app builder.
• Demonstrate Research Impact: Clearly articulate how user research (generative and evaluative) informed your design decisions and led to measurable outcomes.
• Address AI & Offline-First: If possible, showcase experience or understanding related to AI-enabled features or offline-first technologies, even if through analogous complex systems.
• Articulate Trade-offs: Be prepared to discuss design decisions, trade-offs considered, and why specific solutions were chosen over others.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Ditto's Product: Research Ditto's mission, technology (peer-to-peer sync, offline-first), and target markets (aviation, retail, defense, etc.).
• Consider the "App Builder" Concept: Think about the user experience of building applications, especially with AI assistance and for offline use. What are the key challenges and opportunities?
• Systemic Design Exercises: Be ready to discuss how you would approach designing a complex system, ensuring consistency, scalability, and user-friendliness.
• Collaboration Scenarios: Prepare examples of how you've successfully collaborated with engineers and product managers, especially when facing technical constraints or differing opinions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a Staff Designer role is rigorous and multi-faceted. The portfolio review is paramount, requiring candidates to not only showcase their past work but also articulate their design philosophy, strategic thinking, and ability to lead complex design initiatives. Preparing for a design challenge or case study discussion related to AI-driven app building or offline-first systems will be crucial.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma is highly probable as the primary tool for UI design, prototyping, and design system management, given its industry prevalence.
• Collaboration & Whiteboarding: Miro or similar tools for ideation, user journey mapping, and collaborative whiteboarding sessions.
• Design Systems Management: Tools integrated within Figma or dedicated platforms for managing design tokens, components, and style guides.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not directly managed by designers, an understanding of analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude) used for product performance tracking and user behavior analysis is beneficial.
• Familiarity with tools for A/B testing and experimentation would also be advantageous for evaluating design solutions.

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly relevant for this Product Designer role, but awareness of the CRM (e.g., Salesforce) and marketing automation tools used by the company might provide context for cross-functional collaboration with GTM teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack for a senior product designer role will heavily feature design and collaboration tools. Proficiency in Figma and collaborative platforms is almost a given. While direct use of analytics or CRM tools isn't expected, an understanding of how design impacts metrics tracked by these systems is valuable. The mention of "AI-enabled app builder" also suggests potential exploration of AI tools within the design process itself.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Grit & Curiosity: Ditto values individuals who are resilient, persistent, and eager to learn and explore new frontiers in connectivity.
• Adaptability: A fast-paced startup environment demands flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing priorities and challenges.
• Customer Focus: A commitment to understanding and solving real customer problems is central to Ditto's mission.
• Collaboration & Inclusivity: As a globally distributed team, fostering an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives are valued and actively sought is key.
• Innovation: A drive to push boundaries and redefine how data moves, particularly with technologies like AI and offline-first solutions.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Expect close, integrated collaboration with Product Management and Engineering teams, emphasizing shared ownership and iterative feedback loops.
• Asynchronous Communication: Proficiency in clear, concise asynchronous communication is essential for a distributed team.
• Design Leadership: The role is expected to actively lead design discussions, advocate for user needs, and influence product direction through collaborative means.
• Open Feedback Culture: A culture that encourages constructive feedback exchange to continuously improve both the product and the design process.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's explicit mention of "grit, curiosity, adaptability, and a genuine spark" in their "Apply Anyway" section provides a direct insight into their culture. These values translate into a work environment that likely rewards initiative, continuous learning, and a proactive approach to problem-solving, especially within the technically complex domain of edge data movement.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Complexity: Architecting an intuitive, no-code AI-enabled app builder for complex offline-first functionality presents a significant design challenge.
• Balancing User Needs: Catering to both citizen developers and potentially more technical users with a unified, user-friendly interface.
• Rapid Iteration in a Startup: Navigating a fast-paced startup environment that requires quick design iterations while maintaining high quality and coherence.
• Leading Design Discipline: Establishing and evolving design standards, processes, and tools for a growing, distributed team.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into Edge Computing & Offline-First: Gain unparalleled expertise in a cutting-edge technology domain with significant market potential.
• AI in Design Tools: Explore and implement AI-driven features within the app builder and potentially leverage AI tools in the design process itself.
• System Design Mastery: Develop advanced skills in designing complex, scalable systems that operate under challenging network conditions.
• Product Strategy & Vision: Contribute directly to shaping the strategic direction of a funded, high-growth technology company.
• Leadership Development: Opportunities to grow into formal leadership roles and shape the future of design at Ditto.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are directly tied to the innovative nature of Ditto's product. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering a chance to become a leader in a niche but critical technology space. Candidates should be prepared to discuss how they approach such complex, ambiguous problems.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you led the design of a complex system or platform. What were the biggest challenges, and how did you ensure consistency and usability?" (Focus on system thinking, IA, and cross-platform design.)
• "How would you approach designing a no-code app builder that leverages AI? What are the key user needs and potential pitfalls for users building offline-first applications?" (Focus on user research, AI interaction design, and offline-first considerations.)
• "Tell me about a situation where you had to balance competing priorities or technical constraints with design goals. How did you collaborate with engineering and product to find a solution?" (Focus on collaboration, negotiation, and pragmatic problem-solving.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you most about Ditto's mission to redefine data movement at the edge and enable offline-first software?" (Demonstrate research and alignment with company vision.)
• "How do you approach leading design as a discipline within a cross-functional team, especially in a remote-first environment?" (Focus on design leadership, process, and collaboration.)
• "Given Ditto's focus on grit, curiosity, and adaptability, how do these values align with your own work style and approach to design challenges?" (Connect personal values with company culture.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Start with the problem, your role, the solution, your process, and the impact. For a Staff role, emphasize the strategic thinking and systemic approach.
• Deep Dive: Select 1-2 projects that best showcase your ability to tackle complex challenges, manage ambiguity, and drive significant impact. Focus on the "why" behind your decisions.
• Metrics & Impact: Quantify the success of your designs wherever possible (e.g., improved conversion rates, increased user satisfaction, reduced task completion time).
• Design System Example: If applicable, show how you've built or contributed to a design system and how it enabled efficient product development.
• Address the "App Builder" Context: Frame your case studies to highlight transferable skills relevant to designing complex platforms or tools.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, leadership capabilities, and a deep understanding of complex system design, AI, and offline-first concepts. Articulating the "how" and "why" behind design decisions, and showcasing a strong collaborative approach, will be key to success.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Greenhouse.
• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience relevant to complex system design, AI-enabled tools, cross-platform applications, and user research leadership. Use keywords like "design systems," "information architecture," "product strategy," and "user-centered design."
• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 1-2 in-depth case studies that best demonstrate your process, problem-solving skills, and impact on complex products. Ensure it clearly illustrates your approach to system design, AI features, or analogous challenging technical products.
• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice articulating your case studies, focusing on the strategic rationale, design trade-offs, user research insights, and measurable outcomes. Be ready to discuss how your experience applies to Ditto's AI-enabled app builder and offline-first technology.
• Research Ditto: Thoroughly understand Ditto's mission, technology, customer base, and company values. Prepare thoughtful questions that demonstrate your engagement and strategic thinking.

⚠️ 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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