Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: Spendesk

Location: Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design, UX/UI Design

Date Posted: May 27, 2026

Experience Level: Senior (5+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead end-to-end product design for AI-powered and automation-driven financial workflows, focusing on simplifying complex operational and financial tasks.

• Independently lead user research initiatives, including interviews and usability testing, to uncover unmet needs and validate product strategies.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers and Engineers within cross-functional squads to define, design, and deliver impactful user experiences.

• Contribute strategically to product direction by identifying opportunities, challenging assumptions, and influencing roadmaps through strong product thinking and systems thinking.

• Elevate the design team's capabilities by mentoring other designers in research, strategy, and facilitation practices, ensuring a high standard of product discovery.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is situated within a dynamic fintech environment, emphasizing the design of complex financial operations. The focus on AI and automation within workflows suggests a need for designers adept at creating intuitive interfaces for intelligent systems, prioritizing transparency and user control. The hybrid model in Barcelona offers a blend of in-office collaboration and remote flexibility.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the complete design lifecycle for new product features and enhancements, from initial discovery and problem framing through to ideation, prototyping, user validation, and iterative delivery.

• Independently plan, execute, and synthesize user research activities, including in-depth interviews, contextual inquiries, usability testing, and persona development, to generate actionable insights.

• Proactively identify critical user needs, business opportunities, and potential product risks by analyzing user feedback, market trends, and system interactions, thereby influencing product strategy and roadmap prioritization.

• Design intuitive and efficient workflows and end-to-end experiences that simplify complex operational and financial tasks at scale, leveraging AI and automation while ensuring transparency, user trust, and maintainable control.

• Utilize qualitative and quantitative data, including user feedback and product analytics, to rigorously evaluate the impact of design decisions, identify areas for improvement, and drive continuous product enhancement.

• Provide constructive feedback, mentorship, and guidance to fellow designers, fostering a culture of shared learning and continuous improvement in research, strategy, and facilitation skills.

• Facilitate collaborative workshops and design sprints, effectively aligning stakeholders from various departments (Product, Engineering, Data) and driving consensus on product direction and design solutions.

• Champion best practices in information architecture and systems thinking to ensure consistency, scalability, and maintainability of the Spendesk platform's user experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strong emphasis on autonomous research and strategic product influence, typical of senior-level design roles. The explicit mention of "AI-powered and automation-driven workflows" and "maintaining transparency, trust, and user control" indicates a specialized focus within fintech design, requiring an understanding of how to design for human-AI collaboration in financial contexts.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, HCI, Computer Science, or a related field is often advantageous for senior product design roles, demonstrating a foundational understanding of design principles and user-centered methodologies.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in digital product design, with a proven track record of working within cross-functional product teams.

• Demonstrated experience in independently planning, conducting, and leading comprehensive user research activities, including qualitative and quantitative methods.

• Proven ability to connect deep user needs with overarching business objectives and technical constraints to deliver effective product solutions.

• Exceptional interaction design, systems thinking, and information architecture skills, with a focus on simplifying complex systems, intricate processes, and data-intensive user experiences.

• Strong communication, presentation, and storytelling capabilities, enabling clear articulation of detailed design decisions and broader strategic rationale to diverse audiences.

• Proficiency in facilitating workshops, aligning various stakeholders, and driving collaborative decision-making processes effectively.

• A genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for AI-assisted experiences, automation technologies, and emerging interaction paradigms.

• Experience working in an iterative product development environment, with a strong emphasis on validating design solutions with end-users.

• Demonstrated self-awareness, humility, and a commitment to continuous learning and professional development.

Required Skills:

• Product Design (End-to-End)

• User Research (Qualitative & Quantitative)

• Systems Thinking

• Interaction Design

• Information Architecture

• Product Thinking

• Workshop Facilitation

• Storytelling & Communication

• Prototyping & Wireframing

• Usability Testing

• Cross-functional Collaboration

• Stakeholder Management

Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing AI-assisted workflows or conversational interfaces.

• Prior experience in fintech, spend management, procurement, or internal tooling product domains.

• Familiarity with experimentation frameworks and data-informed product development methodologies.

• Experience contributing to or actively working within established design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements emphasize a blend of foundational design expertise and forward-thinking skills in AI and automation. The preference for fintech or related domain experience suggests that candidates with a background in complex financial or operational software will have a distinct advantage. The emphasis on independent research and strategic influence points to a need for a proactive and self-directed individual.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies: Showcase 3-5 detailed case studies demonstrating end-to-end product design ownership. Each case study should clearly outline the problem, your role, the design process, key decisions, challenges faced, and measurable outcomes.

• Research & Discovery: Evidence of your ability to independently plan and conduct user research, synthesize findings, and translate insights into actionable design strategies. Include examples of user interviews, usability testing reports, or journey maps.

• Systemic Design: Examples that illustrate your approach to systems thinking, information architecture, and designing for complex, interconnected workflows. Show how you ensure consistency and scalability across a product.

• AI/Automation Focus: If possible, highlight projects that involved designing for AI-assisted features, automation, or intelligent workflows, demonstrating your understanding of user control and transparency in these contexts.

• Problem Framing & Solutioning: Demonstrate your ability to frame ambiguous problems and articulate how your design solutions address specific user needs and business goals.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Detail your process for mapping out and optimizing complex user workflows, particularly in financial or operational domains.

• Iterative Design & Validation: Showcase how you incorporate user feedback and data throughout the design process to iterate and validate solutions, ensuring they meet user needs effectively.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Illustrate how you collaborate with Product Managers, Engineers, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment and successful product delivery.

• Tool Proficiency: Briefly mention the primary design and prototyping tools used in your process (e.g., Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision).

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Senior Product Designer role, especially one focusing on AI and complex workflows, the portfolio must go beyond static UI screens. It needs to demonstrate strategic thinking, robust research methodologies, and the ability to articulate the "why" behind design decisions, particularly in simplifying complex financial operations. Highlighting experience with AI/automation is crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers in Barcelona, with 5+ years of experience, and considering the fintech sector and hybrid work model, a competitive salary range is estimated between €55,000 - €75,000 per year. This range accounts for the cost of living in Barcelona and the specialized skills required for AI-assisted fintech design.

Benefits:

• Competitive Compensation Package: A strong base salary reflecting your experience and contribution.

• Equity: Opportunity to participate in the company's success through stock options or similar equity programs.

• Learning and Growth Opportunities: Access to training, conferences, workshops, and mentorship to foster continuous professional development in product design, AI, and fintech.

• Flexible Hybrid Work Environment: The ability to balance remote work with in-office collaboration, offering flexibility and work-life integration.

• Health & Wellness: Comprehensive health insurance and potential wellness programs to support employee well-being.

• Generous Paid Time Off: Ample vacation days and public holidays to ensure adequate rest and rejuvenation.

• International Offices: Access to collaborate with colleagues across Spendesk's offices in Paris, London, and Berlin.

• Professional Development Budget: A dedicated budget for learning resources, courses, or conferences relevant to your role.

Working Hours: Standard full-time working hours, typically around 40 hours per week, with a focus on flexibility within the hybrid work model. Core working hours may be established to ensure team collaboration and meeting availability.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on general market data for senior design roles in Barcelona within the tech/fintech sector. Actual compensation will depend on the candidate's specific experience, interview performance, and Spendesk's internal compensation structure. The benefits listed are common for tech companies and tailored to the information provided.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Fintech, SaaS (Software as a Service) focused on Spend Management and Financial Operations. Spendesk operates in a rapidly evolving sector driven by technological innovation, efficiency, and regulatory compliance.

Company Size: Spendesk is a growing, international company, likely employing between 200-500 individuals based on typical startup growth trajectories in the European fintech scene. This size offers a balance of established processes and the agility of a growing organization.

Founded: Spendesk was founded in 2016. This indicates a company with a solid foundation, a proven product-market fit, and significant experience in scaling its operations and product offerings.

Team Structure:

• Product Design Team: The design team operates as a strategic partner within cross-functional "squads," typically consisting of Product Managers, Engineers, and Designers. This structure fosters close collaboration and shared ownership.

• Reporting Structure: Senior Product Designers likely report to a Head of Design, Design Lead, or a Director of Product, with a dotted line into their respective squad leads for day-to-day project alignment.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Designers are expected to work intimately with Product Management to define strategy and roadmaps, and with Engineering to ensure design feasibility and quality implementation. Collaboration with Data teams for insights and Marketing/Sales for market understanding is also common.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Insights: The company emphasizes using both qualitative user insights and quantitative data to inform product decisions and measure impact.

• Agile Development: Product development likely follows agile methodologies, with iterative cycles of discovery, design, development, and testing.

• Systems & Consistency: A strong focus on systems thinking and maintaining a consistent user experience across the platform is a core tenet of their design approach.

• User-Centricity: Direct user engagement and feedback loops are critical to shaping the product roadmap and design iterations.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: Spendesk's fintech focus and mission to simplify financial operations suggest a culture that values efficiency, accuracy, and trust. The emphasis on AI and automation indicates a forward-looking approach. The company's founding date implies a mature startup environment with established processes but still retaining growth-oriented dynamism.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Product Designer role, indicating a high level of autonomy, strategic input, and the ability to lead complex design initiatives. It signifies a transition from primarily executing design tasks to influencing product strategy, mentoring junior designers, and driving best practices. The role requires not just strong design skills but also excellent product thinking, research leadership, and stakeholder management.

Reporting Structure: You will likely report to a Design Manager or Head of Design, with close day-to-day collaboration within a dedicated cross-functional product squad. This structure allows for both strategic oversight and tactical execution within a focused team.

Operations Impact: As a Senior Product Designer, your work will directly impact the usability, efficiency, and perceived value of Spendesk's platform. Your designs will influence how businesses manage their spending, automate financial tasks, and leverage AI for better decision-making. Successful designs can lead to increased customer satisfaction, adoption rates, operational efficiency for users, and ultimately, revenue growth for Spendesk.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Potential to grow into a Lead Product Designer role, managing a small team or a specific product area, and taking on more strategic product vision responsibilities.

• Specialization: Opportunity to deepen expertise in AI-driven design, fintech, or complex workflow design, becoming a subject matter expert within the company.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Potential to move into Product Management or other related roles within the product organization by leveraging your deep understanding of user needs and product strategy.

• Mentorship and Coaching: Opportunities to mentor junior designers, contributing to the overall growth and skill development of the design team.

• Industry Influence: Contributing to thought leadership within the design and fintech communities through internal presentations, external talks, or contributions to design publications.

📝 Enhancement Note: The Senior role implies a significant opportunity for leadership and strategic impact. The focus on AI and fintech offers a niche for deep specialization. Growth paths are likely to involve increased strategic responsibility, team leadership, and potentially movement into broader product management roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Spendesk offers a hybrid work model, meaning a blend of remote work and in-office collaboration at their Barcelona hub (Cloudworks El Born). This suggests a modern, flexible workspace designed to accommodate both focused individual work and collaborative team sessions.

Office Location(s): The Barcelona office is located at Cloudworks El Born, a co-working space in a central, vibrant district known for its blend of historic charm and modern business activity. This location offers excellent accessibility and a dynamic urban environment.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: The office environment likely includes meeting rooms, brainstorming areas, and open spaces conducive to co-creation, workshops, and team syncs, facilitating seamless collaboration with product and engineering teams.

• Technology & Tools: Expect access to modern design tools, reliable internet, and the necessary technology infrastructure to support both in-office and remote work effectively.

• Team Interaction: The hybrid model encourages intentional in-person interactions for team building, strategic discussions, and fostering a strong team culture, balanced with the flexibility of remote work.

Work Schedule: A standard full-time schedule, likely around 40 hours per week, with flexibility in start and end times to accommodate the hybrid model and individual needs, while ensuring availability for core team meetings and collaborative sessions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model in a modern co-working space like Cloudworks El Born suggests a professional yet flexible work environment. The focus will be on enabling both deep work and effective team collaboration, whether in person or remotely.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Introductory Conversation (Talent Acquisition): An initial screening call to discuss your background, interest in Spendesk, and high-level fit for the Senior Product Designer role. Be prepared to articulate your career trajectory and motivations.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion (Hiring Manager): A dedicated session to walk through your portfolio. Focus on 2-3 key projects that best demonstrate your senior-level capabilities, research leadership, systems thinking, and experience with complex workflows or AI. Be ready to discuss your process, decisions, and impact in detail.

• Collaborative Live Workshop: This is a critical stage. Expect a hands-on session simulating a real design challenge. It will likely involve problem framing, user research ideation, systems thinking exercises, and potentially some low-fidelity sketching or wireframing. The assessors will evaluate your product thinking, research approach, systems design skills, and ability to collaborate and communicate effectively under pressure.

• Final Conversations (Product & Design Leadership): Meetings with senior leaders to discuss your strategic alignment with Spendesk's vision, your leadership potential, and cultural fit. This is also an opportunity for you to ask in-depth questions about the company's direction and the design team's future.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select projects that highlight your experience with complex financial/operational workflows, AI/automation (if applicable), independent research, and strategic product contribution.

• Tell a Story: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your unique role, the design process, key decisions and rationale, challenges overcome, and quantifiable outcomes/impact.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Include artifacts like user personas, journey maps, wireframes, prototypes, and research synthesis to illustrate your process.

• Highlight Impact: Quantify results whenever possible (e.g., "improved task completion rate by X%", "reduced support queries by Y%").

• Address AI/Automation: If you have relevant experience, specifically call out how you designed for intelligent systems, user control, and transparency.

• Be Prepared for Questions: Anticipate questions about your design decisions, how you handle ambiguity, feedback, and collaboration.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Context: Research Spendesk's product, target users (finance teams, businesses), and the fintech landscape.

• Practice Problem Framing: Work on articulating ambiguous problems clearly and identifying key assumptions.

• Sharpen Research Ideation: Be ready to brainstorm user research methods relevant to a given problem.

• Focus on Systems Thinking: Practice mapping out user flows and system interactions for complex scenarios.

• Communicate Clearly: Rehearse explaining your thought process concisely and effectively, especially during collaborative exercises.

• Ask Insightful Questions: Prepare questions that demonstrate your strategic thinking and engagement with Spendesk's mission and challenges.

📝 Enhancement Note: The multi-stage interview process, including a live workshop, is typical for senior design roles. The emphasis on portfolio presentation and a practical design challenge indicates Spendesk values demonstrable skills and a thoughtful, strategic approach to problem-solving. Preparing specific examples related to AI and complex financial operations will be key.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (highly likely, given industry trends), Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), InVision, Principle (for advanced animations/prototypes).

• User Research Platforms: UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze, or similar tools for remote usability testing and feedback collection.

• Collaboration & Documentation: Miro, Mural (for workshops, brainstorming, journey mapping), Confluence, Notion (for documentation and knowledge sharing).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics, or internal BI tools for understanding user behavior and feature adoption.

• Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI, or built-in dashboarding tools for analyzing user data and presenting insights.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a designer's tool, understanding how CRM systems (like Salesforce) and marketing/sales automation platforms integrate with product usage can be beneficial for context. The core focus for designers will be on the product itself and its user experience.

• Project Management: Jira, Asana, Trello for tracking design tasks and collaborating with engineering teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in industry-standard design tools like Figma is almost certainly expected. Familiarity with user research platforms and collaborative whiteboarding tools is also crucial for this role. Understanding how product analytics inform design decisions is a key aspect of data-informed design.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity & Empathy: A deep commitment to understanding and solving real user problems, particularly within complex financial workflows.

• Ownership & Autonomy: Encouraging individuals to take initiative, drive projects forward, and operate with a high degree of independence.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Fostering open communication and teamwork across disciplines (Product, Design, Engineering) and sharing knowledge openly.

• Continuous Learning: A culture that values curiosity, experimentation, and ongoing professional development, especially in areas like AI and financial technology.

• Efficiency & Impact: A drive to create solutions that not only solve problems but also deliver measurable business value and improve operational efficiency for users.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Squads: Designers work as integrated members of agile product teams, collaborating daily with PMs and Engineers.

• Feedback-Rich Environment: Expect regular design critiques, peer reviews, and constructive feedback sessions to refine work and share learnings.

• Data-Informed Decision Making: Collaboration involves leveraging data and user insights to validate hypotheses and guide design choices.

• Holistic Product Ownership: Designers are encouraged to think beyond interfaces and contribute to the overall product strategy and user experience vision.

📝 Enhancement Note: Spendesk's values likely center around innovation, user focus, and collaborative execution. The emphasis on AI and financial operations suggests a culture that is both forward-thinking and grounded in delivering reliable, efficient solutions.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Simplifying Complexity: Designing intuitive experiences for complex financial operations and AI-driven workflows requires deep understanding and skillful abstraction. Balancing powerful features with ease of use will be a constant challenge.

• AI Integration without Sacrificing Control: Designing AI-assisted features that genuinely help users without making them feel disempowered, confused, or lacking transparency is a significant design challenge.

• Cross-functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent vision and execution across multiple squads and departments, especially as the company scales, requires strong communication and facilitation skills.

• Balancing Innovation with Consistency: Introducing new AI capabilities while maintaining the overall integrity and consistency of the Spendesk platform's design system.

• Data Interpretation: Effectively translating complex user data and analytics into actionable design improvements.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI & Automation Design: Deepen expertise in designing for intelligent systems, machine learning interfaces, and automated processes.

• Fintech Domain Expertise: Gain specialized knowledge in financial operations, spend management, and the unique user needs within this industry.

• Product Strategy & Leadership: Develop strategic thinking, roadmap influence, and potentially team leadership skills.

• Advanced Research Techniques: Hone skills in generative and evaluative research methodologies tailored to complex software.

• Design System Contribution: Potentially contribute to evolving and expanding Spendesk's design system.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to designing in a complex, innovative domain like fintech with AI integration. The growth opportunities are significant, offering paths for specialization, leadership, and strategic impact within a growing company.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to simplify a highly complex user workflow. What was your process, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on your problem-framing, research, and simplification strategies.)

• "How would you approach designing an AI-powered feature that suggests budget allocations? What are the key user concerns you'd address?" (Demonstrate your thinking on user trust, control, and transparency with AI.)

• "Walk us through a project where you independently led user research. What methods did you choose, why, and how did the insights influence your design?" (Highlight your autonomy, research rigor, and ability to connect research to actionable design.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you most about Spendesk's mission and the fintech industry?" (Research Spendesk's values and market position.)

• "How do you see AI evolving financial operations, and what's the designer's role in that evolution?" (Demonstrate your forward-thinking perspective on AI in finance.)

• "Describe your ideal collaboration dynamic within a cross-functional product team." (Align your style with Spendesk's emphasis on collaboration.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Begin with an overview of your career and design philosophy. Then, present 2-3 deep-dive case studies. For each, clearly state the problem, your role, process, key decisions, challenges, and outcomes.

• Emphasize Process & Rationale: Don't just show final screens. Explain why you made certain design choices, supported by research or strategic thinking.

• Highlight Seniority: Showcase your ability to initiate projects, influence strategy, mentor others, and handle ambiguity.

• Quantify Where Possible: Use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your work.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about every aspect of your projects. Practice articulating your thought process clearly and concisely.

• Showcase AI/Automation: If you have relevant work, make sure to highlight it and explain your approach to designing for these technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, research leadership, and a nuanced understanding of designing for AI in complex financial contexts. The live workshop is a key differentiator, so practicing collaborative problem-solving is essential.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the Spendesk careers portal at https://career.spendesk.com.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best showcase your end-to-end design process, user research capabilities, systems thinking, and any experience with AI or complex financial workflows. Ensure each case study clearly articulates the problem, your role, process, decisions, challenges, and outcomes.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight keywords relevant to Product Design, UX/UI, User Research, Systems Thinking, AI-assisted workflows, and Fintech. Emphasize achievements and quantifiable results that demonstrate your senior-level impact.

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your design philosophy, career journey, and motivations for applying to Spendesk. Be ready to speak confidently about your portfolio projects and your approach to collaborative problem-solving.

• Research Spendesk: Familiarize yourself with Spendesk's product, mission, target audience, and company values. Understand their position in the fintech market and their focus on AI and automation.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and industry-standard assumptions. Specific details regarding compensation, benefits, and the exact nature of interview challenges should be confirmed directly with Spendesk during the application process.