Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: Brandwatch (a Cision Company)

Location: Remote - Bulgaria

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / User Experience (UX) / User Interface (UI)

Date Posted: July 24, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Design and deliver exceptionally user-centered SaaS product experiences within a collaborative, cross-functional product trio.

• Act as a strong user advocate, translating complex requirements and customer insights into intuitive, modern, and accessible interfaces.

• Contribute to the evolution and application of design systems, ensuring consistency and scalability across product offerings.

• Drive the end-to-end design process, from generative user research and ideation to detailed visual design and iterative testing.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is specifically for a Senior Product Designer focusing on SaaS products, particularly within the Social Media Management solutions suite at Brandwatch. The emphasis is on delivering "delightful product experiences" and acting as a strong "user advocate," suggesting a role that requires not just execution but also strategic influence on user-centricity. The "Product Trio" model indicates close collaboration with Product Management and Engineering.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the design process for specific features and product areas within the Social Media Management solutions, from concept to launch.

• Conduct generative and evaluative user research (quantitative and qualitative) to deeply understand customer needs, pain points, and workflows.

• Translate user research findings, product requirements, and business goals into wireframes, user flows, prototypes, and high-fidelity visual designs.

• Develop and maintain design documentation, including user personas, journey maps, and detailed design specifications, ensuring clear communication with stakeholders.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers to define product strategy and roadmap, and with Engineers to ensure accurate and high-quality implementation of designs.

• Champion and contribute to the company's design system, advocating for its consistent use and identifying opportunities for enhancement.

• Plan and conduct user testing sessions to validate design solutions and gather feedback for iterative improvements.

• Present design concepts and rationale effectively to cross-functional teams, leadership, and directly to customers.

• Stay abreast of emerging design trends, technologies (including AI tools), and best practices in SaaS and data visualization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic design thinking, hands-on execution, and strong collaborative skills. The mention of "70/30 new feature work/improvements" suggests a dynamic product development environment where both innovation and refinement are prioritized.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong academic foundation in Design, HCI, Computer Science, or a related field is beneficial. Emphasis is placed on demonstrable skills and experience.

Experience: A minimum of 5 years of aggregated commercial experience working as a Product Designer on digital products, with a significant focus on web applications and SaaS platforms.

Required Skills:

• Proven expertise in end-to-end product design, encompassing UX research, interaction design, visual design, and prototyping.

• A strong portfolio showcasing a range of digital product design projects, with a clear demonstration of your design process, problem-solving skills, and visual design excellence.

• Proficiency in planning and conducting user research methodologies (generative and evaluative, quantitative and qualitative).

• Experience utilizing UX research tools and techniques to gather actionable insights.

• Ability to translate complex requirements into modern, accessible, and inviting user experiences.

• Deep understanding of core visual design principles and their application in digital interfaces.

• Experience working with and contributing to design systems.

• Excellent communication and documentation skills for effectively conveying work to diverse stakeholders.

• Skills in planning work, setting expectations, and delegating tasks when appropriate. Preferred Skills:

• Passion for and experience with data visualization techniques and tools.

• Experience integrating AI tools into the design workflow.

• Proven experience designing and testing information dashboards.

• Experience designing for mobile applications or responsive web design.

• Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG) and inclusive design principles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for a portfolio that "demonstrates excellence in your craft and shows us your process of translating outcomes into outputs" emphasizes the need for candidates to articulate their problem-solving approach and the rationale behind their design decisions, rather than just showcasing polished final screens.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio is mandatory for interview consideration. It should clearly illustrate your design process, from problem identification and user research to ideation, prototyping, and final visual design.

• Showcase case studies that highlight your ability to translate complex user needs and business requirements into elegant and effective product solutions.

• Demonstrate strong visual design skills and an understanding of UI principles through your project examples.

• Include examples of how you've contributed to or utilized design systems effectively.

• Be prepared to discuss your role, contributions, and the outcomes of each project presented. Process Documentation:

• Document and communicate your work efficiently and effectively to a variety of stakeholders and colleagues.

• Clearly articulate your design process, including how you plan your work, set expectations, and conduct user research.

• Demonstrate how you translate research findings and complex requirements into tangible design outputs.

• Showcase your ability to collaborate within a cross-functional team, highlighting your process for working with Product Managers and Developers.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "translating outcomes into outputs" and demonstrating "process" within the portfolio is critical. Candidates should prepare case studies that not only show the final product but also the journey, the challenges, and the impact of their design decisions.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: While not explicitly stated, for a Senior Product Designer with 5-10 years of experience in a fully remote role within Bulgaria, a competitive salary range would typically fall between 4,500 BGN to 7,500 BGN net per month (approximately €2,300 - €3,850 net/month). This estimation is based on industry benchmarks for senior design roles in the Bulgarian tech market, considering the company's global presence and the product's SaaS nature.

Benefits:

• Additional Premium Health Insurance.

• Sodexo food vouchers (80 BGN per month).

• 25 days of paid vacation annually.

• Flexible benefits package (Re:benefit).

• Udemy subscription for continuous learning.

• Dedicated 10% learning time for professional development.

• Flexible work arrangements, including remote work.

• Focus on improving existing features (30%) alongside new feature development (70%).

Working Hours: The standard working hours are likely aligned with a full-time role, typically around 40 hours per week. The company offers flexibility in how these hours are structured, given the remote nature and the "Flexible work from office or remote" option, allowing for adaptation to individual needs and team collaboration requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is an estimate based on common market data for Bulgaria and senior-level design roles. Actual compensation may vary based on specific experience, skill set, and negotiation. The benefits package indicates a commitment to employee well-being and professional growth.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Cision operates in the Communications, Media, and Technology sectors, specifically focusing on Consumer and Media Intelligence, Engagement, and Communication Solutions. Brandwatch, as a Cision company, specializes in digital consumer intelligence and social media listening. This industry context means the company values data-driven insights, understanding public sentiment, and enabling effective communication strategies for its clients.

Company Size: Cision is a large global organization with over 75,000 companies and organizations as clients, and a significant employee base. Brandwatch itself is a substantial entity within this structure. This scale suggests a company with established processes, resources, and opportunities for impact across a broad user base.

Founded: Cision's origins trace back to 1994, with Brandwatch founded in 2005. This history indicates a company with deep industry experience and a proven track record in evolving with the digital landscape.

Team Structure:

• You'll join one of the product teams focused on Social Media Management solutions.

• This team operates as a "tightly aligned product trio," consisting of a Product Designer (this role), a Product Manager, and Engineers.

• This structure promotes close collaboration, shared ownership, and agile decision-making within the team.

• The design role will involve reporting within the broader Product Design team structure, likely to a Design Lead or Head of Design, while working day-to-day within the product trio. Methodology:

• The company emphasizes a data-driven approach, leveraging consumer and media intelligence to inform product development and client solutions.

• Product development likely follows agile methodologies, with a focus on iterative design and development (70% new features, 30% improvements).

• Collaboration is a core value, with cross-functional teams working together to achieve shared goals.

• User advocacy is paramount, meaning design decisions are heavily informed by user research and feedback.

Company Website: https://www.brandwatch.com/ and https://www.cision.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on intelligence and communication solutions implies a need for design that is clear, insightful, and facilitates complex data interpretation. Understanding the client base (84% of Fortune 500) highlights the scale and importance of the products being developed.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a "Senior Product Designer." This level typically implies individuals who can independently manage complex design projects, mentor junior designers, and contribute to the strategic direction of product design. They are expected to have a deep understanding of design principles, user research, and the product development lifecycle, with the ability to influence product strategy.

Reporting Structure: You will be part of a product team forming a "tightly aligned product trio" with a Product Manager and Engineers. While working within this cross-functional unit, your reporting line for design-specific matters will likely be to a Design Lead or Head of Design within the broader Product Design organization. This provides both autonomy within your product team and guidance from design leadership.

Operations Impact: As a Senior Product Designer, your impact will be significant in shaping the user experience of Brandwatch's Social Media Management solutions. By creating "consistently brilliant and delightful product experiences," you will directly influence customer satisfaction, adoption rates, and ultimately, customer retention and revenue. Your role in translating customer requirements and research into successful product features is crucial for driving business growth and maintaining Brandwatch's competitive edge in the market intelligence space.

Growth Opportunities:

• Skill Specialization: Deepen expertise in specific areas like data visualization, AI-driven design tools, or advanced UX research methodologies.

• Leadership Development: Opportunities to mentor junior designers, lead design initiatives within product teams, or potentially move into a Design Lead role.

• Cross-Product Exposure: Potential to work on different product areas within Brandwatch or Cision as your career progresses.

• Continuous Learning: The "10% learning time" and Udemy subscription provide dedicated resources for acquiring new skills and staying current with industry trends.

• Strategic Contribution: Influence product strategy and design practice evolution within the company.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "making a difference" and "making our customers sing out loud with delight" suggests that high-impact contributions are recognized and valued. The "70/30 new feature work/improvements" ratio also indicates opportunities to work on both innovative new solutions and refine existing successful features.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is a fully remote position, offering flexibility in terms of work location within Bulgaria. While there might be an option to work from an office (implied by "Flexible work from office or remote"), the primary mode is remote.

Office Location(s): The job posting specifies "Remote - Bulgaria," with "Sofia, Bulgaria" also mentioned. This suggests that while the role is remote, the company may have a physical presence or a target region (Sofia) for its Bulgarian employees, or simply that the primary hub for operations in Bulgaria is Sofia.

Workspace Context:

• Collaboration: Expect a highly collaborative environment, primarily through digital tools, with close interaction within your product trio (PM, Engineers) and the wider design team. Regular communication via Slack, video conferencing, and collaborative design platforms will be key.

• Tools & Technology: Access to modern design and collaboration tools will be essential for effective remote work and design execution.

• Operations Team Interaction: While remote, there will be opportunities for interaction through virtual team meetings, design critiques, and knowledge-sharing sessions. The "10% learning time" and Udemy subscription also foster a culture of continuous improvement and skill development.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, likely around 40 hours per week. The "Flexible work from office or remote" and potentially flexible hours within the standard work week (common in remote roles) allow for adaptation to personal needs, provided project deadlines and team collaboration requirements are met. The emphasis on "planning your work" suggests a need for self-discipline and effective time management.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Flexible work from office or remote" suggests that while remote is the default, there might be an office available in Sofia for those who prefer it, or for occasional team gatherings. The key is the flexibility offered to employees within Bulgaria.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a review of your CV and portfolio by a recruiter or hiring manager to assess basic qualifications and alignment with the role.

• Portfolio Presentation: A key stage where you'll present your portfolio to the hiring team (likely including the Product Manager, Lead Designer, and potentially engineers). Be prepared to walk through 2-3 selected case studies, detailing your process, challenges, and outcomes.

• Skills Assessment: This might involve a design exercise or challenge, either take-home or live, to evaluate your problem-solving abilities, design thinking, and execution skills within a relevant context (e.g., designing a feature for social media management or data visualization).

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers and Engineers to assess collaboration style, communication, and technical understanding.

• Final Interview: Likely with senior leadership (e.g., Head of Design, VP Product) to discuss strategic fit, career aspirations, and overall cultural alignment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 2-3 of your strongest projects that best showcase your senior-level capabilities, problem-solving process, and visual design skills. Prioritize projects relevant to SaaS, complex data, or user-centric challenges.

• Tell a Story: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role and process, the challenges faced, the solutions you designed, and the impact/outcomes achieved (quantify where possible).

• Highlight Process: Emphasize your thinking – user research, ideation, iteration, collaboration, and how you translated findings into design decisions.

• Visual Excellence: Ensure your visual design is clean, consistent, and showcases your attention to detail.

• Be Prepared to Discuss: Anticipate questions about your decisions, trade-offs, and how you'd approach similar challenges in the future.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Context: If given a take-home challenge, thoroughly read and understand the brief. If it's a live exercise, ask clarifying questions upfront.

• Focus on Process: Even if time is limited, demonstrate your thought process. Sketching, user flows, and quick wireframes are valuable.

• Prioritize: Identify the core problem and focus your efforts on solving that effectively, rather than trying to design everything.

• Communicate: Talk through your approach. Explain your assumptions and reasoning. If collaborating with others in the interview, be a good team player.

• Consider the "You might" section: If the challenge touches on data visualization, AI, or dashboards, leverage your experience in those areas.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is heavily weighted towards portfolio assessment and demonstrating practical design skills. Candidates should prepare thoroughly by selecting relevant projects and practicing their presentation narrative.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma is highly probable as it's the industry standard for collaborative design and prototyping. Sketch and Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop) are also common.

• User Research: Tools such as UserTesting.com, Maze, Hotjar, Lookback, or internal survey tools for conducting and analyzing user research.

• Design Systems: Experience with tools for managing and contributing to design systems (e.g., Zeroheight, Storybook, or directly within Figma/Sketch libraries).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics to understand user behavior and product performance.

• Data Visualization: Experience with tools or libraries for creating clear and effective data visualizations within the product (e.g., D3.js, Chart.js, or built-in capabilities of SaaS platforms).

CRM & Automation:

• CRM: While not directly a designer tool, familiarity with CRM systems like Salesforce or HubSpot can provide context on customer data and sales processes.

• Project Management & Collaboration: Tools like Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello for managing tasks, documenting work, and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

• Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams for daily team communication.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma is almost a prerequisite for modern product design roles. Candidates should also be comfortable with tools that facilitate user research analysis and potentially basic data interpretation to inform their design decisions.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User Advocacy: A deep commitment to understanding and championing the needs of the user in all design decisions.

• Collaboration: A strong belief in working together across disciplines (design, product, engineering) to achieve common goals.

• Data-Driven: Utilizing insights from data and user research to inform strategy and design.

• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: A drive to push boundaries, explore new ideas, and constantly refine existing products and processes.

• Impact-Oriented: Focusing on delivering tangible value that makes customers "sing out loud with delight" and contributes to business success.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Designers are embedded within product teams ("product trios") and work closely with Product Managers and Engineers on a daily basis.

• Open Communication: Encouragement of open dialogue, feedback exchange, and constructive critique through regular meetings, design reviews, and collaboration tools.

• Knowledge Sharing: A culture that supports sharing best practices, learnings, and design expertise across the broader design team and company.

• Agile & Iterative: A flexible approach to work that embraces iteration based on feedback and evolving requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's values emphasize a strong user focus combined with a collaborative, data-informed approach. The "product trio" model signifies a high degree of integration and shared responsibility within immediate