Senior Product Designer

Spectraforce Technologies; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Spectraforce Technologies seeks a Senior Product Designer in Austin to lead the authoring interface design within a headless CMS (Sanity Studio preferred). The role focuses on complex enterprise workflows, content authoring and publishing, and collaboration with marketing and engineering teams.

The ideal candidate has 7+ years in product/UX design, strong Figma skills, and a proven track record designing authoring experiences for CMS platforms.

Qualifications

• Strong Product Design experience and capability to design CMS authoring interfaces.
• Experience with headless CMS platforms (Sanity Studio preferred; Contentful acceptable).
• Experience in content authoring, publishing, and content operations.
• Understanding of end-to-end content lifecycle and governance.
• Ability to design complex enterprise workflows and products.
• Proficiency with Figma and rapid prototyping.

Responsibilities

• Drive design of intuitive authoring experiences within Sanity Studio.
• Develop user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high‑fidelity designs.
• Define authoring interaction patterns, UX standards, and design principles.
• Balance business goals with governance and technical constraints.
• Collaborate with product, engineers, and design systems teams to implement authoring controls.
• Design experiences supporting content models, metadata, taxonomy, localization, and reuse.

Skills

Product design

CMS authoring interfaces

Headless CMS

Content authoring/publishing

Content lifecycle

Enterprise workflows

Figma/prototyping

Autonomy/initiative

Ambiguity handling

Tools

Sanity Studio

Contentful

Job description

Role: Senior Product Designer

Location: Austin, TX - Onsite 4 days weekly

Duration: 12 Months

Call notes from HM:

• Team Overview: Part of a cross-functional team supporting a major site rebuild initiative. The designer will sit within the UX Design track and work closely with UX designers, developers, content engineers, content owners, strategists, and other teams. This is an accelerated project with strong in-person collaboration.
• Position Overview: The designer will build a headless CMS authoring interface from the ground up. The goal is to create a one-stop experience where marketers and publishers can create, compose, review, and publish client web pages. The interface will connect with client's content platform, design system, and regulatory/compliance review process. The focus is specifically on functional product design and authoring workflows, rather than client‑facing website design.
• Must Have Skills:
  • Strong Product Design experience
  • Experience designing CMS authoring interfaces/workflows
  • Headless CMS experience; Sanity Studio preferred, but Contentful or similar headless CMS experience is acceptable
  • Experience with content authoring, publishing, and content operations
  • Understanding of the end-to-end content lifecycle
  • Ability to design complex enterprise workflows and products
  • Strong Figma/prototyping skills
  • Ability to work independently, take initiative, and operate in ambiguity
  • Must be able to hit the ground running with minimal handholding
• Nice to Have Skills:
  • Sanity Studio experience
  • Experience with regulated content/industries such as financial services, insurance, or healthcare
  • Experience with marketing content
  • Experience across multiple digital channels
  • Understanding of governance, compliance, metadata, disclosures, and content workflows
• Interview Process:
  • Approximately 3-4 interviews with subject‑matter experts/team members
  • Additional 30‑minute interview with HM
  • Interviews will assess product design expertise, CMS/content workflows, marketing content knowledge, cultural fit, self‑starter mindset, and ability to work through ambiguity.
• Extra Points:
  • Sanity Studio is preferred but NOT mandatory; relevant headless CMS experience such as Contentful can transfer.
  • Candidate must have personally designed the authoring interface/product, not just worked with CMS content modeling or platform architecture.
  • Content management/content modeling alone is not enough. Product design experience is the priority.
  • The designer will primarily focus on the authoring interface, while dedicated experts handle content modeling, governance, and broader platform architecture.
  • Functionality is more important than aesthetics. This is an internal authoring tool, not a client‑facing website.
  • Candidate should be able to design experiences such as selecting imagery, adding headlines, configuring components, motion/interactivity, and composing a complete webpage.
  • Q4: Build the authoring interface. Q1: Target readiness/launch. The first 30‑60 days are critical.

Manager is looking for someone proactive, self‑starting, comfortable with ambiguity, and capable of finding answers independently

JD:

This role will be part of the MarTech Planning and Enablement Team, aligned to the Content Enablement and UX Design Tracks of work for the duration of the initiative, and will play a critical role in designing intuitive, scalable authoring experiences within Sanity Studio. The designer will partner closely with marketers, content strategists, communication designers, product managers, architects, and engineers to simplify complex workflows, guide UX decisions for new capabilities, and continuously evolve the platform as business needs grow.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in content management systems, authoring workflows, and enterprise product design. They understand the end-to-end content lifecycle and can translate business processes, governance requirements, content models, and publishing workflows into clear, effective, and highly usable experiences that drive adoption and operational efficiency.

Key Responsibilities: Product Design and User Experience:

Drive the design of intuitive content authoring, editing, review, approval, and publishing experiences within Sanity Studio.

Develop user flows, journey maps, wireframes, prototypes, and high‑fidelity designs that support product development and stakeholder alignment.

Define authoring interaction patterns, UX standards, and design principles that enable scalable and consistent content operations.

Balance business objectives, user needs, governance requirements, and technical constraints to deliver effective solutions.

Partner with experience and design system teams to translate approved client‑facing patterns and components into effective authoring controls, previews, guardrails, and workflows within Sanity Studio.

Content Authoring and Workflow Design:

Partner with content strategists, marketers, UX designers, and platform teams to understand content creation, design system, and publishing requirements.

Design authoring experiences that support content models, metadata, taxonomy, governance, localization, and content reuse.

Streamline workflows to reduce manual effort, improve usability, and enable efficient content operations at scale.

Establish scalable authoring patterns that support platform growth and evolving business needs.

Research and Validation:

Conduct discovery activities to understand user needs, workflow challenges, and operational pain points.

Leverage user feedback, analytics, research findings, and usability testing to inform design decisions.

Validate concepts and prototypes with stakeholders and end users.

Use qualitative and quantitative inputs to continuously improve platform usability and adoption.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration:

Partner closely with Product Managers, Business Analysts, Content Strategists, Engineers, Architects, and Design peers throughout the product lifecycle.

Collaborate with development teams to ensure authoring interface designs are feasible, scalable, and aligned with platform capabilities.

Facilitate workshops and working sessions to align on requirements, workflows, and user experience decisions.

Advocate for user‑centered design and content first thinking while balancing delivery timelines and business priorities.

Required Qualifications:

7+ years of Product Design, UX Design, Service Design, or related experience. 3+ years focused on experience with content‑first authoring within headless CMS systems.

Proven experience designing enterprise applications, workflow‑based platforms, or content management solutions.

Strong portfolio demonstrating end‑to‑end product design across complex business problems.

Expertise in user‑centered design methodologies, interaction design, information architecture, and usability principles.

Ability to translate complex business requirements into intuitive and scalable user experiences.

Strong systems‑thinking and problem‑solving capabilities.

Excellent facilitation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Experience working in Agile product development environments.

Required Experience:

• Experience designing for headless CMS - such as Contentful or Sanity Studio, content authoring, publishing, workflow management, or digital experience platforms.
• Strong understanding of end‑to‑end content lifecycle management, governance, review, approval, and publishing processes.
• Experience simplifying complex operational workflows and business processes through thoughtful UX design.
• Demonstrated success partnering with marketing, content, product, UX design and engineering teams.
• Experience translating content models, design systems, governance requirements, and component architectures into intuitive authoring experiences.
• Experience establishing and evolving UX patterns, UI components, interaction models, and enterprise design standards.
• Skilled at balancing user needs, operational efficiency, platform scalability, and business objectives.
• Strong UX decision‑making capabilities informed by research, analytics, and user feedback.
• Advanced proficiency with Figma and modern prototyping tools.
• Prior experience designing solutions within headless CMS e.g. Contentful or Sanity Studio.
• Familiarity with content operations, digital asset management, metadata, taxonomy, and structured content principles preferred.

Success in This Role:

• Deliver intuitive authoring experiences that simplify content creation, review, and publishing workflows.
• Improve usability and adoption of content platform capabilities across marketing and content teams.
• Reduce friction and complexity in content operations through thoughtful workflow and interaction design.
• Establish scalable UX patterns and standards that support long‑term platform evolution and consistent use of the Design System.
• Deliver an authoring interface design that balances business goals, governance requirements, and user needs.
• Enable publishing and content teams to work more efficiently, accurately, and confidently within the platform.
• Help cross‑functional teams deliver business‑ready capabilities that improve content velocity, quality, and operational effectiveness at scale.