Senior Product Designer (Contract)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer (Contract)

Company: Pinnacol Assurance

Location: Denver, CO, United States

Job Type: Contract

Category: Product Design / User Experience

Date Posted: July 31, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Remote Solely

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the full lifecycle of product design, from initial ideation through to successful implementation, focusing on user-centric solutions and driving key product metrics like customer growth and Net Promoter Score (NPS).

• Drive product strategy and roadmap development by leveraging deep customer research and innovative design explorations to identify user needs and pain points.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers and Engineers to translate business requirements into detailed design specifications, ensuring alignment across all product development phases.

• Develop and maintain robust design systems, enterprise UI style guides, customer journey maps, and user flows to ensure brand consistency and a cohesive user experience across all platforms.

• Contribute to the continuous improvement of product design best practices and platform capabilities through ongoing learning and knowledge sharing within a dynamic team environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a 6-month contract position with the possibility of conversion to permanent, though not guaranteed. The emphasis on driving customer growth, NPS, and conversions, alongside the use of tools like Pendo and Google Gemini, indicates a strong focus on data-driven product evolution and user engagement strategies, common in growth-focused Product Operations or GTM strategy roles.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Spearhead the end-to-end product design process, encompassing ideation, concept development, wireframing, prototyping, user testing, and final implementation for new products and features.

• Conduct comprehensive user research, including interviews and usability testing, to thoroughly understand user needs, behaviors, and pain points, translating these insights into actionable design decisions.

• Create detailed wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototypes to effectively communicate design concepts, gather stakeholder feedback, and facilitate iterative design improvements.

• Develop, refine, and maintain comprehensive design systems and style guides, ensuring brand consistency, language coherence, and a unified design aesthetic across all company products and platforms.

• Analyze product metrics and user analytics data to measure the impact of design decisions, identify areas for optimization, and inform future design iterations and strategy.

• Mentor and provide guidance to junior designers, fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented design environment.

• Build and maintain essential design documentation, including enterprise UI style guides, customer journey maps, site flows, and user flows, to support product development and knowledge sharing.

• Ensure the consistent application of branding, language, and design principles across all product touchpoints to maintain a cohesive and professional user experience.

• Stay abreast of the latest product design best practices, emerging technologies, and platform capabilities to continuously enhance design quality and innovation.

• Participate in the interview process for potential design candidates, assessing their skills and ensuring they meet the technical and creative requirements for product design roles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strong emphasis on both strategic product direction (contributing to strategy and roadmaps) and tactical execution (detailed documentation, system maintenance). The mention of "enterprise UI Style guide" and "Customer Journey maps" points to a need for structured, scalable design processes suitable for a larger organization.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Graphic Design, or a related field.

Experience: Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in product design, with a demonstrated history of successfully launching and iterating on digital products.

Required Skills:

• Comprehensive understanding and practical application of all phases of the digital product design process: user research, UX writing, wireframing, prototyping, visual design, interaction design, and usability testing.

• Advanced proficiency in design and collaboration tools, including Figma (essential for UI/UX design and prototyping), Pendo (for product analytics and user feedback), Google Gemini (for AI-assisted design and content generation), Miro (for collaborative whiteboarding, brainstorming, and user flow mapping), and Asana (for project management and workflow tracking).

• Proven ability to conduct and synthesize user research data to inform product decisions and drive user-centered design outcomes.

• Demonstrated capacity to adapt design solutions across various platforms, form factors, and user contexts.

• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate design rationale and influence stakeholders effectively.

• Ability to work autonomously and collaboratively within a fast-paced, dynamic team environment.

• A strong, curated portfolio showcasing a range of design projects, problem-solving approaches, and successful product outcomes. Preferred Skills:

• Experience with UX writing and content strategy to ensure clarity and effectiveness in user interfaces.

• Familiarity with developing and managing design systems and style guides for large-scale applications.

• Experience in the insurance or workers' compensation industry, understanding the unique user needs and regulatory landscape.

• Ability to analyze product metrics and translate quantitative data into design improvements.

• Experience in mentoring junior designers and contributing to team skill development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of specific tools like Pendo and Google Gemini, alongside Figma and Miro, suggests the company values a modern, data-informed design workflow. The requirement for a portfolio is standard, but the emphasis on "successful products" and "problem-solving approaches" indicates a need for candidates who can demonstrate tangible business impact.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a minimum of 3-5 distinct product design projects that demonstrate the full design lifecycle, from initial problem definition to final solution.

• Clearly articulate the user problems or business objectives addressed in each project, the design process followed, and the specific role played in the project.

• Highlight instances of user research, iterative design, and data-informed decision-making.

• Include examples of wireframes, user flows, interactive prototypes, and final visual designs.

• Quantify the impact of your design work where possible, using metrics related to user engagement, conversion rates, task completion, or customer satisfaction. Process Documentation:

• Provide examples of documentation created to support design processes, such as user journey maps, personas, user flow diagrams, and style guides.

• Demonstrate an understanding of how to maintain design consistency and scalability through systematic documentation and adherence to design systems.

• Include any experience with creating or contributing to enterprise UI style guides and component libraries.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Senior Product Designer role, the portfolio should not just display aesthetics but also strategic thinking and problem-solving. Candidates should be prepared to walk through their process, explain their rationale, and detail the outcomes, especially concerning metrics like customer growth and NPS.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $65.00 - $85.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Contract role administered through an agency partnership, providing access to agency-specific benefits packages.

• Opportunity for a flexible M-F 8am-5pm MST schedule, allowing for work-life balance.

• Potential for contract-to-permanent conversion, offering a pathway to long-term employment with Pinnacol Assurance.

• Remote work environment, eliminating commute time and offering flexibility in work location within the United States.

• Opportunity to work on impactful projects within the workers' compensation industry, contributing to community well-being.

Working Hours: Full-time, approximately 40 hours per week, with a flexible schedule within the Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM MST timeframe.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hourly rate of $65-$85 for a Senior Product Designer in Denver, CO, is within the competitive range for contract roles, especially considering the remote flexibility. The note about agency partnership for payroll and benefits is crucial for candidates to understand the employment structure.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Insurance (Workers' Compensation) - Pinnacol Assurance is a specialized provider focused solely on workers' compensation protection for Colorado employers and employees. This niche focus allows for deep