Staff Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer

Company: The Coca-Cola Company

Location: Atlanta, GA, United States

Job Type: Full time

Category: Product Design / UX

Date Posted: 2026-09-03

Experience Level: 10+ years

Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days in-office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead strategic product design initiatives across a diverse portfolio of digital enterprise and consumer experiences for a global brand.

• Shape product vision and roadmaps by co-creating strategy with Product Management and Engineering partners, focusing on seamless customer experiences and operational efficiency.

• Champion and evolve a global design system, ensuring coherence and scalability across web and mobile platforms, with a focus on integrating AI-enabled capabilities.

• Drive innovation by introducing and championing new design methodologies, tools, and AI-assisted workflows to enhance team speed and rigor.

• Act as a connective tissue across product teams, providing design leadership, mentorship, and practice building to elevate the overall design maturity within the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor with significant strategic influence, operating at a Staff level. The emphasis on cross-product scope, design system evolution, and practice building indicates a need for a designer who can think holistically about the entire digital ecosystem and mentor others. The explicit mention of AI-assisted design, agentic UX, and generative experiences points to a forward-thinking approach to product development.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Co-create product strategy and shape vision and roadmaps from inception for multiple product areas, ensuring user-centricity and business alignment.

• Craft and oversee UX direction across diverse product lines, guaranteeing consistency, quality, and user-centricity for various user personas.

• Proactively identify and dismantle organizational or technical barriers to design execution, confidently navigating ambiguity and building trust through sound decision-making.

• Communicate design strategy and impact effectively to executive leadership, crafting compelling narratives that drive stakeholder alignment and buy-in.

• Develop seamless, scalable design solutions that address complex, interconnected user needs and business objectives, prioritizing customer value.

• Establish and evolve a comprehensive design system, ensuring it meets the demands of a growing global product portfolio and integrates emerging capabilities like AI.

• Model and uphold exceptional design craft standards, ensuring a high bar for quality across all product experiences.

• Champion and implement new design approaches, tools, and methodologies, particularly those leveraging AI, to accelerate development cycles without compromising quality.

• Define and maintain governance practices for design systems, accessibility standards, and overall experience guidelines to ensure consistency and compliance.

• Collaborate with Product and Design leadership to refine the operational framework for design at The Coca-Cola Company, including rituals, frameworks, and best practices.

• Identify and address gaps in design practice maturity, proactively developing systems, workflows, or infrastructure to empower other designers.

• Mentor and develop design craft and strategic thinking within the team, investing in the professional growth of designers and the evolution of the design function.

• Lead critique, feedback, and review sessions to elevate the quality of team deliverables and enhance design judgment across the organization.

• Foster a culture of experimentation, reflection, and continuous improvement, making learning a visible and valued aspect of the team's operations.

• Build and maintain strong, trusted relationships with senior stakeholders in Product, Engineering, Data, and Research.

• Secure stakeholder buy-in through compelling storytelling and a proven track record of delivering tangible outcomes.

• Represent the design organization in strategic business discussions, advocating for user-centered principles with clarity and credibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a dual focus on high-level strategic influence and hands-on design leadership. The emphasis on "practice building," "governance," and "mentorship" at a Staff level suggests this role is critical for scaling the design function and establishing best practices across a large organization. The inclusion of AI-specific responsibilities underscores the company's commitment to integrating advanced technologies into its product development.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: 8-10 years of product design or UX experience, with a minimum of 2 years operating at a Staff, Principal, or Design Lead level.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated expertise in product design and UX, with a strong portfolio showcasing strategic thinking and thought leadership on complex, high-impact digital products that have achieved measurable business and user outcomes.

• Proven ability to co-own product strategy with Product Management and Engineering, influencing direction from a strategic level rather than just executing directives.

• Experience contributing to or significantly evolving a design system, including understanding and implementing governance practices, particularly concerning embedded AI components and their integration across platforms.

• Deep understanding of traditional UX, AI in UX, and Agentic UX principles, with the ability to articulate their significance and demonstrate practical application through examples.

• Exceptional storytelling and communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages to diverse audiences and consistently gain alignment from senior stakeholders.

• Proven success in mentoring or peer-coaching designers and influencing team capabilities beyond personal project delivery.

• Deep fluency in user-centered design principles, accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG), and interaction design across both web and mobile platforms.

• Proficiency in industry-standard design tools such as Figma, and modern AI-powered prototyping tools (e.g., Claude Code, Claude Design).

• Clear examples within the portfolio demonstrating how AI has been incorporated into design workflows, how AI capabilities have been evaluated, and how input/outcomes have improved over the past 18 months. Preferred Skills:

• Background in complex B2B SaaS or enterprise software, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), retail, or e-commerce environments, particularly those involving multiple user roles, geographies, and touchpoints, or building connected platforms from the ground up.

• Expertise in designing for or alongside AI-enabled and intelligent systems, including agentic or generative AI experiences.

• Experience operating across both consumer-facing digital products and internal operational tooling.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for specific experience with AI in UX, Agentic UX, and modern AI prototyping tools is a key differentiator for this role. The portfolio must explicitly showcase the application and impact of AI in the candidate's work. The preference for B2B SaaS, enterprise software, CPG, retail, or e-commerce backgrounds suggests a need for experience with complex business logic and diverse user types.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing strategic design leadership on complex, high-impact digital products with demonstrable business and user outcomes. This should go beyond wireframes and mockups to illustrate strategic thinking, problem decomposition, and solution rationale.

• Specific case studies detailing how AI has been integrated into design workflows, including the evaluation of AI capabilities and the resulting improvements in design inputs and outputs over the last 18 months.

• Examples of contributing to or significantly evolving a design system, including documentation of governance practices, especially concerning AI components and their cross-platform integration.

• Demonstrations of co-owning product strategy alongside Product Management and Engineering, illustrating how design input shaped vision and roadmaps from the outset.

• Evidence of leadership in mentoring designers or influencing team capabilities, showcasing impact on others' work and the design practice itself. Process Documentation:

• Demonstrate a structured approach to design problem-solving, including user research synthesis, ideation, prototyping, and iterative testing, with clear articulation of the process followed for selected projects.

• Showcase experience in establishing and adhering to governance practices for design systems, accessibility standards, and overall experience guidelines.

• Provide examples of how new design approaches, tools, or methodologies, particularly AI-assisted design, were introduced, championed, and integrated into team workflows.

• Illustrate methods for measuring the impact of design interventions, linking design decisions to tangible business metrics and user outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio is not just a showcase of visual design but a critical tool for demonstrating strategic thinking, leadership, and practical application of advanced design principles, particularly AI. Candidates must be prepared to articulate the "why" and "how" behind their design decisions and their impact.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $202,000 - $229,000 USD per year.

• This salary range is provided for the United States market and is benchmarked for a Staff-level Product Designer role. Factors such as specific location within the US, depth of relevant experience, and specialized skills (especially in AI and enterprise systems) may influence the final offer within this range. Benefits:

• Comprehensive medical insurance.

• A range of financial benefits, which may include retirement plans, stock options, or other investment opportunities (details to be confirmed with the hiring team).

• Relocation assistance is provided for candidates who are open to moving to Atlanta, GA.

• Annual Incentive Reference Value: 30% of base pay, indicating performance at target.

Working Hours: 40 hours per week.

• The role operates on a hybrid schedule, requiring 3 days per week in the Atlanta office. While the core work week is structured, The Coca-Cola Company emphasizes a growth mindset and agile approach, suggesting potential flexibility for dedicated high-impact work, balanced with the collaborative needs of a hybrid environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is competitive for a senior Product Designer role in the US. The inclusion of relocation assistance and a significant annual incentive highlights the company's investment in attracting top talent for this critical position. The hybrid model with specific in-office days is a key aspect of the work arrangement.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Beverage (Consumer Packaged Goods - CPG). The Coca-Cola Company operates at an immense global scale, influencing consumer behavior, supply chains, and retail operations worldwide. This context means digital products must be robust, scalable, and integrated with physical operations.

Company Size: Large Enterprise (Over 10,000 employees). This scale implies complex organizational structures, established processes, and significant opportunities for impact across a vast digital and physical ecosystem.

Founded: 1886. With over 130 years of history, The Coca-Cola Company possesses deep brand recognition and a rich heritage, now focused on modernizing its digital capabilities to drive future growth.

Team Structure:

• The role is part of a modern product organization focused on building products, platforms, and intelligent capabilities. Design, Product, Engineering, and Data are integrated into small, empowered teams.

• The Staff Designer operates across multiple product areas, acting as "connective tissue" rather than being siloed into a single product.

• Expect collaboration with Product Managers, Engineers, Data Scientists, Researchers, and other Designers, including senior leadership, across various business units. Methodology:

• Emphasis on a human-centered approach to product development, focusing on understanding how people work and simplifying complex systems.

• Agile methodologies are likely employed, with empowered teams owning their products from discovery through delivery and iteration.

• A strong focus on data-driven decision-making, personalization, automation, AI-assisted workflows, and decision intelligence.

• The company promotes a "growth mindset" and emphasizes four key behaviors: curious, empowered, inclusive, and agile.

Company Website: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture emphasizes a blend of iconic brand heritage with a modern, agile, and technologically forward-looking approach. The Staff Designer will be instrumental in bridging these aspects, driving digital transformation within a traditional CPG giant. The focus on empowered teams and integrated disciplines suggests a move towards more efficient, product-centric ways of working.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Staff Designer. This level signifies a senior individual contributor role responsible for setting strategic direction, influencing across multiple product domains, and driving significant improvements in design practice and craft. It's a role that requires not only deep expertise but also the ability to mentor and lead by example.

Reporting Structure: While not explicitly stated, a Staff Designer typically reports to a Design Lead, Director of Design, or Head of Product, and works closely with Product Management and Engineering leads. The role's cross-functional nature means interaction with senior stakeholders across the organization is frequent.

Operations Impact: The Staff Product Designer will have a direct impact on how The Coca-Cola Company serves its customers, accelerates growth, and operates its business through digital products. This includes shaping customer experiences, enabling sales and service teams with better insights, and optimizing complex operating systems. The focus on AI and intelligent capabilities suggests a significant impact on future operational efficiency and innovation.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization & Leadership: Deepen expertise in AI-driven design, agentic UX, or enterprise system design, potentially leading initiatives in these emerging areas. Opportunity to grow into leadership roles overseeing specific product portfolios or strategic design initiatives.

• Skill Development: Continuous learning in cutting-edge design methodologies, AI/ML integration in user experiences, and advanced prototyping tools. Potential for training, workshops, and exposure to new technologies and industry trends.

• Organizational Influence: Expand influence across the broader business by driving design strategy for key initiatives, contributing to the company's digital transformation, and potentially shaping the future of product development at The Coca-Cola Company.

📝 Enhancement Note: The Staff level is a critical juncture for experienced designers, offering opportunities to move beyond individual contribution to strategic leadership and practice building. The emphasis on AI and enterprise systems suggests pathways into specialized, high-demand areas within the company.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid Work Model. This role requires 3 days per week in the Atlanta, GA office, fostering a collaborative environment while allowing for some remote flexibility. The company is intentionally building a highly cohesive and collaborative team culture.

Office Location(s): The primary location is The Coca-Cola Company's global headquarters in Atlanta, GA. This location offers a vibrant city environment with a growing tech and creative scene and a relatively lower cost of living compared to coastal tech hubs.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative office spaces designed to facilitate interaction, brainstorming, and cross-functional teamwork.

• Access to modern design tools, including Figma and AI-powered prototyping software, within a robust technology infrastructure.

• Opportunities for frequent interaction with Product, Engineering, Data, and Research partners, fostering a dynamic and integrated work environment.

Work Schedule: Standard 40-hour work week, with a hybrid in-office requirement. The company's emphasis on agility and growth mindset suggests that while structured, the environment may support focused work and efficient time management.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model aims to balance the benefits of in-person collaboration with the flexibility desired by many professionals. The Atlanta location is positioned as an attractive alternative to higher-cost tech hubs, with the company investing in the employee experience and relocation support.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Review of resume and portfolio to assess experience, strategic thinking, and AI proficiency. Candidates must ensure their portfolio link is accessible (including any necessary credentials) directly on their resume.

• Design Challenge/Case Study: Likely a take-home assignment or an in-depth presentation of a past project, focusing on strategic problem-solving, design process, and impact. Expect to discuss how AI was integrated and evaluated.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Management, Engineering, and potentially other stakeholders to assess collaboration style, communication skills, and ability to influence across disciplines.

• Leadership Interview: Conversation with senior design or product leadership to evaluate strategic vision, leadership potential, and cultural fit with The Coca-Cola Company's growth mindset and behaviors.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Strategic Narrative: Structure your portfolio around compelling case studies that tell a story: the problem, your strategic approach, the design process (including AI integration), the solution, and measurable outcomes.

• Highlight AI Impact: Clearly articulate your role in using AI tools, how you evaluated AI capabilities, and the tangible improvements (efficiency, quality, innovation) achieved. Be specific about your contributions versus team contributions.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Include artifacts (wireframes, user flows, prototypes, system components) but focus on explaining the why behind them and the strategic rationale.

• Quantify Results: Whenever possible, present data and metrics that demonstrate the business and user impact of your design work.

• Address Governance & Systems: If applicable, showcase experience with design systems, accessibility standards, and governance practices.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Business: Research The Coca-Cola Company's business model, brands, target customers, and recent digital initiatives. Consider the unique challenges of designing for a global CPG company with both physical and digital touchpoints.

• AI & Agentic UX: Be prepared to discuss the nuances of AI in UX, agentic design principles, and how they differ from traditional UX. Practice articulating how you would approach designing for AI-driven features or systems.

• Strategic Thinking: Frame your problem-solving approach around business goals, user needs, and technical feasibility. Practice articulating a coherent experience strategy.

• Communication: Rehearse presenting your work clearly, concisely, and persuasively to different audiences, from designers to senior executives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on the portfolio and specific AI requirements means candidates must tailor their application materials meticulously. The interview process will likely assess not just design skills but also strategic influence, leadership potential, and the ability to integrate cutting-edge technologies.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration. Proficiency is essential.

• AI-Powered Prototyping Tools: Specific mention of Claude Code and Claude Design suggests familiarity with AI-assisted design workflows, code generation from design, or AI-driven design exploration tools. Candidates should be ready to discuss their experience with these or similar AI tools.

• Collaboration Tools: Likely standard enterprise tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Confluence for communication, project management, and documentation.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Experience with product analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude) to understand user behavior and measure product performance.

• Familiarity with data visualization tools or techniques to communicate insights effectively. CRM & Automation:

• While not a direct CRM role, understanding how design impacts CRM systems and customer-facing applications is beneficial.

• Familiarity with workflow automation concepts and how design can optimize processes for sales, service, or operations teams.

• Experience with enterprise software integration concepts is advantageous.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma is a baseline requirement. The specific mention of Claude Code and Claude Design indicates a desire for candidates who are actively exploring and implementing AI within their design process. Understanding how design integrates with broader enterprise systems and data analytics is crucial for this role.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Curious: A drive to understand user needs, business challenges, and new technologies (especially AI), fostering continuous learning and exploration.

• Empowered: Taking initiative, owning outcomes, and making confident decisions to drive product success and practice improvement.

• Inclusive: Valuing diverse perspectives, ensuring accessibility in design, and fostering a collaborative environment where all team members feel heard and respected.

• Agile: Adapting quickly to changing priorities, embracing iterative development, and delivering value incrementally while maintaining high quality.

• Growth Mindset: Believing in the potential for continuous improvement, embracing challenges as learning opportunities, and investing in personal and team development.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Deep collaboration with Product Management and Engineering is paramount, working as a unified team from strategy definition to delivery.

• Design System Advocacy: Actively participating in and contributing to the design system community, promoting its adoption and evolution.

• Feedback Culture: Engaging in constructive critique and feedback sessions to elevate design quality and foster collective learning.

• Stakeholder Management: Building trust and alignment through clear communication, demonstrating user value, and understanding business objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's core behaviors (curious, empowered, inclusive, agile) are directly applicable to the Staff Product Designer role, guiding how designers should approach their work, collaborate, and contribute to the team's culture.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Design: Ensuring design quality, coherence, and consistency across a vast and complex global product portfolio.

• Integrating AI: Navigating the complexities of integrating AI effectively and ethically into user experiences, balancing innovation with user trust and practical application.

• Organizational Change: Driving adoption of new design practices and technologies within a large, established organization, requiring strong influence and change management skills.

• Balancing Strategy and Craft: Managing the demands of high-level strategic influence with the need for exceptional design craft and attention to detail.

• Hybrid Collaboration: Optimizing collaboration and maintaining team cohesion within a hybrid work environment across multiple product teams.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI & Emerging Tech: Deep dive into AI/ML applications in design, agentic UX, and generative design through hands-on projects and company-provided resources.

• Strategic Leadership: Develop skills in product strategy, roadmap influence, and executive communication through direct involvement in high-stakes initiatives.

• Mentorship & Practice Building: Gain experience in formalizing design processes, building design systems, and mentoring junior designers, honing leadership capabilities.

• Industry Exposure: Potential opportunities to attend industry conferences, workshops, and pursue certifications relevant to advanced design and AI.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role presents significant challenges but also offers substantial growth potential for designers looking to make a strategic impact and work at the forefront of AI integration in product design within a globally recognized brand.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you influenced product strategy for a complex digital product. How did you ensure user needs were balanced with business goals and technical constraints?" (Focus on your strategic framework, collaboration with PM/Eng, and outcome.)

• "How would you approach designing an AI-powered feature that automates a complex task for our sales teams? What are the key considerations for user trust and adoption?" (Prepare to discuss AI ethics, agentic UX principles, and your evaluation process for AI capabilities.)

• "Walk us through your process for developing or significantly evolving a design system. What governance practices did you implement, especially concerning new technologies like AI?" (Highlight your understanding of system thinking, scalability, and cross-functional buy-in.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about The Coca-Cola Company's approach to product and design? How do you see your role contributing to our growth mindset and agile behaviors?" (Research the company's purpose, vision, and behavioral tenets.)

• "How do you foster collaboration and build trusted relationships with Product and Engineering partners, especially in a hybrid environment?" (Prepare examples of successful cross-functional partnerships and conflict resolution.)

• "Describe a situation where you had to advocate for user needs when faced with significant business or technical resistance. How did you navigate that and achieve alignment?" (Focus on your communication and influence strategies.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Begin with a high-level overview of your most impactful projects, then dive deep into 1-2 key case studies that best demonstrate strategic leadership, AI integration, and measurable outcomes.

• Narrative: Clearly articulate the problem, your strategic approach, the design process (emphasizing AI use and evaluation), the final solution, and the quantified impact.

• AI Focus: Explicitly detail your use of AI tools, your rationale for choosing specific AI capabilities, and how you assessed their effectiveness and user impact. Be ready to discuss your learnings from AI integration over the last 18 months.

• Engagement: Be prepared for interactive questions, design critiques, and discussions about trade-offs. Show your thinking process live if asked.

📝 Enhancement Note: Prepare to speak extensively about your experience with AI in design, your strategic thinking, and your ability to influence at senior levels. The portfolio presentation is a critical opportunity to showcase these capabilities.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on The Coca-Cola Company's careers portal.

• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio prominently features case studies demonstrating strategic design leadership, experience with AI-assisted design (including evaluation and impact), and contributions to design systems. Tailor your presentation to highlight how your skills align with The Coca-Cola Company's needs.

• Resume Optimization: Clearly state your years of experience, specifically highlighting your 2+ years at a staff/lead level. Ensure your resume includes your portfolio link with any necessary access credentials. Integrate keywords like "AI-assisted design," "agentic UX," "design systems," "product strategy," and "stakeholder management."

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, strategic decision-making, and AI integration experiences. Prepare specific examples for behavioral questions related to collaboration, leadership, and problem-solving. Rehearse your portfolio presentation for clarity and impact.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research The Coca-Cola Company's current product landscape, digital initiatives, and stated values (curious, empowered, inclusive, agile). Understand their business context as a global CPG leader.

⚠️ 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.