Staff/Lead Product Designer (63362)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff/Lead Product Designer

Company: THISTLE HEALTH INC

Location: Remote - United States

Job Type: Full Time

Category: Product Design / GTM Operations Enablement

Date Posted: 2026-05-20

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the design of user-centric experiences for both customer-facing applications and internal operational tools, ensuring a cohesive and high-quality user journey.

• Develop and scale design systems and repeatable guidelines to ensure consistency and efficiency across product, brand, and marketing initiatives.

• Drive user research and data analysis to inform design decisions, business strategy, and product roadmap development.

• Transition from an individual contributor role to a player-coach, responsible for building and managing a product design team, including hiring, coaching, and career development.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Product Designer," the responsibilities heavily involve the enablement of GTM (Go-To-Market) functions through consistent user experiences and scalable design systems. The reporting structure to the "Director, Data" and collaboration with "marketing, customer experience, and internal operations" further solidify its connection to GTM operations. The role also implies a significant impact on internal operations through the design of internal tools.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conceptualize, prototype, and execute user-centered design solutions for both consumer-facing platforms and internal operational systems, ensuring alignment with business objectives and user needs.

• Conduct and lead user research initiatives, synthesizing insights from data, member feedback, and industry best practices to guide design direction and inform business strategy.

• Develop, maintain, and advocate for a scalable design system, ensuring brand consistency and evolving design standards across product, marketing, and brand touchpoints.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management and Engineering to define design requirements, articulate design intent, and negotiate for optimal design solutions that balance user needs with technical feasibility.

• Present design concepts, research findings, and strategic recommendations to stakeholders, clearly communicating design intent and advocating for user-centered approaches.

• Act as the primary representative for the design function, facilitating design discussions and providing critical feedback within cross-functional planning and product channels.

• On Day 1, serve as the sole member of the product design team, with a clear mandate to build and manage a growing team, including hiring, mentoring, and guiding career development for future designers.

• Function as a player-coach, actively contributing to design execution on key projects while simultaneously fulfilling people management responsibilities.

• Partner with the marketing team to ensure brand consistency and enhance the brand's resonance and differentiation through design system evolution.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary responsibilities highlight a dual focus: direct design execution and strategic team leadership. The emphasis on internal operations tools, brand consistency, and cross-functional collaboration with marketing and customer experience indicates a strong GTM enablement component. The reporting to the Director of Data suggests a deep integration with data-driven decision-making processes.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: 10+ years of progressive experience in user experience (UX) design within product-driven organizations, with a proven track record of leading design for new products and feature enhancements.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated expertise in user-centered design methodologies and a strong portfolio showcasing end-to-end product design process and impactful solutions.

• Proven ability to conceive, plan, and execute user research projects, translating findings into actionable design insights.

• Deep experience in developing and scaling design systems, ensuring consistency and efficiency across multiple platforms and brand touchpoints.

• Strong proficiency in creating compelling prototypes and design specifications to clearly communicate design intent and requirements.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to concisely share insights and effectively present a case for strategic action.

• Experience designing for both web and mobile platforms, understanding the unique technical and usability constraints of each.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in hiring, managing, and mentoring other designers, demonstrating leadership capabilities and a passion for team development.

• Familiarity with data analysis and a data-informed design mentality, leveraging analytics to refine design instincts and drive continuous improvement.

• Experience designing for internal operational tools or business process optimization.

• Understanding of brand design principles and experience collaborating with marketing teams to evolve brand identity.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "10+ years" of experience, coupled with the "Staff/Lead" title and the expectation to build a team, indicates a senior-level individual contributor with strong leadership potential, aligning with a Staff or Principal Designer archetype. The requirement for a portfolio is critical for assessing design thinking and execution.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing at least 5-7 distinct projects, with a strong emphasis on end-to-end product design process from conception to launch.

• Detailed case studies that articulate the problem statement, your role, the design process undertaken (including user research, ideation, prototyping, and iteration), and the measurable impact of your solutions.

• Examples of complex system design, including the creation or significant contribution to a design system, its implementation, and its impact on scalability and consistency.

• Evidence of designing for both consumer-facing applications and, ideally, internal tools or operational workflows, demonstrating versatility.

Process Documentation:

• Ability to document design processes, rationale, and specifications clearly and concisely for cross-functional team understanding and alignment.

• Experience in creating and maintaining design system documentation, including component guidelines, usage patterns, and accessibility standards.

• Demonstrated ability to translate complex business requirements and user needs into structured design specifications and technical requirements for engineering.

• Track record of iterating on designs based on user feedback, data insights, and A/B testing results, with documentation of the iterative process.

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong portfolio is paramount for this role, as it directly demonstrates the candidate's ability to execute, think strategically, and lead. The emphasis on a "design system" and "scalable design solutions" suggests that candidates with experience in building or significantly contributing to such systems will be highly regarded.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $170,000 - $200,000 per year.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.

• Generous paid time off (PTO) and paid holidays.

• Opportunities for professional development, including conferences, workshops, and continuing education.

• Stock options or equity participation.

• 401(k) retirement plan with company match.

• Employee discounts on Thistle products.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility for remote work and potential for extended hours during critical project phases or team-building initiatives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The provided salary range of $170,000 - $200,000 USD aligns with senior/lead product designer roles in the US, particularly for remote positions in a tech-forward company like Thistle. This range is typical for individuals with 10+ years of experience and leadership responsibilities. The offer of "Up to 10% Travel" suggests occasional in-person collaboration or team events might be required.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Food & Beverage / Health & Wellness Technology. Thistle operates at the intersection of food delivery and health technology, aiming to make nutritious, sustainable food accessible. This unique positioning requires design solutions that are both appealing to consumers and efficient for internal operations.

Company Size: The company has likely grown significantly since its founding in 2013, with a recent job posting indicating a need for a designer to build a team, suggesting a current size of perhaps 50-200 employees, but with ambitious growth plans.

Founded: 2013. Thistle has established itself in the market and is now scaling its operations and product offerings, necessitating robust design systems and experienced leadership.

Team Structure:

• The Product Design team is currently a single individual (the hired Staff/Lead Product Designer) reporting to the Chief Product Officer (CPO).

• The role involves close collaboration with Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, Customer Experience, Data, and Internal Operations teams.

Methodology:

• Data-Informed Design: A core tenet, emphasizing the use of user feedback and data analytics to guide design decisions and product strategy.

• User-Centered Design: A fundamental approach, prioritizing customer empathy and needs in all design solutions.

• Scalable Systems: Focus on creating repeatable design patterns and systems that can be applied consistently and efficiently across a growing product portfolio and organization.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proactive engagement with various departments to ensure design alignment and impact across the business.

Company Website: thistle.co

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to make healthy food accessible and sustainable provides a strong context for the design team's work. The "Data" department reporting structure for the designer is noteworthy and points to a deep integration of data analytics into the design process.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a senior individual contributor (Staff level) with a clear path to becoming a design leader and people manager. It's a critical juncture for an experienced designer looking to transition into management while retaining hands-on design involvement. The "Lead" aspect signifies immediate responsibility for setting design direction.

Reporting Structure: Initially reports directly to the Chief Product Officer (CPO). As the team grows, the Staff/Lead Designer will manage a team of designers who may also report to the CPO or a Director of Product Design. This positions the role at a high level within the product organization.

Operations Impact: The designer will significantly influence the user experience of Thistle's core offerings, impacting customer acquisition, retention, and satisfaction. Additionally, by designing internal operational tools, the role will directly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of internal teams, contributing to overall business productivity and cost optimization. The role's success is measured not just by user engagement but also by the efficiency gains and scalability achieved through design systems and well-designed internal processes.

Growth Opportunities:

• Team Leadership: Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing product design team, establishing design best practices and fostering a collaborative environment.

• Strategic Influence: Shape the product vision and design strategy for Thistle, influencing key business decisions through user insights and data-driven design.

• Design System Mastery: Deepen expertise in building and scaling sophisticated design systems that support rapid product development and brand consistency.

• Cross-functional Leadership: Expand influence across product, engineering, marketing, and operations, becoming a key voice in strategic planning and execution.

• Industry Expertise: Gain specialized knowledge in the health & wellness and food tech industries, applying design principles to unique consumer and operational challenges.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role offers a unique opportunity for a designer to transition into people management and strategic leadership. The "player-coach" model is designed for individuals who want to remain hands-on while guiding others.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. This allows for a globally distributed team, offering flexibility and access to a wider talent pool. The company emphasizes asynchronous communication and digital collaboration tools.

Office Location(s): Remote within the United States, with a mention of California (CA) in the raw data, suggesting a strong presence or legal entity there, but the role itself is remote nationwide.

Workspace Context:

• Digital Collaboration: Heavy reliance on digital tools for communication, design collaboration, and project management (e.g., Slack, Figma, project management software).

• Asynchronous Workflows: Emphasis on clear documentation and communication to support remote collaboration across different time zones.

• Cross-Functional Interaction: Opportunities to engage with diverse teams, fostering a collaborative and learning-rich environment.

• Tools & Technology: Access to industry-standard design and collaboration software, with potential for investment in new tools to enhance team productivity.

Work Schedule: While the role is full-time (approximately 40 hours/week), the remote nature and focus on outcomes allow for flexibility in daily scheduling, provided key meetings and deadlines are met. There's an expectation of availability for critical cross-functional discussions and team collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The fully remote aspect means candidates must be self-motivated, excellent communicators, and comfortable working independently. The company's structure likely supports flexible working hours, but synchronous collaboration will still be necessary for key team interactions.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

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

• Portfolio Presentation: A dedicated session where the candidate presents their portfolio, discussing key projects, design process, and strategic thinking. Expect to articulate your role, challenges, solutions, and impact.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with key stakeholders from Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and potentially Data or Operations to assess collaboration style, technical understanding, and strategic alignment.

• Hiring Manager/CPO Interview: A final interview with the Chief Product Officer to discuss vision, leadership potential, and cultural fit.

• Potential Design Challenge: A take-home assignment or live design exercise may be included to evaluate problem-solving skills and design execution under time constraints.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Wisely: Select 3-5 of your most impactful projects that best demonstrate your ability to handle complex problems, your design process, and your leadership potential.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your specific contributions, the design process (emphasizing user research and data), your rationale for key decisions, and the measurable outcomes.

• Highlight Systems Thinking: Showcase any experience with design systems, scalable solutions, or internal tool design, as these are critical for this role.

• Demonstrate Leadership: Include projects where you mentored others, led design initiatives, or influenced product strategy.

• Prepare for Q&A: Be ready to discuss your design choices, trade-offs, and how you would approach future challenges at Thistle.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Business: Research Thistle's mission, products, target audience, and competitive landscape. Understand their operational challenges (e.g., meal preparation, delivery logistics, customer support).

• Focus on User & Business Value: For any hypothetical challenge, ensure your solution addresses both user needs and business objectives, demonstrating a balanced approach.

• Articulate Your Process: Be prepared to explain your problem-solving methodology, how you would gather information, and how you would iterate on solutions.

• Consider Scalability: Think about how your proposed solutions could scale with the company's growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will heavily rely on the portfolio as evidence of capability. Candidates should be prepared to deeply discuss their past work and demonstrate how their skills align with Thistle's specific needs, including the transition to team leadership.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (highly probable, given industry trends and collaboration needs), Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop).

• Design System Management: Tools for documentation and component libraries (e.g., Zeroheight, Storybook, or custom-built solutions within Figma).

• User Research: Tools like UserTesting.com, Lookback, Hotjar, or internal survey/feedback mechanisms.

• Project Management & Collaboration: Jira, Asana, Trello, Slack, Google Workspace.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Data Visualization: Tableau, Looker, Power BI (or similar tools used by the Data team) to interpret user data and performance metrics.

• Web/App Analytics: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude for tracking user behavior and conversion funnels.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a design tool, familiarity with how CRM data (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) and marketing automation platforms influence customer journeys can be beneficial for holistic design.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma is almost a given for modern product design roles. Experience with design system tools and analytics platforms will be highly advantageous, demonstrating an ability to work with data-driven insights and contribute to scalable design infrastructure.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Impact-Driven: A focus on delivering tangible results that contribute to business growth and operational efficiency.

• Customer-Centricity: Deep empathy for users, ensuring their needs and experiences are at the forefront of all design decisions.

• Collaboration: A strong emphasis on working effectively with cross-functional teams, valuing diverse perspectives and shared problem-solving.

• Continuous Improvement: A commitment to learning, iterating, and evolving designs and processes based on feedback and data.

• Ownership & Accountability: Taking responsibility for initiatives from conception through execution and advocating for best practices.

Collaboration Style:

• Partnership: Working closely with Product Managers and Engineers as true partners in defining and building products.

• Data-Informed Dialogue: Engaging in discussions grounded in user research findings and performance data.

• Proactive Communication: Maintaining open and transparent communication channels, especially in a remote environment, to ensure alignment and address potential roadblocks.

• Feedback Culture: Embracing constructive feedback from peers and stakeholders to refine designs and processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values of diversity, equity, and inclusion are explicitly stated and should be a guiding principle for how the designer leads and collaborates. The emphasis on "health of people" and "sustainability" likely translates into design decisions that prioritize well-being and conscious consumption.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building a Team from Scratch: Establishing a design culture, hiring top talent, and setting up effective team processes as the first design hire.

• Balancing Consumer & Internal Needs: Designing for two distinct user bases (customers and internal operations staff) with potentially different needs and priorities.

• Scaling Design Systems: Ensuring the design system can effectively support rapid growth and evolving product complexity across multiple touchpoints.

• Cross-Functional Influence: Advocating for design best practices and user-centered approaches across departments that may have different priorities.

• Remote Collaboration: Maintaining strong team cohesion and effective communication in a fully remote environment.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Direct experience in building and managing a design team, honing people management and strategic leadership skills.

• Product Strategy: Deeper involvement in shaping the overall product strategy and roadmap by leveraging user insights and data.

• Industry Specialization: Gaining deep expertise in the unique design challenges and opportunities within the health-tech and food-tech sectors.

• Cross-Functional Expertise: Expanding knowledge and influence across marketing, operations, and data analytics functions.

• Design System Architecture: Opportunity to architect and evolve a robust design system for a rapidly growing company.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenge and growth opportunity lie in the transition from an individual contributor to a team leader, requiring a blend of strong design execution and people management skills.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach building a product design team from scratch at Thistle, considering our mission and growth stage?"

• "Describe a complex system you've designed or contributed to. What were the key challenges, and how did you ensure scalability and consistency?"

• "How do you balance user needs with business objectives and technical constraints? Provide an example."

• "Walk us through your process for conducting user research and how you translate those insights into design decisions."

• "How would you ensure brand consistency across our product, marketing, and other customer touchpoints?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Thistle's mission and our approach to making healthy eating accessible?"

• "How do you foster a culture of collaboration and innovation within a design team, especially in a remote setting?"

• "How do you approach DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in your design practice and team leadership?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: Begin with an overview of Thistle and the role's context. Then, present each case study logically: problem, your role, process, solution, and impact.

• Focus on "Why": Clearly articulate the rationale behind your design decisions, supported by research and data.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals effectively to showcase your designs, prototypes, and research artifacts.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your solutions (e.g., conversion rates, engagement increases, efficiency gains).

• Address Leadership Potential: Be ready to discuss how you would mentor designers, set team vision, and manage performance.

📝 Enhancement Note: Expect questions that probe your strategic thinking, your ability to lead, and your understanding of Thistle's business. Be prepared to discuss both consumer-facing and internal operational design challenges.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff/Lead Product Designer position:

• Submit your resume and a link to your online portfolio through the provided application portal.

• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio prominently features case studies that highlight your experience with design systems, user research, data-informed design, and ideally, internal tool design. Tailor your project selection to align with Thistle's mission and the role's requirements.

• Resume Optimization: Clearly articulate your 10+ years of experience, leadership initiatives, and specific achievements. Use keywords relevant to product design, UX, design systems, and team management.

• Interview Preparation: Practice presenting your portfolio, articulating your design process, and answering strategic questions about team building and problem-solving. Prepare specific examples that demonstrate your ability to lead and influence.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Thistle's products, mission, values, and recent news. Understand their operational model and how design contributes to their success.

⚠️ 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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