Senior Product Designer, Coursedog

• 4-6+ years of progressive UX/Product Design experience, ideally in B2B SaaS or other complex application environments, with at least 2 years in a lead or management role overseeing other designers
• Proven experience hiring, managing, and mentoring junior design talent
• Demonstrated ownership and hands-on experience scaling and maintaining complex design systems (e.g., in Figma libraries)
• Deep interaction design expertise with a strong grasp of usability heuristics, UX principles, and accessibility standards
• Strong systems thinking and information architecture skills—able to simplify complexity through clear, cohesive design that aligns with user mental models
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate design rationale, ask thoughtful questions, and provide and receive feedback gracefully
• Familiarity with contextual design and service design to support the full user journey—including how users engage with the product, adjacent services (like implementation, customer success, and support), and the broader ecosystem of tools they rely on to get work done
• Experience conducting or collaborating on user research and identifying when user insight is needed to guide design decisions
• Proven success in cross-functional collaboration with product managers, engineers, researchers, and stakeholders—acting as a strategic partner, not just a service provider
• Self-starter with a strong sense of ownership—able to manage multiple priorities, shift between strategy and execution, and thrive in a fast-paced environment
• Comfort with ambiguity and complexity; you bring clarity, momentum, and persistence to messy problem spaces

Desirable

• We're looking for a strategic, craft-driven Senior Product Design Lead to join our team and help shape the future of academic operations
• At Coursedog, we build tools for higher education that support curriculum management, scheduling, and student success—mission-critical operations that advance institutional efficiency, collaboration, and student outcomes
• This is your chance to transform institutional complexity into clarity—through thoughtful, user-centered design that empowers educators and administrators and expands access to opportunity for students
• We're laying the foundation for a design practice grounded in deep understanding of user needs and evidence-based decision-making—with strong support from product leadership and a shared drive to make the user experience a strategic advantage
• You'll help shape a culture where designers are trusted to lead and elevate the product experience through thoughtful craft and collaboration
• Lead and Mentor Design Talent: Recruit, hire, and manage a team of junior UX designers, fostering their growth and development through mentorship, feedback, and guidance
• Design System Ownership: Take full ownership of our design system in Figma, driving its strategy, evolution, and adoption across product and engineering teams to ensure consistency, scalability, and efficiency
• Strategic UX Leadership: Serve as the primary point of contact and subject matter expert for all things UX design at Coursedog. Provide strategic direction and thought leadership on user experience across the organization
• Design Experiences: Explore and refine product ideas from early concept through low- to high-fidelity prototyping—including live iteration with peers and stakeholders—solving complex UX challenges with clarity and polish through a rigorous, user-centered process that transforms complexity into intuitive experiences
• Content Design & UX Writing: Craft clear, purposeful interface copy that enhances usability, supports user goals, and reflects a consistent product voice—while identifying and addressing opportunities to improve UX writing throughout the experience
• Document Design Specifications and Ensure Quality Implementation: Create polished visual designs with UI specifications that support implementation, and partner with engineers to ensure design quality and alignment are upheld throughout the build process
• UX Evaluation: Identify and address UX issues through heuristic reviews, usability testing, accessibility audits, surveys, and usage insights—collaborating with research, design, and customer-facing teams to drive continuous improvement
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with product, engineering, research, and other stakeholders to ensure design solutions are aligned, feasible, and impactful—proactively communicating trade-offs, driving clarity, and advocating for users
• Strategic Design Thinking: Think holistically across functionality, usability, and visual design to guide prioritization, inform trade-offs, and shape strategies that balance user needs with technical constraints and business goals
• What Success Looks Like:
• You confidently lead product areas, quickly identify UX issues, and thoughtfully explore and evaluate solutions based on user insights and UX best practices—balancing strong design convictions with openness to feedback
• You raise the bar for design quality across the team and contribute to a more mature, scalable UX process
• You build strong partnerships across product and engineering by communicating clearly and proactively, thinking beyond your lane, and acting as a trusted thought partner
• You successfully build and manage a high-performing team of designers, empowering them to excel
• You drive the evolution and adoption of our design system, significantly improving design efficiency and consistency
• You bring curiosity, optimism, and design maturity to help transform a growing platform into a best-in-class user experience