Staff Product Designer, Visual & Motion

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer, Visual & Motion Company: Jobgether (Partner Company) Location: United States Job Type: Full-time Category: Product Design / UX/UI Design Date Posted: 2025-11-25 Experience Level: 8+ Years (Staff Level) Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the strategic development and implementation of comprehensive design systems, with a specific focus on visual and motion design principles for complex software products.
• Own and refine the visual and motion standards, ensuring they are precise, scalable, and seamlessly integrated into engineering workflows, directly impacting user experience and brand perception.
• Drive the creation of interaction frameworks, including timing, easing, transitions, and animation behaviors, to ensure a consistent and delightful user experience across diverse product interfaces.
• Act as a subject matter expert, mentoring other designers, collaborating closely with engineering, and setting benchmarks that elevate the overall product quality and design craft.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is for a Staff Product Designer, indicating a senior-level individual contributor position focused on strategic design leadership and system ownership. The emphasis on "Visual & Motion" within a "Staff Product Designer" title suggests a deep specialization in UI craft, design systems, and the animation of digital interfaces, rather than broad UX strategy. The role is positioned as a key influencer in defining the aesthetic and interactive language of the product.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define, document, and maintain the core visual specifications of the design system, encompassing typography, color palettes, grid systems, spacing rules, iconography standards, and data visualization best practices.
• Establish and govern motion and interaction frameworks, dictating precise timing, easing curves, transitional animations, and overall animation behaviors to ensure a cohesive and intuitive user experience.
• Translate high-level brand direction and product requirements into detailed, component-ready specifications, providing clear rationale and measurable quality criteria for implementation.
• Collaborate proactively with engineering teams to ensure the technical feasibility, optimal performance, and high fidelity of visual and motion implementations, bridging the gap between design and development.
• Set stringent quality benchmarks for visual and motion design, conduct regular polish reviews, and enforce design guardrails to maintain consistency and elevate the overall aesthetic quality of the product.
• Mentor and guide junior and mid-level designers on visual rigor, motion design fundamentals, system thinking, and best practices for contributing to and leveraging the design system.
• Conceptualize and create patterns for dynamic, AI-aware product behaviors, ensuring visual and motion cues clearly communicate system states and adaptive workflows to users.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a deep dive into design system governance, focusing on the granular details of visual elements and animations. The mention of "AI-aware product behaviors" suggests a forward-thinking approach to design, requiring the designer to consider how motion and visuals can effectively communicate complex, dynamic system states in emerging technology landscapes.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. Experience: 8+ years of progressive experience in product design, with a demonstrated specialization in visual systems, motion design, and UI craft for complex software applications.

Required Skills:

• Proven ability to define and maintain comprehensive design standards that are technically detailed, implementation-ready, and scalable across large, diverse product ecosystems.
• Deep expertise in visual design principles, including typography, color theory, layout, iconography, and data visualization.
• Advanced proficiency in Figma, specifically leveraging features like design tokens, robust component architecture, and variables for system design.
• Proficiency in advanced prototyping tools such as After Effects, Principle, Framer, or Lottie for creating sophisticated motion and interaction examples.
• Strong understanding of dynamic, automated, or AI-driven product behaviors and how to effectively communicate system states through visual and motion cues.
• Exceptional attention to detail, demanding visual precision and clarity in motion design, as evidenced by a portfolio showcasing sophisticated product interfaces.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration, communication, and interpersonal skills, essential for working with engineering, product management, and other design stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and guide other designers, fostering a culture of design excellence and system adherence.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing for enterprise-level software, cybersecurity platforms, DevOps tools, or complex data platforms.
• Familiarity with code-based motion frameworks and their integration into development pipelines.
• A solid understanding of accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) and performance considerations related to visual design and animations.
• Experience in defining and evangelizing design system adoption across an organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 8+ years of experience at a "Staff" level, combined with deep expertise in visual systems and motion design, signifies a highly specialized and senior role. The emphasis on Figma's advanced features and multiple prototyping tools points to a need for practical, hands-on skill in creating and documenting complex design elements and interactions. The preference for enterprise/cybersecurity/DevOps experience suggests the partner company operates in a B2B or technical domain where clear, precise, and robust design is critical.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrate ownership and evolution of a comprehensive design system, showcasing its visual and motion components, design tokens, and governance processes.
• Include detailed case studies that highlight your process for defining and implementing motion and interaction standards, with explanations of the rationale behind design decisions.
• Present examples of how you translated complex brand guidelines or product requirements into clear, scalable, and technically feasible design system elements.
• Showcase your ability to create dynamic and AI-aware design patterns, illustrating how visual cues and motion effectively communicate system states or adaptive behaviors.
• Provide evidence of collaboration with engineering teams, detailing how you ensured fidelity and technical feasibility during implementation.

Process Documentation:

• Illustrate your methodology for creating and maintaining design system documentation, including specifications for visual elements, motion properties, and interaction behaviors.
• Detail your approach to conducting design reviews, enforcing quality benchmarks, and providing constructive feedback to ensure consistency and polish across product interfaces.
• Showcase examples of how you established and iterated on design processes for system adoption and contribution, ensuring efficient workflows for designers and engineers.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Staff-level designer focused on systems, the portfolio must go beyond individual UI screens. It needs to showcase strategic thinking, system architecture, governance, and the ability to influence and guide others. The emphasis on "implementation-ready" specifications and "technical feasibility" implies a need to demonstrate how design artifacts directly support engineering workflows and result in high-fidelity outputs.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $174,200—$248,900 USD OTE (On-Target Earnings) annually.

Benefits:

• Unlimited Paid Time Off: Flexible approach to time off, promoting work-life balance.
• Paid Parental Leave: 8 weeks for all parents, 16 weeks for birthing parents, supporting new family needs.
• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision insurance provided from the first day of employment.
• Mental Health & Wellness: Access to mental health support, therapy sessions, and digital wellness tools.
• Retirement Savings: 401(k) plan with a company match to support long-term financial planning.
• Family Support: Fertility, adoption, and surrogacy assistance programs.
• Community Engagement: Paid time off for volunteer activities.
• Pet Care: 24/7 virtual veterinary care through AirVet.
• Additional Support: Legal services, identity protection, and various supplemental insurance options.
• Financial Flexibility: Tax-advantaged spending accounts for healthcare, dependent care, and commuting expenses.
• Professional Development: Extensive training and education opportunities, including courses, workshops, and mentorship programs.

Working Hours: While specific hours are not detailed, the role is fully remote in eligible U.S. states, suggesting flexibility within standard professional working norms. A typical full-time role implies approximately 40 hours per week, with potential for asynchronous collaboration due to the remote nature.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is competitive for a Staff Product Designer in the US market, reflecting the seniority and specialized skills required. The extensive benefits package, including unlimited PTO, robust parental leave, and comprehensive wellness programs, indicates a company culture that prioritizes employee well-being and long-term commitment. The "eligible U.S. states" caveat for remote work is important for candidates to note.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology / Software / Talent Matching Platform (Jobgether's primary business), with the partner company likely operating in enterprise software, cybersecurity, DevOps, or data platforms based on preferred skills. Company Size: Jobgether's size is not explicitly stated but operates as a platform. The partner company's size is also not specified, but the "Staff" level role suggests a mature product organization that invests in design systems and senior talent. Founded: Jobgether's founding date is not provided, but its focus on AI-driven matching implies a modern, tech-forward company. The partner company's founding date is also not provided.

Team Structure:

• The Staff Product Designer will likely be part of a larger Product Design or UX team, reporting to a Design Lead, Director of Design, or Head of Product.
• This individual will work closely with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and individual engineers, forming cross-functional product teams.
• The role involves mentoring other designers, suggesting a hierarchy or at least a mentorship dynamic within the design team.

Methodology:

• The partner company likely employs agile development methodologies, requiring close collaboration between design and engineering throughout the product development lifecycle.
• A strong emphasis is placed on data-driven design decisions, system thinking, and iterative improvement, as indicated by the focus on design systems and performance metrics.
• The use of AI in Jobgether's platform suggests the partner company may also leverage advanced technologies and data analytics in their product development.

Company Website: https://jobgether.com/ (for Jobgether; partner company website not provided)

📝 Enhancement Note: The context provided is primarily about Jobgether as the platform posting the role. The "partner company" is the actual hiring entity. The preferred skills (enterprise, cybersecurity, DevOps, data platforms) provide the best clues about the partner company's industry and operational focus, suggesting a B2B SaaS environment where robust, scalable, and highly functional design is paramount.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Staff Product Designer (Senior Individual Contributor). This level signifies a high degree of autonomy, strategic influence, and technical mastery within the design discipline. Staff designers are expected to tackle ambiguous problems, set technical direction, and mentor others. Reporting Structure: The role will likely report into a design leadership position (e.g., Design Manager, Director of Design) and will collaborate extensively with Product Management and Engineering leadership. Operations Impact: This role has a direct impact on the user experience of complex software, influencing user adoption, efficiency, satisfaction, and ultimately, the product's value proposition. By owning the visual and motion design system, the Staff Designer ensures consistency, scalability, and a high level of polish that directly contributes to brand perception and product quality.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in advanced motion design, interaction patterns for AI-driven interfaces, or design system architecture, potentially becoming a recognized expert in these areas.
• Leadership Track: Transition into design leadership roles (e.g., Senior Manager of Design, Director of Design) by demonstrating strategic vision, team management capabilities, and broader organizational influence.
• Cross-functional Influence: Expand influence beyond the design team to shape product strategy, technical roadmaps, and company-wide design standards.
• Industry Thought Leadership: Contribute to the design community through speaking engagements, publications, or open-source contributions related to design systems and motion design.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" designation is critical here. It implies that the candidate is already operating at a high level and is expected to contribute strategically. Growth opportunities will focus on deepening impact, expanding influence, and potentially moving into formal leadership or principal-level individual contributor roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. This indicates a distributed workforce, with employees working from their own homes. Office Location(s): Eligible U.S. states. Specific states are not listed, but this implies that candidates must reside in and be authorized to work in one of the supported U.S. states.

Workspace Context:

• The remote environment necessitates strong self-discipline, proactive communication, and effective use of collaboration tools.
• The design team will likely rely heavily on digital tools for design, prototyping, communication, and project management.
• Opportunities for spontaneous collaboration may be less frequent, requiring intentional efforts through virtual meetings, co-design sessions, and asynchronous communication channels.

Work Schedule: As a full-time, remote position, the work schedule is expected to be flexible within standard business hours for the U.S. market. Effective time management will be crucial for balancing synchronous collaboration needs with independent work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Fully Remote" status is a significant factor. Candidates should be comfortable with remote work dynamics, including asynchronous communication, virtual collaboration, and managing their own work environment. The mention of "eligible U.S. states" is a practical constraint that must be met.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Application review, potentially involving Jobgether's AI screening followed by a human review by the partner company's hiring team.
• Portfolio Review: A deep dive into the candidate's portfolio, focusing on case studies demonstrating expertise in visual systems, motion design, and system thinking. Expect questions about design rationale, process, and impact.
• Technical/Design Interview: A session with design peers or leadership to assess technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and understanding of design systems and motion principles. May involve whiteboarding or system design exercises.
• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers and Engineering Leads to evaluate collaboration skills, communication clarity, and ability to integrate design with product and technical roadmaps.
• Final Interview: Typically with senior leadership (e.g., Head of Design, VP of Product) to assess strategic fit, leadership potential, and alignment with company values.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase System Ownership: Clearly articulate your role in creating, evolving, or governing a design system. Detail the components, principles, and impact.
• Motion & Visual Depth: Dedicate sections to your motion design philosophy and examples. Show how you define easing, timing, and animation behaviors with purpose.
• Case Study Structure: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your role, the process (including user research, ideation, iteration), the solution, and the measurable impact. Use visual aids effectively.
• Figma & Prototyping: Be prepared to discuss your Figma workflow, how you leverage tokens and variables, and demonstrate complex prototypes built with After Effects, Framer, or similar tools.
• AI & Dynamic Behavior: If possible, include examples or thought processes on designing for dynamic or AI-driven features, explaining how visual and motion cues enhance user understanding.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be ready for a potential design challenge that might involve defining visual or motion standards for a new feature, critiquing an existing design system, or outlining a strategy for implementing a new component.
• Practice articulating your design decisions clearly and concisely, focusing on the "why" behind your choices and their alignment with business goals and user needs.
• Prepare to discuss how you would approach mentorship and collaboration within a remote, cross-functional team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" level implies that the interview process will be rigorous and focused on strategic thinking, deep technical expertise, and proven leadership capabilities. The portfolio is paramount, and candidates must be prepared to discuss it in depth, linking their work to tangible business outcomes and user impact.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for design system creation, component architecture, prototyping, and collaboration. Proficiency with advanced features like design tokens, variables, and auto-layout is critical.
• Advanced Prototyping Tools:
  • After Effects: For complex animation sequences, motion studies, and creating high-fidelity motion prototypes.
  • Principle: For interactive prototypes and micro-interactions.
  • Framer: For more advanced, code-based prototyping and potentially for exploring system interactions.
  • Lottie: For exporting animations for web and mobile implementation.

Analytics & Reporting: While not explicitly mentioned for this role, a Staff Designer may interact with product analytics tools (e.g., Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics) to understand user behavior and inform design decisions based on data. CRM & Automation: Not directly applicable to the design role, but understanding how design systems feed into marketing automation or sales enablement tools could be a plus. Other Relevant Tools:

• Storytelling/Presentation Tools: PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides for presenting design rationale and system proposals.
• Collaboration Platforms: Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace for daily communication and remote collaboration.
• Design System Management Platforms: Potentially tools like Zeroheight or Storybook for housing design system documentation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on Figma's advanced capabilities and a suite of prototyping tools (After Effects, Framer, Principle, Lottie) underscores the highly specialized nature of this role. Proficiency here is not just about using the tools, but about leveraging them to create precise, scalable, and dynamic design system elements.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Design Excellence & Craftsmanship: A commitment to high-quality visual design and meticulous motion execution.
• System Thinking: Prioritizing consistency, scalability, and efficiency through robust design systems.
• Collaboration & Mentorship: Valuing teamwork, knowledge sharing, and supporting the growth of fellow designers.
• Data-Informed Decisions: Using insights from user behavior and performance metrics to guide design choices.
• Technical Pragmatism: Balancing design innovation with engineering feasibility and performance.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Working closely with Product Management and Engineering as integral members of product teams.
• Proactive Communication: Emphasizing clear, consistent, and timely communication, especially in a remote setting.
• Feedback Culture: Openness to constructive criticism and a willingness to provide thoughtful feedback to elevate the work of others.
• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging the dissemination of best practices, new techniques, and learnings within the design team and across departments.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values and collaboration style are inferred from the job description's emphasis on system design, mentorship, and cross-functional interaction. The remote nature of the role further highlights the importance of proactive communication and intentional collaboration.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Maintaining System Scalability: Ensuring the design system can adapt and scale effectively as the product and organization grow, while maintaining consistency.
• Balancing Rigor and Velocity: Finding the right balance between enforcing strict design standards and enabling rapid product development.
• Designing for Ambiguity: Creating clear visual and motion solutions for complex, potentially AI-driven, product behaviors where user interaction patterns may not yet be established.
• Remote Collaboration: Navigating the complexities of effective collaboration, feedback, and mentorship within a fully remote environment.
• Cross-Departmental Buy-in: Championing design standards and system adoption across different teams with varying priorities.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Motion Design: Deepening expertise in animation principles, tools, and their application in complex UI.
• AI & Future Interfaces: Exploring how design systems can evolve to support emerging technologies like AI, generative design, and adaptive interfaces.
• Design System Architecture: Gaining insights into advanced design system methodologies, component libraries, and their integration into developer workflows.
• Leadership Skills: Developing mentorship capabilities, strategic influence, and potentially leading design initiatives or small teams.
• Industry Trends: Staying abreast of the latest in UI/UX design, visual design, motion graphics, and design system best practices through conferences, workshops, and online resources.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are derived from the nature of a Staff-level system design role, particularly in a complex software environment. The growth opportunities are aligned with advancing technical expertise and leadership potential within the design field.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you defined or significantly evolved a visual or motion aspect of a design system. What was your process, what challenges did you face, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on rationale, methodology, and impact).
• "How would you approach establishing motion guidelines for AI-driven product behaviors where user interaction is dynamic and unpredictable?" (Test strategic thinking for novel problems).
• "Walk us through your Figma workflow for creating and managing design tokens and complex components. How do you ensure consistency and scalability?" (Assess practical skills and system thinking).
• "How do you collaborate with engineering teams to ensure your visual and motion designs are implemented accurately and performantly?" (Evaluate cross-functional collaboration and technical understanding).
• "Imagine you need to mentor a junior designer on motion principles. How would you structure that guidance and assess their progress?" (Gauge mentorship capabilities).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about designing for [partner company's suspected industry - e.g., enterprise software, cybersecurity] and how do you see visual and motion design playing a crucial role here?" (Assess research and industry alignment).
• "How do you approach feedback, both giving and receiving it, especially in a remote team environment?" (Understand collaboration and communication style).
• "What does 'design quality' mean to you, and how do you measure it?" (Evaluate standards and metrics-driven mindset).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Begin with a high-level overview of your role and the project's goals.
• Deep Dive into Case Studies: Select 2-3 projects that best showcase your visual design, motion design, and design system expertise. For each, clearly articulate the problem, your unique contribution, the design process, key decisions, challenges, and measurable results (e.g., improved usability, increased adoption, reduced errors).
• Visual & Motion Demonstration: Be prepared to demonstrate interactive prototypes or short videos showcasing your motion work. Explain the purpose and impact of each animation.
• System Focus: Highlight how your work contributes to or builds upon a design system. Discuss your approach to documentation, component architecture, and governance.
• Tailor to the Role: Emphasize aspects of your portfolio that align with the requirements for visual and motion design, design systems, and complex software.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview questions will likely probe for depth in design systems, motion design, and cross-functional collaboration. Candidates should prepare to discuss their portfolio with a strong emphasis on strategic thinking, problem-solving, and measurable impact, rather than just aesthetics.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the provided application link, ensuring all required fields are completed accurately.
• Portfolio Customization: Curate your portfolio to prominently feature case studies demonstrating your expertise in visual systems, motion design, and design system development. Prioritize examples relevant to complex software or enterprise applications, showcasing your ability to create precise, scalable, and implementable design solutions.
• Resume Optimization: Update your resume to highlight your 8+ years of experience, specific skills in Figma and advanced prototyping tools (After Effects, Framer, etc.), and any experience with design system governance, mentorship, or enterprise/technical software. Use keywords from the job description naturally.
• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, rationale, and impact for your portfolio projects. Prepare to discuss your approach to mentorship, cross-functional collaboration, and how you ensure visual and motion consistency at scale.
• Company Research: Research Jobgether and try to infer the type of company their partner might be (based on preferred skills like enterprise, cybersecurity, DevOps, data platforms). Understand the value of design systems in such environments and prepare to discuss how your skills align with those needs.

⚠️ 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.