Staff Web Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Web Designer

Company: Harvey

Location: San Francisco, California, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Web Design & Digital Product Design

Date Posted: 2026-08-07

Experience Level: Staff/Senior Staff (8+ years)

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• This role is instrumental in defining and elevating the design experience for Harvey's web-facing presence, including harvey.ai, focusing on driving awareness, engagement, and pipeline.

• The Staff Web Designer will own and evolve the website design system, ensuring scalability, consistency, and accelerated delivery across all web surfaces.

• This position requires leading end-to-end design processes, from conceptualization and user research to detailed technical specifications for web engineers and motion designers.

• A key aspect involves mentoring junior web designers, embedding best practices in responsive design, accessibility, and design-system governance to elevate the team's collective output.

• The role demands leveraging AI tools and emerging technologies to enhance design workflows, explore new interaction paradigms, and push the boundaries of what a leading legal AI website can achieve.

📝 Enhancement Note: The core focus of this role is on web design within a rapidly growing, category-defining legal AI company. While the raw input mentions "Web Designer," the "Staff" title and the detailed responsibilities clearly indicate a senior-level position focused on strategic design leadership, design systems architecture, and mentoring, rather than purely execution-level tasks. The emphasis on AI tools and the legal tech domain suggests a need for designers who can adapt quickly and innovate in a specialized, high-growth environment.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design System Ownership & Evolution: Establish and maintain a scalable website design system, including component libraries, pattern definitions, and governance standards to ensure brand consistency and accelerate development cycles.

• End-to-End Design Leadership: Lead the complete design lifecycle for web projects, encompassing user research, concept development, interaction design, prototyping, and precise technical specification hand-offs to engineering and motion design teams.

• User Experience Innovation: Drive continuous improvement in user experience, conversion rates, and accessibility across harvey.ai and related web properties through exploration, prototyping, and rigorous user testing initiatives.

• Mentorship & Quality Elevation: Mentor and guide junior web designers, instilling best practices in responsive design, accessibility standards (WCAG compliance), and design system governance, thereby raising the overall quality of the web team's output.

• Stakeholder Communication & Presentation: Effectively present design concepts, run design reviews, conduct stakeholder demos, and articulate design rationale with clarity and expertise to marketing leadership and cross-functional teams.

• AI-Assisted Design Integration: Explore, implement, and leverage AI tools and emerging technologies to optimize design workflows, discover novel interaction models, and enhance the overall quality and innovation of the company's web presence.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner closely with web engineers, motion designers, product marketing, and brand stakeholders to ensure cohesive and high-impact web experiences that align with Harvey's brand narrative and business objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities are structured to reflect a senior-level design role, emphasizing ownership, leadership, and strategic impact. The inclusion of "AI-Assisted Design Integration" is a direct reflection of the company's domain and the forward-looking nature of the role. "Cross-functional Collaboration" is crucial for a Staff-level designer who needs to influence and align with various departments.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• While no specific degree is mandated, a strong educational background in Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), or a related field is highly valued. Equivalent practical experience will also be considered. Experience:

• 8+ years of professional design experience with a significant focus on web and digital product design.

• Demonstrated impact and leadership at a Staff or Senior-Staff level, indicating experience in setting design direction and influencing product strategy.

• Proven track record of building, scaling, and governing design systems that effectively serve multiple teams and diverse use cases. Required Skills:

• Mastery of UX/UI Design: Deep understanding of user-centered design principles, information architecture, and interaction design for web applications.

• Design System Architecture: Expertise in creating, managing, and scaling robust design systems, including component libraries, style guides, and governance frameworks.

• Responsive Web Design: Proficient in designing for various screen sizes and devices, ensuring a seamless and consistent user experience across platforms.

• Figma Proficiency: Strong command of modern design tools, with a specific emphasis on Figma for collaborative design, prototyping, and system management.

• Prototyping & User Testing: Ability to create high-fidelity prototypes and lead user research and testing initiatives to validate design solutions and gather actionable insights.

• Accessibility Standards: Deep knowledge of web accessibility best practices (e.g., WCAG guidelines) and the ability to integrate them into design solutions.

• Systems Thinking: Capacity to approach design challenges from a holistic, systems-level perspective, considering long-term scalability and maintainability.

• Technical Specification & Handoff: Skill in providing clear, detailed technical specifications and effective hand-offs to front-end developers and motion designers.

Preferred Skills:

• AI-Assisted Design Workflows: Demonstrated experience leveraging AI tools and emerging technologies to enhance design processes, accelerate workflows, and explore innovative design solutions.

• Front-End Development Understanding: Familiarity with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, enabling effective collaboration with engineers and a deeper understanding of implementation constraints and possibilities.

• Mentoring Experience: Proven ability to mentor and guide junior designers, fostering their professional growth and raising the team's overall design quality.

• Stakeholder Management & Presentation: Excellent communication and presentation skills, with experience in leading design reviews, stakeholder demos, and cross-functional critiques.

• Experience in High-Growth Tech Environments: Track record of success in fast-paced, high-growth technology companies, demonstrating adaptability and the ability to deliver at speed.

• Experience in Legal Tech or AI-driven Product Design: Familiarity with the legal industry or AI-powered products is a plus, providing domain context.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" level implies a need for deep expertise in design systems and a strong understanding of technical implementation. The preferred skills highlight adaptability to new technologies like AI and experience in high-growth environments, aligning with Harvey's company description. The mention of "8+ years" experience and "staff or senior-staff level" directly informs the expected depth of qualification.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Showcase: A dedicated section or case study detailing the architecture, components, governance, and impact of a design system you have built, scaled, or significantly contributed to. This should illustrate your systems thinking and ability to create scalable design infrastructure.

• End-to-End Project Case Studies: Detailed case studies of complex web or digital product design projects, demonstrating your full involvement from initial problem definition and user research through to final design execution and technical hand-off.

• Interaction Design & Prototyping Examples: Tangible examples of your interaction design work, showcasing complex user flows, micro-interactions, and the use of prototyping tools (e.g., Figma prototypes) to communicate design intent effectively.

• Responsive Design Mastery: Visual evidence and explanations of how you've designed for a range of devices and screen sizes, highlighting your approach to adaptive and responsive layouts.

• Accessibility Integration: Specific examples or case studies that demonstrate your commitment to and practical application of web accessibility standards in your design process.

Process Documentation:

• Design Process Walkthrough: Clearly articulate your typical design process, emphasizing how you approach problem-solving, user research, ideation, iteration, and collaboration within a team.

• Design System Governance Model: Outline your approach to design system governance, including how you manage contributions, updates, versioning, and communication to ensure adoption and consistency.

• Technical Handoff Standards: Detail your methodology for providing technical specifications and assets to engineers, ensuring clarity and minimizing implementation friction.

• AI Tool Integration Strategy: If applicable, include examples or a discussion of how you have integrated AI tools into your design workflow to improve efficiency, explore concepts, or enhance outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Staff-level designer, the portfolio is critical. It needs to go beyond just showcasing final visuals to demonstrating strategic thinking, process, and the ability to build and manage complex systems. The emphasis on design systems, end-to-end process, and AI integration is derived from the role's responsibilities and the company's context.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• $146,600 - $219,800 USD per year. This range reflects the Staff level of the position and the competitive market for experienced web designers in San Francisco, California. Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical insurance plans designed to support employee well-being.

• Dental Coverage: Dental insurance to ensure oral health is maintained.

• Vision Coverage: Vision insurance for eye care needs.

• Retirement Benefits: Access to retirement savings plans to secure future financial stability.

• 401(k) Match: Company contributions to your 401(k) plan, enhancing retirement savings.

• Flexible PTO: Paid Time Off policy that allows for work-life balance and personal needs.

• Equity Plan: Potential to receive stock options or equity in the company, aligning employee success with company growth.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time work hours, typically around 40 hours per week. The on-site nature of the role in San Francisco suggests a structured work week, though flexibility may be available based on team needs and project demands.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is directly provided. The benefits are compiled from the ai_benefits field and presented with brief elaborations relevant to a professional. The working hours are inferred from "FULL_TIME" employment type and the "On-site" work arrangement, with a standard assumption for a full-time role.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Legal Technology (Legal AI), Enterprise Software, Artificial Intelligence. Harvey is at the forefront of applying advanced AI to transform professional services, specifically in the legal sector, by creating an enterprise-grade platform.

Company Size: The company is rapidly scaling, indicated by the "Staff" level role and the emphasis on building infrastructure. While an exact number isn't provided, the context suggests a growth-stage startup or scale-up environment.

Founded: Founded in 2022, Harvey is a relatively young company but has achieved significant product-market fit and investor support, positioning it as a fast-moving, innovative organization.

Team Structure:

• Web Team: The Staff Web Designer will be part of the Web team, which is responsible for harvey.ai and all web-facing surfaces. This team likely includes web engineers, motion designers, and potentially content strategists.

• Reporting: The role will report to leadership within the Web team, with close collaboration across Product Marketing, Brand, and potentially Product Management.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: High degree of collaboration is expected with Web Engineers, Motion Designers, Product Marketing, and Brand stakeholders to translate brand and product stories into compelling web experiences.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: While not explicitly stated, the emphasis on user research, testing, and conversion optimization implies a data-informed approach to design decisions.

• Agile & Iterative Development: The mention of "moving fast," "scaling fast," and "delivering at the pace a category-defining legal AI company demands" suggests an agile or iterative development methodology.

• AI Integration: A core methodology is the proactive integration of AI tools to enhance workflows, explore new paradigms, and push technological boundaries in design.

Company Website: https://www.harvey.ai/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company context is pieced together from the provided description and LinkedIn data. The "legal AI" and "enterprise-grade platform" aspects are crucial for understanding the company's mission and the type of design challenges the role will face. The emphasis on "moving fast" and "scaling fast" indicates a dynamic, startup-like culture.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level:

• Staff/Senior-Staff Designer: This level signifies a highly experienced individual contributor who is expected to provide technical leadership, set strategic design direction for web experiences, and mentor others. The role involves significant ownership and influence over the company's external web presence.

Reporting Structure:

• The Staff Web Designer will likely report to a Web Design Lead, Director of Web, or Head of Design/Marketing. They will work closely with peers in web engineering and collaborate extensively with Product Marketing and Brand teams. Operations Impact:

• Brand Perception: Directly shapes how the world first encounters Harvey, influencing brand perception, credibility, and market positioning in the competitive legal AI space.

• Lead Generation & Pipeline: Designs web experiences optimized for awareness, engagement, and conversion, directly contributing to the sales pipeline and business growth.

• Design System Scalability: Establishes design infrastructure that enables the company to scale its web presence efficiently and maintain brand integrity as it grows.

• Innovation Driver: Explores and integrates new technologies (like AI) into design, potentially setting new standards for web experiences in the legal tech industry.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Expansion: Potential to grow into a Design Lead or Manager role as the design team expands, overseeing strategy and team development.

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in design systems, AI-driven design, or user experience strategy within the specialized legal tech domain.

• Cross-functional Influence: Develop broader strategic influence across product marketing, brand, and product development by demonstrating impact and effective collaboration.

• Category Defining Impact: Contribute to building a "generational company" and defining a new category, offering unparalleled career development and professional fulfillment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The career analysis is based on the "Staff" title and the responsibilities. The "Operations Impact" section reinterprets the role's influence through an operational lens, linking design work to business outcomes like pipeline generation and brand perception, which is key for operations-focused roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is on-site in San Francisco, California, suggesting a traditional office environment designed for collaboration and focused work. Harvey's description emphasizes a fast-paced, ownership-driven culture, which often translates to an energetic and dynamic office atmosphere.

Office Location(s): San Francisco, California, United States. This location places the role within a major tech hub, offering access to talent, resources, and networking opportunities.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The office setting is conducive to close collaboration with web engineers, motion designers, and marketing teams, facilitating rapid iteration and problem-solving.

• Tools & Technology: Access to modern design tools (Figma) and potentially cutting-edge AI design technologies will be standard. The company's focus on AI suggests a tech-forward environment.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction with a high-caliber team, including mentorship from senior designers and exposure to leadership, are inherent in the role.

Work Schedule:

• The role is full-time, on-site, likely adhering to standard business hours in the Pacific Time Zone. The emphasis on "intensity" and "job's not finished" suggests a culture where dedication is valued, but the "flexible PTO" benefit points towards a balance of commitment and personal well-being.

📝 Enhancement Note: The description of the work environment is inferred from the "On-site" status, the San Francisco location, and the company's stated values and pace. The focus is on how these elements impact the operations professional's daily experience and collaborative opportunities.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess experience, skills, and alignment with the Staff Web Designer role.

• Portfolio Presentation & Deep Dive: An interview where you will present your portfolio, focusing on key case studies that demonstrate your design system expertise, end-to-end process, and impact. Expect detailed questions about your design rationale, problem-solving approach, and how you've driven results.

• Design Challenge/Exercise: Potentially a practical design exercise or case study to evaluate your problem-solving skills, design thinking, and ability to apply your expertise to a hypothetical Harvey-related challenge.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Web Engineering, Product Marketing, and Brand teams to assess collaboration skills, communication effectiveness, and cultural fit.

• Leadership Interview: A final discussion with senior leadership to assess strategic thinking, leadership potential, and overall alignment with Harvey's mission and values.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Design Systems: Dedicate significant time to showcasing your design system work. Explain its architecture, governance, how you scaled it, and the impact it had on efficiency and consistency.

• Structure Case Studies: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your role and process, the solutions you designed, and the measurable outcomes (e.g., improved conversion, reduced design/dev time, enhanced user satisfaction).

• Articulate Design Rationale: Be prepared to explain why you made specific design decisions, referencing user research, best practices, and business objectives.

• Showcase AI Integration: If you have experience using AI tools in design, highlight this. Explain how it enhanced your workflow, creativity, or the final output.

• Demonstrate Mentorship: If possible, include examples or discuss your approach to mentoring junior designers.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Harvey's Brand & Product: Research harvey.ai thoroughly. Understand its mission, target audience, and the unique challenges of designing for legal AI.

• Anticipate Design System Questions: Be ready to discuss design system best practices, challenges, and how you'd approach evolving one for a company like Harvey.

• Focus on Impact: Frame your responses and portfolio examples around the impact you've had on business goals, user experience, and team efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section is tailored to a senior design role, emphasizing the portfolio's importance and the need to showcase strategic thinking beyond execution. The inclusion of AI and design systems is critical.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for design, prototyping, and design system management. Mastery is essential.

• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma's native capabilities, experience with tools like InVision, Axure, or similar for advanced prototyping may be beneficial.

• User Research & Testing Platforms: Tools like UserTesting.com, Maze, Hotjar, or similar for conducting user research and gathering feedback.

• AI Design Tools: Proficiency or demonstrated interest in AI-assisted design tools (e.g., Midjourney for concept exploration, AI-powered plugins for Figma) is a significant plus.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Web Analytics Platforms: Experience with Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or similar to understand user behavior, track conversion rates, and measure the impact of design changes.

• Data Visualization Tools: Familiarity with tools like Tableau, Looker, or Power BI for analyzing design performance data and presenting insights to stakeholders.

Collaboration & Project Management:

• Project Management Software: Experience with tools like Jira, Asana, Trello, or Monday.com for managing design projects and workflows.

• Communication Platforms: Proficiency in Slack, Microsoft Teams, or similar for team communication and collaboration.

• Documentation Platforms: Tools like Notion, Confluence, or Google Workspace for documentation, specification writing, and knowledge sharing.

📝 Enhancement Note: The tools listed are standard for a senior web designer role, with a specific emphasis on Figma and the emerging category of AI design tools, reflecting the company's domain.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Decisiveness: Acting quickly on clear judgment, embracing calculated risks, and moving forward with clear decisions to maintain momentum in a fast-paced environment.

• Simplicity: Believing that simplicity is key to scalability and effective communication. This applies to design solutions, processes, and interactions.

• Job's Not Finished: A commitment to continuous improvement, never being satisfied with the current state, and always pushing for excellence and innovation.

• Ownership: Taking responsibility for outcomes, driving projects to completion, and acting with a sense of accountability for the company's success.

• Customer Proximity: Staying deeply connected to customer needs and feedback to ensure that design solutions are valuable and relevant.

Collaboration Style:

• Intense & Driven: The team operates with intensity, driven by a shared mission and a high bar for excellence.

• Cross-functional Integration: Collaboration is fluid and integrated across departments (Web Engineering, Product Marketing, Brand) to ensure cohesive strategy and execution.

• Feedback-Oriented: A culture that encourages open feedback and critiques to elevate the quality of work.

• Fast-Paced Iteration: Embracing rapid iteration and learning, with a focus on shipping and improving based on real-world performance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values ("Decisiveness, Simplicity, Job's Not Finished") are directly pulled from the description and interpreted in the context of a design role. The collaboration style is inferred from the company's description of its team dynamics.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling a Design System in a Rapidly Growing Company: Ensuring the design system remains robust, scalable, and consistently adopted as the company expands its web presence and product offerings.

• Balancing Innovation with Consistency: Pushing the boundaries of web design with AI while maintaining a consistent and coherent brand experience across all touchpoints.

• High-Pace, High-Bar Environment: Thriving in a demanding culture that requires quick decision-making, high-quality output, and continuous adaptation to new technologies and business needs.

• Defining a New Category: Contributing to the design of web experiences for a nascent category (legal AI), which requires foresight, research, and the ability to educate the market.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design System Strategy: Opportunity to lead and evolve a critical design infrastructure in a high-growth context.

• AI in Design Exploration: Hands-on experience integrating and experimenting with cutting-edge AI tools and methodologies in a practical design setting.

• Industry Leadership: Contributing to the design of a category-defining product, offering significant professional development and visibility.

• Mentorship & Team Building: Developing leadership and mentoring skills by guiding junior designers and contributing to the growth of the design function.

• Domain Expertise: Gaining deep knowledge of the legal tech industry and the application of AI in professional services.

📝 Enhancement Note: Challenges and growth opportunities are framed around the unique aspects of Harvey's business (legal AI, rapid growth) and the senior nature of the role (design systems, leadership).

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you built or significantly evolved a design system. What were the key challenges, how did you address them, and what was the impact on design and development velocity?" (Focus on systems thinking, governance, and impact.)

• "How do you approach balancing innovation with maintaining brand consistency, especially when incorporating new technologies like AI into web experiences?" (Assess understanding of brand strategy and practical application of new tech.)

• "Walk us through your process for leading an end-to-end web design project, from initial concept to final handoff. What are the critical checkpoints and how do you ensure alignment with stakeholders?" (Evaluate process, collaboration, and project management skills.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your research, how do you see your design philosophy aligning with Harvey's values of Decisiveness, Simplicity, and Job's Not Finished?" (Test understanding of company culture and self-awareness.)

• "How would you approach mentoring junior designers within a fast-paced, high-growth environment like Harvey?" (Assess leadership and team development capabilities.)

• "What excites you most about the intersection of AI and the legal industry, and how do you see design playing a role in that future?" (Gauge passion for the domain and forward-thinking perspective.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Prioritize Design System Case Study: Dedicate a significant portion of your presentation to a deep dive into your design system experience. Highlight architecture, components, governance, and quantifiable benefits.

• Showcase End-to-End Problem Solving: Select 1-2 other case studies that best demonstrate your ability to tackle complex problems from start to finish, clearly articulating the user need, your design process, and the resulting impact.

• Articulate AI Tool Usage: If you have experience with AI in design, clearly explain how you used it, what the outcome was, and what you learned.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, use metrics (e.g., conversion lift, time savings, user satisfaction scores) to demonstrate the business value of your design work.

• Be Ready for Technical Questions: As a Staff-level designer, expect questions about responsive implementation, accessibility, and working with engineers.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview questions and preparation tips are designed for a Staff-level role, focusing on strategic thinking, system design, and leadership, in addition to core design skills, with specific relevance to Harvey's domain and culture.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Web Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided application link on Ashby.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to prominently feature your experience with design systems, end-to-end web design projects, and any relevant AI tool integration. Prioritize case studies that demonstrate strategic thinking and measurable impact.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly highlights your 8+ years of experience, staff-level contributions, expertise in Figma, design systems, and experience in fast-paced, high-growth environments. Use keywords from the job description.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, design rationale, and how your work aligns with Harvey's values. Prepare to present your portfolio effectively, focusing on the impact and scalability of your solutions.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Harvey, its mission, its product (harvey.ai), and its stated company values. Understand the legal tech landscape and the role of AI in professional services.

⚠️ 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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