Senior Product Designer - Cash Pilot

Shine
Full-timeโ€ขBerlin, Germany

๐Ÿ“ Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer - Cash Pilot

Company: Shine

Location: Paris, France; Copenhagen, Denmark; Berlin, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / UX/UI

Date Posted: 2026-04-28T11:18:58

Experience Level: Senior (6+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (2 days remote per week)

๐Ÿš€ Role Summary

  • Lead the end-to-end design process for a critical new "Cash Pilot" initiative, focusing on empowering freelancers and small business owners with enhanced cash flow understanding and financial decision-making capabilities.

  • Drive user research and synthesis to gather insights on the newly released MVP, translating feedback into actionable product improvements and future iterations.

  • Design intuitive, data-driven user flows for monitoring cash movements, understanding expenses, and achieving greater financial control across web and mobile platforms.

  • Collaborate extensively within a "product trio" (Design, Product, Engineering) environment to define product strategy, set success metrics, and ensure seamless implementation of design solutions.

  • Contribute to and maintain Shine's design system, upholding high craft standards and ensuring design consistency across all product touchpoints.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: While the raw job description focuses on Product Design, the context of "Cash Pilot," "banking," "accounting," and "fintech" strongly suggests this role will involve significant collaboration with Revenue Operations, Sales Operations, and GTM strategy teams, particularly in understanding user financial behaviors and informing product-market fit. The emphasis on "defining product metrics" and "validating impact" directly aligns with Revenue Operations goals.

๐Ÿ“ˆ Primary Responsibilities

  • Own the complete product design lifecycle from concept exploration and opportunity framing through to solution development, impact validation, and implementation support for the Cash Pilot initiative.

  • Actively collect, synthesize, and present user feedback from the MVP to identify key areas for improvement and inform the product roadmap.

  • Design user interfaces and interaction flows that simplify complex financial data, enabling users to intuitively monitor cash, track expenses, and gain actionable insights into their business's financial health.

  • Partner closely with cross-functional teams, including Product Managers, Engineers, Data Analysts, and stakeholders from the Accounting and Banking domains, to ensure design coherence, alignment on shared patterns, and adherence to technical constraints.

  • Define, track, and analyze key product metrics in collaboration with the Product Manager to quantify the impact of shipped features and guide future design and development efforts.

  • Proactively contribute to the evolution of Shine's design system by creating new components, refining existing patterns, and ensuring adherence to established guidelines across all digital products.

  • Clearly articulate design decisions, rationale, and trade-offs to diverse stakeholders, fostering alignment and enabling pragmatic collaboration with engineering teams during development.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly indicate a need for strong product thinking and an understanding of business objectives, which are crucial for operations roles. Specifically, "Define product metrics" and "validate whether shipped features truly move the needle" are core functions of Revenue and Sales Operations, highlighting the interconnectedness of this design role with operational success.

๐ŸŽ“ Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent knowledge and experience in digital product design, UX/UI, and user research is essential.

Experience: A minimum of 6 years of professional experience in designing digital products, with a proven track record in both web and mobile applications.

Required Skills:

  • Extensive experience designing digital products, ideally spanning both web and mobile platforms.

  • Proven track record in designing for B2B software or complex workflow applications, underpinned by robust UX fundamentals.

  • Demonstrated strength in product thinking and problem framing, with the ability to translate ambiguity into clear hypotheses and strategic bets.

  • Proven experience conducting user research and synthesis, effectively using insights to influence product decisions and strategy.

  • Deep expertise in UI/UX design principles, coupled with a solid understanding of business objectives and engineering limitations.

  • Hands-on experience contributing to, maintaining, and working within established design systems.

  • A data-informed mindset, with the ability to define success metrics and validate the impact of design solutions.

Preferred Skills:

  • Prior experience in fintech, accounting software, or products related to cash-flow management.

  • Experience with financial data visualization techniques and best practices.

  • Familiarity with agile development methodologies and cross-functional team collaboration.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: The requirement for "6+ years of experience designing digital products, ideally across web and mobile" and "Proven experience designing for B2B software / complex workflows" indicates this is a senior-level role. The emphasis on "product thinking & problem framing" and "user research & synthesis" are critical skills for operations professionals looking to influence product strategy based on market and customer insights. The mention of "fintech" and "financial data visualization" as bonus skills suggests a strong understanding of the financial domain is advantageous and aligns with GTM and RevOps focus areas.

๐Ÿ“Š Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

  • Showcase end-to-end design ownership for at least two significant digital products or features, demonstrating the full design process from exploration to implementation support.

  • Include case studies detailing how user research and data synthesis directly informed design decisions and led to measurable improvements.

  • Present examples of complex B2B workflows designed for clarity, efficiency, and user adoption.

  • Demonstrate experience in collaborating within a product trio (Design, Product, Engineering) and effectively communicating design rationale to stakeholders.

Process Documentation:

  • Clearly articulate your approach to user research, including methodologies used and how insights were synthesized and applied.

  • Detail your process for translating business requirements and user needs into intuitive UI/UX flows and prototypes.

  • Provide examples of how you define and track product metrics to validate design impact and iterate on solutions.

  • Illustrate your collaboration process with engineering teams, focusing on how you ensure smooth implementation and maintain design integrity.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: For a Senior Product Designer role, particularly in a "greenfield initiative," a portfolio is paramount. It should not only showcase design craft but also product strategy and problem-solving capabilities. Operations candidates applying for roles that interface with product design should prepare to discuss their involvement in defining metrics, user segmentation, and market analysis that inform such design processes.

๐Ÿ’ต Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on the senior experience level (6+ years), multiple European locations (Paris, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam), and the fintech industry, a competitive salary range is estimated between โ‚ฌ75,000 - โ‚ฌ110,000 annually. This estimate considers regional cost of living, market demand for senior design talent, and the specialized nature of fintech product design.

Benefits:

  • A role with visible impact on the daily lives of freelancers and small business owners across Europe, offering significant professional satisfaction.

  • End-to-end ownership within a product trio environment (Design ร— Product ร— Engineering), providing substantial influence over product strategy and execution.

  • The opportunity to tackle high-ambiguity, high-impact problems and ship improvements that are rigorously measured and iterated upon.

  • A strong Product Design community with regular rituals for feedback, craft development, and continuous learning.

  • A multicultural and international work environment with colleagues across France, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

  • Competitive salary package, commensurate with experience and profile.

  • Hybrid work model allowing for 2 remote working days per week, promoting work-life balance.

Working Hours: Standard full-time working hours (approximately 40 hours per week) are expected, with flexibility offered through the hybrid work arrangement.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimation based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers in major European tech hubs (Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen) with 6+ years of experience in the fintech sector. Actual compensation will depend on the candidate's specific experience, skillset, and negotiation. The benefits highlight opportunities for impact and professional development, which are key motivators for operations professionals seeking challenging roles.

๐ŸŽฏ Team & Company Context

๐Ÿข Company Culture

Industry: Fintech, Financial Services, SaaS, Business Software. Shine operates within the rapidly evolving fintech landscape, aiming to simplify financial management for freelancers and small businesses.

Company Size: Over 400 employees, indicating a mid-to-large-sized organization that has likely established scalable processes while retaining a dynamic, growth-oriented culture.

Founded: Shine has merged with other leading European fintechs (Kontist, Tellow), suggesting a history of innovation and consolidation within the European startup ecosystem. This implies a culture that values agility, integration, and ambitious growth.

Team Structure:

  • The Product Design team is substantial, comprising over 40 professionals across specialized areas like Accounting, Banking, Global Design, User Research, and Copywriting, fostering a rich environment for collaboration and knowledge sharing.

  • The "Cash Pilot" team operates within a "product trio" model, meaning designers work in close-knit, autonomous units with a dedicated Product Manager and Engineering lead, ensuring rapid decision-making and execution.

Methodology:

  • Data Analysis & Insights: The role emphasizes a data-informed approach, requiring designers to define, track, and analyze product metrics to validate impact and guide iterations. This aligns with operations' focus on measurable outcomes.

  • Workflow Planning & Optimization: Designing "intuitive, data-driven flows" and optimizing complex B2B workflows is central to the role, mirroring operations' goals of efficiency and user enablement.

  • Automation & Efficiency: While not explicitly stated for design, the company's mission to simplify financial admin for users implies an underlying focus on leveraging technology for efficiency.

Company Website: https://careers.shine.co

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: The company's mission to "reclaim the joy of working for themselves" for freelancers and small business owners suggests a customer-centric and empathetic culture. For operations professionals, this translates to understanding the end-user's pain points and how operational efficiency directly impacts customer satisfaction and business growth. The scale of the company (400+ employees) implies established HR and operational processes, which can be both a benefit and a challenge.

๐Ÿ“ˆ Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned at a Senior level within Product Design, indicating a high degree of autonomy, strategic input, and responsibility for significant product areas. For individuals from operations backgrounds, this represents a significant shift into a product-centric role, requiring strong transferable skills in problem-solving, data analysis, and cross-functional collaboration.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Product Designer will likely report to a Head of Product Design or a Design Lead within their specific domain (in this case, potentially a Lead Designer for Banking/Fintech products). They will work within a "product trio" structure, collaborating daily with a Product Manager and Engineering Lead.

Operations Impact: While this role is in Product Design, its impact is intrinsically linked to operations. By designing intuitive cash flow management tools, the designer directly influences user adoption, financial literacy, and ultimately, the success and retention of Shine's customer base โ€“ key metrics for Sales Operations and Revenue Operations. The insights generated from user behavior on these tools will feed directly into operational strategies.

Growth Opportunities:

  • Specialization: Deepen expertise in fintech product design, cash flow management, and financial data visualization.

  • Leadership: Transition into a Lead Product Designer role, managing a team or a specific product domain, or move into Product Management by leveraging strong product thinking and strategic capabilities.

  • Cross-functional Mobility: Develop a strong understanding of business operations, engineering constraints, and data analysis, potentially enabling a pivot into product operations or strategic roles within the company.

  • Skill Development: Continuous learning through a supportive design community, feedback rituals, and potential for attending industry events or workshops.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: The "high-ambiguity, high-impact problems" and "product trio environment" offer significant opportunities for growth and learning, analogous to tackling complex operational challenges. The emphasis on "real influence on what we build and why" is attractive to operations professionals who want to see their strategic input translated into tangible product outcomes.

๐ŸŒ Work Environment

Office Type: The job posting indicates a hybrid work arrangement, with 2 remote days per week. This suggests a modern, flexible work environment. The primary locations (Paris, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam) are major European cities known for their vibrant tech scenes.

Office Location(s): The role is based in Amsterdam, with potential for hybrid work. Other listed locations (Paris, Copenhagen, Berlin) may imply opportunities for relocation or flexible collaboration across these hubs. Specific office details for Amsterdam would likely be provided upon inquiry or during the interview process.

Workspace Context:

  • Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model encourages in-office days for focused collaboration, team rituals, and spontaneous interactions, while remote days offer focused work time. The presence of a large, active design community fosters peer support and knowledge sharing.

  • Tools & Technology: Expect a modern tech stack typical of a growing fintech company, including design software, collaboration tools, and potentially specialized financial data platforms. The role also involves contributing to and utilizing a robust design system.

  • Team Interaction: Regular design critiques, team syncs, and cross-functional meetings (Product Triumvirate, domain-specific collaborations) ensure constant interaction and alignment with colleagues.

Work Schedule: The standard 40-hour work week is complemented by the hybrid flexibility. This structure allows operations professionals to manage their time effectively, balancing focused analytical work with collaborative sessions and personal commitments.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: The hybrid model is a significant draw for many professionals, offering a blend of structured collaboration and independent work. For operations roles, this flexibility is often crucial for deep analytical tasks. The emphasis on a strong design community suggests a culture that values continuous improvement and knowledge exchange, which resonates with the operational excellence mindset.

๐Ÿ“„ Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

  • Step 1: 45' Call with Talent Acquisition: Initial screening to assess general fit, motivation, and understanding of the role. Preparation Tip: Be ready to articulate your interest in Shine's mission and the Cash Pilot initiative, and briefly highlight your most relevant senior design experience.

  • Step 2: 45' Interview with Hiring Manager: Deeper dive into your experience, design philosophy, and suitability for the team. Preparation Tip: Prepare specific examples demonstrating your product thinking, problem-solving skills, and experience with complex B2B workflows.

  • Step 3: 1h Business Case Presentation: A practical exercise to showcase your skills and give you a feel for the role. Preparation Tip: Expect a design challenge or a case study review. Focus on demonstrating your end-to-end design process, user research synthesis, data-informed decision-making, and ability to communicate complex ideas clearly.

  • Step 4: Team Introduction & Soft Skills Interview: Assess cultural fit and collaboration style, potentially using personality assessments. Preparation Tip: Be prepared to discuss your collaboration style, how you handle ambiguity, and how you contribute to a team environment. Research Shine's values and be ready to connect your approach to them.

Portfolio Review Tips:

  • Curate Strategically: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best represent your experience in B2B software, complex workflows, and ideally, fintech or data-driven products.

  • Storytelling: Structure each case study to clearly articulate the problem, your role and process, the solutions you designed, the impact achieved (quantified with metrics where possible), and key learnings.

  • Show, Don't Just Tell: Include high-fidelity mockups, prototypes, user flow diagrams, and evidence of user research findings.

  • Highlight Operations Relevance: Emphasize how your design decisions aimed to improve user efficiency, reduce financial admin burden, or drive better financial decision-making โ€“ outcomes that directly impact business success and operational efficiency.

  • Design System Contribution: If applicable, showcase examples of your work within design systems, highlighting consistency and scalability.

Challenge Preparation:

  • Understand the Context: Research Shine's product, target audience (freelancers/small businesses), and the "Cash Pilot" initiative's goals.

  • Focus on Process: Be prepared to walk through your thought process, not just present a final design. Explain why you made certain decisions.

  • Data & Metrics: Think about how you would measure the success of your proposed solutions. What KPIs would be relevant for a cash flow product?

  • Stakeholder Communication: Practice articulating your design rationale clearly and concisely, anticipating potential questions from Product, Engineering, and business stakeholders.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: The detailed interview process suggests Shine values a thorough evaluation of both technical skills and cultural fit. For operations professionals, the "business case presentation" is a critical opportunity to demonstrate transferable skills like strategic thinking, problem-solving, and data analysis within a design context.

๐Ÿ›  Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

  • Design & Prototyping: Figma is the industry standard and highly probable for Shine's design teams. Proficiency in tools like Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop) may also be relevant.

  • User Research: Tools like UserTesting.com, Maze, Optimal Workshop, or internal survey/interview platforms are likely used for gathering user feedback and validating designs.

  • Collaboration & Project Management: While not explicitly mentioned, expect use of tools like Jira, Confluence, Asana, or Trello for managing design tasks and collaborating with engineering and product teams.

Analytics & Reporting:

  • Product Analytics: Tools such as Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics will be crucial for defining and tracking product metrics to validate design impact.

  • Data Visualization: Potentially tools like Tableau, Looker, or internal dashboards for understanding user behavior and business performance, which designers may engage with to inform their work.

CRM & Automation:

  • While this is a Product Design role, understanding the underlying CRM (likely Salesforce or similar) and marketing automation platforms used by Shine would provide valuable context on customer journeys and how product features integrate with broader GTM strategies.

๐Ÿ“ Enhancement Note: Proficiency in design and prototyping tools like Figma is non-negotiable for this role. For operations professionals transitioning or collaborating, familiarity with product analytics tools (Amplitude, Mixpanel) is highly beneficial, as these tools are critical for measuring the impact of product features and aligning with business objectives.

๐Ÿ‘ฅ Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

  • Customer-Centricity: A strong focus on empowering freelancers and small business owners, making their financial lives simpler and more rewarding. This translates to empathy in design and a drive to solve real user problems.

  • Impact-Driven: Emphasis on shipping improvements that are measured and iterated upon, directly linking design efforts to tangible business outcomes and user success.

  • Collaboration & Transparency: Operating within a "product trio" and a large design community fosters open communication, feedback exchange, and shared ownership.

  • Agility & Iteration: The "greenfield initiative" and focus on iterating on an MVP suggest a culture that embraces rapid learning, adaptation, and continuous improvement.

  • Craftsmanship & Quality: Maintaining a "high craft standard" indicates a commitment to excellence in design execution and user experience.

Collaboration Style:

Application Requirements

Requires over 6 years of experience in digital product design, specifically for B2B software and complex workflows. Candidates must possess strong UX fundamentals, a data-informed mindset, and proficiency in English.