Principal Product Designer, Core

BetterUp; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Access to BetterUp coaching

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Flexible paid time off

Learning and development stipend

401(k) self-contribution

Job summary

BetterUp is hiring a Principal Product Designer in San Francisco to influence design excellence and shape AI strategy. In this role, you'll be a high-level contributor, leading complex design initiatives and mentoring senior designers. Key qualifications include over 10 years of product design experience, a strong portfolio, and exceptional communication skills, emphasizing design's crucial role in product strategy. The position offers competitive compensation and various employee benefits.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of product design experience at a consumer or B2B SaaS company.
• Portfolio demonstrating exceptional craft and systems thinking.
• Experience influencing product direction at senior leadership level.

Responsibilities

• Architect the design vision for BetterUp’s core product experiences.
• Drive design quality and craft standards across the product.
• Lead complex design challenges from 0 to 1 and 1 to n.

Skills

Product design experience

Systems thinking

Exceptional communication skills

Growth mindset

Job description

Opportunity

BetterUp is looking for a Principal Product Designer to join our Design team and shape the future of human transformation at scale. This is a rare opportunity to work at the highest individual contributor level in Design—owning domain-level craft, strategy, and systems thinking across BetterUp’s core product experiences. Reporting to the VP of Product Design, you will set the bar for design excellence, influence cross-functional direction, and help define what it means to build a world-class human-AI product.

What you’ll do

• Architect the design vision for BetterUp’s core product experiences—identifying the highest-leverage opportunities, defining the strategic direction, and ensuring continuity across complex, multi-surface journeys.
• Drive design quality and craft standards across the product, raising the bar for the entire Design org through rigorous critique, deep collaboration, and principled decision‑making.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Research to shape roadmaps from the earliest stages—bringing design perspective to problem framing, not just solutions.
• Lead complex, ambiguous design challenges from 0 to 1 and 1 to n, navigating organizational complexity with clear thinking and strong point of view.
• Build and maintain scalable design systems and foundational patterns that enable speed and coherence across teams.
• Mentor and elevate senior designers, providing thoughtful feedback that develops taste, confidence, and craft.
• Influence VP-level and executive stakeholders with clarity and conviction, earning trust as a thought partner on product and design strategy.
• Represent the design function in cross-functional planning, helping align design investment with company priorities.

What you’ll bring

• 10+ years of product design experience, including time at a consumer or B2B SaaS company where design played a central role in product strategy.
• A portfolio that demonstrates exceptional craft, systems thinking, and the ability to operate across the full design spectrum—from early concept to polished execution.
• Proven track record of leading complex, multi-year design initiatives with measurable impact on product outcomes and user experience.
• Deep experience influencing product and engineering direction at the senior leadership level.
• Strong design systems sensibility—you understand how foundational decisions compound across a product at scale.
• Experience designing products at the intersection of human behavior and technology; familiarity with AI-native product patterns is a strong plus.
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills—you make complex ideas clear and compelling to any audience.
• A growth mindset and genuine curiosity about how AI tools can enhance design craft and process.

AI at BetterUp

Our team thrives at the intersection of human expertise and AI capability. As an AI-forward company, we value continuous learning and experimentation. We expect teammates to integrate AI thoughtfully into their work to create exceptional results while maintaining human judgment and creativity.

Role expectations

• Shape company-wide AI strategy in partnership with executive leadership, ensuring design’s voice is central to how BetterUp’s AI capabilities are built and experienced.
• Remove institutional barriers to AI adoption and drive cultural change that embraces continuous reinvention across the Design org.
• Serve as BetterUp’s foremost design expert in AI-powered product experiences, with recognized internal and external influence.
• Directly contribute to competitive differentiation through breakthrough design applications that define market leadership.

Benefits

• Access to BetterUp coaching—one for you and one for a friend or family member.
• A competitive compensation plan with opportunity for advancement.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Flexible paid time off.
• All federal and statutory holidays observed.
• Four BetterUp Inner Workdays.
• Five volunteer days per year.
• Learning and development stipend.
• Company-wide summer and winter breaks.
• Year‑round charitable contribution of your choice on behalf of BetterUp.
• 401(k) self-contribution.

Salary

Base salary range for this role:

New York City and San Francisco: $250,000 - $320,000

Austin and Arlington: $230,000 - $285,000

Equal Employment Opportunity

BetterUp Inc. provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetics, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status. In addition to federal law requirements, BetterUp Inc. complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.