Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: Dentsu (Merkle / Dentsu Global Services)

Location: Bengaluru, India / Pune, India

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Experience Design (XD) / Product Design

Date Posted: May 25, 2026

Experience Level: 4-7 years (Senior Level)

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead end-to-end design delivery for complex product journeys within global client pods, operating at the intersection of UX craft, systems thinking, and delivery excellence.

• Translate ambiguous problem spaces and business/user needs into scalable, high-quality design solutions, ensuring design readiness for development.

• Apply and extend design systems, focusing on consistency, scalability, and reusability across digital products.

• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, Strategy, Visual Design) and actively contribute to team capability building through critiques and mentoring.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Senior Individual Contributor (DCF 35) within Dentsu's Experience Design practice, specifically within Merkle/Dentsu Global Services. The emphasis is on high-impact delivery, ownership of complex product journeys, and collaboration within global client pods, highlighting a blend of strong UX/UI craft and systems thinking for enterprise-level B2B/SaaS products.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own the complete design lifecycle for features and user journeys, from initial discovery and problem definition through to final delivery and development handoff.

• Develop clear problem statements, user flows, and interaction models based on a thorough understanding of business objectives and user needs.

• Create high-quality UX and UI designs that adhere to established design systems, accessibility standards, and best practices for usability and visual hierarchy.

• Actively participate in experience strategy discussions, contributing to solutioning alongside Product, Engineering, and other Experience Design (XD) stakeholders.

• Work within distributed global pods (US/UK/India) to meet project timelines and maintain high standards of design quality and readiness for development.

• Ensure detailed documentation for design handoffs, including edge cases, states, and component specifications.

• Engage in design critiques, sprint reviews, and client feedback sessions, articulating design decisions with clear rationale and focusing on business outcomes.

• Maintain high utilization targets (80-85% chargeability) by efficiently managing workload and project contributions.

• Leverage and extend existing design system components, tokens, and patterns to ensure consistency, scalability, and reusability across multiple projects and platforms.

• Utilize data, heuristic evaluations, and user insights to inform and validate design decisions throughout the product development process.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Engineers, Strategy (XS), and Visual Designers to ensure cohesive product development.

• Communicate design rationale and decision-making processes clearly to stakeholders, moving beyond simply presenting outputs to explaining strategic thinking.

• Contribute to the growth of the XD practice by participating in knowledge-sharing sessions, team critiques, and mentoring junior designers (DCF 25/30).

• Proactively engage in XD practice initiatives (XEN/XEN+) to foster innovation and continuous improvement.

• Demonstrate strong ownership, accountability, and a proactive growth mindset in all aspects of the role.

• Explore and integrate AI tools (e.g., Figma AI, generative design tools) to enhance design speed, exploration, and problem-solving efficiency, while maintaining focus on strategic direction and solution evaluation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize end-to-end ownership, global collaboration within client pods, and a focus on delivery excellence and systems thinking. The inclusion of AI tool utilization and a target chargeability percentage are key operational aspects for this role.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• 4-7 years of professional experience in product design, UX design, or a closely related field.

• Proven experience working on complex digital products, with a preference for B2B or SaaS environments.

Required Skills:

• UX Fundamentals: Strong understanding and application of Information Architecture (IA), interaction design principles, usability testing methodologies, and user journey mapping.

• Visual Design Sensibility: Excellent grasp of visual design principles including layout, typography, spacing, color theory, and visual hierarchy.

• Design Systems: Proficient in working with, applying, and potentially extending design systems, including components, tokens, and patterns.

• Tool Proficiency: Advanced proficiency in Figma for design, prototyping, and collaboration. Familiarity with other prototyping tools and design collaboration workflows.

• Problem Structuring: Ability to take ambiguous problem statements and structure them into clear, actionable design challenges.

• Detail Orientation: Meticulous attention to detail with a consistent bias towards delivering high-quality, polished design outputs.

• Ownership & Reliability: Demonstrated track record of taking ownership of design tasks and delivering reliably against commitments.

• Communication: Evolving skills in storytelling, able to articulate design decisions and connect them to business outcomes and user needs.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with AI-powered design tools and generative design technologies.

• Familiarity with accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) and experience in designing for inclusive experiences.

• Experience in user research methodologies and translating research findings into design solutions.

• Exposure to Agile/Scrum development methodologies.

• Understanding of front-end development concepts and constraints (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).

📝 Enhancement Note: The required skills highlight a blend of core design craft (UX/UI, IA, Journey Mapping), technical proficiency (Figma, Design Systems), and crucial behavioral traits like ownership and problem-structuring. The preference for B2B/SaaS and global stakeholder experience is a significant differentiator for this role.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Case Studies: Showcase 2-3 comprehensive case studies demonstrating ownership of complex product journeys from discovery to delivery. Each case study should clearly articulate the problem, your role, the process, key decisions, and the impact of your design solutions.

• Design System Application: Evidence of how you have applied, extended, or contributed to design systems, illustrating consistency, scalability, and pattern utilization.

• Problem Framing & Solutioning: Examples that demonstrate your ability to translate ambiguous business or user needs into well-defined problems and then craft effective design solutions.

• Collaboration & Handoff: Include examples of how you collaborated with cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering) and how you prepared designs for development (e.g., clear documentation, edge cases, states).

• Impact & Metrics: Quantify the impact of your designs where possible, using metrics related to engagement, conversion, usability improvements, or efficiency gains.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Demonstrate your ability to map out and optimize user workflows and interaction models.

• Systemic Thinking: Showcase how you ensure consistency, scalability, and reusability across different features or products, often by leveraging design systems.

• Development Handoff: Provide examples of clear, concise documentation and communication strategies for handing off designs to engineering teams, including specifications for states, edge cases, and component behavior.

• Data-Informed Design: Illustrate how you use data, heuristics, and user insights to guide your design process and validate solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are heavily focused on demonstrating end-to-end ownership, systems thinking, and the ability to translate complex problems into actionable, high-quality design solutions within a collaborative, delivery-focused environment. Quantifiable impact is a key expectation.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Based on the experience level (4-7 years) and the seniority of the role (Senior Product Designer, DCF 35) in the Indian market (Bengaluru/Pune), a competitive salary range can be estimated. A typical range for this profile in Tier-1 cities in India, considering the industry (Advertising/Marketing/Services) and the global nature of the work, would likely fall between ₹15,00,000 to ₹25,00,000 per annum. This estimate is based on market research for senior design roles in India, considering factors like cost of living, industry benchmarks, and the specific responsibilities outlined.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance coverage (medical, dental, vision).

• Paid time off, including vacation days, sick leave, and public holidays.

• Opportunities for professional development, including training, workshops, and conference attendance.

• Access to company-provided design tools and technology.

• Potential for performance-based bonuses or incentives.

• Contribution to retirement savings plans (e.g., Provident Fund).

• Employee assistance programs for well-being.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time working hours, typically around 40 hours per week.

• While the role is on-site, there may be flexibility for collaboration with global teams in different time zones, potentially requiring occasional adjustments to working hours.

• The expectation of high utilization (80-85%) implies a focused and efficient approach to work within standard hours.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary estimation is based on industry benchmarks for senior design roles in major Indian tech hubs, considering the company's profile as a global advertising and marketing services firm. Benefits are standard for a full-time role in a large organization.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Advertising & Marketing Services, Digital Transformation, Technology Consulting. Dentsu is a global network of agencies and service providers, with Merkle and Dentsu Global Services focusing on customer experience transformation, data, and technology.

Company Size: Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) is a very large global organization with tens of thousands of employees worldwide. This specific role is within Dentsu Global Services (DGS), which is a significant operational arm.

Founded: Dentsu was founded in 1901, with a long history in advertising. Merkle was founded in 1971 and acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network in 2016. This indicates a company with a strong heritage combined with modern digital capabilities.

Team Structure:

• The role is part of the Experience Design (XD) practice within Merkle/Dentsu Global Services.

• This practice likely comprises various design disciplines (UX, UI, Visual Design, Strategy) working in specialized global client pods.

• The Senior Product Designer is an individual contributor expected to lead workstreams and mentor junior designers (DCF 25/30).

Methodology:

• Client Pod Model: Work is organized around global client teams, fostering close collaboration and integrated delivery.

• Agile/Scrum: Likely adopted for project management and development cycles, with participation in sprint rituals.

• Design Systems: Central to ensuring consistency, scalability, and efficiency across design outputs.

• Data-Driven Design: Decisions are informed by user insights, heuristics, and performance metrics.

• AI Integration: Embracing AI tools to accelerate design processes and explore new possibilities.

Company Website: https://www.dentsu.com/, https://www.merkle.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Dentsu's global scale and focus on digital transformation mean that roles within its service arms like Merkle/Dentsu Global Services are often involved in complex, enterprise-level projects for major clients. The XD practice emphasizes a structured, systems-oriented approach to design delivery.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is at the Senior Individual Contributor level (DCF 35). It signifies a point where the designer is expected to independently lead significant design initiatives, demonstrate mastery of core design craft, and begin influencing product direction. The expectation is to move from feature ownership to problem space ownership.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Product Designer will likely report to an Experience Design Lead, Practice Lead, or a Design Manager within the Merkle/Dentsu Global Services XD practice. They will collaborate closely with Product Managers and Engineering Leads within their assigned client pods.

Operations Impact: The Senior Product Designer is expected to contribute directly to business outcomes by delivering high-quality, user-centered design solutions that improve feature adoption, user engagement, and conversion rates. Their work directly impacts the client's digital product success and, by extension, Dentsu's value proposition to its clients. The role emphasizes connecting design decisions to measurable business results.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Progression: Opportunity to grow into a Lead Product Designer or Design Manager role (DCF 40 and beyond), taking on more strategic responsibilities, managing larger teams, and influencing practice-level initiatives.

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in specific areas such as AI-driven design, complex B2B/SaaS product ecosystems, or experience strategy.

• Client & Industry Exposure: Gain experience working with a diverse range of global clients across various industries, broadening industry knowledge and client management skills.

• Mentorship & Skill Development: Continuous learning through practice initiatives, mentorship from senior leaders, and opportunities to mentor junior designers, honing leadership and communication skills.

• AI Design Leadership: Become a go-to person for leveraging AI in design processes within the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The career path outlined suggests a trajectory from senior individual contributor to potential leadership roles, with a strong emphasis on strategic impact, client influence, and continuous skill development, particularly in emerging areas like AI in design.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is based on-site in Dentsu's offices in Bengaluru (Manyata N1 Block) or Pune, India. This suggests a traditional office setting designed for collaborative work.

Office Location(s):

• Bengaluru, India

• Pune, India

These locations are major business hubs, offering access to talent and infrastructure.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The office setting is designed to facilitate in-person collaboration, team meetings, design critiques, and client reviews.

• Tools & Technology: Access to standard office equipment, high-speed internet, and the necessary software licenses for design, prototyping, and project management tools (e.g., Figma, communication platforms).

• Team Interaction: Frequent opportunities for direct interaction with team members within the XD practice and client pods, fostering a strong sense of team cohesion and knowledge sharing.

Work Schedule:

• The role is full-time, implying a standard 5-day work week.

• While on-site, the nature of working with global client pods (US/UK) may necessitate occasional flexibility in working hours to accommodate meetings across time zones. The emphasis on collaboration and delivery excellence suggests a structured yet adaptable schedule.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement points to a traditional office-based work environment that prioritizes in-person collaboration and team synergy, with potential for some schedule flexibility to support global client needs.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or HR representative will likely conduct an initial screening to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Portfolio Review & Technical Interview: A more in-depth interview with members of the Experience Design team. This will involve a detailed walkthrough of your portfolio, focusing on selected case studies to assess your design process, problem-solving skills, craft, and ability to articulate decisions. Expect questions on your role, challenges, and outcomes for each project presented.

• Cross-functional/Pod Interview: You may meet with Product Managers, Engineers, or other stakeholders from a client pod to evaluate your collaboration style, communication skills, and ability to work within a distributed team environment.

• Leadership/Hiring Manager Interview: A final interview with the hiring manager or a senior leader to discuss your career aspirations, leadership potential, and overall fit with Dentsu's culture and the XD practice.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best represent your skills in end-to-end product design, systems thinking, and complex B2B/SaaS challenges.

• Tell a Story: Structure each case study as a narrative. Clearly define the problem, your specific role and contributions, the process you followed (discovery, ideation, design, testing, delivery), key decisions made, and the measurable impact of your work.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals effectively (wireframes, user flows, high-fidelity mockups, prototypes) to illustrate your design process and final solutions.

• Highlight Collaboration: Explicitly mention how you collaborated with cross-functional teams and how feedback was integrated.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, include metrics that demonstrate the success of your designs (e.g., increased conversion rates, improved user satisfaction scores, reduced task completion times).

• Be Prepared for Questions: Anticipate questions about your design choices, trade-offs made, challenges encountered, and how you adapted to feedback.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design Exercise: You might be given a short design challenge or a take-home assignment to assess your problem-solving approach, ideation skills, and design execution under specific constraints.

• Focus on Process: For any challenge, emphasize your thought process, how you approach ambiguity, and how you would gather information to inform your solution, rather than just presenting a polished final output.

• Stakeholder Communication: Practice articulating your design rationale clearly and concisely, as if presenting to a mixed audience of designers, product managers, and engineers.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is structured to assess a candidate's design craft, strategic thinking, collaboration skills, and ability to deliver results in a global, client-focused environment. Portfolio presentation is critical, with an emphasis on storytelling and demonstrating measurable impact.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core design and prototyping tool. Advanced proficiency is required, including expertise in component libraries, variants, auto layout, prototyping features, and collaborative workflows.

• Prototyping Tools: While Figma is primary, familiarity with other tools for advanced prototyping or specific use cases might be beneficial (e.g., ProtoPie, Axure).

• Collaboration Platforms: Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Confluence for team communication, project tracking, and documentation.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a direct analytics role, understanding how to interpret and leverage data from analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude) to inform design decisions is crucial.

CRM & Automation:

Emerging Technologies:

• AI Design Tools: Proficiency or willingness to learn and integrate AI tools within the design workflow (e.g., Figma's AI features, generative design tools, AI-powered research assistants).

📝 Enhancement Note: Figma is the central tool for this role. The emphasis is on advanced usage for design, prototyping, collaboration, and integration with design systems. Exposure to analytics and emerging AI tools is also highlighted.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Centricity: A deep understanding of user needs and a commitment to creating exceptional user experiences that drive business value.

• Excellence in Craft: A dedication to high-quality design, attention to detail, and continuous improvement of design skills and processes.

• Collaboration & Teamwork: Valuing open communication, constructive feedback, and mutual support within cross-functional teams and the broader XD practice.

• Innovation & Adaptability: Embracing new technologies (like AI), methodologies, and design approaches to stay ahead and deliver cutting-edge solutions.

• Ownership & Accountability: Taking responsibility for design outcomes, proactively addressing challenges, and driving projects to successful completion.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Using insights from data, user research, and heuristics to inform design strategies and measure impact.

Collaboration Style:

• Pod-Centric: Strong emphasis on seamless integration within global client pods, working closely with Product, Engineering, and Strategy teams.

• Open Feedback Culture: Encouraging constructive design critiques and open dialogue to elevate the quality of design work.

• Knowledge Sharing: Proactive sharing of best practices, learnings, and insights within the XD practice to foster collective growth.

• Outcome-Oriented: Focusing on achieving tangible business results and client success through collaborative design efforts.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture emphasizes a blend of high design standards, collaborative teamwork within client-focused pods, and a proactive approach to innovation and professional development, particularly in the context of digital transformation.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating Ambiguity: Dealing with complex, often ill-defined problem spaces typical of enterprise-level digital transformation projects.

• Global Collaboration: Effectively collaborating with distributed teams across different time zones, cultures, and communication styles.

• Balancing Craft & Delivery: Maintaining high design quality while meeting aggressive project timelines and client expectations.

• Design System Evolution: Working with and contributing to design systems that need to scale across numerous products and client needs.

• Integrating AI: Effectively leveraging new AI tools to enhance design processes without compromising strategic thinking or user empathy.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design Skills: Opportunities to hone skills in complex interaction design, systems thinking, and experience strategy.

• Industry Exposure: Working on diverse projects for global clients provides broad industry knowledge and experience.

• Mentorship: Learning from senior designers and leaders within the XD practice, and the opportunity to mentor junior designers.

• AI in Design: Becoming proficient in leveraging cutting-edge AI tools and methodologies for design.

• Leadership Training: Development pathways for aspiring design leaders, focusing on strategic influence, team management, and client advisory.

• Access to Resources: Dentsu likely provides access to online learning platforms, internal training sessions, and potentially funding for external conferences or certifications.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role presents challenges related to complexity, global collaboration, and the adoption of new technologies, which are balanced by significant growth opportunities in specialized design skills, leadership, and exposure to AI-driven design practices.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a complex product problem you solved. Walk me through your process from understanding the ambiguity to delivering a scalable solution." (Focus on problem framing, your role, key decisions, and impact).

• "How do you ensure consistency and scalability when working with a design system across multiple features or products?" (Highlight your understanding of design systems, components, and patterns).

• "Tell me about a time you had to influence stakeholders (Product, Engineering, Client) to adopt your design recommendation. How did you approach it?" (Demonstrate communication, negotiation, and rationale articulation).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Dentsu and the Merkle/Dentsu Global Services Experience Design practice?" (Research their recent work, values, and approach to design).

• "How do you approach mentoring junior designers or contributing to team knowledge sharing?" (Highlight your collaborative spirit and commitment to team growth).

• "How do you see AI impacting the future of product design, and how are you preparing for it?" (Demonstrate forward-thinking and adaptability).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly outline the problem, your role, the process, solutions, and impact. Use a consistent structure.

• Focus on "Why": Be ready to explain the rationale behind every significant design decision you made.

• Showcase Your Process: Illustrate your journey through wireframes, user flows, iterations, and key design decisions, not just the final polished screens.

• Quantify Everything Possible: Bring metrics and data to support the success of your designs.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Expect detailed questions about specific UI elements, interaction patterns, or user flows within your presented work.

• Engage and Ask Questions: Show enthusiasm for the role and the company. Prepare thoughtful questions about the team, projects, and challenges.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating end-to-end ownership, strategic thinking, strong collaboration skills, and a data-driven approach. The portfolio presentation is a critical component, requiring clear storytelling and quantification of impact.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Dentsu careers portal.

• Tailor Your Resume: Ensure your resume highlights experience directly relevant to product design, UX/UI, design systems, Figma proficiency, and working with B2B/SaaS products. Quantify achievements with metrics where possible.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that showcase end-to-end design ownership, complex problem-solving, and collaboration within a team. Ensure they clearly articulate the problem, your role, process, solutions, and measurable impact.

• Prepare for Portfolio Presentation: Practice walking through your selected case studies, focusing on storytelling, clear articulation of your design rationale, and demonstrating your understanding of user needs and business objectives. Be ready to explain your process and decisions in detail.

• Research Dentsu & Merkle: Familiarize yourself with Dentsu's global presence, Merkle's expertise in customer experience transformation, and the company's values and recent work. Understand the emphasis on client pods and global collaboration.

⚠️ 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.