Staff Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer
Company: nTop
Location: US NY HQ
Job Type: FULL_TIME
Category: Product Design / Engineering Operations
Date Posted: 2026-02-21
Experience Level: 8+ Years
Remote Status: On-site (with potential for hybrid considerations based on the specific role's evolution and team needs)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the strategic rebuilding and direction of nTop's product design function, focusing on complex computational workflows for expert engineers.
• Own the end-to-end product design architecture, establishing foundational design principles and interaction primitives across existing and new product surfaces.
• Drive cross-product design consistency and identify systemic opportunities in collaboration with product management and software engineering.
• Define the user experience for cutting-edge AI capabilities within engineering contexts, including physics-surrogate models and generative geometry workflows.
• Build and maintain a robust design system to empower the software engineering organization and future design hires.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the raw listing indicates "TELECOMMUTE" and "On-site" for ai_work_arrangement, the "US NY HQ" location and the description mentioning reporting to VP of Product in New York implies a primary on-site presence is expected. The role's strategic nature and the need to rebuild a design function suggest potential for hybrid flexibility once established, but initial on-site presence is likely crucial. This role is positioned as a Senior/Staff level within Product Design, but its operational impact on engineering workflows and GTM strategy warrants an operations-adjacent classification.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design Architecture Ownership: Define and govern the core interaction primitives, conceptual models, and design principles that shape how expert users interact with nTop's existing workstation application and its emerging web-based and high-performance computing surfaces.
• Cross-Product Design Strategy: Proactively identify and address systemic inconsistencies and opportunities across the entire product suite, ensuring a cohesive and intuitive user experience that aligns with evolving customer needs and business objectives.
• Customer & Field Collaboration: Partner closely with the forward-deployed field engineering team and UX researchers to gather direct customer insights, identify critical friction points, and translate user needs into actionable design solutions that drive business impact.
• AI/ML Interaction Design: Design intuitive and interpretable interaction patterns for AI-assisted workflows, including physics-surrogate models, generative geometry, and engineering knowledge systems, focusing on model transparency, uncertainty management, and user control.
• Design System Development: Establish, document, and maintain a comprehensive design system, including UI components, patterns, and guidelines, to ensure consistency, scalability, and efficiency for the software engineering organization and future design team members.
• Strategic Partnership: Collaborate directly with the VP of Product and CTO on critical roadmap decisions, architectural trade-offs, and strategic planning, providing design leadership and insights.
• Design Function Leadership: Rebuild and lead the product design function, setting the vision, standards, and processes for design within the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic design leadership and hands-on execution, typical of a Staff-level role tasked with establishing or rebuilding a function. The emphasis on "design architecture," "cross-product design direction," and "design system" points to a need for deep understanding of scalable design systems and platform thinking, crucial for operations professionals focused on efficiency and consistency.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field. Advanced degrees or specialized certifications in computational design or related engineering disciplines are a plus.
Experience: 8+ years of progressive product design experience, with a significant portion focused on complex, expert-grade software applications.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Expertise: Proven track record in designing sophisticated user interfaces and experiences for complex software, particularly within engineering, developer platforms, data science, or simulation domains.
• Design Systems & Architecture: Demonstrated experience owning and evolving design systems or platform architectures, with a clear impact on organizational decision-making and product consistency.
• Systems Thinking: Ability to design scalable abstractions, manage states, and define constraints that maintain coherence and extensibility as products grow in complexity.
• Information Architecture: Strong instincts for organizing complex information and workflows for expert users operating in precision-driven, constraint-heavy environments.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Skill in building alignment and influencing stakeholders across software engineering, product management, and executive leadership through clarity, craft, and well-reasoned arguments, even without formal authority.
• Technical Acumen: Comfortable participating in technical discussions regarding architecture, performance, and trade-offs. Familiarity with computational design, parametric modeling, visual programming, or physics-based simulation is highly advantageous.
• AI/ML Design Experience: Experience designing for AI-assisted workflows, understanding interaction patterns for uncertainty, model transparency, and user override mechanisms.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in rebuilding or establishing a design function within a growth-stage company.
• Familiarity with the specific industries nTop serves: aerospace, defense, industrial energy, turbomachinery, high-performance automotive.
• Experience with user research methodologies and translating findings into design solutions.
• Understanding of computational geometry principles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff-level scope" requirement emphasizes a strategic, architectural approach to design, aligning with operations' focus on scalable systems and process optimization. The blend of design craft and technical depth is critical for this role, similar to how operations professionals need to bridge technical capabilities with business objectives.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Case Study: Showcase a comprehensive design system you have developed or significantly contributed to, detailing its architecture, governance, and impact on product consistency and development efficiency.
• Complex Workflow Design: Present a case study detailing the design of a complex computational or engineering workflow, illustrating your approach to information architecture, user flow optimization, and handling intricate constraints.
• Platform Architecture Example: Highlight an example where you designed or influenced the architecture of a product platform, demonstrating your ability to create extensible and coherent design primitives.
• AI/ML Interaction Design: Include a project that demonstrates your thinking around designing user interactions for AI-assisted features, focusing on transparency, control, and interpretability.

Process Documentation:

• Demonstrate your approach to documenting design principles, interaction models, and system guidelines to ensure clarity and adherence across engineering teams.
• Provide examples of how you have established processes for design reviews, feedback loops, and cross-functional collaboration to optimize the design lifecycle.
• Showcase how you measure and communicate the impact of design decisions on user efficiency, product adoption, and business objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong portfolio for this role will go beyond showcasing visual design. It needs to demonstrate a deep understanding of system design, process creation, and the ability to articulate how design directly impacts operational efficiency and product scalability, mirroring the expectations for operations professionals who present process optimization case studies.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $180,000 - $200,000 annually.

Benefits:

• Stock options: Opportunity to own a stake in the company's growth.
• Comprehensive health insurance plans.
• Paid time off and holidays.
• Professional development opportunities.
• Access to cutting-edge technology and collaborative work environment.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility expected to meet project deadlines and collaborative needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is provided for a Staff Product Designer role in a high-cost-of-living area like New York. This range is competitive for senior design leadership roles, reflecting the strategic impact and experience required. The inclusion of "options" signifies a significant equity component, common in growth-stage technology companies.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software - Computational Design & Engineering Simulation. nTop operates at the intersection of advanced engineering, computational geometry, and high-performance computing, serving critical industries like aerospace, defense, and automotive. This context demands precision, reliability, and innovation. Company Size: Growth-stage company. This implies a dynamic environment with evolving processes, a strong focus on scaling, and opportunities for individuals to have significant impact. It's a phase where establishing robust operational frameworks is key. Founded: The company's roots in computational geometry suggest a foundation built on deep technical expertise and innovation. As a growth-stage company, nTop is likely transitioning from its early-stage R&D focus to scaling its product and operations for broader market adoption.

Team Structure:

• The Staff Product Designer will be the sole designer on the product team initially, reporting to the VP of Product.
• This role will require close collaboration with Product Management and Software Engineering leadership (including the CTO).
• As the design function is rebuilt, the role will involve building out a design team and establishing its place within the broader engineering organization.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: While not explicitly stated, the nature of serving expert engineers implies a strong reliance on data, simulations, and performance metrics to inform design decisions.
• Systems Design & Architecture: Emphasis on designing coherent, extensible systems that can handle complexity and scale, mirroring operations' focus on scalable processes and platforms.
• User-Centricity & Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of user workflows and domain-specific challenges (e.g., computational geometry, physics simulations) is paramount.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on highly technical users in demanding industries means that operational excellence, precision, and deep domain understanding are critical. The "growth-stage" aspect suggests that process definition and scaling are ongoing efforts, making this role vital for establishing best practices in design, which directly impacts the operational efficiency of product development.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Staff Product Designer. This is a senior individual contributor role, often considered a leadership position within the design discipline. It signifies a high level of expertise, strategic influence, and the ability to drive significant product and organizational outcomes. For operations professionals, this is akin to a Senior Operations Manager or Director focused on a critical function. Reporting Structure: Reports directly to the VP of Product. This indicates high visibility and direct influence on product strategy and decision-making. The role will also work closely with the CTO and Product Management leadership. Operations Impact: The Staff Product Designer's impact is crucial for nTop's Go-To-Market strategy by ensuring the product is not only powerful but also usable and accessible to its target audience of expert engineers. By defining the design architecture and systems, this role directly influences:

• Product Adoption & Scalability: A well-designed system reduces friction for new users and enables easier feature expansion.
• Engineering Efficiency: A robust design system accelerates development cycles and reduces technical debt.
• Customer Satisfaction & Retention: Intuitive interfaces for complex workflows lead to higher user satisfaction and loyalty.
• Competitive Advantage: Differentiating through superior user experience in a technically advanced market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Build and Lead a Design Team: Opportunity to define the vision, hire, and mentor future designers, establishing nTop's design culture and function.
• Strategic Product Influence: Direct involvement in roadmap planning, architectural decisions, and company-wide strategy, shaping the future of nTop.
• Deep Domain Expertise: Immerse in cutting-edge fields like computational geometry, AI in engineering, and high-performance computing, becoming a recognized expert in design for these domains.
• Career Progression: Potential to move into Director-level design roles, Head of Design, or even broader product leadership positions depending on performance and organizational growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" title and reporting structure to VP Product indicate a significant level of autonomy and influence, akin to a senior operations leader responsible for a critical function. The growth opportunities are substantial, focusing on building a team and shaping strategic direction, which are key elements of career progression in operations roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is based in "US NY HQ," suggesting a primary on-site work environment. While the initial posting listed "TELECOMMUTE," the location and reporting structure point to an expectation of physical presence in the New York office. This likely means a collaborative, in-person environment is the default. Office Location(s): New York, NY (HQ). This location offers access to a vibrant tech ecosystem and talent pool. Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Atmosphere: As the sole designer initially, the role requires extensive collaboration with Product Management, Software Engineering, and Field Engineering teams. The expectation is for an environment that fosters open communication and knowledge sharing.
• Technical Tooling: Access to industry-standard design tools, collaboration platforms, and potentially high-performance computing resources necessary for simulating and testing complex designs.
• Innovation Hub: Working with a growth-stage company means being part of an environment that values innovation, iterative development, and pushing the boundaries of technology.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time business hours are expected, with the flexibility to adapt to project needs and collaborate across different time zones if necessary. The emphasis on "Staff-level scope" implies a degree of autonomy in managing one's time to achieve strategic goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: The New York HQ location suggests a dynamic, potentially fast-paced office environment typical of growth-stage tech companies. The collaboration needs for this role are high, implying an environment that supports cross-functional interaction and knowledge exchange, crucial for aligning design with engineering and product operations.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Review of resume and portfolio to assess experience, qualifications, and alignment with the Staff Product Designer role.
• Design Exercise/Case Study: Candidates will likely be asked to present a portfolio walkthrough and potentially complete a design challenge or discuss a complex problem related to nTop's domain. This will assess design thinking, problem-solving skills, and ability to articulate design rationale.
• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Management, Engineering leads (including the CTO), and potentially other stakeholders to evaluate collaboration style, technical understanding, and strategic thinking.
• Executive Interview: A final interview with senior leadership to discuss vision, leadership potential, and overall fit with the company's strategic direction.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase Strategic Impact: Focus on projects where your design decisions led to tangible business outcomes, improved operational efficiency, or significantly impacted product architecture.
• Detail Your Process: Clearly articulate your design process, including research, ideation, iteration, and how you collaborated with engineering and product teams. For this role, emphasize your approach to designing systems and complex workflows.
• Highlight Design System Expertise: Dedicate a significant portion of your portfolio to demonstrating your experience with design systems – their creation, governance, and scalability.
• Address Technical Acumen: Be prepared to discuss the technical constraints and considerations of your projects, showcasing your comfort in technical discussions.
• Demonstrate Leadership Potential: Include examples of how you've influenced stakeholders, built alignment, or mentored others, even in an individual contributor capacity.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand nTop's Domain: Research nTop's product, target industries (aerospace, defense, automotive), and the challenges faced by their expert engineering users. Familiarize yourself with concepts like computational geometry, CAD, simulations, and high-performance computing.
• Prepare for Systems Design Questions: Be ready to discuss how you would approach designing scalable systems, interaction primitives, and design principles for a complex, evolving platform.
• Articulate Your Design Philosophy: Be prepared to discuss your approach to designing for expert users, handling complexity, and the role of AI in engineering workflows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a portfolio review for a Staff Product Designer is critical. It mirrors the need for operations professionals to present evidence of process improvements, system implementations, and ROI. Candidates must demonstrate not just design skill, but strategic thinking and operational impact.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), or similar industry-standard tools for wireframing, UI design, and prototyping.
• Design System Management: Tools and methodologies for building, documenting, and maintaining scalable design systems (e.g., Zeroheight, Storybook integration, custom documentation platforms).
• Collaboration & Project Management: Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello, or similar platforms for tracking design tasks, user stories, and cross-functional project coordination.
• User Research & Testing: Tools for user interviews, usability testing, and analyzing user feedback (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, Hotjar).

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not directly a design tool, understanding how to interpret analytics and reporting dashboards (e.g., Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Tableau) to inform design decisions and measure impact is valuable.

CRM & Automation:

• Familiarity with how CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and automation platforms integrate with product experiences, particularly in understanding customer workflows and data flow, can be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack for a Staff Product Designer is focused on creation, collaboration, and systemization. For operations professionals, the parallels lie in understanding how design tools and systems contribute to the overall product development lifecycle and operational efficiency, much like how CRM and automation tools support sales and GTM operations.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Precision & Rigor: Reflecting the nature of nTop's engineering users, there's an inherent value placed on accuracy, detail, and robust solutions. This translates to design being meticulous and well-reasoned.
• Innovation & Exploration: The company's foundation in computational geometry and its growth-stage status suggest a culture that encourages pushing boundaries and exploring new technological frontiers, particularly in areas like AI and HPC.
• Collaboration & Transparency: As the design function is rebuilt, a strong emphasis will be placed on open communication, knowledge sharing, and collaborative problem-solving across product, engineering, and field teams.
• Impact & Ownership: A culture that empowers individuals to take ownership of significant areas, drive strategic initiatives, and deliver measurable impact on the product and the business.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: The role requires deep integration with Product Management and Software Engineering. Collaboration is expected to be proactive, iterative, and data-informed.
• Peer-to-Peer Influence: The ability to build consensus and influence without direct authority is key, fostering a culture where ideas are debated based on merit and strategic alignment.
• User-Focused Feedback Loops: Establishing strong feedback loops with field engineers and directly with customers to ensure design decisions are grounded in real-world needs and challenges.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture at nTop appears to value technical depth, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving. For operations professionals, this translates to an environment where data-driven decisions, process optimization, and clear communication are highly valued.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Rebuilding the Design Function: Establishing design processes, standards, and a team from a foundational level while simultaneously contributing to core product strategy.
• Designing for Extreme Complexity: Translating highly technical and abstract engineering concepts (e.g., signed-distance fields, vector fields) into intuitive and navigable user experiences for expert users.
• Bridging Workstation & Cloud/HPC Workflows: Designing seamless experiences that span from traditional desktop applications to new web-based and high-performance computing environments, requiring a unified design architecture.
• Defining AI/ML Interactions: Pioneering user interaction patterns for AI-assisted engineering workflows, addressing challenges like model interpretability, uncertainty, and user control in novel ways.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Opportunity to grow into a design leadership role, building and managing a team, and shaping the strategic direction of design at nTop.
• Domain Expertise: Deep dive into cutting-edge fields like computational geometry, AI in engineering, and high-performance computing, becoming a specialist in designing for these complex domains.
• Strategic Product Influence: Gain extensive experience in product strategy, roadmap planning, and cross-functional leadership by working directly with senior executives.
• Industry Exposure: Engage with leading engineers and researchers in demanding industries, understanding their evolving needs and challenges firsthand.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are significant and require a blend of strategic foresight, deep technical understanding, and strong execution capabilities, mirroring the complex problem-solving often encountered in advanced operations roles. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering a clear path for career advancement and skill development.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing the architecture for a product that spans both desktop applications and cloud-based high-performance computing environments?" (Focus on modularity, consistency, and data flow.)
• "Describe a time you had to influence engineering or product leadership on a design decision without formal authority. What was your strategy?" (Highlight communication, data-driven arguments, and building consensus.)
• "How would you establish a design system from scratch for a complex engineering software product? What are the key components and governance principles?" (Emphasize scalability, extensibility, and developer adoption.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you most about nTop's mission and the specific challenges of designing for expert engineers in industries like aerospace and defense?" (Showcase research and genuine interest.)
• "How do you envision the role of AI evolving in engineering workflows, and what are the key design considerations for integrating AI responsibly and effectively?" (Demonstrate forward-thinking and ethical design principles.)
• "Describe your ideal collaboration model with product management and software engineering teams." (Highlight proactive communication, iterative feedback, and shared ownership.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your role, the process you followed, the solutions you designed, and the impact achieved. Quantify results whenever possible.
• Emphasize Systemic Thinking: For this role, highlight projects where your design decisions had a broad impact across features, platforms, or the entire product ecosystem.
• Demonstrate Technical Competence: Be prepared to discuss technical constraints, performance considerations, and how your design decisions interacted with the underlying technology.
• Showcase Leadership & Influence: Discuss instances where you led initiatives, mentored others, or influenced strategic decisions, even as an individual contributor.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparing for this role requires demonstrating not only design craft but also strategic thinking, leadership potential, and a deep understanding of complex systems and user needs – traits highly valued in senior operations roles.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided application link.
• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight experience with complex software, design systems, platform architecture, and AI-assisted workflows. Focus on projects demonstrating systemic thinking and measurable impact.
• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 8+ years of experience, specific accomplishments in designing expert-grade software, and any leadership or team-building experience. Use keywords from the job description.
• Interview Preparation: Thoroughly research nTop, its products, and its target industries. Prepare to discuss your design philosophy, strategic approach to complex problem-solving, and how you can contribute to rebuilding the design function. Practice presenting your portfolio walkthrough.
• Company Research: Understand nTop's mission, values, and growth-stage context. Be ready to articulate why you are a strong fit for their culture and how your skills align with their strategic objectives.

⚠️ 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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