Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer

Company: Neara

Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / GTM Operations (Design Enablement)

Date Posted: 2026-06-02

Experience Level: Mid-to-Senior Level (4+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (Fully flexible with a well-stocked office in Redfern)

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive end-to-end product design initiatives, from initial discovery through to final delivery, ensuring a seamless user experience across Neara's complex platform.

• Conduct in-depth user research and workflow analysis to translate sophisticated technical and product requirements into intuitive, elegant design solutions.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers and Engineers to balance user value, technical feasibility, and strategic business objectives within a fast-paced startup environment.

• Contribute to the evolution and scalability of the Nitro Design System, enhancing design consistency and efficiency across multiple product teams.

• Shape future product direction by visualizing complex concepts and strategic product roadmaps through exploratory design work.

📝 Enhancement Note: While this role is primarily a Product Designer position, its focus on complex B2B SaaS, infrastructure platforms, and data-rich products, along with the emphasis on cross-functional collaboration and design system contribution, positions it within the broader GTM Operations sphere by directly enabling sales and customer success through a superior product experience. The role requires a blend of deep design craft and strategic product thinking, essential for operations professionals aiming to influence product strategy and customer adoption.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the complete design lifecycle for new and existing product features, encompassing user discovery, ideation, wireframing, prototyping, high-fidelity UI design, and validation.

• Execute comprehensive user research, including user interviews, usability testing, surveys, and detailed workflow analyses, to gather actionable insights.

• Synthesize complex product requirements and technical constraints into intuitive user workflows, clear wireframes, interactive prototypes, and polished UI designs.

• Foster strong partnerships with product management and engineering teams to collaboratively define and refine solutions that meet user needs, technical possibilities, and business goals.

• Proactively identify and address usability issues across the platform, driving continuous improvements to enhance the overall user experience.

• Actively contribute to the growth and maintenance of the Nitro Design System, ensuring design consistency and improving efficiency for all product teams.

• Develop compelling visualizations of future product concepts and strategic product roadmaps to inform and align stakeholders.

• Clearly present design work and rationale to diverse cross-functional stakeholders, effectively incorporating feedback while advocating for user-centered design principles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a full-stack design ownership from discovery to delivery, which is critical for operations roles that require deep understanding of the product lifecycle to drive adoption and efficiency. The emphasis on user research and translating complex requirements highlights the need for analytical and problem-solving skills, core to operations functions.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

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

Experience: 4+ years of progressive experience in UX or Product Design roles, preferably within SaaS, complex software, or enterprise environments.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated expertise across the full design lifecycle: discovery, wireframing, prototyping, high-fidelity UI design, and user validation.

• Proven ability to design elegant and intuitive solutions for technically complex workflows and data-rich products.

• Strong experience conducting user research and discovery activities, including interviews, surveys, usability testing, and product analysis.

• Exceptional ability to break down ambiguous problems, identify knowledge gaps, and define structured approaches to problem-solving.

• Proficiency in design and prototyping tools (e.g., Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite).

• Experience working collaboratively in cross-functional teams with product managers and engineers.

• Ability to transition fluidly between detailed design execution and strategic product thinking.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing enterprise SaaS platforms, infrastructure solutions, or sophisticated B2B products.

• Proven experience contributing to or scaling design systems.

• Familiarity with geospatial, engineering, or data visualization products.

• Understanding of front-end development principles and constraints.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience requirement of 4+ years and the preference for SaaS/complex software environments suggest a role with significant autonomy and impact, typical for mid-to-senior operations roles. The emphasis on problem-solving, research, and collaboration aligns with the core competencies expected in operations professionals.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase end-to-end design projects that demonstrate your process from problem definition to final solution.

• Include case studies detailing your approach to user research, problem-solving, and design decision-making.

• Highlight examples of designing for complex technical workflows and data-intensive applications.

• Demonstrate proficiency in creating wireframes, interactive prototypes, and high-fidelity UI designs.

Process Documentation:

• Clearly articulate your design process, including discovery methodologies, ideation techniques, and validation strategies.

• Provide examples of how you have translated user insights and business requirements into tangible design outcomes.

• Detail your approach to collaborating with product managers and engineers throughout the design and development lifecycle.

• Illustrate how you have identified and resolved usability issues to improve product experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong portfolio is crucial for this role, mirroring the importance of a process portfolio for operations professionals. Candidates should be prepared to demonstrate not just the final output, but the strategic thinking, research, and iterative process behind their design solutions, emphasizing measurable impact.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on the Sydney, Australia location, experience level (4+ years), and the nature of the role in a high-growth tech company, an estimated salary range for a Product Designer (Mid to Senior) would be AUD $100,000 - $150,000 per annum. This range is benchmarked against industry standards for similar roles in Sydney, considering the company's focus on advanced technology and its scale-up phase.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary package.

• Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), offering significant long-term value and a stake in the company's success.

• Ample career development and growth opportunities within a rapidly expanding organization.

• Fully flexible working arrangements, promoting work-life balance and autonomy.

• A well-stocked, modern office space in Redfern, encouraging collaboration and innovation.

• Annual company-wide offsite events for team building and strategic alignment.

• Opportunity to work on meaningful, impactful products addressing critical global challenges in the energy sector.

Working Hours: Full-time, typically around 40 hours per week, with flexibility in scheduling to accommodate global collaboration and personal needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on research from Australian job boards (e.g., Seek, Jora) and global salary data aggregators (e.g., Glassdoor, Levels.fyi) for Product Designers in Sydney, adjusted for the tech industry and the specific requirements of Neara's complex B2B SaaS offering. The inclusion of ESOP is a significant component for high-growth startups.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software / Technology, focusing on AI, Machine Learning, and Digital Twins for the Energy Sector. Neara is at the forefront of creating physics-enabled digital twins for electricity grids, enabling utilities to simulate extreme weather and stress, thereby enhancing grid resilience and optimizing investments.

Company Size: Scale-up stage, indicating a dynamic environment with established processes but still retaining startup agility. This size often means opportunities for significant impact and visibility.

Founded: Neara was founded with a mission to leverage cutting-edge AI to solve real-world infrastructure challenges, aiming to build a more resilient global energy future.

Team Structure:

• The Product Design team likely operates within a Product department, reporting up to a Head of Product or Design Lead.

• Designers work in close-knit, cross-functional pods or squads, typically consisting of Product Managers, Engineers, and potentially Data Scientists, depending on the project.

Methodology:

• Data-driven decision-making is paramount, leveraging insights from user research, product analytics, and customer feedback.

• Agile methodologies are likely employed, emphasizing iterative development, continuous feedback, and adaptability to evolving requirements.

• A strong focus on user-centered design principles ensures that solutions are not only technically sound but also intuitive and valuable to users.

• Emphasis on building scalable and maintainable design systems (Nitro Design System) to ensure consistency and efficiency across the product suite.

Company Website: https://neara.com

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission-driven approach in the energy sector, combined with its use of advanced AI/ML, suggests a culture that values innovation, technical excellence, and tangible impact. The "no-ego, outcome-oriented" culture is a key indicator for operations professionals who thrive on collaboration and delivering results.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned at a mid-to-senior level, offering significant autonomy and the opportunity to influence product strategy. For operations professionals, this translates to a role where they can drive significant improvements in product usability, customer adoption, and ultimately, revenue impact through enhanced user experience. The scope of the role will be adjusted based on the candidate's experience, allowing for growth into more strategic design leadership or specialized product areas.

Reporting Structure: The Product Designer will report into a Product leadership role (e.g., Head of Product, Design Lead). They will work closely with Product Managers and Engineering Leads within cross-functional teams, providing a collaborative and integrated work environment.

Operations Impact: The design of Neara's platform directly impacts user adoption, customer satisfaction, and the efficiency with which clients can utilize its complex AI-powered digital twin technology. A well-designed product reduces the need for extensive customer support, simplifies onboarding, and enhances the perceived value of the solution, thereby directly contributing to sales enablement and customer retention – key operational metrics.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Develop deep expertise in designing for complex technical domains like infrastructure, energy grids, and geospatial data.

• Design Leadership: Potential to grow into a Senior Product Designer role, mentoring junior designers, leading major product initiatives, and contributing to design strategy.

• Cross-functional Advancement: Opportunities to work closely with product management and engineering teams, potentially leading to roles with broader product strategy responsibilities or even transitioning into product management roles for individuals with strong product thinking.

• Design System Ownership: Opportunity to become a key contributor or owner of the Nitro Design System, driving its evolution and impact across the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on growth and impact within a high-growth company is particularly relevant for operations professionals seeking roles where they can see direct contributions to business outcomes. The potential for specialization in a niche but critical industry like energy infrastructure is also a significant draw.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Neara offers a hybrid work environment with a physical office located in Redfern, Sydney. This implies a flexible arrangement where employees can choose to work remotely or from the office, with the office serving as a hub for collaboration, team building, and focused work.

Office Location(s): The primary office is located in Redfern, Sydney, NSW, Australia. This location is known for its accessibility and vibrant tech community.

Workspace Context:

• The office is described as "well-stocked," suggesting modern amenities and a comfortable working environment conducive to productivity.

• The hybrid model allows for a balance between focused remote work and collaborative in-office sessions, ideal for design sprints, brainstorming, and team meetings.

• The collaborative culture is fostered through cross-functional teams, encouraging interaction and knowledge sharing among designers, product managers, and engineers.

Work Schedule: The standard working hours are approximately 40 hours per week, with a significant emphasis on flexibility. This allows operations professionals to manage their time effectively, balancing deep work sessions with collaborative meetings and personal commitments, which is crucial for roles involving iterative design and data analysis.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid and flexible arrangement is a common and valued aspect of modern tech workplaces, particularly appealing to operations professionals who often require focused time for analysis and process improvement, balanced with collaborative sessions to align with stakeholders.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A brief conversation with a recruiter to assess overall fit, experience, and alignment with the role's core requirements.

• Portfolio Review & Design Challenge: A deep dive into your portfolio, where you'll present 1-2 case studies showcasing your end-to-end design process, problem-solving skills, and impact. A take-home design challenge may be assigned to assess your approach to a specific problem relevant to Neara's domain.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers and Engineers to evaluate your collaboration style, technical understanding, and ability to work within cross-functional teams.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A discussion with the hiring manager (likely Head of Product or Design Lead) to assess strategic thinking, cultural fit, and long-term potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Process: Clearly articulate the problem, your approach, the insights gained, and the rationale behind your design decisions. Don't just show final screens; explain the journey.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, include metrics or outcomes that demonstrate the success of your designs (e.g., improved conversion rates, reduced task completion time, increased user satisfaction).

• Tailor to Neara: Highlight projects that demonstrate experience with complex B2B SaaS, data-rich products, or challenging technical workflows. Show an understanding of Neara's mission and industry.

• Showcase Collaboration: Include examples of how you worked with engineers and product managers, and how you incorporated feedback.

• Design System Contribution: If applicable, showcase any experience with design systems, emphasizing consistency and scalability.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Research Neara's product, target audience (utilities, asset owners), and the challenges they address (grid resilience, extreme weather).

• Think Holistically: Approach the challenge from a user-centered perspective, considering the entire user journey and potential technical constraints.

• Structure Your Response: Prepare a clear, concise presentation of your solution, including problem definition, proposed solution, design rationale, and potential next steps.

• Be Ready to Justify: Be prepared to defend your design choices with data, user insights, and design principles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on portfolio review and a potential design challenge highlights the practical, execution-oriented nature of this role. Operations candidates should prepare to demonstrate their problem-solving process and ability to translate complex requirements into tangible solutions, much like they would for operations strategy or process improvement projects.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (highly probable, industry standard for SaaS), Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite.

• User Research Tools: Tools for conducting interviews, usability testing (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback), and potentially survey platforms (e.g., Typeform, SurveyMonkey).

• Collaboration Tools: Slack, Jira, Confluence (common in SaaS/startup environments for cross-functional team communication and project tracking).

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not directly a designer's primary tool, familiarity with product analytics platforms (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel) can be beneficial for understanding user behavior and validating design impact.

CRM & Automation:

• Primarily for context: understanding how the product integrates with customer workflows and how design choices impact sales and support processes. Familiarity with enterprise CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) can be helpful for understanding the broader customer ecosystem.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in modern design tools like Figma is expected. The mention of data-rich products and potential use of analytics tools suggests an environment where design decisions are informed by data, aligning with the data-driven approach common in operations roles.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and advocating for user needs, ensuring that product design directly addresses real-world problems and enhances user workflows.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Working openly with product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders, valuing collective problem-solving and shared ownership of outcomes.

• Pragmatism & Efficiency: Balancing ideal design solutions with practical constraints, focusing on delivering value efficiently and iteratively. The Nitro Design System exemplifies this value.

• Curiosity & Continuous Learning: A drive to ask thoughtful questions, explore complex problems, and stay abreast of design trends and technologies.

• Impact-Oriented: A focus on making a tangible difference, both for users and for the company's mission to build a more resilient energy future.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Pods: Working in integrated teams where design is a core partner from inception to launch.

• Feedback-Rich Environment: Openness to constructive criticism and a culture where feedback is actively sought and given to improve designs and processes.

• Iterative Design Process: Embracing agile principles, with regular check-ins, reviews, and adjustments based on team input and user testing.

• Shared Ownership: A collective responsibility for the product's success, where designers contribute not just to aesthetics but also to strategic product direction.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on user-centricity, collaboration, and impact aligns strongly with the values sought in effective operations professionals who must bridge the gap between technical capabilities and business objectives.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Complexity: Translating highly technical concepts and vast datasets into intuitive user experiences for sophisticated B2B clients.

• Balancing Ambiguity and Rigor: Navigating the inherent uncertainties of a fast-growing startup while maintaining high standards for design quality and user research.

• Cross-functional Alignment: Ensuring that design decisions are well-understood, supported, and integrated by engineering and product management, especially when balancing competing priorities.

• Scaling Design Systems: Contributing to the growth of the Nitro Design System to support a growing product suite and an increasing number of product teams effectively.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Domain Expertise: Gaining specialized knowledge in the energy infrastructure sector and the application of AI/ML for grid resilience.

• Advanced UX Craft: Honing skills in designing for complex data visualization, intricate workflows, and enterprise-level SaaS products.

• Strategic Product Influence: Contributing to product strategy and roadmap development, understanding how design impacts business outcomes and market positioning.

• Design System Leadership: Opportunity to take on more responsibility in evolving and governing a critical organizational design asset.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical of high-impact roles in growing tech companies, requiring adaptability, strong problem-solving skills, and a proactive approach – all qualities valued in operations leaders. The growth opportunities focus on skill enhancement and strategic influence.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to design a solution for a technically complex problem. What was your process, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on breaking down complexity, research, and iteration).

• "How do you approach user research when designing for a B2B audience with specialized technical knowledge?" (Highlight methods for engaging expert users and uncovering nuanced needs).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Neara's mission and the energy infrastructure sector?" (Show genuine interest and alignment with the company's purpose).

• "How do you see design contributing to the success of a company like Neara, particularly in terms of sales enablement and customer adoption?" (Connect design impact to business operations).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly outline the problem, your role, the process, the solution, and the impact. Use a storyboard or flow to guide the interviewer.

• Highlight Decision-Making: Explain why you made certain design choices, referencing user research, design principles, or technical constraints.

• Showcase Collaboration: Point out instances where you worked with other disciplines and how that collaboration influenced the outcome.

• Emphasize Measurable Outcomes: If possible, present data or metrics that demonstrate the positive impact of your designs on users or business goals.

• Prepare for Q&A: Anticipate questions about your process, challenges, and alternative solutions you considered.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation for this role emphasizes demonstrating strategic thinking, problem-solving methodology, and collaborative capabilities, directly transferable to operations roles. Candidates should prepare to articulate their process and impact clearly and concisely.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer position at Neara:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Portfolio Customization: Curate your portfolio to prominently feature 1-2 case studies that best align with Neara's focus on complex B2B SaaS, data-rich products, and technical workflows. Ensure these examples clearly articulate your end-to-end design process and measurable impact.

• Resume Optimization: Tailor your resume to highlight keywords and responsibilities mentioned in the job description, such as UX Design, Product Design, User Research, SaaS, B2B, Design Systems, and cross-functional collaboration. Quantify achievements where possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice presenting your portfolio case studies, focusing on clearly articulating your design process, problem-solving approach, and the rationale behind your decisions. Prepare thoughtful questions about Neara's product, design challenges, and company culture.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Neara's mission, technology (digital twins, AI/ML in energy), target market, and recent news. Understand how their product aims to solve critical industry problems and how design plays a role in their success.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with Neara during the application and interview process.