Principal Product Designer, AI Experiences

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Principal Product Designer, AI Experiences

Company: Expedia Group

Location: Austin, TX; New York, NY; Chicago, IL; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA (United States)

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design (AI/ML Focus)

Date Posted: May 04, 2026

Experience Level: Principal / Senior (8+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the design and user experience of cutting-edge AI-powered travel products, focusing on conversational, multimodal, and agentic systems.

• Define and execute the visual and UI design strategy for AI experiences, ensuring clarity, precision, and intuitive interaction across Expedia Group's ecosystem.

• Drive innovation by developing next-generation interfaces that integrate AI capabilities seamlessly into traveler journeys.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate complex AI concepts into user-centered, trustworthy, and engaging experiences.

• Elevate the design system to accommodate AI-native patterns and intelligent interface behaviors, setting new standards for the industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the job title is "Principal Product Designer, AI Experiences," and the core responsibilities focus on design, the nature of AI product development within a large tech organization like Expedia Group often involves significant collaboration with product managers, engineers, and data scientists. The role's impact on "Business Contribution/Impact" underscores the need for designers to understand the business objectives and how AI design choices drive engagement, conversion, and loyalty. This is a highly strategic design role that requires not only exceptional craft but also an understanding of AI's potential and limitations in a commercial context.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Translate strategic vision into high-impact visual stories and prototypes to articulate and align teams on the future of AI-driven travel experiences.

• Apply exceptional UI and visual design craft, coupled with high-fidelity prototyping, to explore, validate, and communicate AI experience concepts.

• Envision and design next-generation interfaces for conversational, multimodal, and adaptive AI-driven interactions.

• Design for agentic and mixed-initiative systems, creating intuitive feedback mechanisms for probabilistic or uncertain system states.

• Evolve Expedia Group's design system to incorporate AI-native patterns, adaptive layouts, and intelligent interface behaviors.

• Integrate data-informed design principles to ensure personalization, prediction, and automation are expressed through cohesive, accessible UI.

• Develop visual frameworks and pattern architectures that foster consistency, trust, and clarity across all Expedia Group platforms.

• Create high-fidelity visual storytelling artifacts, including layouts, flows, motion studies, and prototypes, to align cross-functional teams and communicate design intent.

• Foster a culture of open critique, inclusion, and curiosity to elevate the standard of UI craft within the AI design space.

• Collaborate with product management, engineering, research, and data science teams to align on strategy, share insights, and enhance AI-driven interface quality.

• Champion the traveler's voice in AI interactions, ensuring experiences remain transparent, empathetic, and empowering.

• Partner with research and data teams to understand behavioral patterns, context, and intent, translating insights into adaptive design strategies.

• Embed responsible AI design principles, prioritizing fairness, explainability, and user trust in all AI-driven experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a blend of strategic vision, hands-on design execution, and cross-functional leadership. The focus on "design systems," "AI-native patterns," and "data-informed design" highlights the need for a designer who can think at both the system and component levels, while grounding their work in user behavior and business outcomes. The emphasis on "responsible AI" is a critical aspect for any role dealing with AI technologies today.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• 8+ years of relevant professional experience in product design, with a strong emphasis on UI and visual design.

• Demonstrated experience designing AI-powered interfaces, including clear strategies for state management, system feedback, and multimodal interaction patterns.

Required Skills:

• Exceptional visual and UI design craft, including mastery of layout, typography, hierarchy, color, and component-level refinement.

• Ability to translate complex AI behaviors into clear, elegant, and expressive interface patterns.

• Expertise in developing high-fidelity prototypes that illustrate nuanced interaction states and polished interface execution.

• Skill in crafting visual narratives and motion studies that communicate how AI behaviors evolve over time.

• Demonstrated capability in defining modern, high-quality digital product interfaces supported by scalable visual systems.

• Deep understanding of AI and conversational design tools and methods, including prompt engineering, data-informed interaction design.

• Proficiency in modern design and prototyping platforms, including but not limited to Figma, and specialized AI/developer tools like Cursor.

• Strong understanding of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) principles.

• Experience with adaptive layouts and multimodal interaction design.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with Large Language Models (LLMs) and their application in user interfaces.

• Familiarity with prompt engineering techniques.

• Experience designing for agentic systems and mixed-initiative interactions.

• Understanding of responsible AI design principles (fairness, explainability, transparency).

• Experience in the travel technology sector.

📝 Enhancement Note: The minimum qualifications specifically mention "Cursor" alongside Figma, indicating a potential emphasis on AI-specific development environments or tools that integrate design and coding for AI features. The requirement for experience with "LLMs, prompt engineering, data-informed interaction design" is crucial and signals a deep dive into generative AI and its application in product design. The "8+ years" with a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience points to a senior-level role requiring seasoned expertise.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A robust portfolio showcasing exceptional UI and visual design craft through modern, high-quality digital product interfaces.

• Specific examples demonstrating the design of AI-powered interfaces, clearly illustrating strategies for state management, system feedback, and multimodal interaction patterns.

• Case studies detailing the definition and evolution of UI patterns and interface-level design systems, particularly for intelligent or adaptive interaction models.

• Prototypes that effectively communicate nuanced interaction states and polished interface execution for complex AI features.

• Visual storytelling artifacts, such as motion studies or flow diagrams, that articulate how AI behaviors can be designed to evolve over time.

Process Documentation:

• Showcase how you have translated complex AI concepts or strategic visions into tangible design artifacts (e.g., wireframes, mockups, prototypes) that aligned teams.

• Illustrate your process for evolving or contributing to a design system, with a focus on supporting AI-native patterns, adaptive layouts, or intelligent interface behaviors.

• Demonstrate your approach to integrating user research and data insights into the design process for AI-driven products, ensuring user-centricity and effectiveness.

• Provide examples of how you have fostered collaboration and critique within a design team to elevate the quality of UI craft for AI experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are highly specific to AI experiences, emphasizing the need for candidates to demonstrate their ability to design for complex, dynamic, and often probabilistic AI systems. The inclusion of "motion studies" and "visual storytelling artifacts" suggests a need for designers who can effectively communicate the dynamic nature of AI interactions. The emphasis on "design systems" for "AI-native patterns" is a key differentiator for this role.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Austin, TX: $224,000 - $313,500 annually. Potential to reach $358,500 based on sustained performance.

• New York, NY: $242,000 - $338,500 annually. Potential to reach $387,000 based on sustained performance.

• Chicago, IL: $208,000 - $291,500 annually. Potential to reach $333,000 based on sustained performance.

• Seattle, WA: $224,000 - $313,500 annually. Potential to reach $358,500 based on sustained performance.

• San Jose, CA: $242,000 - $338,500 annually. Potential to reach $387,000 based on sustained performance.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance.

• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO).

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for support services.

• Wellness & Travel Reimbursement program.

• Exclusive travel discounts.

• International Airlines Travel Agent (IATAN) membership.

• Parental Leave.

Working Hours:

• Standard 40 hours per week. The hybrid work model suggests flexibility in scheduling, but core business hours and team collaboration needs will apply.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary ranges provided are substantial and reflect a Principal-level role in high-cost-of-living areas, particularly New York and San Jose. The note about potential increases based on "ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance" indicates a performance-driven compensation structure beyond the base salary. The inclusion of travel-specific benefits like IATAN membership and travel discounts is a significant perk for a company in the travel industry.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology, Travel & Hospitality. Expedia Group operates a vast ecosystem of travel brands, leveraging technology to connect travelers with experiences worldwide.

Company Size: Large Enterprise (company size not explicitly stated but implied by the global reach and brand portfolio). This means established processes, significant resources, and cross-functional opportunities.

Founded: Expedia Group has a history dating back to the late 1990s (Expedia.com founded in 1996, HomeAway in 2005), indicating a mature company with evolving technological capabilities.

Team Structure:

• The role sits within the Experience Design (XD) organization, a global, cross-disciplinary team.

• This team unites user experience design, content design, and research.

• The AI Experiences design team is multidisciplinary, focusing on AI-powered travel solutions.

• Collaboration is expected across product management, engineering, research, and data science.

Methodology:

• Data-Informed Design: Leveraging user research, behavioral patterns, and data analytics to guide design decisions for AI features.

• Human-Centered Design: Ensuring traveler needs, trust, and empowerment are at the forefront of AI interactions.

• Iterative Prototyping: Utilizing high-fidelity prototypes for concept exploration, validation, and team alignment.

• Design Systems: Evolving and contributing to a scalable design system that supports AI-native patterns and intelligent behaviors.

• Responsible AI: Embedding principles of fairness, explainability, and user trust into the design process.

Company Website: https://careers.expediagroup.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Expedia Group's emphasis on its values, leadership agreements, and fostering an "open culture where everyone belongs" suggests a collaborative and inclusive work environment. The company's mission to "power global travel for everyone, everywhere" provides a strong overarching purpose that designers can connect with. The mention of "flexible work model" and robust benefits indicates a focus on employee well-being and work-life balance.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Principal Product Designer. This is a senior individual contributor role, recognized for deep expertise, strategic impact, and the ability to lead complex initiatives. It signifies a level of influence that shapes product direction and design standards.

Reporting Structure: Likely reports to a Design Director or Head of Design within the AI/Product organization. The role involves significant collaboration with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and Research Scientists.

Operations Impact: This role has a direct and significant impact on business outcomes by translating AI strategy into customer-facing experiences that drive engagement, conversion, and loyalty. By defining the design standards for AI-powered travel, it enhances customer satisfaction and strengthens Expedia Group's competitive differentiation. The role is crucial in identifying new revenue opportunities and improving operational efficiency through intelligent design.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership in AI Design: Opportunity to become a recognized thought leader and expert in designing AI-driven experiences within the travel industry.

• Strategic Influence: Shape the long-term design strategy for AI integration across multiple Expedia Group brands.

• Mentorship: Guide and mentor junior designers, fostering a culture of design excellence in AI.

• Skill Expansion: Deepen expertise in emerging AI technologies, conversational design, and advanced prototyping techniques.

• Cross-Brand Exposure: Work on diverse projects across Expedia Group's extensive portfolio of travel brands.

• Advancement: Potential to move into management roles (Design Manager) or specialized Principal/Staff roles focusing on emerging technologies or design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Principal" title implies a level of autonomy and strategic input far beyond a standard designer. The emphasis on "defining the future" and "advancing design strategy" suggests significant growth potential for individuals looking to make a substantial impact on product direction and industry standards in AI-driven design.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid. Expedia Group offers "some pretty cool offices" and a "flexible work model," indicating a blend of in-office collaboration and remote flexibility.

Office Location(s): The role is listed for Austin, TX; New York, NY; Chicago, IL; San Jose, CA; and Seattle, WA. These are major tech hubs, suggesting modern office facilities designed for collaboration and innovation.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: Offices are likely equipped with collaborative zones, meeting rooms, and common areas conducive to team interaction and brainstorming.

• Tools & Technology: Access to industry-standard design and prototyping tools (Figma, Cursor), potentially AI-specific development tools, and robust IT infrastructure.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for face-to-face collaboration with design peers, product managers, engineers, and researchers, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas.

Work Schedule:

• A standard 40-hour work week is typical, with flexibility offered through the hybrid model. Core working hours will likely be expected for team meetings and cross-functional collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model is a key aspect of the work environment. Candidates should expect to spend a portion of their week in the office, likely to facilitate core team collaboration, design reviews, and strategic planning sessions, while retaining flexibility for focused individual work at home. The specific office locations are in major metropolitan areas known for their vibrant tech scenes.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a recruiter screen to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Portfolio Review & Design Challenge: A critical stage where candidates present their portfolio, focusing on AI-related projects and demonstrating their design process, craft, and strategic thinking. A specific design challenge related to an AI travel scenario may be given.

• Team Interviews: Interviews with design peers, design leadership, and potentially product managers or engineering leads to assess collaboration skills, technical understanding, and strategic alignment.

• Executive/Leadership Interview: A final interview with senior leadership to evaluate overall fit, strategic vision, and long-term potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for AI: Prioritize projects that showcase your experience with AI-powered features, conversational interfaces, or complex interactive systems.

• Showcase Process: Clearly articulate your design process, including research, ideation, prototyping, iteration, and collaboration. For AI projects, highlight how you addressed uncertainty, feedback loops, and user trust.

• Highlight Craft: Demonstrate exceptional UI and visual design skills through high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes. Pay attention to detail in typography, layout, and visual hierarchy.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, include metrics or qualitative feedback that demonstrate the success or impact of your designs. For AI, this might include engagement rates, task completion improvements, or user satisfaction with AI features.

• Tell a Story: Structure your portfolio presentations as compelling narratives that highlight the problem, your solution, your role, and the outcome.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand AI Use Cases: Familiarize yourself with common AI applications in travel (e.g., personalized recommendations, conversational booking assistants, itinerary planning, anomaly detection).

• Focus on Interaction: For any design challenge, think critically about the user's interaction with the AI. How does the system provide feedback? How does it handle ambiguity? How does it build trust?

• Prototyping Skills: Be prepared to quickly prototype solutions, potentially using Figma or other tools, to illustrate your ideas effectively.

• Articulate Trade-offs: Be ready to discuss the rationale behind your design decisions and acknowledge any trade-offs or limitations, especially concerning AI capabilities and ethical considerations.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a portfolio review and potential design challenge for an AI-focused role is paramount. Candidates must be able to visually and verbally articulate their expertise in designing for complex AI systems, not just standard UI. Demonstrating an understanding of "responsible AI" and "user trust" will be critical.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, wireframing, prototyping, and collaboration.

• Cursor: Mentioned specifically, indicating potential use for AI-assisted coding, prototyping, or integration with AI development workflows.

• Prototyping Tools: Expertise in advanced prototyping tools to create high-fidelity, interactive experiences for AI interactions (e.g., Principle, After Effects for motion studies, or advanced Figma features).

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly relevant to this design role, but awareness of how design impacts user journeys within CRM and automated workflows may be valuable.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "Cursor" alongside Figma is a significant indicator of tools used. Cursor is an AI-first code editor, suggesting that this role might involve closer collaboration with engineers on AI features, or potentially designers using AI tools for rapid prototyping or concept generation. An understanding of how AI models are trained and deployed, even at a high level, could be advantageous.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Traveler-Centricity: Placing the traveler's needs, journey, and experience at the core of all design decisions.

• Innovation & Future-Forward: Driving the future of travel through cutting-edge technology, particularly AI.

• Excellence in Craft: Maintaining the highest standards of UI and visual design, with a focus on clarity, precision, and refinement.

• Collaboration & Inclusion: Fostering an open culture where diverse perspectives are valued and contribute to collective success.

• Data-Informed Decision Making: Using insights from data and research to guide design strategy and execution.

• Responsible & Ethical Design: Committing to fairness, transparency, and user trust in AI interactions.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Working closely with Product Management, Engineering, Research, and Data Science to co-create AI experiences.

• Design Critiques: Engaging in open, constructive critique sessions to refine designs and elevate quality.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively sharing insights, best practices, and learnings within the design team and broader organization.

• Agile & Iterative: Adapting to evolving requirements and iterating rapidly based on feedback and data.

📝 Enhancement Note: Expedia Group's stated values of "open culture where everyone belongs, differences are celebrated and know that when one of us wins, we all win" are central to their team culture. Designers are expected to actively contribute to this environment through collaboration and inclusive practices. The emphasis on "responsible AI" suggests a culture that values ethical considerations alongside innovation.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Uncertainty: AI interactions can be probabilistic or uncertain; designing clear, trustworthy feedback mechanisms for these states is a significant challenge.

• Balancing Innovation with Usability: Introducing novel AI features while ensuring they remain intuitive and easy for a broad range of travelers to use.

• Evolving AI Landscape: Staying abreast of rapid advancements in AI technology and their implications for user experience design.

• Cross-Brand Consistency: Ensuring AI experiences are consistent and cohesive across Expedia Group's diverse portfolio of brands.

• Responsible AI Implementation: Navigating the ethical complexities of AI, ensuring fairness, transparency, and user control.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI/ML concepts, LLMs, prompt engineering, and their application in UX.

• Advanced Prototyping: Master cutting-edge prototyping techniques for complex AI interactions and motion design.

• Design System Evolution: Contribute to the strategic direction of Expedia Group's design system, focusing on AI-native components and patterns.

• Industry Trends: Access to conferences, workshops, and internal learning resources focused on AI, design, and travel tech.

• Mentorship: Opportunities to mentor junior designers and learn from experienced leaders in the field.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenge is translating the complexity and inherent uncertainty of AI into simple, reliable, and trustworthy user experiences. The growth opportunities are strongly tied to becoming a leader in the emerging field of AI-driven product design within the travel sector.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing a conversational AI assistant for complex travel planning that needs to handle ambiguity and user preferences?" (Focus on state management, feedback, and user control.)

• "Describe a time you had to evolve a design system to accommodate new technological paradigms, like AI. What were the challenges and your approach?" (Highlight adaptability and system thinking.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Expedia Group's mission to 'power global travel for everyone, everywhere,' and how do you see AI contributing to that?" (Connect personal passion with company vision.)

• "How do you foster collaboration and inclusion within a multidisciplinary design team, particularly when working on cutting-edge technologies like AI?" (Demonstrate teamwork and cultural alignment.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• AI Focus: Dedicate a significant portion of your presentation to AI-related projects. For each, clearly define the AI problem, your design solution, your specific role, and the outcome.

• Process Deep Dive: Walk through your design process for AI features, explaining how you handled user research, ideation, prototyping, and iteration. Detail how you addressed uncertainty, provided feedback, and built trust.

• Visual Storytelling: Use high-fidelity mockups, interactive prototypes, and motion studies to vividly demonstrate the AI experience. Explain the design decisions behind UI elements, microinteractions, and visual feedback.

• System Thinking: Showcase how your designs integrate with or inform the broader design system, especially concerning AI-native patterns.

• Concise & Impactful: Be prepared to present your most relevant work efficiently, focusing on impact and demonstrating your strategic thinking and design craft.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should prepare to discuss their experience with AI tools like Figma and Cursor, and demonstrate a deep understanding of LLMs, prompt engineering, and conversational design. The ability to articulate how they design for uncertainty and build user trust in AI systems will be paramount.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Principal Product Designer, AI Experiences position:

• Submit your application through the provided Expedia Group careers portal link.

• Curate your portfolio to prominently feature AI-related design projects, clearly articulating your process, role, and impact, with a focus on user trust and interaction design for intelligent systems.

• Tailor your resume to highlight keywords and experiences related to AI UX design, visual design, prototyping, design systems, and relevant tools (Figma, Cursor, LLMs).

• Prepare a compelling presentation of your portfolio, ready to discuss specific AI design challenges, your problem-solving approach, and the outcomes of your work.

• Research Expedia Group's brands, values, and recent AI initiatives to articulate your understanding of the company and how your contributions align with their mission and culture.

⚠️ 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.