Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: 9fin

Location: London, England, United Kingdom

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / UX/UI

Date Posted: 2026-03-03T00:00:00

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive the vision and design strategy for AI-powered legal intelligence products within the debt capital markets.

• Translate complex legal and financial workflows into intuitive, user-centered product experiences for sophisticated professional users.

• Design AI-native interfaces that prioritize trust, precision, and explainability, crucial for high-stakes financial and legal domains.

• Collaborate deeply within a cross-functional squad, taking ownership of the end-to-end design process from concept to production.

• Leverage generative AI tools as an integral part of the design process to explore new interaction patterns and accelerate development.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is titled "Senior Product Designer," the description strongly emphasizes product strategy, AI integration, and deep domain understanding (legal/financial markets), positioning it as a role with significant strategic influence and a focus on complex enterprise SaaS solutions. The "Covenants squad" implies a specialization within the legal intelligence product suite.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Product & Design Strategy:

  • Partner with Product Managers, engineers, legal analysts, and customers to define the vision and design strategy for the Covenants squad.
  • Synthesize insights from legal Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), customer interviews, feedback, and data to frame clear user problems.
  • Utilize discovery techniques to understand the needs and workflows of sophisticated users, including credit analysts, portfolio managers, restructuring advisors, and law firms.
  • Design solutions that maximize user and business impact in complex, high-precision environments, aligning work to clear outcomes.

• Designing AI-Native Legal Workflows:

  • Design user experiences for AI-powered legal document extraction and covenant analysis, ensuring outputs meet professional-grade precision standards.
  • Translate complex AI model outputs into clear, trustworthy interfaces, emphasizing source attribution, confidence signaling, and explainability.
  • Partner with Product and Engineering to design feedback loops and evaluation workflows for AI output quality and user trust.
  • Identify opportunities to apply emerging AI capabilities to novel legal workflow problems, such as compliance monitoring and cross-document analysis.
  • Prototype new interaction patterns for AI-driven legal tasks where established design playbooks may not exist.

• Craft & Collaboration:

  • Own the end-to-end design process, creating wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs robust across edge cases and complex data conditions.

  • Work deeply embedded within a cross-functional squad, communicating complex concepts to engineers and technical AI capabilities to legal and credit professionals.

  • Clearly articulate design rationale to influence stakeholders across the business, demonstrating how designs solve real user problems.

  • Contribute to and evolve the company's design system to support sophisticated data-heavy and AI-driven workflows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a need for a designer who can operate at both a strategic level (vision, product strategy) and a tactical level (UI design, system thinking), with a strong emphasis on AI integration and understanding the nuances of legal and financial data. The "Covenants squad" focus suggests a specialization in specific legal clauses or financial covenants within debt agreements.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating relevant experience is paramount. A background in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field is beneficial.

Experience: Proven experience in product design, with a significant portion focused on complex enterprise SaaS products, fintech, legal tech, or data-heavy tools. Experience designing for sophisticated users in high-stakes domains is essential.

Required Skills:

• Fluency in Figma and AI prototyping tools.

• End-to-end design ownership from concept to production-ready UI.

• Experience designing for AI-powered features, emphasizing trust, precision, and explainability.

• Strong understanding of user-centered design principles and methodologies.

• Ability to translate complex information and workflows into intuitive user experiences.

• Experience with user research, including conducting customer interviews and synthesizing findings.

• Systems thinking and the ability to design for user journeys, feedback loops, and trust mechanisms.

• Excellent communication and storytelling skills to influence stakeholders.

• Familiarity with or ability to rapidly learn about legal and financial markets, particularly debt capital markets.

Preferred Skills:

• Background in legal or financial markets.

• Experience contributing to or evolving a design system.

• Experience working in a fast-paced, scaling startup environment.

• Familiarity with data extraction, analysis, and reporting tools.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "AI-native in how you work" suggests a strong preference for candidates who actively use generative AI in their design workflow, not just for output but for exploration and efficiency. The "blank page" requirement indicates a need for self-starters comfortable with ambiguity and innovation.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies: Showcase a minimum of 3-5 detailed case studies demonstrating end-to-end product design ownership.

• Problem Definition: Clearly articulate the user problems addressed, the domain's complexity (legal, financial, enterprise SaaS), and the stakeholders involved.

• AI Integration: Highlight projects involving AI-powered features, detailing how trust, precision, explainability, and user confidence were considered and designed for.

• Workflow Transformation: Demonstrate the ability to translate complex, manual workflows into streamlined, intuitive digital experiences.

• User Research & Synthesis: Provide examples of user research methodologies used and how insights informed design decisions.

• Interaction Design: Include examples of user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity UIs, showcasing attention to detail, edge cases, and data complexity.

• Design System Contribution: If applicable, show examples of contributions to or utilization of a design system.

• Outcome & Impact: Quantify or clearly describe the impact of your design solutions on user behavior, business metrics, or efficiency improvements.

Process Documentation:

• Candidates should be prepared to discuss their design process, including:

  • Discovery and research methodologies.

  • Ideation and prototyping techniques.

  • Collaboration strategies with Product Management and Engineering.

  • Iteration based on user feedback and data.

  • Contribution to design systems and best practices.

  • Approach to designing for trust and explainability in AI-driven products.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role focused on AI and complex domains, the portfolio must explicitly demonstrate the candidate's ability to handle ambiguity, design for trust with AI outputs, and translate intricate legal/financial concepts into usable interfaces. Readiness to discuss the design process in detail, especially concerning AI and cross-functional collaboration, is critical.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers in London with experience in enterprise SaaS/Fintech and AI-focused roles, a competitive salary range is estimated between £75,000 - £110,000 per annum. This range considers the company's stated aim to benchmark at the top end of the market and the premium placed on AI-native design skills.

Benefits:

• Financial & Insurance:

  • Competitive Salary (benchmarked at the top end of the market)
  • Pension scheme with generous company matching (4% employee, 7% 9fin match)
  • Private Medical Insurance
  • Paid sick leave with Income Protection for extended illness
  • Group Life Assurance
  • Season Ticket Loan
  • Cycle to Work schemes

• Time Off:

  • 25 holiday days per year
  • Local public holidays (with flexibility to exchange)
  • Hybrid working model with flexibility on how, where, and when work is done
  • Opportunity to work abroad for up to 3 months annually
  • 1-month paid sabbatical after 5 years of service
  • Enhanced parental leave
  • Flexible working arrangements

• Training & Culture:

  • Professional learning and development budget

  • Quarterly team socials Working Hours: The role implies a standard 40-hour work week, with a hybrid model allowing for flexibility in schedule and location.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on market data for London, UK, for a Senior Product Designer role with a focus on AI and enterprise solutions. The company explicitly states salaries are benchmarked at the top end of the market, justifying this positioning. The benefits package is comprehensive and reflects a startup that is sharing its success and investing in its people.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Technology (Fintech), specifically focused on Debt Capital Markets and Legal Intelligence. 9fin operates at the intersection of finance, law, and AI technology.

Company Size: The description indicates a scaling startup with over 300 institutional clients. This suggests a company size likely in the range of 100-500 employees, growing rapidly.

Founded: While the founding date is not explicitly stated, the description implies a company with established product-market fit and significant growth momentum, suggesting it has moved beyond the very early startup phase.

Team Structure:

• The role is within a dedicated "product and engineering team," specifically part of the "Covenants squad."

• This squad is cross-functional, including Product Managers, engineers, and legal analysts (SMEs).

• The designer will work "deeply embedded" within this squad, indicating a collaborative and integrated team environment.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven & AI-Centric: The core of 9fin's offering is AI-powered data extraction and analysis. Design decisions are expected to be informed by data signals and customer feedback.

• Outcome-Oriented: Designs are aligned to clear outcomes, with a focus on maximizing user and business impact.

• Agile & Iterative: The emphasis on prototyping, experimentation, and iterating quickly suggests an agile development methodology.

• User-Centric: Deep understanding of sophisticated professional users (credit analysts, lawyers) is central to the design process.

Company Website: https://9fin.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on revolutionizing a trillion-dollar market with AI suggests a culture of innovation, ambition, and a strong technical foundation. The "scaling startup" nature implies a dynamic environment where individuals can have a significant impact.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Product Designer. This level signifies a high degree of autonomy, strategic input, and responsibility for complex product areas. It requires not just execution but also leadership in design thinking and strategy.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Product Designer will likely report to a Head of Product Design, Design Lead, or potentially a Director of Product. They will work closely with a Product Manager within their specific "Covenants squad."

Operations Impact:

• The role has a direct impact on the core product offering of 9fin, specifically its AI-driven legal intelligence platform.

• Designs will influence how legal professionals interact with critical data and workflows, directly affecting user adoption, retention, and the company's competitive advantage.

Growth Opportunities:

• Skill Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI-native design, legal tech, and financial product design.

• Leadership: Take on ownership of larger, more complex product areas, mentor junior designers, and influence the overall design vision.

• Strategic Influence: Contribute significantly to product strategy and roadmap definition, especially within the legal intelligence domain.

• Career Progression: Potential to move into Lead Product Designer, Group Lead, or Head of Design roles as the company scales.

• Learning & Development: Access to a professional learning budget for courses, conferences, and skill development relevant to AI, design, and the finance/legal industries.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role is positioned for growth within a rapidly scaling company. The emphasis on AI and complex domains offers a unique opportunity to become a specialist in a highly sought-after area of product design.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The company offers a "Hybrid working model." This suggests a blend of in-office collaboration and remote flexibility. The office is located in London.

Office Location(s): London, England, United Kingdom. Specific office address details would typically be provided during the interview process.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The role requires deep embedding within a cross-functional squad, fostering close collaboration with Product Managers, Engineers, and SMEs.

• Technology Focus: The workspace is equipped with the necessary tools for design, including Figma and AI prototyping tools. The environment encourages the use of AI to enhance productivity and innovation.

• Flexibility: The hybrid model allows individuals to choose where and when they do their best work, balancing focused individual work with collaborative team sessions. The option to work abroad for up to 3 months adds significant flexibility.

Work Schedule: A standard 40-hour work week is implied for a full-time role, with flexibility afforded by the hybrid model. This allows for effective management of design processes, data analysis, and collaborative meetings.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "work abroad for up to 3 months a year" benefit is a significant differentiator, offering exceptional flexibility and a global perspective for employees. The hybrid model is designed to facilitate both focused individual work and essential team collaboration.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Review of CV and portfolio to assess experience, skills, and alignment with role requirements.

• Hiring Manager/Recruiter Call: Discussion about background, motivation, and initial fit.

• Design Exercise/Challenge: A practical design task, likely involving a complex problem related to AI, legal data, or workflow design. This may be a take-home assignment or a live session.

• Portfolio Presentation & Stakeholder Interviews: A deep dive into selected case studies from the portfolio, focusing on design process, rationale, problem-solving, and collaboration. This will likely involve meeting with the Product Manager, Engineering Lead, and potentially other designers or team members.

• Final Interview: Potentially with senior leadership or founders to assess strategic alignment and cultural fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-5 of your strongest case studies that best showcase your ability to handle complex, data-heavy, or AI-driven product design challenges.

• Emphasize AI & Trust: Clearly articulate your approach to designing AI-native experiences, focusing on how you build user trust, ensure precision, and provide explainability. Use your case studies to demonstrate this.

• Showcase Problem-Solving: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your role, your process, the challenges faced (especially ambiguity or complexity), your solutions, and the outcomes.

• Detail Your Process: Be ready to walk through your thought process, from initial research and ideation to prototyping, iteration, and final design. Highlight how you collaborated with PMs and Engineers.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the impact of your designs. If direct metrics aren't available, focus on qualitative outcomes and user feedback.

• Demonstrate Craftsmanship: Ensure your portfolio presentation is polished, well-organized, and visually appealing, reflecting your attention to detail.

Challenge Preparation:

• Deconstruct the Brief: Understand the core problem, target users, and constraints of any design challenge.

• Think AI-First: Consider how AI can be leveraged to solve the problem and how the user experience would accommodate AI outputs and interactions.

• Focus on Trust & Clarity: For any AI-related challenge, prioritize designing for user confidence and understanding.

• Structure Your Approach: Outline your design process clearly: research, ideation, sketching, wireframing, prototyping, and testing.

• Communicate Effectively: Be prepared to articulate your rationale clearly and concisely, especially if presenting your solution.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "AI-native," "trust," and "precision" means interviewers will be looking for specific evidence in your portfolio and during discussions about how you approach these critical aspects of designing with AI. Be prepared to discuss your use of AI tools in your own workflow.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (fluent proficiency required), AI Prototyping Tools (specific tools may vary, but familiarity with AI-assisted design workflows is key).

• Design Systems: Experience contributing to or utilizing design systems.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not explicitly listed, a Senior Product Designer would benefit from familiarity with analytics platforms (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel, Google Analytics) to understand user behavior and inform design decisions.

CRM & Automation:

• No direct CRM or automation tool requirements are listed for the designer, but an understanding of how the product integrates with broader enterprise workflows or customer management systems would be advantageous.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma and "AI prototyping tools" highlights the core technical requirements. The candidate should be prepared to discuss their experience with these tools and how they integrate AI into their design workflow.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & AI Frontier: A strong drive to push the boundaries of AI application in legal and financial markets.

• Precision & Trust: A deep commitment to accuracy, reliability, and building user trust, especially critical given the high-stakes nature of the product.

• User-Centricity: A focus on understanding and serving the needs of sophisticated professional users.

• Collaboration: Emphasis on cross-functional teamwork and open communication within squads.

• Impact & Ownership: A culture that values individual contribution, responsibility, and driving tangible business outcomes.

• Growth & Learning: Encouragement of continuous professional development and embracing new technologies.

Collaboration Style:

• Embedded & Integrated: Designers work "deeply embedded" within cross-functional squads, fostering close, day-to-day collaboration with Product and Engineering.

• Data-Informed: Collaboration is supported by data signals, customer feedback, and insights from in-house legal SMEs.

• Transparent Communication: Clear articulation of design rationale and influencing stakeholders is key, implying open and honest communication.

• Iterative Feedback Loops: Designers contribute to and benefit from regular feedback loops with Product and Engineering for continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values innovation, especially in AI, and demands a high standard of precision and trust. Collaboration is seen as a core driver of success, with designers acting as integral parts of product development squads.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Ambiguity: Working on the "frontier of applied machine learning" means tackling problems with no established design playbooks.

• Balancing Complexity and Usability: Translating dense legal and financial data and complex AI outputs into clear, intuitive interfaces for sophisticated users.

• Ensuring AI Trust & Explainability: Designing interfaces that users can rely on, especially when AI is involved, where errors have significant consequences.

• Rapid Scaling Environment: Adapting to the fast-paced nature of a scaling startup, potentially involving evolving processes and priorities.

• Domain Immersion: Quickly grasping the intricacies of debt capital markets, legal documents, and the workflows of legal and credit professionals.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI Design Expertise: Becoming a leader in designing AI-native products for specialized enterprise domains.

• Domain Specialization: Developing deep expertise in legal tech and fintech, specifically debt markets.

• Strategic Product Influence: Growing influence on product vision and strategy within a key business area.

• Leadership Track: Opportunities to mentor, lead design initiatives, and potentially grow into management roles.

• Professional Development Budget: Access to resources for courses, conferences, and certifications to enhance skills in design, AI, and finance/legal.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role presents significant challenges related to innovation in AI and complex domains, but these are framed as opportunities for substantial professional growth and skill development.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you designed an AI-powered feature. What were the key challenges around trust and explainability, and how did you address them?" (Focus on process, specific design decisions, and outcomes.)

• "Walk me through a complex enterprise SaaS product you designed. What made it complex, how did you simplify it for the user, and what was the impact?" (Highlight problem-solving, user empathy, and business impact.)

• "How do you approach designing for users in a highly regulated or high-stakes domain like finance or law? What are the critical considerations?" (Emphasize precision, error handling, and user confidence.)

• "Describe your process for working within an embedded, cross-functional squad. How do you ensure alignment and effective collaboration with Product Managers and Engineers?" (Showcase communication, teamwork, and stakeholder management skills.)

• "How do you leverage generative AI tools in your design process? Provide examples of how they've helped you explore ideas, iterate faster, or solve problems." (Demonstrate AI-native workflow.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about 9fin and our mission to revolutionize debt markets with AI?" (Research company mission, values, and recent news.)

• "How do you see your skills in AI-native design contributing to our specific product challenges?" (Connect your experience to the role's unique requirements.)

• "Describe your ideal work environment and how you thrive in a hybrid setup." (Align with 9fin's hybrid model and collaborative culture.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Flow: Structure your portfolio presentation like a story: Problem -> Your Role -> Process -> Solution -> Outcome.

• Focus on AI & Trust: For relevant projects, dedicate specific time to explaining how you addressed AI-specific design challenges.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals (wireframes, prototypes, UI mockups) to illustrate your points, but also be ready to explain the why behind your design decisions.

• Highlight Collaboration: Mention how you worked with Product Managers, Engineers, and SMEs throughout the process.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Expect questions about specific design choices, trade-offs made, and alternative solutions considered.

• Demonstrate AI Tool Usage: If possible, show examples or discuss how AI tools assisted you in the projects presented.

Challenge Preparation:

• Rapid Ideation: Practice quickly generating ideas and solutions for complex problems.

• Prioritization: Be ready to explain how you would prioritize features or design elements given constraints.

• User-Centricity: Always ground your solutions in user needs and workflows.

• AI Integration: Consider how AI can enhance the proposed solution, not just as an add-on.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is likely to be rigorous, testing not only design craft but also strategic thinking, AI proficiency, and the ability to handle complex, high-stakes domains. Be prepared to defend your design decisions with clear rationale.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Ashby link, ensuring your CV and portfolio are up-to-date and easily accessible.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight 3-5 projects that best demonstrate your experience with complex enterprise SaaS, AI-driven features, and designing for trust and precision. Specifically, showcase your AI-native design workflow and your ability to handle intricate data.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your experience in product strategy, AI integration, user research, and cross-functional collaboration. Use keywords from the job description such as "AI-native," "trust," "precision," "enterprise SaaS," and "debt capital markets."

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process and rationale for key projects, focusing on how you've solved complex problems and integrated AI. Prepare to discuss your use of Figma and AI prototyping tools.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research 9fin's mission, product offering, target market (debt capital markets, legal intelligence), and company culture. Understand their unique value proposition powered by AI.

⚠️ 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.

---