Lead Product Designer

Circle; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 173,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Circle is seeking a Lead Product Designer to shape high‑quality customer experiences across our currency, treasury, and payments products. You will own end‑to‑end design for complex product areas, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Research, and other cross‑functional teams to identify customer needs and deliver scalable solutions.

You will apply strong product judgment, lead design systems initiatives, and mentor designers to raise the quality of work.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in product, UX, or interaction design with ownership of complex end-to-end digital product experiences.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating product thinking, craft, and measurable impact across complex customer problems.
• Experience designing sophisticated workflows or platforms with interconnected products, systems, or user journeys.
• Strong systems thinking balancing customer needs, business objectives, and technical constraints.
• Experience partnering closely with Product Management and Engineering to influence product strategy, priorities, and execution.
• Ability to use research, data, and customer insights to make informed design decisions and build alignment.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end product design for complex customer journeys from problem definition to launch and iteration.
• Develop understanding of customer needs across payments, treasury, digital assets, and blockchain-enabled products.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Research, and stakeholders to define, scope, and prioritize high-impact problems.
• Use qualitative research, quantitative data, and product insights to shape design direction and influence decisions.
• Lead alignment on complex design problems and communicate rationale, trade-offs, and recommendations.

Skills

End-to-end product design

Systems thinking

Research & data-driven design

Cross-functional collaboration

Portfolio showcasing product thinking

Job description

Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is one of the world’s leading internet financial platform companies, building the foundation of a more open, global economy through digital assets, payment applications, and programmable blockchain infrastructure. Circle’s platform includes the world’s largest regulated stablecoin network anchored by USDC, Circle Payments Network for global money movement, and Arc, an enterprise-grade blockchain designed to become the Economic OS for the internet. Enterprises, financial institutions, and developers use Circle to power trusted, internet-scale financial innovation. Learn more at circle.com.

What You’ll Be Part Of

Circle is committed to visibility and stability in everything we do. As we grow as an organization, we're expanding into some of the world's strongest jurisdictions. Speed and efficiency are motivators for our success and our employees live by our company values: High Integrity, Future Forward, Multistakeholder, Mindful, and Driven by Excellence. We have built a flexible work environment where new ideas are encouraged and everyone is a stakeholder.

What you’ll be responsible for

Circle is looking for a Lead Product Designer to shape high-quality customer experiences across our currency, treasury, and payments products. You will own end-to-end design for complex product areas, partnering closely with Product Management, Engineering, Research, and other cross‑functional teams to identify customer needs, define opportunities, and deliver thoughtful, scalable solutions. You will apply strong product judgment and systems thinking to balance customer, business, and technical considerations, while influencing product direction, raising the quality of design execution, and contributing to a cohesive experience across Circle’s platform.

What you’ll work on

• Own end-to-end product design for complex customer journeys, from problem definition and exploration through launch and iteration.
• Develop a deep understanding of customer needs, behaviors, and workflows across payments, treasury, digital assets, and blockchain-enabled products.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Research, and other stakeholders to define, scope, and prioritize high-impact customer and business problems.
• Use qualitative research, quantitative data, and product insights to shape design direction and influence cross‑functional decisions.
• Lead alignment on complex design problems, clearly communicating rationale, trade‑offs, and recommendations to stakeholders.
• Identify patterns and opportunities across product areas to create cohesive, scalable experiences and strengthen Circle’s design system.
• Elevate design quality by contributing to team practices, providing thoughtful critique, and coaching other designers through complex work.

What you’ll bring to Circle

Core Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in product, UX, or interaction design, including ownership of complex end-to‑end digital product experiences.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating product thinking, craft, and measurable impact across complex customer problems.
• Experience designing sophisticated workflows or platforms with interconnected products, systems, or user journeys.
• Strong systems thinking with the ability to balance customer needs, business objectives, technical constraints, and long‑term scalability.
• Experience partnering closely with Product Management and Engineering to influence product strategy, priorities, and execution.
• Ability to use research, data, and customer insights to make informed design decisions and build alignment with cross‑functional stakeholders.

Preferred Requirements

• Experience contributing to or scaling design systems, design operations, or shared product experience standards.
• Experience designing products in fintech, payments, financial services, crypto, blockchain, or other complex regulated environments.
• Experience mentoring designers, facilitating design critique, or raising design quality and practices across a team.

Circle is on a mission to create an inclusive financial future, with transparency at our core. We consider a wide variety of elements when crafting our compensation ranges and total compensation packages.

Starting pay is determined by various factors, including but not limited to: relevant experience, skill set, qualifications, and other business and organizational needs. Please note that compensation ranges may differ for candidates in other locations.

Base Pay Range: $172,500 - $225,000

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, or any other protected status required by the laws in the locations where we hire. Additionally, Circle participates in the E-Verify Program in certain locations, as required by law.

Should you require accommodations or assistance in our interview process because of a disability, please reach out to [e-mail] for support. We respect your privacy and will connect with you separately from our interview process to accommodate your needs.