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: 2026-09-11T00:00:00

Experience Level: 10+ years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead strategic product design initiatives across a global brand portfolio, shaping vision and roadmap from discovery through delivery.

• Drive coherence, quality, and user-centricity across multiple product areas, including digital enterprise and consumer experiences, sales enablement tools, and operational platforms.

• Develop and evolve a comprehensive design system and shared experience frameworks, ensuring scalability and consistency across a vast global product portfolio.

• Champion the integration of AI-enabled and intelligent product experiences, exploring new capabilities and methodologies to enhance user workflows and decision-making.

• Act as a connective tissue across product, engineering, design, and data teams, fostering a collaborative environment to define and build the future of The Coca-Cola Company's digital ecosystem.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role emphasizes a "Staff" level designation, indicating a need for significant strategic influence, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to operate independently across multiple product domains, rather than focusing on a single product line. The integration of AI and intelligent systems is a critical and forward-looking aspect of this role.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Co-create product strategy with product management and engineering partners, shaping vision and roadmap from inception to execution.

• Define and maintain UX direction across multiple product areas, ensuring seamless, scalable design solutions that prioritize customer value and address complex, interconnected needs.

• Anticipate and proactively address organizational and technical resistance, navigating ambiguity with confidence and building trust through sound judgment and executive-level communication.

• Develop compelling narratives for design strategy, landing messages with senior leadership and aligning stakeholders towards common goals.

• Model exceptional craft standards and uphold a high bar for quality across all user experiences, ensuring intuitive, accessible, and elegant design solutions.

• Establish and evolve the company's design system, including governance practices, to meet the demands of a growing, global product portfolio, with a specific focus on embedded AI components.

• Introduce and champion new design approaches, tools, and methodologies, including AI-assisted design, to enhance team efficiency and rigor.

• Create and maintain governance practices around design systems, accessibility standards, and overall experience standards to ensure consistency and quality.

• Partner with Product and Design leadership to define and refine operational frameworks and ways of working that enhance team effectiveness and scalability.

• Identify and close gaps in practice maturity by building systems, workflows, or infrastructure that empowers other designers to perform at their best.

• Mentor and develop design craft and experience strategy within the team, actively investing in the growth and evolution of design capabilities at The Coca-Cola Company.

• Lead critique, feedback, and review processes that elevate the quality of the team's work and develop design judgment across the organization.

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

• Build deep, trusted relationships with product, engineering, data, and research partners at senior levels to ensure seamless collaboration and alignment.

• Secure stakeholder buy-in through compelling storytelling and a proven track record of delivering tangible outcomes, not just design artifacts.

• Represent the design organization in strategic business conversations, advocating for user-centered approaches with clarity, credibility, and influence.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly delineate a leadership role that extends beyond traditional design execution. It encompasses strategic influence, practice building, mentorship, and significant cross-functional engagement at senior levels, aligning with a "Staff" level design position.

🎓 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:

• A robust portfolio demonstrating strategic design thinking and leadership on complex, high-impact digital products with measurable business and user outcomes.

• Proven ability to co-own product strategy alongside product management and engineering, shaping direction from a top-down perspective rather than solely responding to directives.

• Experience contributing to or significantly evolving a design system, including its governance practices, with a specific focus on how embedded AI components function within and across platforms.

• Deep understanding of traditional UX, AI in UX, and Agentic UX principles, with the ability to articulate their differences and importance, supported by practical examples.

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

• Demonstrated success in mentoring or peer-coaching designers and influencing team capability beyond personal design output.

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

• Proficiency in modern design and AI-assisted prototyping tools such as Figma, Claude Code, and Claude Design, with clear examples of how AI is integrated into personal workflows, how AI capabilities are evaluated, and how input/output has improved over the last 18 months. Preferred Skills:

• Background in complex B2B SaaS or enterprise software, CPG, retail, or e-commerce environments that span multiple user roles, geographies, and touchpoints.

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

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on AI integration, design systems, and strategic leadership points to a candidate who can not only design but also architect and influence the broader product and design strategy. The requirement for specific AI tool proficiency and evaluation of AI's impact on workflow is a key differentiator.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrate strategic design leadership on complex, high-impact digital products, showcasing a clear link between design decisions and measurable business and user outcomes.

• Provide evidence of co-ownership of product strategy, illustrating how you collaborated with Product Management and Engineering to shape vision and roadmaps.

• Showcase contributions to or significant evolution of a design system, including its governance and how AI components are integrated.

• Include case studies detailing the application of AI in design workflows, the evaluation of AI capabilities, and demonstrable improvements in outcomes over the past 18 months.

• Highlight experience in navigating ambiguity, influencing stakeholders at senior levels, and driving alignment through compelling narratives and prototypes. Process Documentation:

• Illustrate how you establish and maintain governance practices around design systems, accessibility standards, and overall experience standards.

• Provide examples of defining and refining operational frameworks and ways of working that enhance team effectiveness and scalability within a product organization.

• Showcase how you identify and close gaps in practice maturity by building systems, workflows, or infrastructure that empowers other designers.

• Demonstrate a commitment to fostering a culture of experimentation, reflection, and continuous improvement through documented processes or methodologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio is critical for this role, needing to go beyond visual design to demonstrate strategic impact, leadership in design systems, and practical application of AI within design processes. The focus is on outcomes and influence, not just artifact creation.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $202,000 - $229,000 USD annually.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive medical insurance.

• Financial benefits package.

• Relocation assistance for candidates willing to move to Atlanta.

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

Working Hours: 40 hours per week (full-time).

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is specific to the United States and is based on the job posting's explicit mention of the pay range. The "Annual Incentive Reference Value" indicates a performance-based bonus component, common in senior roles. The benefits listed are directly extracted from the provided data.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Beverages (Non-alcoholic)

Company Size: The Coca-Cola Company is a massive multinational corporation, employing tens of thousands globally, indicating a complex organizational structure with extensive resources and reach. This scale necessitates robust, scalable design systems and processes.

Founded: The Coca-Cola Company was founded in 1886, signifying a long-standing history of innovation and market leadership, now integrating modern digital product development into its legacy.

Team Structure:

• The design team is part of a modern product organization that includes Product, Engineering, and Data specialists working in small, empowered teams.

• Design and research are central to this shift, with designers operating across multiple product areas rather than being siloed into single products.

• This Staff Designer role acts as "connective tissue" across teams, focusing on holistic product strategy and design coherence.

• Collaboration is expected at senior levels with Product Management, Engineering, and Data partners. Methodology:

• Emphasis on building products, platforms, and intelligent capabilities that shape how The Coca-Cola Company serves customers and accelerates growth.

• A shift towards digitizing existing workflows and creating entirely new capabilities in areas like personalization, automation, AI-assisted workflows, and decision intelligence.

• Small, empowered teams own their work from discovery through delivery and iteration.

• Design and research are integral to understanding user workflows and simplifying complex systems.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's ambition to build a modern product organization at its scale is a key differentiator. The role is positioned to be instrumental in this transformation, bridging traditional CPG business with cutting-edge digital product development, including AI.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Staff Product Designer - This is a senior individual contributor role requiring significant strategic influence, expertise, and leadership. It signifies ownership of complex design challenges, mentorship responsibilities, and the ability to shape design practice and strategy across multiple product domains.

Reporting Structure: While not explicitly stated, a Staff Designer typically reports to a Director or VP of Design, Product, or Technology. They are expected to work closely with Product Managers and Engineering Leads within their product areas.

Operations Impact: The role has a profound impact on how The Coca-Cola Company interacts with its customers, enables its sales and service teams, and optimizes its internal operations. By designing seamless experiences and intelligent capabilities, this role directly contributes to accelerated growth, improved efficiency, and enhanced decision-making across the global business. The integration of AI and advanced product design will be critical in shaping the future operational and customer-facing strategies.

Growth Opportunities:

• Operations Skill Advancement: Deepen expertise in AI-assisted design, agentic UX, and designing for complex enterprise systems. Opportunity to lead the evolution of the company's design system and practice.

• Industry Leadership: Become a recognized leader in product design within the CPG and enterprise software space, influencing best practices for digital transformation and AI integration.

• Leadership Potential: Progress into Principal or Director-level design roles, or transition into Product Management or leadership positions within the product organization, leveraging strategic design thinking.

• Cross-functional Exposure: Gain extensive experience collaborating with senior leaders across Product, Engineering, Data, and Business units, building a strong foundation for broader strategic roles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" designation indicates a high level of autonomy and impact. Growth opportunities are geared towards deepening strategic expertise, influencing organizational practice, and potential progression into senior leadership roles, both within design and broader product functions.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is based at The Coca-Cola Company's global headquarters in Atlanta, GA, and operates on a hybrid schedule.

Office Location(s): Atlanta, GA, United States. Relocation assistance is provided for candidates open to moving to Atlanta.

Workspace Context:

• Hybrid Schedule: Three days per week in the office are required, fostering a highly cohesive and collaborative team culture.

• Collaborative Environment: The focus is on intentionally building a strong team culture through in-person interaction, designed to facilitate innovation and problem-solving.

• Tools & Technology: While specific tools are detailed in the "Tools & Technology Stack" section, it's implied that a modern, well-equipped digital workspace will be available to support design and prototyping activities, including AI-driven tools.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction and collaboration with design peers, product managers, engineers, and senior leadership within the Atlanta headquarters.

Work Schedule: The standard work schedule is 40 hours per week, with the hybrid model allowing for flexibility in balancing remote and in-office workdays.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model (3 days in-office) is a key characteristic of the work environment, emphasizing the company's commitment to in-person collaboration and culture building, particularly for senior roles like this Staff Designer position.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Review of resume and portfolio to assess alignment with required experience, skills, and strategic design capabilities.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: Candidates will likely present their portfolio, detailing case studies that showcase strategic thinking, problem-solving, design craft, user impact, and experience with AI integration. This will involve deep dives into their design process, decision-making, and outcomes.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Management, Engineering, and potentially Data/Research partners to assess collaboration style, strategic alignment, and ability to influence across disciplines.

• Design Leadership Interview: Discussion with senior design leadership focusing on practice building, mentorship, design philosophy, and long-term vision for design at The Coca-Cola Company.

• Executive/Stakeholder Conversation: Potentially a final discussion with senior business leaders to evaluate strategic influence, communication skills, and ability to align diverse stakeholders.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Strategic Storytelling: Structure your portfolio around compelling narratives that highlight the problem, your strategic approach, the design solutions, and the measurable impact (user and business outcomes).

• AI Integration Focus: Clearly articulate how you've incorporated AI into your design process, evaluated AI capabilities, and measured improvements. Provide specific examples of AI-assisted workflows and their results.

• Design System Expertise: Showcase your experience with design systems, including how you've contributed to or evolved them, and specifically address how AI components are managed within these systems.

• Leadership & Mentorship Examples: Include projects or initiatives where you demonstrated leadership, mentored other designers, or influenced team capabilities and practices.

• Clarity and Conciseness: Ensure your portfolio is well-organized, easy to navigate, and highlights your most impactful work relevant to a Staff-level role. Provide access credentials clearly.

Challenge Preparation:

• Strategic Thinking: Be prepared to discuss your approach to defining product strategy, identifying user needs, and translating business goals into design solutions.

• AI in Design: Anticipate questions about the future of AI in product design, ethical considerations, and how to best leverage AI tools for efficiency and innovation.

• Stakeholder Management: Practice articulating complex design decisions and strategies to non-design audiences, demonstrating your ability to build consensus and influence outcomes.

• Design System Governance: Be ready to discuss best practices for establishing and maintaining design systems, including managing contributions, ensuring accessibility, and integrating new technologies like AI.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on AI within the portfolio requirements and interview preparation is significant. Candidates must be ready to demonstrate practical application and strategic thinking regarding AI in design, not just theoretical knowledge.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration.

• Claude Code & Claude Design: Proficiency is explicitly required, indicating a focus on AI-assisted design workflows and potentially generative design tools.

• Modern AI Prototyping Tools: General proficiency expected, suggesting an openness to exploring and adopting new AI-driven design technologies.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not explicitly listed, a Staff Product Designer would typically leverage user analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude) and potentially BI tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) to understand user behavior and measure the impact of design solutions. CRM & Automation:

• Experience with enterprise software and cross-functional workflows suggests familiarity with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and potentially marketing automation platforms, though direct hands-on use might be less critical than understanding how design integrates with these systems.

• Familiarity with integration tools and concepts to understand how digital products connect with broader enterprise systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "Claude Code" and "Claude Design" alongside "Figma" is a critical indicator of the company's investment in and expectation of AI integration within the design process. Candidates must be prepared to showcase experience with these specific AI tools.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Curious: A drive to understand user needs, business challenges, and emerging technologies, fostering continuous learning and exploration.

• Empowered: Taking ownership, making decisions, and driving initiatives forward with confidence and accountability.

• Inclusive: Valuing diverse perspectives, fostering collaboration, and ensuring design solutions are accessible and equitable for all users.

• Agile: Adapting to changing priorities, embracing experimentation, and iterating rapidly to deliver value.

• User-Centricity: A fundamental commitment to understanding and advocating for the user, ensuring their needs are at the forefront of all design decisions.

• Data-Driven: Utilizing data and insights to inform design strategy, measure impact, and drive continuous improvement.

• Efficiency & Optimization: A focus on streamlining processes, improving workflows, and delivering scalable, high-quality design solutions.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Seamless collaboration with Product Management, Engineering, Data, and Research teams is paramount, fostering a shared understanding and collective ownership of product success.

• Process Review & Feedback: An environment that encourages open critique, constructive feedback, and regular review of design work and processes to drive quality and learning.

• Knowledge Sharing: A culture that promotes sharing best practices, insights, and learnings across the design team and with partner teams to elevate collective capability.

• Experimentation: An environment that supports trying new approaches, tools (especially AI), and methodologies, with a focus on learning from both successes and failures.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's explicitly stated behaviors (curious, empowered, inclusive, agile) are central to the team culture. The role requires a collaborative approach that integrates design deeply into the product development lifecycle, with a strong emphasis on data-informed decisions and continuous improvement.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scale and Complexity: Designing for an organization of Coca-Cola's global scale presents significant challenges in ensuring coherence, scalability, and consistency across diverse markets and user types.

• Bridging Digital and Physical: Integrating digital experiences with a deeply physical product and distribution network requires innovative solutions that span both realms.

• AI Integration at Scale: Successfully embedding AI-enabled features into existing and new products requires careful consideration of user experience, data privacy, ethical implications, and organizational readiness.

• Driving Change: Shifting established workflows and mindsets within a large, iconic organization towards a more modern, product-centric, and AI-driven approach can be challenging.

• Balancing Strategic Vision with Execution: Maintaining a clear strategic vision while ensuring high-quality design execution across multiple product teams requires strong leadership and prioritization skills.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Operations Skill Advancement: Opportunity to become a thought leader in applying AI and generative design techniques to enterprise and consumer products within a CPG context. Deepen expertise in building and governing large-scale design systems.

• Industry Exposure: Gain insights into the complexities of global supply chains, sales operations, and consumer engagement for one of the world's most recognized brands.

• Leadership Development: Mentorship from senior design and product leaders, with opportunities to lead strategic initiatives and develop leadership capabilities for future senior roles.

• Cross-Functional Mastery: Extensive experience collaborating with and influencing senior leaders across diverse business functions, enhancing strategic business acumen.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to operating at Coca-Cola's scale and leading digital transformation with AI. Growth opportunities are directly tied to overcoming these challenges and developing expertise in cutting-edge areas of product design.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you co-created product strategy with Product Management and Engineering. What was your role, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on your strategic contribution and ability to shape vision.)

• "How do you approach breaking down organizational or technical resistance to design initiatives, especially when introducing new technologies like AI?" (Highlight your influence, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.)

• "Walk us through a complex, interconnected user need you addressed with a design solution. How did you ensure coherence and scalability across multiple touchpoints or user types?" (Demonstrate your ability to handle complexity and think holistically.)

• "How do you advocate for user-centered approaches in strategic conversations with senior leadership, especially when faced with business constraints?" (Prepare to discuss your communication strategy and ability to land messages effectively.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "How do you see AI evolving product design, and how have you incorporated AI into your own workflows? Can you share specific examples of improved outcomes?" (Be ready to discuss Claude tools and your experience with AI in design.)

• "What are your thoughts on building and governing design systems, particularly in a large, global organization? How would you approach integrating AI components within a design system?" (Showcase your understanding of design system maturity and AI governance.)

• "Describe your experience mentoring designers or influencing team capability. How do you foster a culture of continuous improvement and experimentation?" (Prepare examples of your leadership and mentorship style.)

• "How do you ensure design quality and adherence to accessibility standards across a broad product portfolio?" (Highlight your commitment to craft and inclusivity.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: Structure your presentation with a clear beginning (problem), middle (your strategic approach, design process, AI integration), and end (impact, outcomes, learnings).

• Quantify Impact: For each case study, clearly articulate the measurable business and user outcomes achieved. Use data and metrics wherever possible to demonstrate ROI.

• Highlight AI Integration: Dedicate specific slides or sections to showcase how you've leveraged AI tools (like Claude Code/Design), evaluated AI capabilities, and measured improvements in your workflow and output.

• Demonstrate Strategic Thinking: Go beyond showing final UIs; explain the "why" behind your decisions, your strategic considerations, and how you collaborated with stakeholders.

• Practice Your Pitch: Rehearse your presentation to ensure it flows logically, stays within the allotted time, and clearly communicates your value proposition as a Staff Designer. Be prepared for in-depth Q&A.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should heavily focus on demonstrating strategic leadership, AI proficiency, and experience with design systems and cross-functional influence. The portfolio is the primary tool to evidence these capabilities.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer position at The Coca-Cola Company:

• Submit your application through the provided Workday link.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your most impactful projects that best showcase strategic design leadership, experience with complex digital products, AI integration in design workflows, and measurable outcomes. Ensure it's easily navigable and includes any necessary access credentials.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your 8-10 years of experience, specifically emphasizing your 2+ years at a staff/lead level. Integrate keywords from the job description, such as "product strategy," "design systems," "AI-assisted design," "stakeholder management," and "mentorship."

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice presenting your portfolio, focusing on the strategic problem, your design process (including AI tools used and evaluation), the resulting solutions, and the quantifiable business/user impact. Be ready to discuss your leadership and mentorship experience.

• Research The Coca-Cola Company: Understand their current digital initiatives, their stated company purpose and growth culture (curious, empowered, inclusive, agile), and how your skills align with their transformation goals, particularly in AI integration.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with The Coca-Cola Company hiring organization before making application decisions.