Principal Product Designer - Core Platform

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Principal Product Designer - Core Platform

Company: BVNK

Location: UK / Bulgaria / Malta / South Africa / Spain

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design / Operations Tooling

Date Posted: 2026-05-28T09:18:36

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead end-to-end product design for BVNK's Core Platform and Financial Crime (Fincrime) domains, encompassing onboarding, treasury, reconciliation, billing, core processing, and compliance systems.

• Drive the adoption of an AI-first design methodology, leveraging LLMs like Claude for concept generation, PRD drafting, and risk identification, and utilizing AI prototyping tools to accelerate workflow development.

• Focus on designing for complex, regulated, high-stakes workflows, balancing the needs of expert internal users (compliance analysts, ops teams, finance) with the goal of maintaining simple, default experiences and automating judgment where possible.

• Act as a key influencer and mentor within the design organization, contributing to design reviews, mentoring senior and mid-level designers, and shaping the strategic direction of the company's Design System.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor with significant strategic influence, focusing on the foundational "chess end" of BVNK's product suite. The emphasis on an "AI-first" approach and leveraging LLMs for design tasks is a critical differentiator for this role, requiring candidates to demonstrate practical, daily application of these technologies. The dual focus on Core Platform and Fincrime indicates a need for a designer adept at handling complex, regulated environments with a strong understanding of operational efficiency and compliance requirements.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and execute the design vision and strategy for the Core Platform (onboarding, treasury, reconciliation, billing, core processing) and Fincrime (compliance, monitoring, case management) product areas.

• Collaborate closely with Directors of Product for Platform and Fincrime, as well as senior Product Managers and Engineering leads, to identify problems, explore solutions, validate concepts, and deliver impactful product improvements.

• Measure and optimize key metrics such as operational efficiency, false-positive rates, time-to-resolution, onboarding conversion rates, and platform reliability through thoughtful design solutions.

• Champion an AI-first design process, integrating LLMs for early-stage ideation and risk assessment, and utilizing AI prototyping tools to generate and refine interface designs, ensuring alignment with UX quality standards.

• Conduct direct user research with internal stakeholders (operations, compliance, finance) and external customers to gather insights, validate design hypotheses, and iterate rapidly on solutions.

• Design sophisticated, yet user-friendly, interfaces for expert users, skillfully balancing the exposure of complex functionalities with automation and intuitive default experiences, particularly for internal operational tools.

• Contribute to and lead design critiques and reviews within the Core Platform and Fincrime areas, while actively participating in broader design org reviews to elevate design quality across BVNK.

• Mentor and guide senior and mid-level designers, fostering their growth in tackling complex design challenges and developing their strategic thinking.

• Collaborate with the Lead Designer for the Design System to ensure the Core Platform's design work strengthens and aligns with the system's strategic direction, promoting consistency and scalability.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic ownership, hands-on design execution, and leadership. The "AI-first" mandate is central, requiring candidates to not just be aware of AI tools but to integrate them deeply into their design workflow. The emphasis on "moving metrics that matter" and optimizing "operational efficiency" points towards a data-driven approach to design validation and success measurement.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio and proven experience in complex product design are paramount. Candidates with backgrounds in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design, Computer Science, or related fields may possess relevant foundational knowledge.

Experience: Minimum of 10+ years of experience in product design, with a significant portion dedicated to leading design for complex, operational, or expert-user products.

Required Skills:

• A robust portfolio showcasing leadership in designing complex, operational, or expert-user products (e.g., compliance systems, operations tooling, financial platforms, developer tools, healthcare workflows).

• Demonstrated ability to ship products that have demonstrably improved key business or operational metrics, with the fluency to discuss these achievements and their quantitative impact.

• Fluent, daily practical experience with Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI prototyping tools as integral parts of the design workflow, not just theoretical knowledge.

• Advanced proficiency in Figma, including complex prototyping, component creation, and design system utilization, with the judgment to apply these tools strategically.

• Proven track record of operating as a senior individual contributor (IC) across multiple product domains, effectively influencing Product Managers, Engineers, and leadership.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience within the fintech, payments, cryptocurrency/stablecoin, or other regulated industries.

• Familiarity with financial crime compliance processes, including sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, and case management systems.

• Experience in designing for B2B or enterprise software solutions.

• Understanding of core platform primitives and their impact on customer-facing products.

• Experience with design system development and strategic contribution.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for fluent, daily use of LLMs and AI prototyping tools signifies a forward-thinking approach by BVNK. Candidates must be prepared to demonstrate their practical application of these technologies during the interview process. The preference for fintech/regulated domain experience, while not strictly required, would significantly shorten the learning curve for understanding BVNK's operational context.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase end-to-end design ownership for complex products, highlighting challenges related to operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, or expert user workflows.

• Feature case studies that clearly articulate the problem, the design process (including AI/LLM integration), the solution, and, crucially, the measurable impact on business or operational metrics (e.g., reduction in false positives, increased processing speed, improved user efficiency).

• Demonstrate a deep understanding of how to translate complex requirements into elegant, usable interfaces for sophisticated users, with clear examples of balancing power with simplicity.

Process Documentation:

• Provide evidence of how you structure your design process, particularly in an AI-first environment, detailing how LLMs are integrated from ideation through to prototyping and validation.

• Illustrate your approach to user research and validation, emphasizing rapid iteration and data-driven decision-making, especially when working with internal expert users.

• Detail your experience in collaborating with product management and engineering, including how you contribute to PRDs, pressure-test technical constraints, and ensure design quality through launch and iteration.

• Showcase your ability to design for evolving systems, with examples of how your work strengthens or informs design systems and platform primitives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a portfolio that demonstrates experience with "complex, operational, or expert-user products" and "shipping work that moved real business or operational metrics" is critical. Candidates must be prepared to quantify the impact of their design decisions. The explicit mention of AI/LLM usage in the portfolio is a key expectation.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on the Principal Designer title, 10+ years of experience, and the company's growth stage (Series B funded with Visa investment), a competitive salary range for the specified locations (UK, Bulgaria, Malta, South Africa, Spain) would typically fall between:

• UK: £80,000 - £120,000 per annum

• Bulgaria: €45,000 - €70,000 per annum

• Malta: €45,000 - €70,000 per annum

• South Africa: ZAR 800,000 - ZAR 1,200,000 per annum

• Spain: €50,000 - €80,000 per annum

📝 Enhancement Note: These are estimated ranges based on industry benchmarks for Principal Product Designer roles in tech companies across these regions. Actual compensation will depend on the candidate's specific experience, the exact location within these countries, and BVNK's internal compensation bands. The company's significant funding and high-profile investors suggest a competitive offering.

Benefits:

• Fair and competitive salary at every stage of your growth.

• Flexible working hours, supporting work-life balance.

• Hybrid working model, offering a blend of remote and in-office collaboration.

• A flexible approach to holiday, allowing for personal time and rejuvenation.

• Opportunities to travel to BVNK's global offices, fostering cross-cultural collaboration and networking.

• A supportive and creative environment focused on growth and innovation.

Working Hours: While not explicitly stated, a standard full-time role in the tech industry, especially in the specified regions, typically involves around 40 hours per week. The emphasis on flexible working hours suggests a degree of autonomy in managing one's schedule, provided core responsibilities and team collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The benefits package aligns with typical offerings for well-funded tech startups, with a strong emphasis on flexibility and professional development. The hybrid model is standard, and the travel opportunities are a significant perk for a globally distributed team.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Technology (Fintech), specifically focusing on stablecoin-native infrastructure for global money movement. BVNK operates within the payments, cryptocurrency, and regulated financial services sectors.

Company Size: BVNK is a rapidly growing scale-up, having secured significant Series B funding and strategic investment from Visa. This implies a dynamic environment with a substantial team (likely 100-500+ employees) experiencing rapid scaling.

Founded: 2021. As a relatively young company, BVNK likely possesses a startup culture that is maturing, balancing agility with the need for robust processes and compliance.

Team Structure:

• The design team is structured into Customer Value Stream and Core Platform areas, with this role specifically owning Core Platform and Fincrime.

• You will report to the Head of Design and partner closely with Directors of Product for Platform and Fincrime.

• You will work day-to-day with senior Product Managers and collaborate with the Lead Designer for the Design System, who is part of the same pod.

Methodology:

• AI-First Approach: BVNK is actively integrating AI, particularly LLMs like Claude, into the core workflow for product development, design ideation, and risk assessment. This suggests a culture of innovation and embracing cutting-edge technology.

• Data-Driven Design: The focus on moving "metrics that matter" (operational efficiency, false-positive rates, etc.) indicates a strong emphasis on quantitative validation and data-informed decision-making in design.

• Agile & Iterative: The mention of "small tests," "adjust direction quickly," and "handoff is not the finish line" points to an agile development process where continuous iteration and learning are key.

• User-Centricity (Internal & External): While serving external clients, the role also heavily emphasizes understanding and designing for internal expert users (compliance, ops, finance), highlighting a broad user focus.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: BVNK's culture appears to be a blend of ambitious startup energy, a strong focus on technological innovation (especially AI), and the discipline required for a regulated financial services environment. The emphasis on stablecoins and global money movement positions them at the forefront of a significant shift in financial infrastructure.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is at the "Principal" level, signifying a senior individual contributor position. It requires deep expertise, strategic thinking, and the ability to lead complex projects autonomously. It sits at the "chess end" of design, dealing with foundational systems and high-stakes operational/compliance challenges.

Reporting Structure: You will report directly to the Head of Design, working closely with senior Product and Engineering leaders. This provides high visibility and direct influence on strategic product decisions.

Operations Impact: The Core Platform and Fincrime areas are fundamental to BVNK's operations and its ability to serve enterprise clients securely and efficiently. Design decisions here directly impact operational efficiency, compliance adherence, financial risk, and the scalability of the entire business. Your work will be critical to enabling billions in transactions and transforming how businesses operate globally.

Growth Opportunities:

• Management Track: The role explicitly states a path into design management as the area grows, offering opportunities to lead and scale a team.

• Strategic Influence: As a Principal Designer, you will have significant input into long-range product strategy and the evolution of BVNK's technology stack, particularly in AI integration.

• Domain Expertise: Deepen your expertise in fintech, stablecoins, financial crime, and complex operational systems, becoming a highly sought-after specialist.

• Design System Leadership: Play a key role in shaping the strategic direction of BVNK's Design System, influencing its adoption and evolution across the organization.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Develop strong leadership and collaboration skills by working closely with Directors and senior stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and Operations.

📝 Enhancement Note: The Principal level indicates a high degree of autonomy and strategic responsibility. The explicit mention of a management path is a significant growth opportunity for those interested in leadership. The role's impact on core business functions means that successful designers will be highly valued and have ample opportunities for advancement.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: BVNK operates a hybrid working model. This suggests a combination of remote work and in-office collaboration. The company likely has physical office spaces in the specified locations (UK, Bulgaria, Malta, South Africa, Spain) to facilitate team meetings, workshops, and social interaction.

Office Location(s): While specific office addresses aren't provided, BVNK has a presence in the UK, Bulgaria, Malta, South Africa, and Spain. Opportunities to travel to these offices are mentioned, indicating a globally distributed but connected team.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model encourages collaboration, with opportunities for in-person brainstorming, design reviews, and team building when in the office.

• Technology-Enabled: As a tech-forward company, expect access to modern design tools, communication platforms, and potentially AI-powered productivity software.

• Cross-Functional Interaction: The role requires close daily interaction with Product Managers, Engineers, and other designers, fostering a dynamic and communicative work environment.

Work Schedule: Flexible working hours are a key benefit. This allows designers to structure their workday around personal needs while ensuring they meet team collaboration requirements and deliver on project deadlines. This flexibility is crucial for deep work, which is often required for complex design problem-solving.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model with flexible hours is designed to offer work-life balance while maintaining team cohesion and productivity. The global presence offers opportunities for diverse cultural interactions and potential travel.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a review of your CV and portfolio by a recruiter or hiring manager to assess alignment with core requirements, especially the experience with complex products and AI/LLM usage.

• Portfolio Review & Design Challenge: A deep dive into your portfolio with the hiring manager or a senior designer. This will likely involve discussing specific case studies, your design process, the impact of your work, and how you leverage AI/LLMs. A design challenge, potentially focused on a complex operational or Fincrime scenario, may be presented.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Directors, Engineering Leads, and potentially other senior stakeholders to assess your collaboration style, strategic thinking, and ability to influence across disciplines.

• Final Round: Discussions with senior leadership (e.g., Head of Design, potentially C-suite) focusing on culture fit, long-term vision, and leadership potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Quantify Impact: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the solution, and the quantifiable business or operational outcomes. Use metrics like efficiency gains, cost savings, error reduction, or conversion improvements.

• Showcase AI/LLM Integration: Dedicate a section or clearly highlight within case studies how you've integrated LLMs and AI prototyping tools into your workflow. Be specific about how you used them (e.g., for ideation, risk assessment, rapid prototyping) and the benefits derived.

• Highlight Complexity: Emphasize projects involving complex systems, regulated environments, or expert users. Explain the specific challenges and how your design approach addressed them.

• Demonstrate Craft & Systems Thinking: Showcase your Figma skills, prototyping capabilities, and understanding of design systems. Explain strategic decisions related to componentization, scalability, and consistency.

• Tell a Story: Structure your portfolio presentations as narratives that clearly communicate your thought process, problem-solving approach, and the value you deliver.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Research BVNK's business, the stablecoin market, and the general landscape of financial crime and core platform operations.

• Focus on AI/LLM Application: Anticipate questions or tasks that require you to outline how you would use AI tools to approach a given problem.

• Complex Problem-Solving: Practice breaking down complex, multi-faceted problems into manageable components and proposing structured design solutions.

• Expert User Empathy: Consider how you would design for users who are highly specialized and have deep domain knowledge, balancing efficiency with comprehensiveness.

• Communicate Trade-offs: Be prepared to discuss design trade-offs, constraints, and how you make decisions under pressure or with incomplete information.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will heavily scrutinize practical application of AI/LLMs and the ability to deliver tangible results in complex domains. A portfolio that clearly demonstrates these capabilities with quantitative evidence will be crucial for success.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration. Expect advanced usage for complex interfaces, component libraries, and design system work.

• AI/LLM Tools: Explicitly mentioned are Claude (for intent clarification, PRD drafting, risk assessment) and Claude Code (for prototyping working flows and interfaces). Candidates must demonstrate fluency in using these or similar advanced AI assistants within their design workflow.

• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma's built-in capabilities, candidates may use other specialized prototyping tools depending on project needs.

• Design Systems: Experience with building, contributing to, or strategically aligning with design systems is essential.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not explicitly listed, expect to work with data from analytics platforms (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel) to track user behavior and product performance.

CRM & Automation:

• While this role is design-focused, understanding the CRM (likely Salesforce or similar) and automation platforms (e.g., Marketo, HubSpot, Workato) that the Core Platform and Fincrime teams interact with or support would be advantageous.

• Familiarity with how internal operational tools interact with core business systems is relevant.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on AI/LLM tools like Claude is a significant differentiator. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their specific experience and methodology with these technologies. Proficiency in Figma and design systems is foundational.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & AI-First: A strong drive to embrace and integrate cutting-edge technology, particularly AI and LLMs, to redefine workflows and enhance productivity.

• Excellence in Complex Domains: A commitment to delivering high-quality design solutions for challenging, regulated, and high-stakes operational environments.

• Data-Driven Impact: A culture that values measurable outcomes, focusing on how design decisions contribute to key business and operational metrics.

• Collaboration & Mentorship: A supportive environment where team members actively share knowledge, provide constructive feedback, and help each other grow, particularly across different levels of seniority.

• Customer Focus (Broad): Designing with empathy for both external enterprise clients and internal expert users, ensuring solutions are effective and efficient for all stakeholders.

Collaboration Style:

• AI-Augmented Collaboration: Leveraging AI tools to facilitate async communication, draft documentation, and streamline idea generation before involving human collaborators.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Close working relationships with Product Management and Engineering, characterized by shared problem-solving, mutual respect for expertise, and a focus on achieving common goals.

• Design Critiques & Reviews: An open culture for design reviews, where constructive feedback is given and received to elevate the quality of work across the team.

• Knowledge Sharing: A proactive approach to sharing learnings, best practices, and useful patterns, especially regarding the effective use of AI tools and design system components.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture at BVNK appears to be forward-thinking, driven by innovation (especially AI), and focused on delivering tangible results in a complex industry. Collaboration is key, but it's increasingly augmented by AI tools.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Taming Complexity: Designing intuitive interfaces for highly complex, regulated financial operations and Fincrime workflows requires deep user understanding and strategic simplification.

• AI Integration Maturity: Effectively integrating AI/LLMs into a mature design process and ensuring consistent quality and risk mitigation will be an ongoing challenge.

• Balancing Expert Needs with Simplicity: Designing for expert users without overwhelming them or exposing unnecessary complexity, and determining what can be effectively automated.

• Internal Tool Neglect: Ensuring that internal operational tools receive the same level of design rigor and attention as customer-facing products.

• Scaling Design: As BVNK grows, maintaining design quality, consistency, and team cohesion will require continuous process refinement and leadership.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Mastering AI in Design: Becoming a leader in applying AI and LLMs to product design challenges, building expertise in a rapidly evolving field.

• Deep Domain Expertise: Gaining in-depth knowledge of stablecoin infrastructure, B2B payments, treasury operations, and financial crime compliance.

• Leadership Development: Opportunities to move into design management, leading teams and shaping design strategy at a growing fintech company.

• Strategic Product Influence: Contributing to the foundational architecture and long-term vision of BVNK's core financial infrastructure.

• Industry Exposure: Working with leading investors and enterprise clients provides broad exposure to the fintech landscape.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are inherent to senior roles in innovative fintech companies. They offer significant opportunities for professional growth and skill development in a high-impact area.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe how you would approach designing a new compliance monitoring dashboard for our Fincrime team. How would you leverage AI/LLMs in this process?" (Focus on user research, data visualization, AI for pattern detection/alert prioritization, and iterative validation).

• "Walk us through a complex operational workflow you've designed. What were the key constraints, how did you simplify it, and what was the measurable impact?" (Emphasize process mapping, stakeholder management, trade-offs, and quantitative results).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you most about BVNK's mission and our AI-first approach to financial services?" (Show research into stablecoins, BVNK's tech, and your enthusiasm for innovation).

• "How do you see your role as a Principal Designer contributing to our core platform and Fincrime strategy, especially given BVNK's growth trajectory?" (Focus on strategic thinking, long-term vision, and impact).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• AI Integration Focus: Explicitly call out your AI/LLM usage within case studies. Be ready to demonstrate specific prompts you might use or how AI assisted in your decision-making.

• Quantify Everything: For each project, ensure you can clearly articulate the "so what?" in terms of business impact. Prepare slides with key metrics and ROI.

• Process Transparency: Clearly explain your design process for each project, highlighting how you gathered requirements, validated assumptions, and iterated.

• Strategic Alignment: Connect your design decisions back to business goals and BVNK's overall product strategy.

• Conciseness & Clarity: Present your work clearly and concisely, focusing on the most impactful aspects of each project. Be prepared for deep dives into specific areas.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interviewers will be looking for a candidate who not only has excellent design craft but also strategic thinking, a deep understanding of operational complexity, and a proven ability to integrate and leverage AI/LLMs effectively in their workflow.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Principal Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the BVNK careers portal via the provided link.

• Tailor your Resume: Highlight your experience with complex operational or expert-user products, quantifiable achievements, and any direct experience with AI/LLM tools in design. Ensure keywords like "Fintech," "Fincrime," "Product Design," "UX," "Figma," and "AI Prototyping" are present.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best showcase your ability to tackle complex, regulated environments and deliver measurable impact. Ensure each case study clearly details your process, your role, the challenges, the solution, and the quantifiable results, with specific emphasis on your AI/LLM integration.

• Prepare Your Narrative: Be ready to articulate your design philosophy, your approach to AI-first design, and how your experience aligns with BVNK's mission and the specific requirements of the Core Platform and Fincrime domains. Practice presenting your portfolio projects, focusing on storytelling and impact.

• Research BVNK: Understand their business model, their stablecoin focus, their recent funding rounds, and their stated values. Prepare thoughtful questions about their product roadmap, design team structure, and AI strategy.

⚠️ 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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