Principal UX Visual Designer, Prime Video Experience Design

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Principal UX Visual Designer, Prime Video Experience Design

Company: Amazon

Location: Seattle, Washington, United States

Job Type: Full-time

Category: User Experience (UX) Design / Visual Design

Date Posted: 2026-06-19

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the visual design vision and strategy for Prime Video's global product experience across living room, mobile, web, and tablet surfaces.

• Architect and steward the Fable design system, defining visual foundations, tokens, and component standards for scalability and coherence.

• Drive high-ambiguity initiatives at the intersection of brand expression, systems architecture, and experience prototyping to shape customer engagement with entertainment content.

• Partner closely with cross-functional teams including motion designers, interaction designers, design technologists, researchers, product managers, and engineering leaders to deliver world-class user experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor with significant strategic influence, focusing on the overarching visual language and design system architecture rather than day-to-day UI implementation. The emphasis on "high-ambiguity initiatives" and "no traditional UI design role" suggests a need for strong strategic thinking, leadership, and the ability to define direction in complex, evolving product landscapes.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the visual design language for Prime Video's product experience, encompassing layout systems, color palettes, typography, iconography, illustration, and imagery treatment.

• Establish the strategic direction for how visual design effectively expresses the Prime Video brand across all platforms and customer touchpoints.

• Architect and maintain the visual foundations of Prime Video's Fable design system, including defining design tokens, component visual standards, and scalable patterns.

• Develop and direct high-fidelity prototypes to visualize design concepts, validate ideas with stakeholders, and clearly communicate complex visions to leadership.

• Lead significant, high-ambiguity design initiatives annually, requiring senior-level judgment to set direction, navigate trade-offs, and deliver breakthrough visual solutions.

• Collaborate with motion designers to ensure seamless integration of visual and motion design, providing visual direction and reviewing motion work for brand and system coherence.

• Partner with engineering teams to ensure technical feasibility, optimal performance, and fidelity of visual implementations at scale, conducting design QA and "Walk the Store" sessions.

• Champion the adoption and evolution of the design system across the broader Prime Video Experience Design (PVXD) organization, defining contribution models and leading system-level design reviews.

• Elevate the quality of visual design craft across the studio through leadership in design critiques, mentorship of designers, and modeling best-in-class systematic visual thinking and prototyping.

• Influence product roadmaps and design review cycles by contributing visual design perspectives that shape product strategy and customer experience direction.

• Advocate for accessible and inclusive visual design that adheres to global standards, ensuring visual systems are adaptable and serve diverse audiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic leadership, system architecture, and hands-on creative direction, with a strong emphasis on cross-functional collaboration and influencing product direction without direct authority. The "high-ambiguity" aspect implies a need for proactive problem-solving and initiative.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, HCI, or a related field is typically expected for Principal-level roles, though extensive experience can often substitute.

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in design roles.

• Demonstrated experience in leading lifecycle design projects from initial strategy through to final execution.

• Proven ability to art direct motion designers, illustrators, writers, and content creators.

• Extensive experience collaborating directly with engineering teams to ensure successful product implementation.

• Experience delivering design solutions for projects of significant scope and complexity. Required Skills:

• Visual Design Vision & Strategy: Ability to define and articulate a compelling visual design direction for a large-scale product.

• Design System Architecture: Expertise in building, scaling, and governing design systems, including component architecture, design tokens, and library management.

• Prototyping Expertise: Proficiency in creating high-fidelity prototypes using tools such as Figma, ProtoPie, Principle, or Rive to communicate complex ideas and drive decision-making.

• User Interface (UI) Design Best Practices: Deep understanding of effective UI design principles for diverse platforms.

• Information Architecture (IA): Ability to structure and organize content and functionality logically for optimal user experience.

• Interaction Design (IxD): Skill in designing intuitive and engaging user interactions.

• Figma Proficiency: Strong command of Figma, specifically for component architecture, design tokens, and library management.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively with product managers, engineers, researchers, and other design disciplines.

• Brand Expression: Ability to translate brand identity into a consistent and impactful visual language across product touchpoints.

• Accessibility & Inclusive Design: Commitment to and knowledge of creating accessible and inclusive design solutions.

Preferred Skills:

• Entertainment/Media Product Design: Experience designing for entertainment, media, or content-rich consumer products across multiple platforms (mobile, web, TV/living room).

• Design System Leadership: Experience architecting or leading a design system used by 20+ designers across multiple locations.

• Advanced Prototyping: Expertise in advanced prototyping tools (ProtoPie, Principle, Rive) for leadership-level communication and decision-making.

• Motion Design Principles: Understanding of motion design principles and their relationship with visual design decisions.

• Brand Guideline Translation: Experience defining visual brand guidelines and translating brand identity into systematic product-level visual language.

• Strategic Influence: Track record of influencing product strategy at a senior level without direct authority.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "10+ years of design experience" and the emphasis on "Principal" level indicate a need for seasoned professionals with a proven track record of strategic impact and leadership in design. The specific mention of Figma, along with advanced prototyping tools, points to the essential technical toolkit.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive online portfolio showcasing a minimum of 10 years of professional design work, with a strong emphasis on recent, relevant projects.

• Demonstrations of defining and evolving visual design language and systems for complex digital products.

• Case studies detailing the architecture, implementation, and impact of design systems, including examples of component libraries and token strategies.

• Examples of high-fidelity prototypes that effectively communicate complex design concepts and drive stakeholder alignment.

• Projects exhibiting leadership in high-ambiguity situations, showcasing problem-solving and strategic direction setting.

• Evidence of art direction experience, including examples of guiding motion designers, illustrators, or content creators.

• Documentation of collaboration with engineering teams and the process of ensuring design fidelity in production. Process Documentation:

• Case studies should clearly outline the design process, from initial problem definition and strategy to execution and impact measurement.

• Illustrate how design systems were architected, implemented, and governed, including the evolution of components and tokens.

• Detail the approach to prototyping, explaining its role in validation, communication, and decision-making.

• Showcase how accessibility and inclusive design principles were integrated into the design process and final solutions.

• Provide examples of how brand identity was translated into a systematic visual language for product experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio is critical for this role. It must not only showcase aesthetic quality but also strategic thinking, system design capabilities, leadership in ambiguous situations, and the ability to articulate process and impact. Specific emphasis should be placed on design system architecture and advanced prototyping.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: The base salary range for this position in Seattle, WA is $164,000 - $221,800 USD annually.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance package: Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Insurance.

• Basic Life & AD&D Insurance, with options for Supplemental Life Plans.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Mental Health Support.

• Medical Advice Line.

• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs).

• Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage.

• 401(k) matching program.

• Paid Time Off (PTO).

• Parental Leave.

• Sign-on payments.

• Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).

Working Hours: The standard working hours are 40 hours per week, typical for a full-time role.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is a base salary. Amazon's compensation packages are known to include significant additional components like sign-on bonuses and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), which can substantially increase total compensation. The benefits package is extensive, covering a wide range of health, financial, and family support.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: E-commerce, Cloud Computing, Digital Streaming, Artificial Intelligence, Consumer Electronics. Amazon operates across a vast spectrum of industries, with Prime Video specifically within the digital streaming and entertainment sector.

Company Size: Amazon is a global technology giant, consistently ranked among the largest corporations worldwide by revenue and market capitalization. This implies a dynamic, fast-paced, and highly data-driven environment.

Founded: 1994. Amazon has a long history of innovation and expansion, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and long-term vision.

Team Structure:

• The PVXD Visual Design Studio is a centralized creative team supporting the broader Prime Video Experience Design organization.

• It comprises dedicated motion designers, visual designers, and design technologists.

• The Principal UX Visual Designer will sit at the center of this ecosystem, providing visual leadership.

• This team supports designers across five global locations, indicating a distributed yet collaborative structure. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Amazon heavily relies on data and A/B testing to inform design and product decisions.

• Customer Obsession: A core Amazon leadership principle, meaning decisions are made with the customer's best interest at the forefront.

• Prototyping as a Core Practice: The team values prototyping as a fundamental tool for exploration, validation, and communication.

• Design Systems as Infrastructure: Design systems are viewed as essential for scalability, consistency, and efficiency.

• Cross-disciplinary Collaboration: Emphasis is placed on collaboration between design, product management, and engineering to achieve exceptional customer experiences.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: Amazon's culture is characterized by its "Leadership Principles," which guide decision-making and behavior. For this role, "Customer Obsession," "Invent and Simplify," and "Are Right, A Lot" are particularly relevant. The scale of Amazon means that design decisions can impact hundreds of millions of users globally.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Principal UX Visual Designer. This is a senior individual contributor role, typically one step below Senior Principal or Director level. It signifies a high degree of expertise, strategic influence, and the ability to lead complex initiatives autonomously. The role requires defining vision and strategy rather than just executing tasks.

Reporting Structure: The Principal UX Visual Designer will report into a design leadership role within the PVXD Visual Design Studio. They will collaborate closely with design leads, product managers, and engineering managers across various Prime Video product teams.

Operations Impact: The impact of this role is significant, directly shaping the visual identity and user experience of Prime Video for a global audience of hundreds of millions. Strategic visual design decisions influence customer perception, engagement, and ultimately, the success of the entertainment platform. The role is instrumental in ensuring brand consistency and driving innovation in how users discover and consume content.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership in Design Systems: Opportunity to further architect and lead the evolution of a major design system, potentially expanding its scope or influence.

• Strategic Product Influence: Deeper involvement in shaping product roadmaps and overall design strategy for Prime Video.

• Mentorship and Craft Elevation: Continued opportunity to mentor and develop designers, raising the bar for visual design craft across the organization.

• Cross-functional Leadership: Leading major design initiatives that require significant cross-team influence and alignment at senior levels.

• Potential for Principal/Senior Principal Track: Progression to higher levels of individual contribution or potentially transitioning into management roles within design leadership.

📝 Enhancement Note: This Principal role offers substantial scope for impact and growth, focusing on strategic leadership and system-level thinking within a high-profile product. The emphasis is on influencing direction and elevating craft across a large organization.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Amazon typically maintains modern, well-equipped office spaces designed to foster collaboration and innovation. While this role is on-site in Seattle, Amazon also supports hybrid work models for many roles, though this specific position emphasizes an on-site presence.

Office Location(s): Seattle, Washington, United States. Amazon's Seattle campus is extensive and centrally located, offering access to amenities and a vibrant urban environment.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: Offices usually include a mix of open workspaces, meeting rooms, and private areas to support different work styles and collaboration needs.

• Technology & Tools: Access to high-performance workstations, essential design software (including Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, prototyping tools), and robust network infrastructure.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for regular in-person interaction with fellow designers, researchers, product managers, and engineers, facilitating seamless collaboration and idea exchange.

• Design Studio Environment: Being part of a centralized visual design studio means constant exposure to creative talent and a shared focus on pushing design boundaries.

Work Schedule: The role follows a standard 40-hour work week, typical for full-time positions. However, given the nature of design leadership and project-based work, flexibility may be required during critical project phases or for urgent design needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement in Seattle suggests an environment conducive to deep collaboration and immersion in the company's design culture. The emphasis on centralized studios and cross-functional partnerships points to a highly integrated and communicative work setting.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process: While specific stages can vary, a typical Principal-level design interview process at Amazon includes:

• Recruiter Screen: Initial conversation to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Hiring Manager Interview: Deeper dive into experience, strategic thinking, and leadership capabilities.

• Portfolio Review: A critical stage where candidates present their work, detailing their process, strategic decisions, and impact. This often involves presenting 2-3 key case studies.

• Design Team Interviews: Conversations with peers (other designers, researchers, technologists) focusing on craft, collaboration, and problem-solving approach.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Discussions with Product Managers and Engineering Leads to assess partnership capabilities and understanding of product development lifecycles.

• Leadership Principles Interview: Assessment focused on how candidates embody Amazon's Leadership Principles, often through behavioral questions.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 2-3 projects that best showcase your expertise in visual design vision, design system architecture, high-ambiguity problem-solving, and cross-functional leadership. Prioritize projects relevant to entertainment/media or large-scale consumer products.

• Tell a Story: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role and approach, the strategic decisions made, the design process, the challenges overcome, and the measurable impact (qualitative and quantitative).

• Highlight System Design: Dedicate significant time to showcasing your experience with design systems, including your process for defining tokens, components, and guidelines, and how you've scaled them.

• Demonstrate Prototyping: Be prepared to walk through interactive prototypes, explaining how they were used for validation and stakeholder alignment, especially at leadership levels.

• Focus on Visual Language: Clearly articulate your approach to defining and evolving a visual design language that aligns with brand strategy and scales across platforms.

• Address Ambiguity: Be ready to discuss how you've navigated ambiguous problem spaces and established design direction where none existed.

• Showcase Collaboration: Provide examples of how you've partnered effectively with engineers, motion designers, and other stakeholders.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design System Exercise: You might be asked to critique an existing system, propose improvements, or define a new component based on given requirements. Focus on scalability, consistency, and maintainability.

• Visual Language Exercise: You could be tasked with defining or extending a visual language for a new feature or platform, demonstrating your ability to apply principles of typography, color, and layout systematically.

• Problem-Solving Scenario: Be prepared for scenario-based questions that test your strategic thinking, problem-solving approach, and ability to handle complex, ambiguous design challenges.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio review is paramount. Candidates must be able to articulate not just what they designed, but why, and how it impacted the product and business. Highlighting experience with design systems and advanced prototyping is crucial.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, prototyping, component architecture, design tokens, and library management. Proficiency is a core requirement.

• Prototyping Tools:

  • ProtoPie: Advanced prototyping for complex interactions and animations.
  • Principle: For creating interactive user interface animations.
  • Rive: For real-time interactive animations and vector graphics.
  • Figma Prototyping: Native prototyping capabilities within Figma.

• Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator for asset creation, manipulation, and visual design tasks.

• Sketch: While Figma is specified, familiarity with Sketch is often beneficial given its prevalence.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a direct responsibility, understanding how design impacts key metrics (e.g., engagement, conversion, retention) is crucial. Familiarity with tools like Tableau, Amplitude, or internal Amazon analytics platforms would be advantageous for understanding design impact. CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to this UX Design role, but understanding how design integrates with user journeys managed by CRM systems is beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma is non-negotiable. Advanced prototyping tools are highly valued, indicating a need for designers who can create highly realistic and functional prototypes to communicate complex ideas and drive decisions at leadership levels.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Obsession: All design decisions must start with the customer and work backward. This means deeply understanding user needs and pain points in entertainment consumption.

• Invent and Simplify: Drive innovation by finding elegant, simple solutions to complex problems, often through systematic design thinking and efficient systems.

• Are Right, A Lot: Demonstrate strong judgment and a data-informed approach to design, with a willingness to be proven wrong and adapt based on evidence.

• Bias for Action: Move with urgency and a proactive mindset, especially when tackling ambiguous challenges.

• Dive Deep: Understand the nuances of user behavior, technical constraints, and business goals to make informed design decisions.

• Deliver Results: Focus on achieving measurable outcomes that positively impact the customer experience and business objectives.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Seamless collaboration with Product Managers, Engineers, Researchers, and Motion Designers is fundamental. The role requires effectively communicating design vision and technical requirements to diverse teams.

• Systemic Thinking: Collaboration is built on a shared understanding of the design system as the foundation for consistent and scalable experiences.

• Design Critique Culture: Openness to giving and receiving constructive feedback in design reviews to elevate the quality of work across the team.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively contributing to the team's knowledge base and best practices, particularly around visual design, system architecture, and prototyping.

📝 Enhancement Note: Embodying Amazon's Leadership Principles is key to success. The culture values strong individual contributors who can lead through influence, make data-informed decisions, and drive results in a fast-paced, customer-centric environment.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Design Systems Globally: Ensuring visual consistency and coherence across diverse markets, languages, and cultural contexts while maintaining a scalable design system.

• Navigating Ambiguity: Defining visual direction and design system architecture for new or evolving product areas with limited precedent.

• Balancing Brand Expression and Product Needs: Integrating the Prime Video brand identity seamlessly into functional product experiences across various devices.

• Cross-Team Alignment: Influencing product roadmaps and design decisions across multiple teams and stakeholders without direct authority.

• Technical Constraints: Working within the technical limitations and performance requirements of various platforms (web, mobile, living room devices).

• Elevating Craft: Continuously pushing the boundaries of visual design and prototyping excellence within a large, established organization.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design System Mastery: Deepening expertise in designing, governing, and scaling complex design systems.

• Strategic Product Influence: Developing skills in influencing product strategy and roadmaps at a senior leadership level.

• Cross-Disciplinary Expertise: Gaining deeper insights into motion design, interaction design, and design technology through close collaboration.

• Leadership Development: Opportunities to mentor junior designers and lead major design initiatives, building leadership capabilities.

• Industry Trends: Staying at the forefront of UX, visual design, and entertainment technology trends through internal and external learning opportunities.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role presents significant challenges related to scale, ambiguity, and influence, offering substantial opportunities for professional growth in design leadership, system architecture, and strategic impact within the dynamic media landscape.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Visual Design Vision: "Describe how you would define and evolve the visual design language for a global streaming service like Prime Video. What are the key considerations?" (Focus on brand, scalability, accessibility, platform diversity).

• Design System Architecture: "Walk me through your process for architecting a scalable design system from scratch or evolving an existing one. How do you define tokens, components, and governance?" (Highlight Figma, component architecture, design tokens, and scalability).

• High-Ambiguity Problem Solving: "Tell me about a time you had to define design direction in a highly ambiguous situation. What was your approach, and what was the outcome?" (Showcase strategic thinking, leadership, and iterative process).

• Prototyping for Leadership: "How have you used prototyping as a primary tool for decision-making at the leadership level? Provide an example." (Emphasize high-fidelity prototypes, storytelling, and impact on alignment).

Company & Culture Questions:

• Customer Obsession: "How do you ensure your design decisions are driven by customer needs, especially when working on a product with millions of users?" (Connect your past work to user research and feedback).

• Leadership Principles: "Describe a situation where you had to 'Invent and Simplify' to solve a complex design problem." (Prepare specific examples aligned with Amazon's principles).

• Collaboration: "How do you effectively partner with engineering teams to ensure design fidelity and technical feasibility?" (Discuss design hand-off, QA, and communication strategies).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your presentation logically: Introduction, Problem, Your Role, Process, Solutions (with visual examples and prototypes), Impact (metrics), and Learnings.

• Narrative: Craft a compelling story for each case study, emphasizing your strategic thinking and decision-making process.

• Visuals: Use high-quality visuals, mockups, and interactive prototypes. Ensure your design system examples are clear and well-explained.

• Impact Metrics: Quantify your impact whenever possible (e.g., improvements in engagement, conversion rates, user satisfaction). If quantitative data isn't available, discuss qualitative impact and user feedback.

• Conciseness: Be mindful of time. Focus on the most critical aspects of each project.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, system-level design expertise, leadership in ambiguous environments, and a deep understanding of how visual design drives customer experience and business outcomes. Practicing the presentation of your portfolio is key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Principal UX Visual Designer position:

• Submit your application through the official Amazon Jobs portal using the provided URL.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight projects demonstrating your expertise in visual design vision, design system architecture, advanced prototyping, and leading ambiguous initiatives. Prioritize entertainment/media experience if available.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 10+ years of experience, specific skills in Figma and prototyping tools, and achievements in large-scale design projects and cross-functional collaboration. Use keywords from the job description.

• Interview Preparation: Practice presenting your portfolio case studies, focusing on storytelling, strategic decision-making, and measurable impact. Prepare to discuss your approach to design systems, visual language, and handling ambiguity, aligning your answers with Amazon's Leadership Principles.

• Company Research: Familiarize yourself with Prime Video's current product offerings, user experience, and brand identity. Understand Amazon's culture and Leadership Principles to demonstrate a strong cultural fit.

⚠️ 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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