Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: CADMIUM LLC

Location: Remote (United States)

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design / UX Design

Date Posted: 2026-08-27

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead product design strategy and execution across Cadmium's integrated platform, driving user experience (UX) decisions.

• Own and evolve Cadmium's design system, ensuring consistency and scalability across web and mobile products.

• Perform hands-on, senior-level product and UX design, including user research, wireframing, prototyping, and interface design.

• Proactively identify and champion user experience improvement opportunities across the entire product suite.

• Supervise, mentor, and develop Cadmium's product design team, fostering a collaborative and high-performing environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a hybrid individual contributor and people management position, requiring both deep design expertise and leadership capabilities. The emphasis on owning the design system and proactively identifying UX opportunities suggests a strategic impact on product development.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design System Leadership: Define the strategic direction for Cadmium's design system, prioritize its development, and guide its implementation across modern and legacy codebases. Drive adoption of design system components and standards across product teams.

• Hands-on Design Execution: Conduct comprehensive user research, create detailed wireframes and interactive prototypes, and design intuitive user interfaces for both web and mobile applications.

• Proactive UX Improvement: Independently identify user experience gaps and potential enhancements across the product platform by analyzing user feedback, product usage data, and market trends. Champion new design initiatives from conception to implementation.

• Customer & Stakeholder Engagement: Directly engage with customers and internal Operations staff to gather insights into user pain points and inform design priorities, ensuring solutions meet real-world needs.

• Strategic Product Input: Participate as a standing member in strategic product planning meetings, providing critical design and UX perspectives to shape product direction and roadmap.

• Team Supervision & Development: Manage, coach, and mentor Cadmium's product design team (currently two designers), including assigning work, balancing workloads, setting priorities, and conducting performance reviews.

• Design Standards & Best Practices: Establish, document, and maintain robust design standards, reusable components, and best practices for Cadmium's product interfaces.

• AI in Design Integration: Set the direction for the team's use of AI in design practice, establish best practices and workflows, and ensure the team stays current with evolving AI design tools.

• Production Design Review: Guide and review customer-facing web design work (e.g., branded sites) produced by other team members, acting as a quality gatekeeper without personally performing all production tasks.

• Escalation & Quality Assurance: Serve as the primary point of escalation and quality reviewer for complex, high-visibility, or challenging design projects.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, Client Services, and Marketing teams to integrate design and UX thinking into product strategy, feature development, and marketing campaigns.

• Process Optimization: Identify and drive process improvements within the design team to enhance design quality, consistency, and overall efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "Operations staff" engagement suggests that internal operational efficiency and user experience for internal users are also key considerations. The "AI in Design Integration" responsibility highlights a forward-looking approach to design tooling and workflows.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree required. Relevant design, UX, or product management certifications are a plus.

Experience: Several years of professional product/UX design experience for web and mobile applications, preferably in B2B or workflow-oriented software environments. Demonstrated ownership and leadership in developing and driving adoption of a design system is essential. Prior people management experience, including performance management, is required.

Required Skills:

• Product & UX Design Mastery: Deep expertise in user research methodologies, user journey mapping, information architecture, wireframing, prototyping, and usability principles.

• Design System Ownership: Proven experience in defining, building, and scaling a design system, including setting direction, driving adoption, and managing component libraries.

• Modern Design Tool Proficiency: High proficiency with contemporary design and prototyping tools, such as Figma, with a strong understanding of collaborative features and design system capabilities.

• People Management & Mentorship: Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, coach, and develop a design team, including performance management, workload balancing, and fostering a positive team culture.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven track record of working effectively with Product Management and Engineering teams on product strategy and development, not just executing assigned design tasks.

• Communication & Presentation: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex design rationale to technical and non-technical stakeholders, including customers.

• Proactive & Self-Directed: Ability to identify UX problems and opportunities independently, prioritize work effectively, and drive initiatives without constant direction.

• Analytical & Problem-Solving: Strong analytical skills to dissect complex problems, coupled with meticulous attention to detail and a focus on delivering effective solutions.

• AI Design Tool Familiarity: Experience with AI-assisted design tools and workflows, including understanding how to integrate them into a design practice and adapt to evolving technologies.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in B2B SaaS or workflow-oriented software.

• Familiarity with event technology, learning management systems (LMS), or video technology platforms.

• Experience with front-end development principles (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to better inform design implementation.

• Experience with customer-facing web design for branded sites.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "several years" of experience combined with "prior people-management experience" and "ownership of a design system" points to a mid-to-senior level individual contributor role with immediate leadership responsibilities. The emphasis on proactive identification of UX opportunities suggests a role that shapes strategy rather than just executing it.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Case Study: A detailed case study showcasing your ownership and strategic direction of a design system. This should include examples of how you drove adoption, managed its evolution, and its impact on product consistency and development efficiency.

• Complex UX Problem-Solving: Examples of how you tackled significant user experience challenges within a product, demonstrating your end-to-end design process from research and ideation to final design and user validation.

• Wireframing & Prototyping Expertise: Prototypes demonstrating your ability to translate complex requirements into intuitive user flows and interactive experiences for both web and mobile platforms.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Examples: Artifacts or descriptions illustrating your collaboration with Product Managers and Engineers on strategic product decisions, showcasing your ability to influence product direction.

• Leadership & Mentorship Examples: If possible, include examples of how you have mentored or guided junior designers, or managed team workflows and priorities.

Process Documentation:

• Design System Documentation: Examples of how you have documented design system components, guidelines, and usage patterns to ensure consistent application across teams.

• User Research Synthesis: Demonstrations of how you synthesize user research findings into actionable design insights and recommendations.

• Workflow Optimization: Evidence of process improvements you've implemented to increase design team efficiency, quality, or consistency, with measurable outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: For this Senior Product Designer role, a portfolio demonstrating not just design execution but also strategic thinking, design system leadership, and people management capabilities will be critical. Applicants should be prepared to discuss the "why" behind their design decisions and the impact on the business.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers with people management experience in remote US-based roles, the estimated salary range is $130,000 - $170,000 USD per year. This estimate accounts for the experience level, leadership responsibilities, and the competitive market for specialized design talent in the US.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.

• 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match.

• Generous paid time off (PTO) policy, including vacation, sick leave, and holidays.

• Professional development opportunities, including training, conferences, and certifications.

• Remote work stipend or home office setup assistance.

• Opportunities for professional growth and advancement within the design team and the broader organization.

• Potential for performance-based bonuses.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours, typically 40 hours per week. Flexibility may be offered, but consistent availability for team collaboration, meetings, and critical project deadlines is expected.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on a review of similar Senior Product Designer roles with management responsibilities in the US tech sector, considering factors like location (remote within the US), required experience (5-10 years), and specific skill sets (design systems, AI design, leadership). Specific compensation will depend on the candidate's qualifications and experience.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology (EventTech, EdTech, Video Technology)

Company Size: Cadmium is likely a mid-sized company, given it has a product design team of at least two designers and is looking for a senior leader to manage them. This size often balances the agility of a startup with the structure of a larger organization.

Founded: Cadmium was founded in 2014, indicating a decade of experience in its market, suggesting a stable yet evolving company.

Team Structure:

• The Product Design team is centralized, meaning designers are not embedded in specific pods or sprint teams but allocated based on need across the platform. This structure requires strong communication and prioritization skills.

• The Senior Product Designer will directly supervise the existing product design team (currently two designers).

• Design collaborates closely with Product Management, Engineering, Client Services, and Marketing to ensure cohesive product development and go-to-market strategies. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: The role emphasizes user research, customer feedback, and analysis of user experience opportunities, indicating a data-informed approach to design decisions.

• Agile Development Integration: The mention of "pods and traditional sprint teams" suggests an agile development environment where design needs to integrate seamlessly into development cycles.

• Design System-Centricity: A strong focus on developing and maintaining a design system points to a methodology that prioritizes consistency, efficiency, and scalability in product development.

Company Website: https://gocadmium.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on "empowering associations to harness the power of learning experiences" through integrated event, learning, and video technology suggests a mission-driven environment. The centralized design team model implies a need for strong organizational and communication skills from the Senior Product Designer.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a significant step into Design Leadership. It's beyond a senior individual contributor role, as it includes direct people management and strategic ownership of the design system and its adoption. It bridges the gap between individual contribution and pure management.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Product Designer will report into a higher-level Product or Design leader (e.g., Head of Product, VP of Product). They will, in turn, manage the product design team.

Operations Impact: The Senior Product Designer will have a substantial impact on the company's product strategy and execution by:

• Ensuring a cohesive and intuitive user experience across all Cadmium products, directly influencing customer satisfaction and retention.

• Driving efficiency in product development through a robust design system, enabling faster iteration and feature delivery.

• Shaping the overall product vision by contributing design and UX perspectives to strategic planning.

• Elevating the capabilities of the design team, thereby improving the quality of all design output. Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Advancement: Potential to grow into a Head of Design or similar leadership role overseeing a larger design organization as the company scales.

• Product Strategy Influence: Deeper involvement in product strategy, roadmap planning, and potentially new product ideation.

• Technical Specialization: Further development in areas like AI-assisted design, advanced UX research methodologies, or design system architecture.

• Cross-Departmental Exposure: Opportunities to collaborate with and learn from other departments, potentially leading to broader career paths within the company.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is ideal for a senior designer who is ready to transition into a leadership position, taking ownership of both strategic design initiatives and team development. The growth path is clearly defined towards greater leadership and strategic influence within the product organization.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. This implies a distributed workforce where collaboration and communication are primarily digital.

Office Location(s): While the role is remote within the United States, the company's headquarters are in Baltimore, Maryland. This may indicate a primary time zone focus (e.g., Eastern Time) for core collaboration hours.

Workspace Context:

• Digital Collaboration Hub: Expect a heavy reliance on digital collaboration tools (e.g., Slack, Teams, Zoom, project management software) for communication and teamwork.

• Design Tool Ecosystem: Access to and proficiency with modern design tools like Figma, which offer robust collaboration features, will be central to the workflow.

• Cross-Functional Interaction: Opportunities to interact with diverse teams (Product, Engineering, Client Services, Marketing) will be frequent, requiring strong virtual communication skills.

• Flexible Work Structure: A remote environment typically offers flexibility in work hours, but adherence to core meeting times and project deadlines is essential for team cohesion and operational efficiency.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time, 40 hours per week. While remote work offers flexibility, the expectation is to be available during core business hours for collaboration and to meet project demands.

📝 Enhancement Note: The fully remote nature of this role necessitates strong self-discipline, excellent asynchronous communication skills, and comfort with digital collaboration platforms. Candidates should be prepared to actively engage in virtual team building and communication efforts.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess qualifications and alignment with the role's requirements.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A conversation with the hiring manager (likely a senior product leader) to discuss your experience in product design, design systems, and people management.

• Design Challenge/Portfolio Presentation: A session where you present your portfolio, discuss key case studies (especially design system ownership and complex UX problems), and potentially tackle a specific design problem or scenario relevant to Cadmium's products.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Product Management and Engineering to evaluate your collaboration style, strategic thinking, and ability to integrate design into the product development lifecycle.

• Team Interview: An opportunity to meet with the designers you would be managing to assess cultural fit and leadership approach.

• Final Interview: Potentially with a senior executive to discuss overall fit and strategic vision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Design System Leadership: Dedicate a significant portion of your portfolio to showcasing your experience with design systems. Detail your role in defining its strategy, driving adoption, and measuring its impact.

• Showcase End-to-End Process: For UX case studies, clearly articulate the problem, your process (research, ideation, iteration, testing), your specific contributions, and the measurable outcomes or learnings.

• Demonstrate Strategic Thinking: Beyond aesthetics, focus on how your design decisions solved business problems, improved user metrics, or aligned with product strategy.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the success of your design solutions and initiatives.

• Prepare for Management Discussion: Be ready to discuss your management philosophy, experience mentoring designers, and how you handle team dynamics and performance.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Cadmium's Products: Research Cadmium's offerings (event management, learning experiences, video technology) to understand their user base and business context.

• Anticipate Design System Questions: Be prepared to discuss common challenges in design system adoption, maintenance, and governance.

• Practice Articulating Design Rationale: Clearly explain the "why" behind your design choices, especially in relation to user needs and business goals.

• Prepare for AI Design Discussions: Think about how AI tools can be integrated into your workflow and how you would guide a team in adopting them.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on design system ownership and team management means interviewers will be looking for strategic leadership, not just design execution. Be prepared to discuss your approach to building and scaling design functions.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for wireframing, prototyping, interface design, and collaborative design system management. Expect advanced usage of its features, including components, variants, auto layout, and collaboration tools.

• Design System Management Tools: While Figma is central, understanding how design systems are documented, versioned, and integrated with development (e.g., Storybook, Zeroheight) is beneficial.

• User Research Platforms: Tools for conducting user interviews, surveys, and usability testing (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics).

• Prototyping Tools: Proficiency in Figma's prototyping capabilities is key, but familiarity with other tools like InVision or Axure may be relevant for legacy systems or specific project needs.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Experience with tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, or Pendo to understand user behavior, track feature adoption, and identify UX friction points.

• Data Visualization Tools: Familiarity with tools like Tableau or Power BI for analyzing user data and presenting insights to stakeholders.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a CRM role, understanding how design integrates with CRM (e.g., Salesforce) and marketing automation platforms (e.g., HubSpot) can be beneficial for understanding customer journeys and B2B workflows.

• Project Management Tools: Proficiency in tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for managing design tasks, sprints, and workflows.

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong command of Figma and its design system capabilities is non-negotiable. The role also requires an understanding of how design outputs integrate with engineering workflows and how design decisions are informed by product analytics.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and serving user needs through thoughtful design, ensuring products are intuitive and effective.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Fostering an open environment where ideas are shared freely, feedback is constructive, and cross-functional teams work together seamlessly.

• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Embracing new technologies (like AI in design) and methodologies to constantly enhance design quality, efficiency, and user experience.

• Ownership & Accountability: Taking responsibility for design outcomes, proactively identifying challenges, and driving solutions to completion.

• Quality & Craftsmanship: A dedication to producing high-quality, well-crafted design work that reflects positively on the Cadmium brand.

Collaboration Style:

• Partnership-Oriented: Working closely with Product and Engineering as equal partners in the product development process, not as a service provider.

• Data-Informed Decision Making: Leveraging user data, research findings, and performance metrics to guide design choices and validate solutions.

• Iterative Design Process: Embracing feedback and iteration as core components of design, with a willingness to refine designs based on new insights.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively participating in design critiques, sharing best practices, and mentoring team members to elevate collective skills.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "Operations staff" engagement in the job description suggests that internal operational efficiency and user experience are also valued. The culture likely promotes a proactive, data-informed, and collaborative approach to problem-solving.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Strategic vs. Tactical: Effectively managing both hands-on design work and strategic responsibilities, including team leadership and design system evolution, requires excellent time management and prioritization.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent design vision and execution across multiple product pods and development teams, especially within a centralized design model.

• Adoption of Design System: Driving consistent adoption and adherence to the design system across diverse product codebases and development teams.

• Evolving AI Design Landscape: Staying ahead of rapid advancements in AI design tools and integrating them effectively into the team's workflow and best practices.

• Managing a Small Team: Developing and leading a small but growing design team, balancing individual needs with team goals and company objectives.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Formal and informal training opportunities to enhance people management, strategic planning, and team-building skills.

• Design System Architecture: Deepening expertise in scalable design system architecture, component libraries, and governance models.

• AI in Design Specialization: Becoming a subject matter expert in leveraging AI tools for design research, ideation, and generation.

• Product Strategy Acumen: Gaining deeper insights into business strategy, market dynamics, and product roadmap planning.

• Industry Exposure: Opportunities to attend relevant industry conferences or workshops focused on UX, design systems, or product leadership.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role presents a significant opportunity for a designer ready to embrace leadership challenges. The company's proactive stance on AI in design suggests a forward-thinking environment ripe for learning and experimentation.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your philosophy on owning and scaling a design system. What are the key components of successful adoption, and how do you measure its impact?"

• "How do you proactively identify user experience opportunities and champion new design initiatives within a product organization?"

• "Tell me about a time you had to influence Product or Engineering stakeholders to adopt a design direction they were initially resistant to. What was your approach and the outcome?"

• "How do you balance your time between hands-on design work, strategic planning, and managing your team?"

• "What is your approach to integrating AI tools into a design workflow, and how would you guide your team in adopting these new technologies?" Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your research, what do you see as the biggest UX challenges or opportunities for Cadmium's product suite?"

• "How do you foster a collaborative and inclusive culture within a remote design team?"

• "Describe your experience working with internal 'Operations staff.' What insights can design bring to their workflows?"

• "How do you ensure design quality and consistency when working with multiple development teams or across different product lines?" Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your role and responsibilities, your process, the solutions you designed, and the measurable results or key learnings.

• Emphasize Design System Ownership: Dedicate specific slides or sections to your design system experience. Show examples of components, guidelines, and explain your strategic approach to its governance and adoption.

• Quantify Impact: Use data points (e.g., conversion rate improvements, task completion times, user satisfaction scores, development efficiency gains) to showcase the business value of your work.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions about specific design decisions, trade-offs you made, and how you handled technical constraints or feedback.

• Showcase Leadership Philosophy: Be ready to discuss your approach to mentoring, performance management, and building a high-performing design team.

📝 Enhancement Note: Expect interviewers to probe deeply into your experience with design systems, your leadership style, and your ability to drive strategic design initiatives. Demonstrating proactive problem-solving and a data-driven approach will be key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Paycom.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio prominently features case studies on design system ownership, complex UX problem-solving, and your leadership/mentorship experience. Quantify achievements whenever possible.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience in product design, UX, design systems, people management, and collaboration with engineering/product teams. Use keywords from the job description.

• Research Cadmium: Familiarize yourself with Cadmium's products, target audience (associations), and company mission to articulate your understanding and vision during interviews.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice presenting your portfolio, focusing on clear articulation of your process, strategic thinking, and leadership approach. Be ready to discuss your views on AI in design.

⚠️ 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.