Staff Product Designer, Systems & UX – Web & Mobile Apps, Emerging Experiences

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer, Systems & UX – Web & Mobile Apps, Emerging Experiences

Company: General Motors

Location: Mountain View, California, United States (Hybrid/Remote options available)

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / UX Operations

Date Posted: May 07, 2026

Experience Level: Senior (8+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days/week in office for those within 50 miles of a GM hub) / Remote considered

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the design of complex digital systems and information architectures for emerging web and mobile applications within General Motors' innovative product portfolio.

• Drive the creation of scalable interaction models and user experience frameworks that define the future of GM's digital customer engagement.

• Translate cutting-edge technologies and evolving customer behaviors into tangible product concepts and design blueprints.

• Champion design quality and consistency by contributing to and leveraging shared design systems and component libraries.

• Collaborate extensively with cross-functional teams, including product management, engineering, and research, to validate and evolve new digital experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Product Designer," the emphasis on "Systems & UX," "Emerging Experiences," and "Information Architecture" positions this role squarely within the realm of UX Operations or GTM Operations, focusing on the foundational elements of digital product strategy and user experience architecture that underpin successful Go-To-Market strategies for new technologies.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and document clear product structures and robust information architectures to organize complex features, services, and intricate user journeys across digital platforms.

• Design and implement scalable, consistent interaction models that ensure seamless user experiences across both web and mobile applications.

• Translate nascent ideas, emerging technologies, and future customer behaviors into tangible product frameworks, high-fidelity prototypes, and comprehensive experience models.

• Create detailed, high-fidelity interface designs that effectively communicate complex systems across key screens, various states, and critical user flows.

• Identify, define, and document reusable design patterns and components to contribute to and evolve the company's shared design systems and component libraries, ensuring design consistency and efficiency.

• Foster strong, collaborative relationships with product managers, software engineers, UX researchers, and other stakeholders to explore, validate, and refine new product concepts and strategies.

• Elevate the overall design quality and strategic thinking within the design team through constructive critique, mentorship, and the promotion of systems-level design principles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strong focus on foundational UX strategy and system design, which are critical components of successful Go-To-Market operations for new digital products. The emphasis on information architecture and interaction models directly impacts how users will engage with future GM technologies, a key GTM consideration.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• 8+ years of dedicated experience in product design, UX design, or interaction design for web and/or mobile platforms.

• Proven track record of designing complex digital products that demonstrate strong systems thinking and a deep understanding of information architecture principles.

Required Skills:

• Advanced proficiency in modern design and prototyping tools, with a strong emphasis on Figma.

• Expertise in defining and mapping complex information architectures and user flows.

• Ability to conceptualize and design scalable interaction models for diverse digital products.

• Strong understanding of design systems principles and practical application in creating component libraries.

• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, adept at working within cross-functional and distributed teams.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience working on advanced, exploratory, or innovation-focused design initiatives, particularly in the automotive or technology sectors.

• Background contributing to or evolving large-scale design systems.

• Experience designing platform-level experiences rather than focusing solely on isolated features.

• Comfort and proven ability to work ahead of roadmap delivery, influencing and shaping early-stage product direction.

• Familiarity with emerging automotive technologies and their potential user experience implications.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "8 or more years" and the emphasis on "complex digital products," "strong systems and information architecture," and "ambiguous problems" clearly indicate a senior-level role requiring deep expertise and strategic thinking, aligning with a "Staff" level designation. The preferred qualifications further emphasize innovation and forward-thinking, aligning with an "Emerging Experiences" team.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a minimum of 3-5 complex projects demonstrating expertise in information architecture, interaction design, and system design for web and mobile applications.

• Clearly articulate your role and contributions within each project, especially highlighting your strategic input on structure, logic, and user flows.

• Provide detailed case studies that explain the problem space, your design process, key decisions, and the impact of your solutions.

• Include examples of how you have translated complex requirements or emerging technologies into tangible design frameworks or prototypes.

Process Documentation:

• For each portfolio project, provide insights into your design process, detailing how you approached information architecture, user journey mapping, and interaction modeling.

• Explain your methodology for collaborating with product managers, engineers, and researchers to iterate on designs and ensure technical feasibility.

• Illustrate how you have contributed to or utilized design systems and component libraries to ensure consistency and scalability across projects.

• Highlight instances where you've identified and solved complex UX challenges through systems thinking and a structured approach.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role focused on "Systems & UX" and "Emerging Experiences," a portfolio must go beyond static UI mockups. It needs to demonstrate the candidate's ability to architect complex digital systems, define interaction logic, and contribute to scalable design frameworks. This directly translates to their ability to operationalize new digital product strategies.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• The expected base compensation for this role is $188,200 - $288,500 USD per year.

• 📝 Enhancement Note: This salary range is based on the provided information and reflects a senior-level Staff Designer position in a high-cost-of-living area like Mountain View, California, within a large, established automotive technology company. Factors influencing the exact placement within this range will include the candidate's specific experience, skills, interview performance, and the prevailing market conditions for comparable roles in the specified tech hubs. Research on Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, and similar platforms for "Staff Product Designer" or "Senior UX Designer" roles in major tech centers like San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and New York City supports this range.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance.

• Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) for healthcare expense management.

• Robust Retirement Savings Plan (e.g., 401k) with potential company matching.

• Sickness and Accident Benefits for income protection during illness or injury.

• Life Insurance coverage for financial security.

• Generous Paid Vacation and Paid Holidays to support work-life balance.

• Tuition Assistance Programs for continued professional development and education.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering confidential support services.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time hours are expected, typically around 40 hours per week.

• 📝 Enhancement Note: Given the hybrid and remote options, flexibility may be offered, but core working hours will likely align with team collaboration needs and project deadlines. The role's focus on "Emerging Experiences" may sometimes require extended hours during critical concept development or validation phases.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Automotive Technology & Mobility Services. GM is a global leader in automotive manufacturing, undergoing a significant transformation towards electric, autonomous, and connected vehicle technologies. This role operates within the digital innovation arm, focusing on the software and user experience layers of future mobility.

Company Size: Large Enterprise (over 10,000 employees). As a Fortune 500 company with a global presence, GM offers stability, extensive resources, and opportunities for impact across a vast organization.

Founded: 1908. With over a century of innovation, GM has a deep heritage in the automotive industry, now rapidly pivoting to lead in future mobility solutions.

Team Structure:

• The "Emerging Experiences" team is a senior, specialized design group operating at the forefront of GM's digital innovation strategy.

• This team likely reports into a broader Digital Product organization, potentially within Engineering, IT, or a dedicated Innovation/R&D division.

Methodology:

• Data-driven decision-making, leveraging user research, market analysis, and performance metrics to inform design strategy.

• Agile and iterative development processes, with a strong emphasis on rapid prototyping, concept validation, and continuous feedback loops.

• Systems thinking approach to ensure coherence, scalability, and maintainability of digital products and experiences.

• Focus on user-centered design principles, translating complex technical capabilities into intuitive and engaging user experiences.

Company Website: https://www.gm.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: GM's transition into electric and autonomous vehicles means the digital experience is becoming as critical as the physical product. This role is central to defining that future, requiring a blend of deep design expertise and a forward-looking understanding of technology and user behavior.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Staff Product Designer. This designation signifies a senior individual contributor role, expected to lead complex projects, provide technical and strategic guidance to other designers, and influence product direction. It's a critical role for driving innovation and establishing best practices in system design and UX architecture.

Reporting Structure: The role will report to a Design Lead or Director within the Emerging Experiences team or a related digital product innovation group. Direct reports are unlikely at this level, but mentorship and guidance of junior designers are often expected.

Operations Impact: This role has a significant impact on GM's future Go-To-Market strategy for new digital products and services. By defining the core structure, logic, and user experience of these emerging platforms, the designer directly influences customer adoption, engagement, and overall brand perception in new mobility domains.

Growth Opportunities:

• Operations Skill Advancement: Deepen expertise in information architecture, complex systems design, and the UX of emerging technologies (e.g., AI, autonomy, connected car services).

• Leadership & Mentorship: Opportunity to mentor junior designers, lead design initiatives, and contribute to the strategic direction of the design function within GM.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Develop stronger collaboration and influence skills by working closely with executive-level stakeholders across product, engineering, and business units.

• Specialization: Potential to become a subject matter expert in specific areas of future mobility UX, such as autonomous vehicle interfaces, in-car digital ecosystems, or EV charging/management experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" level and "Emerging Experiences" focus suggest a role with substantial influence and potential for high-impact contributions, offering significant career development for experienced UX professionals looking to shape the future of automotive digital products.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model. Employees within 50 miles of a GM hub (like Mountain View, Austin, or others) are expected to work from the office three days a week. Remote candidates outside this radius will also be considered, indicating a commitment to talent acquisition regardless of proximity.

Office Location(s): Primary hub mentioned is the Mountain View Technical Center. Other potential hubs include Austin, Texas, and New York.

Workspace Context:

• The Mountain View Technical Center is a hub for innovation and technology development, likely offering a collaborative environment with access to cutting-edge tools and resources.

• Hybrid work encourages in-person collaboration for key design sprints, brainstorming sessions, and team alignment, while remote flexibility supports focused individual work and work-life balance.

• Expect a technology-rich environment with opportunities to interact with engineers and product leaders driving the next generation of GM vehicles and services.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time, with a hybrid model for those close to a hub. The nature of "Emerging Experiences" may involve periods of intense collaboration and focused work, requiring adaptability in scheduling to meet project milestones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model at a major tech center like Mountain View suggests a dynamic environment that balances focused design work with collaborative team engagement, essential for developing complex, integrated digital systems.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or Recruiter call to assess basic qualifications, experience, and alignment with role requirements.

• Portfolio Review & Presentation: A key stage where candidates present their work, focusing on complex systems, information architecture, and problem-solving methodologies. Expect to discuss your design process, strategic decisions, and impact.

• Hiring Manager Interview: Deeper dive into experience, leadership potential, and fit with the Emerging Experiences team's culture and objectives.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers, Engineers, Researchers, or other designers to assess collaboration skills and technical understanding.

• Systems/Design Challenge (Potential): May involve a short take-home assignment or an in-person/virtual whiteboard session to assess design thinking and problem-solving for a hypothetical emerging experience.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure for Systems: Organize your portfolio to clearly demonstrate your ability to design complex systems, not just isolated screens. Use diagrams, IA maps, and flowcharts to illustrate your thinking.

• Tell the Story of Ambiguity: For "Emerging Experiences," emphasize how you navigated ambiguity, translated nascent ideas, and defined structure where little existed.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, include metrics or data that demonstrate the success or impact of your designs, even if it's based on user testing or projected outcomes for new concepts.

• Highlight Collaboration: Showcase how you worked with cross-functional teams, managed stakeholder feedback, and incorporated technical constraints or opportunities.

• Figma Proficiency: Be prepared to demonstrate advanced Figma skills, including component creation, prototyping, and collaboration features.

Challenge Preparation:

• Brush up on core UX principles, information architecture best practices, and interaction design patterns for both web and mobile.

• Practice articulating your design process clearly and concisely, focusing on the "why" behind your decisions.

• Be ready to discuss trends in emerging technologies and their implications for user experience.

• Prepare examples of how you've contributed to or built design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role focused on "Systems & UX" and "Emerging Experiences," the portfolio review will be critical. Candidates must be able to articulate their strategic thinking, system design capabilities, and how they translate complex requirements into functional and user-friendly digital foundations.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration. Advanced proficiency is expected.

• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma, familiarity with tools like InVision, Principle, or Adobe XD may be beneficial for specific types of prototypes.

• Information Architecture Tools: Tools like Miro, Whimsical, or specialized IA software for diagramming and mapping complex structures.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Familiarity with user analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) and how design decisions impact key metrics is advantageous.

CRM & Automation:

• While not a direct CRM role, understanding how user data flows from various touchpoints into CRM or customer data platforms can provide valuable context for designing integrated experiences.

• Familiarity with workflow automation concepts can inform the design of efficient digital processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma is explicitly required. The other tools are beneficial for a comprehensive understanding of the digital product development lifecycle and how design integrates with broader operational systems.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & Future-Forward Thinking: A drive to explore what's next and push the boundaries of digital experiences in mobility.

• Systemic Thinking & Cohesion: A commitment to building integrated, scalable, and coherent digital ecosystems, not just isolated features.

• Collaboration & Cross-Functional Partnership: Valuing teamwork and open communication across diverse disciplines to achieve shared goals.

• User-Centricity: A deep understanding of user needs and behaviors, translating them into intuitive and impactful digital solutions.

• Design Excellence: A dedication to high-quality design execution, attention to detail, and continuous improvement.

Collaboration Style:

• Highly collaborative, requiring close partnership with Product Managers for strategic alignment, Engineers for feasibility and implementation, and Researchers for user insights.

• Expect a culture of constructive critique and feedback, essential for refining complex designs and systems.

• Emphasis on clear communication and documentation to ensure alignment across distributed and hybrid teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Emerging Experiences" team likely fosters a culture of experimentation, rapid iteration, and intellectual curiosity, balanced with the need for robust system design and scalable solutions that can eventually be integrated into GM's broader product strategy.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating Technical Ambiguity: Working with cutting-edge, sometimes unproven, technologies requires adaptability and a strong ability to define user experiences based on evolving technical capabilities.

• Scalability Across Platforms: Designing interaction models and information architectures that are consistent and effective across diverse web and mobile platforms, as well as potentially in-vehicle systems.

• Balancing Innovation with Enterprise Needs: Developing forward-thinking concepts while ensuring they align with GM's long-term strategic goals, brand identity, and eventual production realities.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring buy-in and understanding from diverse stakeholders (engineering, product, marketing) for novel and potentially disruptive design directions.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into Future Mobility: Gain unparalleled insight into GM's strategy for electric, autonomous, and connected vehicles, and how digital experiences shape these.

• Advanced Design Systems: Contribute to and learn from the evolution of large-scale design systems within a major enterprise.

• Emerging Technology UX: Develop expertise in designing for AI, machine learning, advanced sensor integration, and other future-facing technologies.

• Strategic Influence: Hone skills in influencing product roadmaps and advocating for user-centered design at a strategic level.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of digital interaction in the automotive industry, tackling complex challenges at the intersection of technology, mobility, and user experience.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to design a complex system with ambiguous requirements. How did you approach defining the information architecture and interaction models?"

• "How do you ensure consistency and scalability in your designs across multiple platforms (web, mobile, etc.)? Can you provide an example of your contribution to a design system?"

• "Walk us through a project where you translated an emerging technology or novel concept into a tangible product framework or prototype."

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about GM's vision for the future of mobility (Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion) and how do you see your role contributing to it?"

• "How do you approach critique and feedback from peers and stakeholders, especially when advocating for innovative design solutions?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Focus on Systems: Dedicate significant time to explaining the structure, logic, and information architecture of your case studies. Use visual aids like IA diagrams and flowcharts.

• Narrative of Evolution: Tell the story of how your designs evolved from initial concepts to well-defined systems, highlighting key decision points and trade-offs.

• Demonstrate Figma Mastery: Be ready to quickly navigate your Figma files to show component libraries, interactive prototypes, and collaborative features.

• Quantify Impact: Prepare to discuss any metrics, user feedback, or projected outcomes that demonstrate the value and effectiveness of your work.

• Tailor to GM: Connect your past experiences and design philosophy to GM's mission and the challenges of designing for emerging mobility experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should prepare to articulate their strategic thinking, systems design capabilities, and how they translate complex technical concepts into user-centric digital experiences. Emphasis should be placed on the "Systems & UX" and "Emerging Experiences" aspects of the role.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer position at General Motors:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the GM Careers portal.

• Tailor your resume: Highlight experience in complex system design, information architecture, interaction modeling, and working with modern design tools like Figma. Emphasize your years of experience and any contributions to design systems or innovation initiatives.

• Curate your portfolio: Select projects that best showcase your ability to design end-to-end digital systems for web and mobile. Ensure clear explanations of your process, strategic contributions, and any measurable impact. Be prepared to present this work effectively.

• Prepare for system-focused interviews: Practice articulating your design process and decision-making for complex UX challenges, especially those involving new technologies or ambiguous requirements.

• Research GM's future mobility vision: Understand their goals for electric, autonomous, and connected vehicles and consider how your design expertise can contribute to realizing these experiences.

⚠️ 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.