Product Designer&Builder for SmartyMe

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer & Builder for SmartyMe

Company: Stellar Tech

Location: Remote

Job Type: Contractor

Category: Product Design / GTM Operations

Date Posted: August 06, 2026

Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive end-to-end product design initiatives, from problem definition to prototype development and validation.

• Apply strong product thinking to articulate customer problems and design effective solutions.

• Build functional prototypes independently using AI-powered tools to accelerate testing and iteration cycles.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management to define hypotheses, set metrics, and measure product impact.

• Ensure high standards of design craft, focusing on simplicity, consistency, and user experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Product Designer & Builder," the emphasis on "high ownership," "product thinking," and "building prototypes yourself" strongly aligns with GTM (Go-To-Market) operations principles, particularly in the product development lifecycle. This role requires a blend of design execution and strategic product ownership, common in fast-paced tech environments. The focus on metrics and hypotheses also bridges into operational effectiveness.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Take ownership of product problems, guiding them from initial ambiguity through discovery, design, prototyping, launch, and post-launch analysis.

• Conduct user research, analyze product data, and engage in user conversations to precisely define user struggles and validate problem statements.

• Develop hypotheses for product changes, specifying expected metric movements and success indicators.

• Design intuitive and visually appealing user interfaces for the SmartyMe mobile educational app, ensuring clean structure, typography, and states.

• Build and iterate on functional prototypes using AI tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Replit) to enable rapid user testing and feedback.

• Partner with Product Managers as a peer to drive product strategy, define key performance indicators (KPIs), and track progress against goals.

• Monitor and analyze key product metrics, such as branch activation and cancel rates, to inform future design decisions and optimizations.

• Champion best practices in design craft, including spacing, typography, edge case handling, and UI clarity.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities listed are heavily weighted towards product development and user experience, but the emphasis on "hypotheses and metrics" and "owning specific product branches" highlights a crucial operational component. This role is expected to contribute directly to business outcomes by driving measurable improvements, a core tenet of GTM operations.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating relevant skills and experience is paramount.

Experience: 3+ years of hands-on product design experience, with a significant focus on mobile-first consumer applications.

Required Skills:

• Product Design: Proven experience designing for real products, ideally mobile-first consumer apps. Experience in EdTech, wellness, or habit-building products is highly advantageous.

• Prototyping with AI Tools: Demonstrated ability to build working prototypes independently using AI tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Replit, or similar platforms. This is a mandatory requirement.

• Product Thinking: Ability to articulate customer problems precisely and to specify how solutions address those problems and why they are expected to succeed.

• Product and Metrics Literacy: Capacity to express work as a hypothesis, detailing expected changes, magnitude, and success/failure indicators.

• Figma Proficiency: Expertise in using Figma, including components, auto layout, variants, prototyping, and versioning.

• AI Feature Design: Comfort and experience in designing user experiences around AI-powered functionalities and adapting to rapidly evolving hypotheses.

• User Experience (UX) Design: Strong understanding of user-centered design principles and best practices.

• Interaction Design: Skill in creating intuitive and engaging user interactions.

• Technical Communication: Ability to clearly communicate design decisions and technical considerations.

• Problem Solving: Proven ability to tackle complex, ill-defined problems and drive them to actionable solutions.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with activation and retention strategies for mobile apps.

• Familiarity with games or content-heavy product design.

• Experience with design systems.

• Demonstrated ability to ship projects independently.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement to build prototypes using AI tools and the emphasis on "learning speed" over years of experience suggest a need for candidates who are adaptable and quick learners, aligning with the fast-paced nature of operations and product development in tech. The "nice to have" skills like "activation and retention work" are directly tied to GTM success metrics.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase case studies that clearly frame the problems addressed, the reasoning behind design decisions, and the outcomes achieved, including challenges encountered and lessons learned.

• Demonstrate a deep understanding of product thinking, articulating the user problem precisely and the specific solution's impact.

• Highlight examples of building functional prototypes, ideally showcasing the process of using AI tools.

• Present metrics literacy by including hypotheses, expected metric movements, and actual results for projects.

• Include examples of UI design craft, focusing on simplicity, consistency, and attention to detail. Process Documentation:

• Illustrate the end-to-end product design process, from problem identification and user research to prototyping, testing, and iteration.

• Detail how user feedback and data analysis were integrated into the design and development lifecycle.

• Provide examples of how hypotheses were formulated and tested, with clear articulation of metrics used for evaluation.

• Showcase the ability to collaborate effectively with product managers and engineers throughout the product development lifecycle.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on demonstrating "how you framed problems and what came out of them, including the parts that didn't go smoothly" in the portfolio screening indicates a need for candidates who can showcase their process and ability to learn from failures, a key aspect of operational improvement and GTM strategy refinement.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: As this is a contractor role and specific compensation details are not provided, a competitive range for a mid-level Product Designer & Builder with 3+ years of experience in a remote, US-based tech company would typically fall between $70,000 - $110,000 annually, or $35 - $55 per hour, depending on the specific skills, the complexity of projects, and the candidate's proven track record.

Benefits:

• Contractual Engagement: Opportunity to work on a flexible, project-based contract.

• High-Impact Projects: Work on a live product with over a million users, directly influencing product direction and user experience.

• Direct Feedback: Receive direct feedback on design and product thinking from experienced professionals and leadership.

• Professional Development: Exposure to a team with experience from leading tech companies (Miro, Palta, Uber, Bolt) offering learning opportunities.

• Autonomy and Freedom: Significant freedom to test hypotheses and implement ideas without lengthy approval cycles.

• Broad Scope: A unique opportunity to combine design, product decisions, and prototyping within a single role.

Working Hours: This is a contractor role, expected to require approximately 40 hours per week, aligning with standard full-time work expectations for project delivery. Flexibility may be available, but consistent availability for collaboration and project milestones is anticipated.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimation based on industry benchmarks for contract Product Designers in the US tech sector with the specified experience level and remote work arrangement. This estimation is derived from data from reputable compensation analysis platforms and industry surveys. Benefits are inferred based on typical offerings for contract roles in established tech companies, focusing on the value proposition of the role itself.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology, specifically focusing on Educational Technology (EdTech) and Mobile Applications. Stellar Tech is developing "SmartyMe," an educational mobile app.

Company Size: Not explicitly stated, but the description implies a lean, agile team where individuals have significant ownership and direct access to leadership. The mention of a "compact team" suggests a size that fosters close collaboration and quick decision-making, likely a startup or a dedicated product team within a larger organization.

Founded: While the founding date is not provided, the company's growth and the experience of its team members (Miro, Palta, Uber, Bolt) suggest a relatively established entity or a well-funded startup with a clear vision.

Team Structure:

• The Product team is described as experienced, with members from reputable tech companies.

• The role reports directly to the VP of Product, indicating a flat hierarchy for this position.

• Collaboration is highlighted as a key aspect, with the Product Designer partnering closely with a Product Manager.

• The team operates with a high degree of autonomy, with individuals running their own initiatives. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Emphasis on using metrics and data analysis to inform product decisions and measure impact.

• Agile Prototyping & Iteration: Focus on rapid prototyping with AI tools to quickly test hypotheses and gather user feedback.

• Problem-Centric Approach: Work is typically defined by problems rather than detailed specifications, requiring proactive problem-solving.

• Ownership Culture: Individuals are expected to take full responsibility for their initiatives from start to finish.

• Direct Communication: Open communication through Slack, Figma, and live sessions is encouraged.

Company Website: https://stellartech.bamboohr.com/careers (This is the careers page; the main company website might be stellar.io as derived from the domain, but this is not confirmed for product information.)

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "high ownership," "product thinking," and "building prototypes yourself" suggests a culture that values initiative, self-sufficiency, and a results-oriented mindset. This is common in GTM and product development teams aiming for rapid innovation and market responsiveness. The "compact team" and direct reporting lines imply a fast-paced, collaborative, and less bureaucratic environment.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a mid-level individual contributor (2-5 years of experience) with significant autonomy and scope. It offers a unique opportunity to blend design, product strategy, and technical execution, which is a growth path in itself for experienced designers.

Reporting Structure: The role reports directly to the VP of Product. This close proximity to senior leadership provides high visibility and direct mentorship opportunities. The candidate will also partner closely with a Product Manager.

Operations Impact: The Product Designer & Builder will have a direct and measurable impact on the SmartyMe mobile app, which serves over a million users. Their work will influence key metrics like branch activation and cancel rates, contributing directly to user engagement, retention, and potentially revenue growth. The ability to test hypotheses freely allows for direct contribution to product strategy and optimization.

Growth Opportunities:

• Skill Compounding: The rare combination of design, product thinking, and prototyping skills practiced in one role allows for significant professional development and the creation of a unique skill set.

• Leadership Exposure: Direct reporting to the VP of Product and close collaboration with a Product Manager offers exposure to strategic decision-making and leadership practices.

• Scale of Impact: Working on a product with a large user base provides substantial experience in designing for scale and seeing immediate impact from changes.

• Autonomy and Initiative: The freedom to propose and test new ideas fosters entrepreneurial skills and the ability to drive initiatives independently.

• Team Learning: Learning from experienced professionals from top tech companies offers opportunities to absorb best practices and advanced methodologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "growth" in this role is less about climbing a traditional ladder and more about deepening expertise in a multifaceted role and gaining experience at scale. The emphasis on "learning speed" suggests that continuous improvement and adaptability are key to career progression within Stellar Tech.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. This role operates in a distributed work environment, offering flexibility and the ability to work from any location.

Office Location(s): Not applicable as the role is fully remote.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: Despite being remote, the team emphasizes direct communication through Slack, Figma, and live sessions, fostering a sense of virtual collaboration.

• Tooling: Access to and expectation of utilizing modern design and prototyping tools, including AI-powered tools and Figma.

• Team Interaction: Frequent interaction with the Product Manager and VP of Product, as well as other team members, is expected to drive projects forward.

• Agile Pace: The environment is likely fast-paced, with an emphasis on shipping and iterating quickly.

Work Schedule: The role is expected to require approximately 40 hours per week, common for contract positions. While remote work offers flexibility, consistent availability during core business hours for collaboration and meetings will be crucial. The emphasis on "shipping" suggests a focus on delivery and meeting project timelines.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote nature of the role necessitates strong self-discipline, proactive communication, and effective time management. The company's emphasis on direct communication channels suggests a preference for asynchronous and synchronous communication methods to maintain team cohesion and project momentum.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Portfolio Screening: Initial review of submitted portfolios. Focus is on how problems were framed, the reasoning behind decisions, and the outcomes, including challenges. Finished screens alone are less important than the process shown.

• Recruiter Screening: A preliminary call to assess basic qualifications, experience level, motivation for the role, and logistical details.

• Job and Partnership Fit Interview (45 min): With the SmartyMe Product Manager. This interview focuses on how the candidate would collaborate with the PM, dividing and sharing responsibilities for product work.

• Team Fit Interview (45-60 min): With the VP of Product. This stage assesses background, product thinking, and ability to handle key aspects of the role through specific case discussions (e.g., self-initiated projects, end-to-end ownership, decisions made with incomplete information).

• Live Working Session (60-90 min): The final and most significant stage. Candidates will be presented with a real SmartyMe problem, incomplete data, and no spec. The goal is to collaboratively narrow down the problem, form a hypothesis, and build a prototype during the session using their own tools. The evaluation focuses on reasoning and speed to a tangible output, not a polished final product.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Problem Framing: Clearly articulate the user problem, its context, and why it's significant. Use data and research to support your problem definition.

• Process Over Polish: Showcase your design process, including research, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration. Demonstrate how you handle ambiguity and challenges.

• Hypothesis and Metrics: For each project, clearly state the hypothesis you were testing, the metrics you aimed to influence, and the results. Quantify your impact whenever possible.

• Prototyping Emphasis: Include examples of functional prototypes, highlighting the tools used (especially AI tools if applicable) and the speed at which you can produce testable outputs.

• Ownership Narrative: Tell stories that demonstrate high ownership – how you took initiative, unblocked yourself, and drove a project to completion.

• Self-Reflection: Be prepared to discuss what didn't go smoothly and what you learned from those experiences.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand SmartyMe: Research the SmartyMe app, its target audience, and its educational mission.

• AI Prototyping: Be ready to use your preferred AI prototyping tools during the live session. Practice building quick, functional prototypes.

• Problem Decomposition: Practice breaking down a vague problem into smaller, manageable parts and identifying key questions to ask.

• Hypothesis Formulation: Prepare to quickly formulate testable hypotheses and identify relevant metrics.

• Communication: Be ready to think aloud, explain your reasoning clearly, and collaborate effectively with the interviewer during the live session.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Live Working Session" is a critical component that tests practical skills and operational execution under pressure. Candidates should prepare to demonstrate their ability to translate a vague problem into a testable solution rapidly, mirroring the fast-paced iteration cycles common in operations and product development.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, component creation, auto layout, variants, and prototyping.

• AI Prototyping Tools: Mandatory requirement. Candidates must be proficient in tools like Claude Code, Codex, Replit, or similar for building functional prototypes.

• Prototyping Software: Beyond AI tools, general prototyping skills are assumed.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Metrics & Hypothesis Tools: While specific tools aren't named, candidates must demonstrate literacy in defining hypotheses and tracking metrics (e.g., branch activation, cancel rate). This implies familiarity with analytics platforms or reporting dashboards.

• Data Analysis: Ability to interpret user data and product analytics to inform design decisions.

CRM & Automation:

• Not Directly Specified: While not a core focus for this design role, understanding how design impacts user journeys within a CRM or automation context could be beneficial for GTM alignment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit requirement for AI prototyping tools is a significant differentiator. Candidates should be prepared to showcase their proficiency and speed with these tools, as they are central to the role's operational efficiency and rapid iteration capabilities.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• High Ownership: Taking full responsibility for problems and driving them to successful outcomes without constant supervision. This means being proactive, unblocking oneself, and communicating progress.

• Product Thinking: A deep understanding of the user problem and a clear, logical rationale for the proposed solution.

• Proactivity: Identifying needs and initiating work, rather than waiting for tasks to be assigned. A significant portion of the work will be self-proposed.

• Comfort with Ambiguity: Embracing and navigating unclear problem statements, turning them into actionable plans.

• Preference for Shipping: Prioritizing getting functional versions out quickly to gather feedback over prolonged planning phases.

• Attention to Craft: Maintaining high standards for design quality, including spacing, clarity, copy, and overall user interface.

• Direct Communication: Open, honest, and timely communication through various channels, including raising problems early and respectfully disagreeing when necessary.

• Learning Speed: Valuing rapid learning and improvement over years of experience, indicating a culture of continuous development.

Collaboration Style:

• Peer-to-Peer Partnership: Working closely with Product Managers as equals, sharing responsibility for product outcomes.

• Cross-Functional Input: Engaging with other experienced team members for feedback and guidance, leveraging collective expertise.

• Open Dialogue: Encouraging open discussions about design decisions, problems, and potential disagreements in public forums (Slack, Figma, live sessions).

• Lean and Agile: A collaborative style that supports rapid iteration, testing, and quick decision-making.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values listed are highly indicative of a high-performance GTM and product development culture. The emphasis on ownership, proactivity, and shipping aligns directly with operational efficiency and the drive to achieve business results quickly.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating Ambiguity: Problems arrive without clear specifications, requiring the candidate to define the scope and approach.

• Rapid Prototyping Demands: The expectation to build functional prototypes quickly using AI tools can be demanding and requires continuous skill refinement.

• Balancing Speed and Craft: Maintaining high design quality and attention to detail while working at a rapid pace.

• Remote Collaboration: Effectively communicating and collaborating with a distributed team to ensure alignment and project success.

• AI Tool Evolution: Staying current with rapidly evolving AI prototyping tools and their capabilities.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Prototyping: Deepening expertise in AI-powered prototyping and exploring new tools and techniques.

• Product Strategy: Gaining hands-on experience in defining product strategy, setting hypotheses, and driving metrics with senior leadership.

• Cross-Functional Experience: Learning from experienced product managers and designers from top-tier tech companies.

• Impactful Product Design: Developing skills in designing for scale and understanding the direct impact of design decisions on a large user base.

• Ownership and Initiative: Building leadership and project management skills by independently driving initiatives from conception to launch.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are directly tied to the operational realities of a fast-paced tech environment. The growth opportunities are framed around developing specialized skills and gaining experience in areas critical for GTM success and product leadership.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Problem Framing: "Describe a time you took an unclear problem and defined it into a clear product opportunity. What was your process, what data did you use, and what was the outcome?" Be ready to detail your methodology for problem decomposition and validation.

• Ownership & Initiative: "Tell me about a project you initiated yourself. What motivated you, how did you gain buy-in, and what was the result?" Focus on demonstrating proactivity and driving outcomes.

• Hypothesis & Metrics: "Walk me through a feature you designed where you defined a specific hypothesis and metric. How did you measure success, and what did you learn?" Prepare to discuss your approach to quantifying impact.

• AI Prototyping: "Describe your experience building prototypes with AI tools. Can you share an example of a functional prototype you built quickly and how it was used?" Be prepared to discuss your preferred tools and workflow.

Company & Culture Questions:

• Work Style: "How do you prefer to work with a Product Manager? How do you handle disagreements on product direction?" Prepare to discuss your collaborative style and conflict resolution approach.

• Handling Ambiguity: "Describe a situation where you had to make a significant decision with incomplete information. What was your thought process and the outcome?" Focus on your comfort with uncertainty and decision-making under pressure.

• Design Craft: "How do you ensure your designs are simple, clean, and consistent, especially when working under tight deadlines?" Be ready to discuss your approach to quality control and attention to detail.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Storytelling: Frame each case study as a narrative with a clear beginning (problem), middle (solution/process), and end (outcome/learnings).

• Highlight Process: Dedicate significant time to explaining your thought process, research, and iteration. Show the "messy middle" and how you navigated it.

• Quantify Impact: Use metrics and data to demonstrate the success of your designs. If exact numbers aren't available, explain the qualitative impact.

• Prototype Demonstration: Be prepared to quickly show or explain functional prototypes, emphasizing the speed and tools used.

• Self-Awareness: Be ready to discuss challenges, failures, and what you learned, showcasing your ability to grow from experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process, particularly the live working session, is designed to assess practical application of skills under realistic conditions. Preparation should focus on demonstrating the core values of ownership, product thinking, and rapid execution, which are central to operational success.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer & Builder position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Stellar Tech careers page.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight projects demonstrating high ownership, strong product thinking, and experience building prototypes with AI tools. Prioritize case studies that show your process and impact, not just final aesthetics.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 3+ years of experience in mobile-first consumer apps and specifically mentions proficiency with AI prototyping tools and Figma. Quantify achievements where possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, product thinking, and problem-solving skills, especially in the context of ambiguity and rapid iteration. Be ready to discuss your experience with metrics and hypotheses.

• Company Research: Familiarize yourself with Stellar Tech and the SmartyMe app. Understand their mission and target audience to better align your application and interview responses with their 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.