Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: Circuit

Location: Austin, TX

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design / UX/UI

Date Posted: 2026-09-16

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5-8 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead end-to-end product design for complex workflows within the physical economy's AI execution layer.

• Translate intricate technical concepts and data into intuitive, elegant user experiences for web and mobile applications.

• Design for trust and clarity in AI-driven decision-making, ensuring users can understand, verify, and act on agent recommendations.

• Drive the evolution of Circuit’s design system and interaction patterns, championing UX excellence and a consistent user experience.

• Collaborate deeply with product managers, engineers, and leadership to influence product vision and ensure design feasibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the primary focus is Product Design, the role's emphasis on AI, complex technical domains, and the physical economy suggests a strong need for operations-minded thinking. The ability to understand and design for users in industrial/manufacturing settings, often with interrupted attention or in field conditions, requires an appreciation for operational realities and efficiency.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own the complete design execution for key roadmap initiatives, from initial problem framing and user discovery through to shipped product, in close partnership with product management.

• Transform complex industrial workflows, configurations, and AI-generated recommendations into intuitive, elegant, and scalable user experiences across web and mobile platforms.

• Design user interfaces and interaction patterns that build trust in AI-driven decisions, enabling users to effectively understand, verify, and confidently act upon agent recommendations, whether on a desktop or in a field environment.

• Lead and conduct user research, usability testing, and iterative validation activities to gather insights and inform design decisions, ensuring a user-centric approach.

• Develop high-fidelity designs, interactive prototypes, and detailed specifications that are both visually polished and functionally robust for engineering implementation.

• Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to define product direction, explore design solutions, and ensure the feasibility and quality of implemented designs.

• Drive the continuous evolution and refinement of Circuit’s design system, interaction patterns, and UI components to maintain consistency and efficiency across the product suite.

• Champion inclusive and accessible design principles, ensuring products are usable by a diverse range of individuals with varying abilities.

• Prototype in code using AI-assisted tools to bridge the gap between design and development, enabling engineers to quickly react to and understand design feasibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibility to "prototype in code with AI-assisted tools" and "understand what's feasible" implies a need for understanding the operational constraints and technical implementation aspects of software development, which is crucial for efficient product delivery in a fast-paced environment.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience, is typically expected for senior-level product design roles.

Experience: 5-8 years of professional experience designing digital products within cross-functional, fast-moving technical environments.

Required Skills:

• A strong, demonstrable portfolio showcasing elegant problem-solving through shipped work across web and mobile platforms.

• Proven ability to lead ambiguous projects from initial discovery and framing through to successful delivery.

• Deep expertise in design and prototyping tools, with a strong emphasis on Figma (including component libraries, prototyping, and version control).

• Experience designing for both web and mobile applications, with a particular focus on designing for users in the field (e.g., mobile-first contexts, interrupted use, low-attention environments).

• Fluency in established design systems, accessibility standards (WCAG), and principles of responsive design.

• Strong product thinking and a systems-level design mindset, capable of understanding and designing interconnected user flows.

• Experience working as an embedded designer, closely partnered with product and engineering teams on a fast-moving technical roadmap.

• Comfort and proficiency in prototyping with AI-assisted tools and a functional understanding of front-end development to assess feasibility. Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing for complex B2B or industrial software, particularly within manufacturing or AI-driven execution platforms.

• Familiarity with user research methodologies, usability testing, and data synthesis for informing design decisions.

• Experience contributing to or leading the development of design systems.

• Ability to design for trust and transparency in AI-generated outputs and recommendations.

• Experience working in a startup environment with a focus on rapid iteration and growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "technical domains," "AI-assisted tools," and "prototyping in code" suggests that candidates with a solid understanding of software development lifecycles and a proactive approach to technical collaboration will be highly valued. This role isn't just about aesthetics; it's about functional, efficient design within a technical product context.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase at least 2-3 significant end-to-end product design case studies that clearly articulate the problem, your process, design decisions, and the measurable impact of your solutions.

• Demonstrate a strong understanding of user research, problem framing, and iterative design methodologies applied to complex workflows.

• Highlight your proficiency with Figma, including examples of component-based design, interactive prototyping, and design system contributions.

• Include examples of designing for both web and mobile platforms, with a specific focus on how you addressed the challenges of designing for users in field or mobile-first contexts.

• Present evidence of collaboration with product managers and engineers, illustrating how you translated technical requirements and constraints into user-friendly designs. Process Documentation:

• Within case studies, clearly document the discovery phase, including user research, competitive analysis, and problem definition.

• Detail the design process, including wireframing, prototyping, user testing, and iteration cycles, showcasing how feedback was incorporated.

• Illustrate the final design outputs, including high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes, with clear explanations of interaction patterns and UI elements.

• If applicable, include examples of how you contributed to or utilized a design system, and how you ensured accessibility standards were met.

• Demonstrate your ability to articulate the "why" behind your design decisions, linking them to user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the role's focus on AI and complex technical domains, portfolios should ideally showcase how candidates approach designing for trust and clarity in AI-driven systems, and how they translate technical jargon into understandable user interfaces. The ability to demonstrate coding-adjacent prototyping skills will be a significant advantage.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers in Austin, TX, with 5-8 years of experience, the estimated annual salary range is typically between $130,000 and $170,000 USD. This estimate considers the cost of living in Austin, the demand for skilled designers, and the seniority of the role.

Benefits:

• Competitive compensation package.

• Meaningful equity participation, offering ownership in the company's growth.

• Employer-paid benefits, likely including comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy, promoting work-life balance.

• Access to the latest AI tools and technologies, fostering continuous learning and innovation.

Working Hours: The standard full-time work week is typically 40 hours. While the role is hybrid, specific in-office days will be determined collaboratively to facilitate team collaboration and project needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on industry data for similar roles in Austin, TX, and the specified experience level. Actual compensation may vary based on the candidate's specific qualifications, interview performance, and the company's compensation philosophy. The mention of "AI tools" in benefits highlights a forward-thinking company culture.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology / AI Execution Layer for the Physical Economy. Circuit operates at the intersection of AI and industrial/manufacturing enterprises, aiming to digitize and streamline complex operational processes from quote to support.

Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the description of leadership having "built and scaled real industrial companies" and being "already live in production" suggests a growing, well-funded startup, likely in the range of 50-200 employees. This size typically fosters a dynamic, collaborative, and agile work environment.

Founded: The company was founded by experienced operators in the industrial and AI sectors, indicating a deep understanding of the target market's challenges and a mission-driven approach. This operational background likely influences a culture that values practical solutions, execution velocity, and tangible impact.

Team Structure:

• The Product Design team, though not explicitly sized, will likely be a core component of the product development function, working closely with Product Management and Engineering.

• Designers are expected to be "embedded," suggesting close, ongoing partnerships with specific product squads or feature teams.

• Collaboration is cross-functional, involving Product, Engineering, and potentially Sales/Customer Success to gather insights from diverse perspectives. Methodology:

• Data Analysis and Insights: Emphasis on synthesizing insights from users, data, and stakeholders to drive design decisions. This implies a data-informed approach to product development.

• Workflow Planning and Optimization: The core mission of Circuit is to optimize complex industrial workflows through AI, so designers must be adept at understanding and improving these processes.

• Automation and Efficiency: Designing for AI agents that perform judgment-heavy work requires a focus on automation and enhancing operational efficiency for users.

Company Website: ridecircuit.com

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on the "physical economy" and "AI execution layer" points to a culture that values deep domain expertise, practical application of technology, and a pragmatic approach to problem-solving. Designers will need to be comfortable with complexity and eager to learn about industrial processes.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Product Designer. This level signifies a transition from individual contributor execution to leadership in design strategy, process, and mentorship. The role involves owning significant product areas, driving design vision, and influencing product direction, often mentoring more junior designers.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Product Designer will likely report to a Head of Product Design, VP of Product, or a similar senior leadership role. They will work in close partnership with Product Managers and Engineering Leads within specific product squads.

Operations Impact: The impact of this role is significant, as it directly influences how industrial and manufacturing enterprises leverage AI for critical decision-making. By creating intuitive interfaces for complex AI-driven tools, the designer enables greater accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility in executing physical economy operations, thereby driving revenue and operational improvements for Circuit's clients.

Growth Opportunities:

• Operations Skill Advancement: Deepen expertise in designing for complex, technical, and industrial domains, understanding the unique challenges of AI adoption in the physical economy.

• Design Leadership: Grow into a lead design role, managing design initiatives, mentoring junior designers, and shaping the overall design strategy and culture at Circuit.

• Product Vision Influence: Contribute to the strategic direction of Circuit's platform, leveraging design insights to identify new opportunities and areas for innovation.

• Technical Acumen: Further develop skills in coding-adjacent prototyping and understanding front-end feasibility, bridging the gap between design and engineering.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Senior" title implies expectations of proactive leadership, strategic thinking, and the ability to drive complex projects with minimal supervision. The growth opportunities are geared towards both design leadership and deepening technical and domain expertise relevant to Circuit's unique market.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid. This indicates a blend of remote work and in-office collaboration, offering flexibility while ensuring opportunities for in-person interaction, team building, and focused work sessions.

Office Location(s): Circuit has an office in Austin, Texas. Specific details regarding the office environment, amenities, and accessibility would typically be available upon inquiry or during the interview process.

Workspace Context:

• The hybrid model suggests a flexible workspace where designers can choose their environment based on the task at hand – remote for focused individual work and in-office for collaborative sessions, brainstorming, and team alignment.

• Designers will have access to industry-standard design tools (e.g., Figma) and potentially advanced AI tools relevant to their workflow.

• The collaborative environment is fostered through close partnerships with product and engineering teams, encouraging a shared sense of ownership and problem-solving.

Work Schedule: The standard work schedule is full-time, typically 40 hours per week. The hybrid nature allows for some flexibility in managing work hours, provided project timelines and collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid work arrangement is common for senior roles, balancing autonomy with the need for in-person collaboration. For designers, this means leveraging remote time for deep work and in-office time for ideation, critiques, and strategic alignment with the broader product team.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Application & Portfolio Review: Initial screening will focus on your resume and portfolio. Ensure your portfolio clearly articulates your design process, problem-solving skills, and impact, with a focus on complex digital products.

• Hiring Manager/Team Interview: This stage will likely involve a discussion about your experience, design philosophy, approach to ambiguity, and how you collaborate. Be prepared to walk through specific case studies from your portfolio.

• Design Challenge/Case Study Presentation: You may be asked to complete a take-home design challenge or present a detailed case study from your portfolio, focusing on how you would approach a problem relevant to Circuit's domain (e.g., designing for AI trust, complex industrial workflows).

• Cross-functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers and Engineers to assess your collaboration style, technical understanding, and ability to work effectively within a team.

• Final Interview: Potentially with senior leadership to discuss cultural fit, strategic thinking, and overall alignment with Circuit's mission.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Clearly articulate the business and user impact of your designs, using metrics where possible. Quantify improvements in efficiency, accuracy, or user satisfaction.

• Showcase Process: Detail your end-to-end design process, highlighting how you tackled complexity, synthesized research, and iterated based on feedback. Emphasize your problem-framing skills.

• Highlight AI & Technical Design: If possible, include projects that demonstrate your ability to design for complex technical domains, AI-driven features, or users in operational environments. Explain how you approached designing for trust in AI.

• Demonstrate Collaboration: Illustrate how you partnered with PMs and engineers, showing your ability to translate technical constraints into elegant solutions and communicate design rationale effectively.

• Clarity and Polish: Ensure your portfolio is well-organized, visually appealing, and easy to navigate. Use clear language and compelling visuals.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Research Circuit, the "AI execution layer for the physical economy," and the challenges faced by industrial/manufacturing enterprises.

• Focus on Trust & Complexity: Prepare to discuss how you would design for user trust in AI recommendations and how you would simplify complex technical workflows.

• Process & Rationale: Be ready to explain your design process step-by-step and provide strong rationale for every decision, linking it back to user needs and business objectives.

• Prototyping Skills: If a coding-adjacent prototype is expected, be prepared to demonstrate your ability to create functional prototypes that engineers can engage with.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will likely heavily scrutinize the candidate's ability to handle ambiguity, work with complex technical concepts, and design for user trust in AI. A portfolio that clearly demonstrates these capabilities will be paramount.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core design and prototyping tool, essential for creating high-fidelity mockups, interactive prototypes, and managing design components. Proficiency in its advanced features (components, variants, auto layout, prototyping, collaboration) is expected.

• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma's native capabilities, experience with other prototyping tools or code-based prototyping (e.g., React, HTML/CSS for front-end understanding) is highly valued.

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

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a primary responsibility, a Senior Product Designer should be comfortable interpreting data from analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel) to understand user behavior and inform design iterations.

• Familiarity with data visualization principles to effectively communicate insights. CRM & Automation:

• Understanding of how CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and automation platforms integrate with user-facing applications can be beneficial for designing seamless workflows.

• Awareness of enterprise software environments and their typical technology stacks.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "prototyping in code with AI-assisted tools" and understanding "what's feasible" indicates a need for designers who are technically adept and can bridge the gap with engineering. Proficiency in Figma is a baseline requirement.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Ownership: Taking responsibility for design outcomes from conception to completion, demonstrating accountability for product success.

• Curiosity: A relentless drive to understand complex technical domains, user needs, and the underlying operational processes of the physical economy.

• Velocity: A commitment to rapid iteration, efficient execution, and delivering value quickly in a fast-paced startup environment.

• Impact-Driven: Focusing design efforts on creating meaningful solutions that drive tangible business results and operational improvements for clients.

• Collaboration: Working effectively with cross-functional teams, valuing diverse perspectives, and contributing to a shared product vision.

Collaboration Style:

• Embedded and Integrated: Designers are expected to be deeply integrated with product and engineering teams, fostering a collaborative and communicative partnership.

• Feedback-Oriented: A culture that encourages candid, constructive feedback exchange, both in giving and receiving, to drive continuous improvement.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively sharing design insights, best practices, and learnings across the team and broader organization.

• Pragmatic Problem-Solving: A focus on practical, effective solutions that address real-world operational challenges, rather than purely theoretical designs.

📝 Enhancement Note: Circuit's emphasis on "operators" and "built by operators" suggests a culture that highly values practicality, execution, and a deep understanding of business realities. Designers who can align with this pragmatic, results-oriented approach will thrive.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for AI Trust: Creating user experiences that foster confidence and understanding when users interact with AI-driven recommendations and automated decisions. This involves complex communication of uncertainty and reasoning.

• Translating Complexity: Simplifying highly technical and domain-specific industrial workflows into intuitive, accessible user interfaces for a range of user skill levels.

• Mobile-First Field Design: Crafting effective user experiences for users who are often on-the-go, in environments with limited attention spans, intermittent connectivity, or mobile-first constraints.

• Balancing Design System and Innovation: Evolving the design system while still allowing for innovative solutions to unique user problems within a rapidly developing product.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Domain Expertise: Gaining deep knowledge of the physical economy, industrial processes, and AI execution layers, becoming a specialist in a critical and evolving sector.

• AI Design Principles: Developing advanced skills in designing for AI, including explainability, bias mitigation, and human-AI collaboration.

• Technical Acumen: Enhancing skills in understanding front-end development, code-based prototyping, and working effectively with AI-assisted development tools.

• Design Leadership: Opportunities to mentor junior designers, lead strategic design initiatives, and influence product vision at a senior level.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges highlight the unique nature of Circuit's product and market, requiring designers to be adaptable, technically curious, and skilled in communicating complex concepts. The growth opportunities are substantial for those looking to specialize in AI and industrial tech design.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to design for a highly technical or specialized domain. How did you approach learning and understanding the user needs and workflows?" (Focus on your research process, collaboration with SMEs, and ability to translate complexity.)

• "Circuit aims to build trust in AI-driven decisions. How would you approach designing an interface that helps users understand, verify, and act on AI recommendations in a manufacturing context?" (Prepare to discuss transparency, explainability, error handling, and user control.)

• "Walk me through a complex workflow you designed, from problem framing to shipped product. What were the key challenges, and how did you measure success?" (Select a strong portfolio case study and be ready to detail your process, rationale, and impact.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Circuit's mission to be the AI execution layer for the physical economy?" (Showcase your understanding of the problem space and your enthusiasm for transformative technology.)

• "How do you approach collaborating with product managers and engineers, especially when there are differing opinions or technical constraints?" (Emphasize your communication skills, empathy, and problem-solving approach.)

• "Describe your experience with design systems and how you advocate for their use and evolution." (Highlight your understanding of scalability, consistency, and efficiency.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: Structure your presentation with a clear beginning (problem), middle (process/solutions), and end (impact/outcome).

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals, mockups, and prototypes to illustrate your design solutions. Explain why you made specific design decisions.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, present metrics that demonstrate the positive impact of your work (e.g., increased conversion, reduced error rates, improved task completion time).

• Highlight AI/Technical Design: If you have relevant projects, explicitly call out how you designed for complex technical domains or AI features. Explain how you approached user trust.

• Engage Your Audience: Be prepared for questions and actively involve the interviewers in the discussion.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will heavily test your ability to think strategically about complex problems, communicate effectively with technical stakeholders, and demonstrate a deep understanding of user-centered design principles within a challenging domain.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on jobs.lever.co.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight your 5-8 years of experience in digital product design, emphasizing projects involving complex workflows, AI, or B2B/industrial applications. Use keywords like "Product Design," "UX/UI," "Figma," "Prototyping," "Design Systems," and "AI."

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest end-to-end design case studies that best showcase your problem-solving skills, process, and impact. Ensure they clearly demonstrate your ability to handle ambiguity and complex technical domains.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice walking through your portfolio case studies, focusing on articulating your design process, the rationale behind your decisions, and the measurable impact of your work. Be ready to discuss how you approach designing for AI trust and complex technical systems.

• Research Circuit: Understand Circuit's mission, product, and the industry it serves. Familiarize yourself with their website (ridecircuit.com) and any available public information about their AI execution layer for the physical economy.

⚠️ 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.

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