Principal Product Designer, Toast IQ Core (AI Product Team)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Principal Product Designer, Toast IQ Core (AI Product Team)

Company: Toast

Location: Remote, USA

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / UX/UI Design (AI Focus)

Date Posted: July 30, 2026

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the definition and evangelization of core interaction patterns, behaviors, and component language for agentic AI experiences within the Toast ecosystem.

• Drive end-to-end design for AI-native features, ensuring a cohesive and scalable user experience across web and mobile platforms.

• Influence product, engineering, and GTM leadership to adopt a unified UX point of view for agentic AI interactions, establishing a new standard for the company.

• Act as a key individual contributor with outsized leverage, shaping the future of intelligence and AI-driven workflows for restaurant operators.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Principal Product Designer focusing on "Toast IQ Core," which strongly implies a foundational, systems-level design responsibility. The emphasis on defining "interaction language" and "pattern language" for agentic AI experiences indicates a strategic role focused on creating scalable design systems rather than individual feature design. The requirement for organizational influence and driving adoption beyond one's own team further solidifies this as a senior, architecting-level design position within a rapidly evolving AI product space.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define, document, and evangelize the foundational interaction patterns, behaviors, and component language for agentic AI experiences across the Toast IQ platform.

• Lead the end-to-end design process for core AI features, including memory, personalization, agentic workflows, and actionable insights, from concept to implementation.

• Develop high-fidelity prototypes and conduct rigorous user research, usability testing, and data analysis to validate and iterate on design solutions for AI-driven interactions.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, Data Science, and Go-to-Market teams to translate complex AI capabilities into intuitive and effective user experiences.

• Build strong relationships and influence stakeholders across the organization to ensure consistent adoption of the defined design system and interaction paradigms for AI features.

• Mentor and provide design quality guidance to other designers, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence in AI-native product development.

• Champion user-centered design principles and accessibility standards within the development of all AI-powered features.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities are inferred from the "Requirements" section, emphasizing "Systems ownership," "Organizational influence," and "Execution" of core UX/UI within Toast's AI ecosystem. The focus is on establishing foundational design principles for AI and ensuring their widespread adoption, aligning with a Principal Designer's systemic impact.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. Experience:

• 10+ years of professional experience in product design, with a significant portion focused on designing complex, scalable digital products.

• Proven track record of leading high-impact design initiatives at a principal or lead level, defining new interaction paradigms and driving their adoption across multiple teams.

• Demonstrated experience shipping 0-to-1 AI or agentic product experiences, understanding the nuances of designing for AI-native functionality rather than just AI-enhanced features. Required Skills:

• Systems Thinking & Design Systems: Expertise in defining and evangelizing core interaction patterns, behaviors, and component languages for scalable digital products, particularly in emerging technology areas like AI.

• AI-Native Design Experience: Deep understanding of designing for AI use cases, agentic workflows, conversational interfaces, and AI-driven personalization.

• User Research & Data Analysis: Proven ability to conduct and coordinate user research, usability testing, and data analysis to inform design decisions and validate hypotheses.

• Prototyping & Execution: Proficiency in creating high-fidelity prototypes and driving end-to-end design execution across web and native mobile platforms.

• Organizational Influence: Strong ability to build conviction and drive adoption of design vision across product, engineering, and GTM leadership through effective communication and relationship building.

• Collaboration: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including Product, Engineering, Data Science, and GTM.

Preferred Skills:

• Emerging AI Tools: Proficiency with emerging AI tools (e.g., Claude, Replit, V0) and familiarity with their capabilities and limitations in product design.

• Conversational Design: Experience designing conversational interfaces and understanding natural language processing (NLP) principles.

• Accessibility Standards: Strong knowledge of accessibility best practices and their application in AI-driven interfaces.

• Mentorship: Experience mentoring junior designers and acting as a design quality bar-raiser within an organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Requirements" section heavily emphasizes "Systems ownership," "Organizational influence," and "AI-native design experience," which are translated into specific required skills. The mention of "emerging AI tools" and the "0-to-1 AI or agentic product experience" requirement points to a need for forward-thinking designers comfortable with ambiguity and pioneering new interaction models. The requirement for "Systems ownership" implies a deep understanding of design systems and their application at scale.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Systemic Design Case Studies: Showcase at least one case study demonstrating the definition and successful adoption of a new interaction paradigm or design system component that extended beyond your immediate team or product surface.

• AI/Agentic Product Experience: Include a case study detailing your involvement in shipping a 0-to-1 AI or agentic product experience, highlighting the unique challenges and solutions involved.

• Process & Influence Demonstration: Present how you influenced cross-functional stakeholders (Product, Engineering, GTM) to adopt your design direction, focusing on the rationale and outcomes.

• User-Centered Design Evidence: Provide examples of how user research, data analysis, and usability testing directly informed your design decisions and led to measurable improvements.

Process Documentation:

• Interaction Pattern Definition: Document your process for defining and articulating core interaction patterns, behaviors, and component languages, especially for novel AI functionalities.

• Cross-Functional Alignment Methods: Showcase your methods for ensuring alignment and buy-in from product, engineering, and other stakeholders on design strategy and execution for complex features.

• Design System Contribution: Illustrate your approach to contributing to or establishing design systems, focusing on how you ensured scalability and adoption across an organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The job description explicitly states, "What we'll ask to see: Case studies that show you defining a new interaction paradigm, not just refining an existing one, and driving adoption of it beyond your own team or product surface. We're evaluating systems thinking and organizational influence as much as visual craft." This directly informs the portfolio requirements, emphasizing systemic impact, influence, and AI-specific experience.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Zone A: $190,000 - $304,000 USD per year

• Zone B: $165,000 - $264,000 USD per year

• Zone C: $149,000 - $238,000 USD per year

Explanation of Zones: The salary ranges are determined by Toast's "Geographic Pay Zone Philosophy," which aligns pay with local labor markets. Zone A represents higher cost-of-living areas, while Zones B and C cover progressively lower cost-of-living areas. The specific starting salary within these ranges will depend on the candidate's skills, experience, and geographic location.

Benefits:

• Competitive compensation package, including base salary and potential equity.

• Comprehensive health and wellness programs designed to support a healthy lifestyle.

• Flexible work environment, including a fully remote option for this role.

• Opportunities for professional development and continuous learning.

• Access to modern AI tools and technologies to enhance productivity and innovation. Working Hours:

• Standard full-time hours, estimated at 40 hours per week, with flexibility to manage workload and achieve project goals within a remote setting.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary ranges and their explanation are directly extracted from the provided text. The benefits are a synthesis of "total rewards package," "health and wellness programs," "flexibility to meet Toasters’ changing needs," and the context of working with advanced AI tools. The working hours are a standard assumption for full-time roles.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology / Hospitality Technology / SaaS

Company Size: Large (likely 1,000-5,000+ employees, based on scale of operations and product offerings)

Founded: 2012 (Toast was founded in 2012, providing a history of innovation and growth in the restaurant tech space)

Team Structure:

• Toast IQ AI Product Team: This team is responsible for developing and scaling Toast's AI capabilities, focusing on agentic experiences and core AI interactions.

• Design Team: A distributed group comprising Product Designers, User Researchers, Design Ops Leaders, and Product Managers, emphasizing collaboration and shared design principles.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: The role requires close partnership with Product, Engineering, Data Science, Go-to-Market (GTM), and Conversational/Service Designers to ensure holistic product development.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Emphasizes conducting data analysis, user research, and usability testing to inform design decisions.

• Systems Thinking & Pattern Language: Focuses on establishing foundational interaction patterns and a component language that teams across the company can build upon.

• AI-Centric Development: Embraces a "hungry to build and learn" mentality regarding AI, encouraging the use of AI tools to accelerate development and innovation.

• Influence and Relationship Building: Values building trusting and productive relationships to enact influence and drive action across the business.

Company Website: https://careers.toasttab.com/ or https://toasttab.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Company size is inferred from the breadth of offerings and the need for a "Principal" level role to drive organizational alignment. The founding date provides context for Toast's established presence. The "AI at Toast" section and the emphasis on cross-functional collaboration in the job description inform the team and methodology aspects.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Principal Product Designer / Senior Individual Contributor (IC)

This role represents a senior individual contributor position within the design organization. It is focused on strategic leadership in defining foundational design systems for a critical new product area (AI/Agentic Experiences). The "Principal" title signifies a high level of expertise, influence, and impact, often involving setting direction for significant parts of the product or technology.

Reporting Structure:

• This role reports into a design leadership position within the Toast IQ AI Product Team or a broader Product Design organization.

• While an individual contributor, the role requires significant influence over product managers, engineering leads, and other designers across various teams. Operations Impact:

• The primary impact is shaping the core user experience and interaction language for all agentic AI features at Toast, directly influencing how tens of thousands of restaurant operators interact with AI.

• By establishing a unified pattern language, this role aims to ensure scalability, consistency, and efficiency in AI product development across the entire company, reducing redundancy and speeding up innovation.

• The success of this role will directly contribute to the adoption and effectiveness of Toast IQ, impacting customer satisfaction, operational efficiency for restaurants, and Toast's competitive advantage in AI. Growth Opportunities:

• Deep Specialization: Opportunity to become a recognized expert in designing AI-native and agentic experiences, a rapidly growing and in-demand field.

• Organizational Leadership: Potential to grow into a design leadership role (e.g., Design Manager, Director of Design) overseeing AI product design or a broader product area.

• Strategic Impact: Influence the long-term product strategy and technological direction of Toast IQ and its AI initiatives.

• Mentorship & Skill Development: Continuously learn and mentor others, refining skills in systems design, AI interaction, and organizational influence.

• Industry Recognition: Contribute to shaping best practices in agentic UX design, potentially leading to industry thought leadership.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Principal Product Designer" title and the description of "outsized leverage" and "organizational influence" are key to defining the career level and growth potential. The focus on defining "interaction language" and "pattern language" for AI indicates a strategic impact on the entire product ecosystem.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote

This role is designated as fully remote within the USA, offering significant flexibility in work location.

Office Location(s):

• While the role is remote, Toast operates with a hybrid work model for many roles, and has physical office locations. The specific "Geographic Pay Zones" (A, B, C) suggest that while the role is remote, compensation is tied to location, implying different operational hubs or regional considerations for distributed employees. Remote employees may be expected to align with specific time zones for collaboration. Workspace Context:

• Collaborative but Distributed: The work environment emphasizes strong collaboration through digital tools (Figma, Miro, etc.) and virtual communication channels, given the remote nature and distributed design team.

• Technology-Rich: Access to modern design tools, AI development platforms, and communication technologies is essential for this role.

• Innovation-Focused: The culture encourages embracing new AI tools and technologies, fostering an environment of continuous learning and experimentation.

Work Schedule:

• Standard full-time hours (approx. 40 hours/week) are expected, with flexibility in daily scheduling to accommodate remote work and collaboration across different time zones. Regular participation in virtual meetings, design critiques, and team syncs is implied.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "fully remote" designation is explicit. The "Approach to Hybrid Working" section and "Geographic Pay Zone Philosophy" suggest that while remote, there are still considerations for location and potentially hybrid expectations for some employees, though this specific role is remote-only. The emphasis on AI tools and collaboration within a remote setting shapes the workspace context.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter will likely review your application, focusing on your resume and portfolio's alignment with the core requirements, especially AI-native design experience and systems thinking.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A conversation with the hiring manager to assess your experience, leadership style, strategic thinking, and fit with the AI product team's vision.

• Portfolio Review & Design Critique: A deep dive into your case studies. Expect to present 1-2 projects demonstrating your ability to define new interaction paradigms, drive organizational influence, and execute AI-native experiences. This will likely involve a design critique session.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and potentially other Designers or Researchers to evaluate your collaboration skills, understanding of technical constraints, and ability to influence across disciplines.

• Executive/Principal Level Interview: Potentially a final interview with a senior design leader or executive to assess your strategic vision and long-term impact potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Systems Thinking: Prioritize case studies that showcase your ability to design scalable systems, pattern languages, or foundational interaction models, especially for AI.

• Demonstrate Influence: Clearly articulate how you gained buy-in and drove adoption of your design solutions across teams, quantifying impact where possible.

• Showcase AI Expertise: Ensure at least one project highlights your experience with shipping 0-to-1 AI or agentic products, detailing the unique challenges of AI design.

• Structure for Impact: Organize your case studies with a clear problem statement, your process, your specific contributions, the challenges you overcame, and the measurable outcomes achieved.

• Focus on "Why": Be prepared to explain the strategic rationale behind your design decisions, not just the final UI.

Challenge Preparation:

• System Design Exercise: Be ready for a hypothetical challenge where you might need to outline an approach to designing a new agentic AI feature or interaction pattern for Toast. Focus on process, user needs, and potential system implications.

• Stakeholder Alignment Scenario: Prepare to discuss how you would handle scenarios involving conflicting priorities or differing design opinions from product or engineering teams.

• AI Ethics & Considerations: Be prepared to discuss ethical considerations in AI design and how you incorporate them into your process.

📝 Enhancement Note: The job description explicitly asks for case studies demonstrating "defining a new interaction paradigm" and "driving adoption." This heavily influences the advice on portfolio presentation and interview preparation, emphasizing systemic thinking and organizational influence over individual feature work. The "AI Product Team" context also suggests a need to prepare for AI-specific design challenges.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration. Expect to use it extensively for creating design systems, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototypes.

• Miro: Crucial for collaborative whiteboarding, brainstorming, user journey mapping, and ideation sessions, especially within a distributed team.

• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma, familiarity with other advanced prototyping tools might be beneficial for complex interactions or specific AI feature simulations.

Analytics & Reporting:

• User Research Platforms: Tools for conducting user interviews, surveys, and usability testing (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, Qualtrics).

• Data Analysis Tools: Ability to interpret data from user behavior analytics platforms (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel) and A/B testing results to inform design decisions.

CRM & Automation:

• While not a direct CRM role, understanding how design integrates with CRM and automation workflows within a SaaS product context is valuable.

• Emerging AI Tools: Explicitly mentioned are Claude, Replit, and V0. Proficiency or at least familiarity with these and similar AI-powered development and design tools is essential.

📝 Enhancement Note: The job description directly lists "Figma, Miro, and other collaborative platforms" and "emerging AI tools (Claude, Replit, V0, etc.)" as required. This is directly translated into the primary tools section, with other categories filled based on standard practices for senior product designers in a tech company.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Founder's Mentality: Exhibit ownership of outcomes, not just outputs, taking full responsibility for the quality and effectiveness of end-to-end experiences.

• Lifting Others Up: Actively mentor and uplevel colleagues, sharing knowledge and expertise to foster collective growth, even without a formal management title.

• Driving Action Through Influence: Build strong, trusting relationships to effectively influence stakeholders and drive decisions across the business.

• Building Strong Perspectives: Develop well-informed, data-driven perspectives and guide oneself and teams to make sound decisions rapidly.

• Raising the Bar: Commit to continuous improvement of technical skills relevant to the role and find creative methods for skill development.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Works closely with Product, Engineering, Data Science, and GTM teams, prioritizing alignment and shared goals.

• Influence-Based: Relies on building strong relationships and articulating clear, data-backed perspectives to influence design direction and adoption.

• Mentorship & Quality Focus: Fosters a culture of design excellence through mentorship and by acting as a quality bar-raiser across the organization.

• AI-Forward: Embraces experimentation with new AI tools and methodologies to drive innovation and build better products faster.

📝 Enhancement Note: The five listed values ("You have a founder’s mentality," "You lift others up," etc.) are directly integrated to describe the "Operations Values" and "Collaboration Style," as they are core to how Toast expects its employees to operate and collaborate.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Defining Uncharted Territory: Establishing the core interaction language for agentic AI experiences at Toast's scale is largely undefined, requiring pioneering solutions and navigating ambiguity.

• Organizational Alignment: Gaining buy-in and driving consistent adoption of a new design system across multiple product and engineering teams, overcoming potential resistance or preferred individual approaches.

• Balancing Systemic Design with Execution: Ensuring the foundational patterns are robust and scalable while also leading end-to-end design for core features and potentially contributing to immediate product needs.

• Rapidly Evolving AI Landscape: Keeping pace with fast-changing AI technologies, tools, and user expectations to ensure designs remain relevant and effective.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep AI Design Specialization: Becoming a leading expert in designing for AI-native and agentic systems, a highly sought-after skill set.

• Strategic Product Influence: Gaining experience in shaping product strategy and influencing organizational direction at a senior level.

• Cross-Disciplinary Learning: Working intimately with data science, AI research, and engineering teams to deepen understanding of AI capabilities and limitations.

• Mentorship & Leadership: Opportunities to mentor designers, contribute to design quality standards, and potentially grow into formal leadership roles.

• Industry Trends: Staying at the forefront of AI and UX trends through continuous research, experimentation, and potentially attending industry forums.

📝 Enhancement Note: Challenges are derived from the role's description, particularly the emphasis on defining new paradigms, organizational influence, and the inherent complexity of AI. Growth opportunities are inferred from the Principal level, the focus on a cutting-edge field (AI design), and the company's stated values around learning and mentorship.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you defined a new interaction paradigm for a complex product. How did you get other teams to adopt it?" (Focus on your process for systems thinking, influencing, and driving adoption beyond your immediate scope.)

• "How would you approach designing the core interaction language for agentic AI features at Toast, considering the diverse needs of restaurant operators?" (Outline your research, ideation, system definition, and validation process. Emphasize user-centricity and scalability.)

• "Walk us through a case study where you shipped a 0-to-1 AI or agentic product experience. What were the biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them?" (Be prepared to detail the unique aspects of AI design, your role, and the impact of the product.)

• "How do you balance the need for a consistent design system with the desire for teams to innovate and iterate quickly?" (Discuss your philosophy on design systems, flexibility, and collaboration with engineering.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Toast's mission and the restaurant technology space?" (Research Toast's impact on the industry and prepare a thoughtful answer.)

• "How do you embody Toast's value of 'Founder's Mentality' or 'Lifting Others Up' in your work?" (Prepare specific examples from your past experience.)

• "How do you approach building influence and trust with cross-functional partners like Product Managers and Engineers?" (Share your strategies for collaboration and communication.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Select for Impact: Choose 1-2 case studies that best demonstrate your ability to define new paradigms, drive organizational influence, and handle AI-native design challenges.

• Tell a Story: Structure your presentation clearly: Problem -> Your Role/Process -> Solutions -> Challenges -> Outcomes/Impact.

• Highlight Systems Thinking: Explicitly call out where your work involved creating scalable patterns, components, or interaction models.

• Quantify Outcomes: Whenever possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the success and impact of your designs.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions about your specific contributions, design rationale, and how you handled trade-offs.

📝 Enhancement Note: These questions are crafted based on the explicit requirements and responsibilities outlined in the job description, particularly "Systems ownership," "Organizational influence," "Leadership," and "AI-native design experience." The portfolio advice directly addresses the "What we'll ask to see" section.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Principal Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the official Toast Careers portal via the provided URL.

• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio prominently features case studies that demonstrate your experience in defining new interaction paradigms, driving organizational influence, and shipping 0-to-1 AI or agentic products. Tailor your selection and presentation to highlight systems thinking and leadership impact.

• Resume Optimization: Align your resume with keywords from the job description, emphasizing your experience in product design, AI-native design, systems thinking, cross-functional leadership, and proficiency with tools like Figma and Miro. Quantify achievements and responsibilities where possible.

• Interview Preparation: Thoroughly review the "Interview Preparation" section above. Practice articulating your experience with specific examples related to systemic design, AI product development, and organizational influence. Prepare to present your case studies confidently.

• Company Research: Deeply research Toast, its mission, its products (especially Toast IQ), and its company values. Understand the restaurant technology landscape and identify how your design philosophy aligns with Toast's culture and goals.

⚠️ 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.