Product Designer

American Society of Interior Designers, Inc; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Unknown Institute is seeking an exceptional Product Designer to shape the visual identity and storytelling for a new nonprofit Research Institute. This founding role focuses on consumer experiences and requires leadership across discovery, design systems, and cross-functional collaboration.

The candidate will design major customer journeys, partner with researchers, engineers, and marketing, and contribute to a digital center of excellence as the organization grows.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of product design experience in a consumer-facing context.
• 2+ years in a senior IC or design lead role within an in-house product org.
• Strong information architecture, user flows, typography, and layout skills.
• Experience conducting or partnering on user research and usability testing.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end product experiences from discovery to launch and iteration.
• Lead discovery and validation through research, data, and competitive analysis.
• Collaborate with product, research, and data teams to define success metrics.

Skills

Product design

End-to-end ownership

Figma proficiency

Prototyping

UX research collaboration

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Figma

Jira

Job description

The Opportunity:

My client is seeking an exceptional Product Designers to shape the visual identity and storytelling of a new nonprofit public benefit organization — its Research Institute. This is a founding creative role: the Institute is new, but it's built on the deep creative and visual equity of an established consumer brand. The Design team have always had the north star of putting user experience first as this is what they believe will help generate the largest ROI.

It's a B2C brand at heart: the end user is the everyday consumer. The strongest candidates will have genuine experience designing for consumer audiences.

Who They Are:

A well-known nonprofit medical research organization that enables people everywhere to access their genetic information, understand potential hereditary conditions and participate in a global research initiative — with the ambition to be the most significant contributor to scientific advancement, uniting people around improving health and understanding DNA.

What You'll Do:

• Own End-to-End Product Experiences — Lead the design of major customer journeys from discovery through implementation, launch, and iteration based on UX research / AB Testing / Qual & Quant research / understanding the user journey.


• Lead Discovery & Validation — Build a deep understanding of customer needs through research, behavioral data, experimentation, and competitive analysis. Prototype and test concepts early to reduce uncertainty and avoid costly rework.


• Use Data to Inform Decisions — Partner with Product, Research, and Data to define success metrics, understand behavior, evaluate performance, and improve experiences post-launch — you will be working closely with Marketing, UX Researchers and the Data / insights team.


• Contribute to the Design System — Evolve reusable patterns, components, and interaction standards in partnership with other designers and engineers. The company are doing a branding and UX alignment, so you will be implementing UX guidelines to contribute to their 'Digital center of excellence'.


• Partner Through Implementation — Work closely with Engineering throughout development, resolving design questions and ensuring the final product meets a high bar for usability and craft.

What You'll Bring:

• Experience — 6+ years of product design experience, including 2+ years as a senior IC or design lead within an in-house product organization.


• End-to-End Ownership — Experience leading complex digital products from early discovery through detailed interaction design, implementation, launch, and iteration.


• Exceptional Interaction & Visual Design — A portfolio demonstrating strong information architecture, user flows, interaction design, prototyping, typography, hierarchy, and layout across web or mobile products.


• Research & Validation — Experience partnering with researchers or running lightweight discovery and usability testing independently, knowing the right level of research for the decision.


• B2C Experience — Ability to see relationships across features, journeys, and platforms, improving both the immediate consumer experience and the broader ecosystem.


• Technical Proficiency — Advanced Figma and modern prototyping tools; experience with design systems and close engineering partnership. Jira familiarity a plus.


• Hybrid Availability — Able to work from the Palo Alto office 3 days per week, collaborating in person with Product, Design, and Engineering.