Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: Skiffra

Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / GTM Operations Enablement

Date Posted: 2026-09-11

Experience Level: Senior Level (7+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (Regular in-person collaboration in Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Area)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the design strategy and execution for Skiffra's field-facing software, focusing on usability and adoption in demanding physical environments.

• Establish and scale a foundational design system for ruggedized hardware and industrial applications, ensuring consistency across diverse use cases.

• Drive adoption through intuitive, context-aware design solutions that respect the physical constraints of field workers.

• Collaborate closely with engineering, product, and client operations stakeholders to translate real-world needs into effective software.

📝 Enhancement Note: While this role is for a Product Designer, its focus on field software, adoption strategy, and direct impact on operational efficiency in demanding industries (mining, natural resources) positions it as a critical GTM Operations Enablement function. The design output directly influences user adoption and thus, the operational success of Skiffra's clients.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Build the System:

  • Establish a robust design system for field products that is scalable across multiple use cases while maintaining simplicity for immediate, low-friction adoption.
  • Define the core design standards, principles, and visual vocabulary that will guide future product lines and design hires.
  • Identify and implement opportunities to elevate existing administrative tools, voice-based agents, and other internal/external software surfaces.

• Design for the Field:

  • Innovate on interaction patterns (touch targets, gestures, input methods) optimized for glove-on use and reduced dexterity.
  • Design interfaces that are legible and functional across extreme conditions: varying light (indoor, underground, direct sunlight), ambient noise, and motion.
  • Develop adaptive UI strategies that ensure optimal contrast, color, and layout for diverse environmental factors.
  • Create user experiences that accommodate situational usability, recognizing that users may only have brief moments for interaction while performing physical tasks.
  • Focus on designing for natural, low-friction adoption, viewing user adoption as a primary design outcome rather than a post-launch training initiative.
  • Develop high-fidelity prototypes (using Figma, ProtoPie, Framer) to rigorously test and refine interactions, including glare/contrast states, offline functionality, and complex gesture flows.

• Founding-Level Impact:

  • Conduct essential on-site field research to gain deep, firsthand understanding of real working conditions and user workflows.

  • Foster strong, collaborative relationships with product management, engineering, on-site delivery teams, and client operations stakeholders.

  • Influence key aspects of Skiffra's design direction, including hiring decisions, team culture, and the overall design ethos as the first dedicated field-product design hire.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "adoption as a design outcome" and "designing for situational usability" highlights the critical link between design and operational effectiveness in field environments. This requires a deep understanding of operational workflows and user pain points, making this role integral to GTM success.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 years of progressive product design experience.

• Proven track record of leading at least one 0→1 product initiative or significant redesign effort from conception to launch.

• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, zero-to-one environments with evolving requirements. Required Skills:

• Systems Thinking: Ability to conceptualize, design, and implement a comprehensive design system that scales effectively across diverse field use cases and future product expansions.

• Mobile & Ruggedized Hardware Design: Strong experience designing for mobile/handheld devices and comfort with the unique challenges of ruggedized hardware form factors.

• Interaction Design: Expertise in crafting intuitive and efficient user interactions, specifically tailored for environments with reduced dexterity and brief interaction windows.

• UI Design & Visual Standards: Proficiency in creating clear, legible, and adaptive user interfaces that perform well under extreme environmental conditions.

• Prototyping Tools: Advanced skills in Figma; experience with higher-fidelity tools such as ProtoPie or Framer for complex interaction prototyping.

• Basic Development Understanding: Comfort reading/editing basic HTML/CSS or understanding React component structures to facilitate effective collaboration with engineering.

• Platform Conventions: Familiarity with mobile design systems and native platform conventions (e.g., iOS Human Interface Guidelines, Material Design), coupled with the judgment to deviate when necessary for field-specific applications.

• Design Tokens & Component Libraries: Exposure to design tokens and their practical application within a real component library, ensuring design system longevity and engineering collaboration.

• Communication & Translation: Exceptional ability to translate complex, real-world operational constraints and user needs into clear, actionable design decisions.

Preferred Skills:

• Direct experience designing for frontline, field, industrial, or physically constrained environments (e.g., construction, logistics, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, oil & gas, mining, warehousing).

• Prior experience in sectors like industrial, mining, energy, or heavy industry.

• Experience designing safety-critical software where usability errors carry significant physical risk.

• Familiarity with voice interface design principles and application.

• Previous experience as a founding or early-stage design hire in a startup environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for basic HTML/CSS or React understanding, coupled with design tokens and component library knowledge, signals a strong emphasis on design-engineering collaboration and the practical implementation of the design system. This is crucial for ensuring that design outputs are technically feasible and maintainable, directly impacting operational efficiency.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Case Study: Showcase a comprehensive design system you have built or significantly contributed to, detailing its architecture, component library, and scalability across different product lines or use cases. Highlight how it addresses consistency and efficiency.

• 0→1 Product Initiative: Present a product you took from concept to launch, emphasizing your role in defining the initial user experience, interaction models, and visual language, particularly if it involved complex user environments or adoption challenges.

• Field/Mobile Design Examples: Include specific examples of mobile or handheld product designs that demonstrate an understanding of constraints like glove use, limited screen time, poor connectivity, or extreme environmental conditions.

• Prototyping & Interaction: Demonstrate your ability to create high-fidelity, interactive prototypes that effectively communicate complex flows or nuanced interactions, using tools like ProtoPie or Framer where applicable.

• Systems Thinking Demonstration: Illustrate how you approach complex problems by breaking them down into scalable systems, showing your ability to think beyond individual features to the overall product architecture and user journey.

Process Documentation:

• User Research Methodology: Document your approach to field research, including methods for understanding user workflows, identifying pain points in operational environments, and synthesizing findings into actionable design insights.

• Design System Development Process: Outline your process for creating and maintaining a design system, including collaboration with engineering, version control, documentation, and governance.

• Cross-functional Collaboration Workflow: Detail how you collaborate with product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders throughout the design lifecycle, emphasizing methods for feedback integration and alignment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "field research," "design system development process," and "cross-functional collaboration workflow" is critical. Candidates need to demonstrate not just design output, but a structured, repeatable process for delivering design solutions that directly support operational adoption and scalability.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $200,000 - $235,000 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance plans.

• Retirement savings plans (e.g., 401k).

• Company bonus programs.

• Incentive programs designed to reward performance.

• Potential participation in the Company’s equity program.

Working Hours: A standard full-time work week, typically around 40 hours, with flexibility expected for hybrid collaboration and potential project-specific demands.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range of $200,000 - $235,000 USD for a Senior Product Designer in Los Angeles, California, is competitive and reflects the senior-level experience, specialized skills (field design, systems thinking), and founding-level impact expected for this role. The inclusion of bonus, incentive, and equity programs indicates a performance-driven culture and an opportunity for significant financial upside.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology, AI, Industrial Software, Natural Resources. Skiffra operates at the intersection of AI and heavy industry, developing solutions that bring intelligence and orchestration to physical operations like mining and natural resources extraction. This context means the company values technical rigor, practical application, and a deep understanding of complex operational environments.

Company Size: Early-stage startup (specific size not provided, but implied by "founding-level impact" and "0→1" experience requirements). This suggests a dynamic, fast-paced environment where individual contributions have a significant impact.

Founded: Skiffra was founded to address a critical gap in applying AI to the physical world, specifically in sectors with high-stakes, expensive, and real-time decision-making needs. The company's mission is to translate complex environments into actionable data.

Team Structure:

• Founding Team Collaboration: As an early hire, you will work directly with the founders, suggesting a flat hierarchy and direct access to leadership.

• Cross-functional Integration: The role emphasizes close collaboration with product, engineering, and on-site delivery teams, indicating a highly integrated, team-oriented approach to product development.

• Specialized Operations Focus: While not explicitly detailed, the company's focus on "intelligence layer for the physical world" implies specialized teams in AI/ML, software engineering, and potentially domain experts in industries like mining.

Methodology:

• Speed, Clarity, Technical Rigor: Skiffra values rapid iteration, clear communication, and a strong foundation in technical execution.

• Simple Systems over Clever Ones: A preference for robust, maintainable solutions rather than overly complex or ephemeral ones.

• Prototypes over Over-planning: Emphasis on iterative development and validating ideas through functional prototypes.

• Ownership over Handoffs: Encourages team members to take full responsibility for their work from conception to successful implementation.

Company Website: https://www.skiffra.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on "intelligence layer for the physical world" and its initial application in mining highlights a unique niche. This implies that a strong understanding of operational workflows, safety considerations, and the unique challenges of field environments will be highly valued, even for a design role. The "founding-level impact" and "early hire" status means candidates should expect significant autonomy and influence.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Product Designer role with founding-level impact. It represents a significant opportunity for a designer to shape the core design language and systems for a company entering critical industrial sectors. The role is not just about executing design tasks but about defining design strategy and standards for a new category of software.

Reporting Structure: Likely reports directly to a Head of Product, CTO, or one of the Founders, given the early-stage nature of the company and the "founding hire" designation.

Operations Impact: The designer's work will directly impact the adoption and usability of Skiffra's software in real-world operational settings. Successful field software design is critical for client adoption, operational efficiency gains, and ultimately, Skiffra's revenue growth and market expansion into new verticals. The design system itself is a GTM enabler, allowing for faster expansion.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: As the first dedicated field-product designer, there's a clear path to becoming the lead or head of design as the company scales, building and managing a design team.

• Strategic Influence: Opportunity to significantly influence product strategy, company culture, and the technical direction of Skiffra through design leadership.

• Domain Expertise: Develop deep expertise in AI applications for heavy industry and physical operations, becoming a sought-after specialist in this emerging field.

• System Ownership: Full ownership of a critical design system that will underpin Skiffra's expansion into multiple new industries.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a high-impact, high-growth opportunity. The "founding-level impact" means the candidate will be instrumental in shaping the company's design DNA. The growth path is less about climbing a traditional ladder and more about expanding influence and ownership as the company scales and enters new markets.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid role with mandatory in-person collaboration. This suggests a mix of remote work flexibility and structured in-office time for team-building, brainstorming, and intensive collaboration.

Office Location(s): Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay Area. These are major tech hubs, offering access to talent, resources, and a vibrant ecosystem. Specific office addresses are not provided, but candidates should anticipate working in a professional office setting.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The hybrid model emphasizes in-person collaboration, likely in modern office spaces designed to facilitate brainstorming, design reviews, and direct interaction with cross-functional teams.

• Technology & Tools: Access to standard design software (Figma, ProtoPie, Framer), development tools, and potentially specialized hardware for field testing or research.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for frequent interaction with founders, engineers, product managers, and potentially client-facing teams, fostering a strong sense of shared purpose and rapid feedback loops.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is implied, the "founding-level impact" and "startup environment" suggest that flexibility and a willingness to adapt to project needs, especially during critical development phases, will be important. The hybrid nature allows for some personal schedule management.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid requirement, specifically mentioning Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Area, is a key detail. Candidates must be willing to commute to one of these locations for regular in-person collaboration. This is not a fully remote position, and the emphasis on in-person work underscores the value Skiffra places on direct team interaction and rapid iteration.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your portfolio and resume to assess experience, systems thinking capabilities, and relevant design examples.

• Portfolio Deep Dive: A discussion focused on your portfolio, particularly your experience with 0→1 initiatives, design systems, and designing for complex/constrained environments. Expect to walk through case studies and explain your design process and decisions.

• Technical & Systems Assessment: Evaluation of your understanding of mobile/ruggedized hardware design challenges, interaction patterns, and your approach to building scalable design systems. You may be asked about your comfort with HTML/CSS or React.

• On-site/Virtual On-site: This stage will likely involve interviews with founders, engineering leads, and product managers. Expect discussions on your collaboration style, problem-solving approach, and how you handle ambiguity and evolving requirements. You might also be asked about your experience with field research.

• Design Challenge (Potential): A hypothetical scenario or a small design exercise may be presented to assess your problem-solving skills, design thinking, and ability to articulate solutions under pressure.

• Culture & Fit Interview: Assessment of your alignment with Skiffra's values (speed, clarity, technical rigor, ownership) and your ability to thrive in a startup environment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase Systems Thinking: Clearly articulate how you build and scale design systems, not just individual screens. Highlight how your system addresses consistency, efficiency, and future adaptability.

• Highlight 0→1 & Field Experience: Prioritize projects where you initiated design for a new product or significantly redesigned an existing one, especially if it involved challenging user environments (field, industrial, mobile).

• Demonstrate Process & Impact: For each case study, detail your research methods (especially field research), design process, key decisions, and the measurable impact of your designs. Quantify results where possible (e.g., adoption rates, efficiency improvements).

• Prototype & Interaction Focus: Include examples of interactive prototypes that showcase complex or nuanced interactions, particularly those designed for constrained environments (e.g., glove use, low visibility).

• Engineering Collaboration: If possible, demonstrate how your design system integrates with engineering workflows (e.g., design tokens, component mapping).

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Field Context: Research the challenges of designing software for mining, natural resources, or similar heavy industries. Think about PPE, noise, vibration, connectivity, and user fatigue.

• Design System Principles: Be ready to discuss how you would approach building a design system for a new category of software with diverse, physically constrained users.

• Adoption Strategy: Prepare to discuss how design can drive user adoption, especially for a non-desk-bound workforce with varying technical literacy.

• Collaboration & Communication: Practice articulating your design rationale clearly and concisely, especially when explaining complex constraints or trade-offs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio review is critical. Candidates must demonstrate not only strong visual and interaction design skills but also a strategic approach to building scalable design systems and a deep understanding of operational user contexts. The ability to articulate the "why" behind design decisions, especially concerning adoption and real-world constraints, will be paramount.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (primary), ProtoPie, Framer (preferred for advanced interactions).

• Design System Management: Familiarity with design tokens and component library integration concepts.

Analytics & Reporting: While not explicitly listed for the designer, an understanding of how design impacts user behavior and operational metrics will be beneficial. Awareness of tools used for user analytics and performance tracking would be a plus.

CRM & Automation: Not directly relevant to this design role, but an awareness of how field software integrates with broader operational systems or CRM might be helpful for context.

Development Collaboration:

• Web Technologies: Basic understanding of HTML/CSS or React components for effective communication with the engineering team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma, ProtoPie, and Framer highlights the company's commitment to modern design tooling and high-fidelity prototyping. The "basic HTML/CSS or React" requirement signals a need for designers who can bridge the gap between design and development, ensuring practical implementation of design systems.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Speed & Agility: A focus on rapid iteration, quick decision-making, and delivering value quickly, especially in a startup environment.

• Clarity & Simplicity: A preference for clear, straightforward solutions that are easy to understand and use, avoiding unnecessary complexity.

• Technical Rigor: A commitment to high-quality engineering and design, ensuring solutions are robust and reliable, especially in critical operational contexts.

• Ownership & Accountability: Team members are expected to take full responsibility for their work, from initial concept through to successful implementation and adoption.

• Practicality & Real-World Focus: Deep understanding and respect for the physical realities of the jobs their software supports, prioritizing usability in demanding environments.

Collaboration Style:

• Direct & Integrated: Close, hands-on collaboration with founders, engineering, and product teams, minimizing formal handoffs and fostering a shared sense of ownership.

• Prototype-Driven: Emphasis on using prototypes to communicate ideas, gather feedback, and drive alignment quickly.

• Feedback-Oriented: An environment where constructive feedback is welcomed and actively sought to improve designs and processes.

• Cross-functional Alignment: Strong emphasis on ensuring design decisions are well-informed by and aligned with engineering capabilities, product strategy, and client operational needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values of "Speed," "Clarity," and "Technical Rigor" are paramount for a company building AI for physical industries. This means designers must be pragmatic, efficient, and able to produce high-quality, reliable work that directly supports operational functions. The collaborative style emphasizes a "get things done" mentality with a strong focus on shared understanding and rapid iteration.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Extreme Environments: The primary challenge is creating user experiences that are intuitive, reliable, and effective in demanding physical conditions (e.g., glove use, poor lighting, high noise, motion, intermittent connectivity).

• Balancing Scalability and Simplicity: Developing a design system that can adapt to numerous field use cases across different industries while remaining simple enough for immediate, low-friction adoption by a diverse workforce.

• Driving Adoption in a Non-Desk-Bound Workforce: Overcoming potential barriers to adoption among field workers who may have varying levels of tech familiarity and limited time for formal onboarding. Adoption must be an inherent outcome of the design.

• Zero-to-One Ambiguity: Navigating an evolving product landscape with undefined requirements, requiring adaptability, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to define structure in ambiguity.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Specialized Design Expertise: Become a leading expert in designing for industrial, field, and safety-critical applications, a niche with growing demand.

• Foundational System Building: Gain invaluable experience in establishing and scaling a core design system for a new category of enterprise software.

• Cross-Industry Application: Understand the unique operational challenges and design needs across multiple heavy industries, broadening your design perspective.

• Strategic Impact: Play a pivotal role in the growth and success of an early-stage tech company, influencing product direction and company culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are directly tied to the unique operational context of Skiffra's target markets. Candidates must be prepared to tackle these complex usability and adoption issues, viewing them as opportunities to innovate and grow their expertise in a specialized, high-impact area of product design.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to design for users with significant physical constraints (e.g., limited dexterity, poor visibility, high noise). What was your process, and what were the outcomes?" (Focus on your field research, design iterations, and how you addressed specific environmental challenges.)

• "How would you approach building a design system for a new category of software targeting field workers in industries like mining? What would be your priorities, and how would you ensure scalability and adoption?" (Emphasize your systems thinking, understanding of design tokens, and approach to balancing flexibility with core usability.)

• "Imagine a scenario where field workers are resistant to adopting new software. How would you, as a designer, contribute to overcoming this challenge? What design strategies would you employ?" (Discuss designing for low-friction adoption, user empowerment, and making the software indispensable to their daily tasks.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "Why are you interested in Skiffra's mission to build the intelligence layer for the physical world, particularly our focus on industrial applications?" (Connect your passion for impactful design with Skiffra's specific mission and the challenges of the sectors they serve.)

• "How do you align with Skiffra's values of speed, clarity, technical rigor, and ownership? Can you provide examples from your past experience?" (Prepare specific anecdotes that demonstrate these values in action.)

• "How do you see design contributing to the operational success and GTM strategy of a company like Skiffra?" (Articulate how effective field software design drives client adoption, efficiency, and market expansion.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: Structure your portfolio presentation with a clear narrative for each case study: the problem, your role, the constraints, your design process, key decisions, and the measurable impact.

• Focus on Systems: Dedicate time to explaining your design system work. Show its components, how it scales, and how it ensures consistency and efficiency across products.

• Highlight Field/Constraint Design: Give prominence to projects that showcase your ability to design for challenging user environments and physical limitations.

• Demonstrate Prototyping: If possible, provide live demos or well-recorded walkthroughs of your interactive prototypes, especially those demonstrating complex interactions or adaptive UI.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the success of your designs (e.g., increased user engagement, reduced error rates, improved task completion times, positive user feedback).

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating a deep understanding of operational realities and how design directly solves business problems. Candidates need to articulate their strategic thinking, systems approach, and ability to drive adoption through user-centered design in complex, high-stakes environments.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position at Skiffra:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your most impactful projects that best showcase your experience with design systems, 0→1 initiatives, and designing for constrained or field environments. Ensure your portfolio clearly articulates your process, contributions, and the measurable outcomes of your work.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your 7+ years of experience, senior/lead roles, and specific achievements related to systems thinking, mobile design, and driving user adoption. Use keywords from the job description naturally.

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice walking through your portfolio case studies, focusing on your role, the challenges, your design decisions, and the impact. Be ready to discuss your experience with field research and cross-functional collaboration.

• Research Skiffra: Understand their mission, the industries they serve, and their stated values. Be prepared to articulate why you are a good fit for their specific culture and challenges.

⚠️ 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.