Staff Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer

Company: Raydar

Location: New York, New York, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / GTM Operations Enablement

Date Posted: 2026-09-23

Experience Level: 5-10 years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• This role is a founding design seat within an AI software company, focused on rebuilding how Go-to-Market (GTM) teams create customer-facing work.

• You will be instrumental in defining the user experience and design language for an AI-native platform, emphasizing agent-first interactions and the quality of AI-generated outputs.

• The position requires a blend of strategic product thinking, system design, and detailed interaction and visual design execution.

• You will collaborate directly with founders, product leadership, and engineering to shape product strategy and ensure a cohesive, high-quality user experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Staff Product Designer," the description heavily emphasizes rebuilding GTM workflows with AI. This suggests a strong alignment with GTM operations enablement, where design directly impacts sales, marketing, and customer success productivity and output quality. The "founding design seat" aspect implies significant ownership and strategic influence in defining the product's operational capabilities.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end core user experience for requesting, shaping, reviewing, editing, and publishing agent-generated work within the AI platform.

• Invent and prototype novel interaction models specifically for AI-driven products, moving beyond traditional design system constraints.

• Establish and maintain the visual and creative quality bar for both the user interface and the outputs generated by the AI agents.

• Collaborate closely with engineering teams to refine product defaults, constraints, evaluation mechanisms, brand adherence, and feedback loops for AI generation.

• Actively participate in shaping product strategy alongside founders and product leadership, translating strategic vision into tangible design prototypes and refined concepts.

• Demonstrate a fluid ability to shift focus from high-level product architecture and systems thinking to detailed interaction design and visual execution.

• Contribute to defining the "agent-first" platform's user journey, ensuring trust and intuitive control over AI-generated content.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize "agent-first platform," "AI-generated work," and "shaping product strategy." This indicates a need for designers who understand how to operationalize AI for GTM tasks, focusing on efficiency, quality, and user adoption within sales and marketing workflows.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent practical expertise and design thinking is paramount.

Experience: Minimum of 5 years of product design experience, with a proven track record of shipping impactful products that users engage with regularly.

Required Skills:

• Exceptional visual craft and a demonstrated ability to create novel zero-to-one products, evidenced by a strong portfolio.

• Experience designing for early-stage or breakout startups, preferably within B2B SaaS, productivity software, or applied AI sectors.

• Genuine enthusiasm and active use of modern AI tools, with a deep understanding of AI as a design medium.

• High degree of ownership, sound judgment, and a sense of urgency in driving design initiatives.

• Comfort and proven ability to work directly and collaboratively with founders and engineering teams.

• Proficiency in product architecture and systems thinking.

• Strong prototyping skills to quickly iterate on design concepts. Preferred Skills:

• Previous experience as a founding or sole designer at a venture-backed startup, showcasing leadership and end-to-end design ownership.

• A career trajectory marked by rapid progression, significant achievements, or recognition from a strong design fellowship.

• Specific experience designing creative tools, agent workflows, or AI-generated outputs.

• Experience with design systems, though the emphasis is on inventing new models.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "zero-to-one work" and "inventing new interaction models" suggests a need for designers who are comfortable with ambiguity and can build foundational design systems and patterns from scratch, rather than just applying existing ones. This is crucial for an early-stage AI product.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase exceptional visual craft and a strong history of zero-to-one product development, not just screens assembled from a design system.

• Highlight projects where you invented novel interaction models, particularly for complex or emerging technologies like AI.

• Demonstrate experience in early-stage or breakout startups, with clear examples of your impact on product strategy and execution.

• Include case studies that illustrate your understanding of B2B SaaS, productivity software, or applied AI, focusing on how design drove user adoption and operational efficiency.

• Provide evidence of active use of AI tools in your design process and how you leveraged them to enhance output or user experience. Process Documentation:

• Present case studies that detail your process for defining product architecture and systems thinking for new features or products.

• Illustrate your workflow for translating strategic product vision into detailed interaction and visual design decisions, including rapid prototyping.

• Detail how you partnered with engineering to refine product features, implement constraints, and establish feedback loops for AI-generated outputs.

• Showcase examples of how you set and maintained visual and creative quality standards for both interfaces and generated content.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "zero-to-one work" and "inventing new interaction models" means the portfolio should prioritize original concepts and early-stage product development over polished iterations of existing products. Case studies should clearly articulate the problem, the novel solution, the design process, and the measurable impact on user workflows and AI output quality.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $200,000 - $260,000 base salary per year.

Benefits:

• Competitive equity package, reflecting the founding seat and early-stage nature of the company.

• Full-time, on-site work in New York, NY, fostering strong team collaboration.

• Visa transfers may be considered for candidates with existing U.S. work authorization.

• The company is in the Flatiron area, a vibrant location for tech and design professionals.

Working Hours: Full-time, expected to be around 40 hours per week, with the expectation of on-site presence in the New York City office five days per week.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is provided and aligns with a Staff-level Product Designer role in a high-cost-of-living area like New York City, especially for a venture-backed, fast-growing AI startup. The inclusion of "competitive equity" is standard for founding roles and signals significant potential upside. The on-site requirement is explicit and non-negotiable.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: AI Software / B2B SaaS, with a focus on Go-to-Market (GTM) team enablement.

Company Size: Compact 20-person team, indicating a highly collaborative, agile, and fast-paced environment. This size allows for significant individual impact and direct influence on product direction.

Founded: Venture-backed, with over $71 million raised, signifying strong investor confidence and a clear growth trajectory. The company is at a critical stage of scaling its product and team.

Team Structure:

• As a founding design seat, you will be a key member of a small, dedicated product and engineering team.

• Direct reporting line likely to product leadership or founders, with close day-to-day collaboration with engineering.

• Cross-functional collaboration will be paramount, involving close partnership with founders, product managers, and engineers to define and build the product. Methodology:

• Data-driven product development, leveraging user feedback and product analytics to inform design decisions and iterate on AI models.

• Agile development processes with a strong emphasis on rapid prototyping and iterative design cycles to keep pace with AI advancements and market demands.

• A "build, measure, learn" approach to product design, particularly in defining new interaction models for AI.

• Focus on user-centric design principles applied to AI-native products, ensuring usability and trust.

Company Website: https://jobs.workable.com/company/5ErCjQrw6G4QCyNL7kiKAz/jobs-at-raydar

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is characterized by rapid growth, innovation in AI, and a lean, founder-led structure. For a designer, this means a high degree of autonomy, direct impact, and the opportunity to build a product's design language from the ground up within a dynamic, well-funded startup.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Staff Product Designer – This level signifies a senior individual contributor with significant expertise, autonomy, and the ability to influence product strategy. It's a "founding" role, implying a foundational contribution to the company's design maturity and product vision.

Reporting Structure: You will report directly to product leadership or founders, working in close proximity with engineering. This structure offers high visibility and direct influence on the product roadmap and GTM strategy enablement.

Operations Impact: Your work will directly impact how GTM teams operate, create customer-facing content, and leverage AI for productivity. This role is pivotal in defining the user experience that drives adoption of an AI-native platform, thereby influencing the company's revenue generation potential and market positioning.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: Opportunity to grow into a lead design role as the company scales, potentially building and managing a design team.

• Strategic Influence: Deep involvement in product strategy and company direction, offering significant learning in business development and startup growth.

• AI Design Specialization: Become a leading expert in designing for AI-native products, a highly sought-after skill in the current tech landscape.

• Product Ownership: Full ownership of core user experiences, providing a comprehensive understanding of product lifecycle management from conception to scaling.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a unique opportunity for rapid career progression due to its "founding" nature and the company's high growth potential. The impact on GTM operations is substantial, making it an attractive position for designers who want to drive business outcomes through innovative product design.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Full-time, on-site work in a dedicated office space. The team works together in the Flatiron area of New York City five days per week.

Office Location(s): Flatiron area, New York, NY. This location is a hub for tech companies and offers excellent accessibility via public transportation.

Workspace Context:

• A highly collaborative environment where designers, product managers, and engineers work closely together daily.

• Access to modern design tools and the opportunity to shape the technology stack as the company grows.

• Opportunities for spontaneous brainstorming and problem-solving due to co-location.

• A dynamic startup atmosphere with a focus on innovation and rapid execution.

Work Schedule: Full-time, with an emphasis on being present in the office five days a week to facilitate close collaboration and rapid iteration. While not explicitly stated, typical startup environments may require flexibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: The strict on-site requirement highlights the company's belief in the power of in-person collaboration for innovation and rapid product development, especially in a fast-moving AI startup environment.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Review of resume and portfolio to assess experience, skills, and alignment with the role's requirements.

• Portfolio Presentation: A deep dive into your portfolio, focusing on zero-to-one projects, AI design experience, and strategic thinking. Be prepared to discuss your process, challenges, and impact.

• Design Challenge/Case Study: Likely to involve a problem-solving exercise or a take-home challenge related to designing for AI-native GTM workflows. Focus on demonstrating your approach to novel interaction models and quality standards.

• Founder/Leadership Interviews: Discussions to assess cultural fit, ownership mentality, strategic thinking, and alignment with the company's vision.

• Engineering Collaboration Discussion: Evaluation of your ability to partner effectively with engineers, understand technical constraints, and contribute to product architecture.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Novelty: Emphasize projects where you invented new interaction models or designed for emerging technologies (AI).

• Showcase Zero-to-One: Prioritize case studies that demonstrate building products or features from the ground up, rather than incremental improvements.

• Demonstrate AI Fluency: Include examples of how you've used AI tools in your design process or designed AI-powered features.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, quantify the impact of your designs on user adoption, productivity, or output quality for GTM teams.

• Articulate Process: Clearly explain your design process, decision-making rationale, and how you collaborated with cross-functional teams.

Challenge Preparation:

• Familiarize yourself with current trends in AI, generative AI, and agent-based interfaces.

• Consider how to design for user trust and control when working with AI.

• Think about how to define and measure quality for AI-generated content relevant to GTM tasks (e.g., sales emails, marketing copy).

• Be prepared to articulate your strategic approach to product architecture and systems thinking.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "zero-to-one work" and "inventing new interaction models" means the interview process will likely probe deeply into your ability to innovate and build foundational design systems in an ambiguous, early-stage environment.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), InVision, Principle, or similar advanced prototyping tools.

• AI Tools: Active use and familiarity with modern AI tools for content generation, ideation, and workflow enhancement (e.g., ChatGPT, Midjourney, or industry-specific AI applications).

• Collaboration & Project Management: Tools like Jira, Asana, Trello, or similar platforms for managing design tasks and collaborating with engineering.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Familiarity with product analytics tools (e.g., Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics) to understand user behavior and product performance, informing design iterations.

• Ability to interpret data to drive design decisions and measure the impact of design changes on user engagement and GTM efficiency. CRM & Automation:

• While not a direct requirement for the designer, understanding the context of CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) and GTM automation workflows is beneficial, as the product aims to enhance these processes.

• Familiarity with how users interact with and direct AI agents will be key.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency with industry-standard design and prototyping tools is expected. The critical differentiator will be demonstrated experience and genuine enthusiasm for using AI tools within the design process and designing AI-native products. Understanding the GTM context of CRM and automation will provide valuable insight.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & Experimentation: A culture that encourages bold ideas, rapid experimentation, and learning from failures, especially in the context of AI.

• Ownership & Urgency: A strong sense of personal responsibility and a drive to execute quickly in a fast-paced startup environment.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Open communication and close teamwork across product, design, and engineering to achieve shared goals.

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and solving the real problems of GTM teams, ensuring the AI product delivers tangible value.

• Quality & Craft: A dedication to setting and achieving high standards for both the user interface and the quality of AI-generated outputs.

Collaboration Style:

• Highly integrated, with designers working hand-in-hand with founders, product managers, and engineers from ideation through launch.

• Frequent feedback loops and iterative design reviews to ensure alignment and rapid progress.

• Emphasis on clear communication and shared understanding of product goals and user needs.

• A proactive approach to identifying and solving problems collaboratively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture is likely to be intense, fast-paced, and highly rewarding for individuals who thrive in ambiguity and enjoy building something new. Cultural fit, particularly around ownership and collaboration, will be a significant factor in hiring.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Defining AI Interaction Models: Creating intuitive and trustworthy ways for users to direct and interact with AI agents, a nascent field.

• Setting Quality Standards for AI Output: Establishing and maintaining consistent, high-quality outputs from generative AI that meet GTM needs.

• Balancing Innovation with Usability: Ensuring novel AI interactions are also easily discoverable and usable by GTM professionals.

• Rapid Iteration in a Fast-Paced Environment: Keeping pace with technological advancements and market demands in the AI space.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI Design Specialization: Deepen expertise in designing for generative AI and agent-based systems, a rapidly evolving and high-demand skill set.

• Product Strategy & Startup Growth: Gain unparalleled experience in shaping product strategy and contributing to the growth of a venture-backed startup.

• Cross-Functional Mastery: Develop strong collaborative skills working directly with founders and engineering leadership.

• Building Design Systems from Scratch: Opportunity to establish foundational design principles and systems for a new AI-native product category.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are significant but directly tied to the growth opportunities. This role is ideal for a designer who is excited by the frontier of AI design and wants to make a foundational impact.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing an interface for an AI agent that needs to understand nuanced GTM objectives and generate high-quality customer-facing content?"

• "Describe your process for establishing and maintaining visual and creative quality standards for AI-generated outputs. How would you ensure brand adherence?"

• "Imagine you need to invent a new interaction model for users to direct and refine AI-generated marketing copy. Walk us through your thinking and potential solutions."

• "How do you balance the need for rapid prototyping and iteration in a startup with the importance of robust product architecture and systems thinking?" Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you most about Raydar's mission to rebuild how GTM teams create work with AI?"

• "Describe a time you worked in a founding or early-stage design role. What were the biggest challenges and rewards?"

• "How do you approach collaborating with engineers and founders who may have different perspectives on design?"

• "What does 'ownership' mean to you in a startup context, and how have you demonstrated it in past roles?" Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Focus on Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, your design process, and the measurable outcomes or impact on users or the business.

• Highlight AI & Zero-to-One: Dedicate time to showcase projects demonstrating your experience with AI tools, novel interaction models, and building products from inception.

• Tell a Story: Structure your presentation to tell a compelling narrative about your design journey and problem-solving approach.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Expect detailed questions about your design decisions, trade-offs, and how you handled constraints.

• Showcase Your Process: Illustrate your thinking, from user research and ideation to prototyping and iteration.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should heavily focus on demonstrating your ability to innovate in the AI space, your experience with early-stage startups, and your capacity for strategic thinking and cross-functional collaboration.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Workable.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight your most relevant experience in zero-to-one product development, AI-native design, and B2B SaaS. Emphasize case studies that showcase your ability to invent novel interaction models and establish quality standards for generated content.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 5+ years of product design experience, emphasizing achievements in early-stage startups, applied AI, and GTM enablement contexts. Use keywords like "AI-native product design," "interaction models," "systems thinking," and "zero-to-one."

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, strategic thinking, and how you approach challenges specific to AI product development. Prepare to discuss your portfolio projects in detail, focusing on your contributions and the impact of your work.

• Company Research: Understand Raydar's mission, its AI-native platform, and its focus on GTM teams. Be prepared to discuss why you are passionate about this specific problem space and how your skills align with the company's rapid growth stage.

⚠️ 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.

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