Senior Product Designer

Lightning AI; New York (NY); On-site; USD 160,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Discretionary bonus

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Lightning AI in New York City is seeking a senior product designer to shape the machine learning platform and user experience. You will collaborate with product and engineering to turn concepts into end‑to‑end flows, prototypes, and shipped features.

This hybrid role requires in-office presence 2 days per week, with NYC as the preferred location and consideration for San Francisco. The base salary ranges from $160,000 to $200,000 USD, plus discretionary bonus, equity, and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience designing B2C software or technical platforms, preferably in developer tools, AI/ML, or SaaS environments
• Strong portfolio showing end-to-end product thinking across UX, interaction, and visual design
• Experience collaborating with product managers, engineers, and researchers to iterate quickly
• Curiosity about open-source AI ecosystem and needs of contributors and enterprise teams
• Comfort working in ambiguity across multiple product maturity levels
• Proficiency in Figma and modern design tools

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with product and engineering to shape user experience, interface, interactions, and visual design of features
• Craft user journeys, flows, prototypes, and designs from scratch or by refining prototypes
• Identify design opportunities and drive continuous improvement aligned with business and user needs
• Engage with open-source AI community and enterprise researchers to understand real-world workflows
• Eliminate friction and reduce papercuts to onboard and use the platform from day one
• Advocate for scalable, user-centered design systems and faster design velocity

Skills

UX design

Visual design

Prototyping

Figma

Cross-functional collaboration

Open-source ecosystem understanding

Tools

Figma

Modern design tools

Job description

Who We Are

Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning. Founded in 2019, we build an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems—designed to take ideas from research to production with less friction.

Through our merger with Voltage Park, a neocloud and AI Factory, Lightning AI combines developer‑first software with cost‑efficient, large‑scale compute. Teams get the tools they need for experimentation, training, and production inference, with security, observability, and control built in.

We serve solo researchers, startups, and large enterprises. Lightning AI operates globally with offices in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and London, and is backed by Coatue, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Firstminute.

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for a senior product designer to help us design groundbreaking technology that will transform the machine learning ecosystem and fundamentally change how the world experiences software. With a diverse skill set spanning product, interaction, and visual design, you are able to create products that are a joy to use and add tangible value to our users.

You will collaborate across product and engineering to bring user flows and designs to life while working closely with users to test new ideas, conduct research, and gather feedback. You thrive in a fast‑paced, start‑up environment with a focus on speed, quality, and iteration from proof of concept to release.

You will be joining the Design Team and report to our Chief Creative Officer. This is a hybrid role based in our New York City office with in‑office requirements of 2 days per week. We are open to San Francisco but NYC is the preferred location. The salary range for this role is $160,000–$200,000.

What You’ll Do

• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to shape the user experience, interface, interactions, and visual design of new and existing features. Act as a key design partner in defining product strategy throughout the end‑to‑end development process.
• Craft user journeys, flows, prototypes, and designs—sometimes starting from scratch, other times by refining early engineering prototypes or providing design enhancements and guidance as products evolve.
• Proactively identify design opportunities and drive continuous improvement based on business objectives, user requirements, and customer requests.
• Engage with the open‑source AI community and enterprise AI researchers and builders to understand real‑world needs, workflows, and challenges—bringing those insights directly into the product design process.
• Discover creative ways to eliminate friction and reduce papercuts through design, making it easier for users to onboard and utilize our platform from day one.
• Advocate for scalable, user‑centered design systems and processes that improve design velocity, consistency, and impact across the product.

What You’ll Need

• 5+ years of experience designing B2C software or technical platforms, preferably in developer tools, AI/ML, or SaaS environments
• Strong portfolio showcasing end‑to‑end product thinking across UX, interaction, and visual design
• Experience working with product managers, engineers, and researchers to iterate quickly and ship thoughtfully
• Curiosity and initiative in engaging with the open‑source AI ecosystem, and a desire to understand the needs of both individual contributors and enterprise AI teams
• Comfort working in ambiguity and across multiple product maturity levels—from early‑stage prototypes to production features
• Proficiency in Figma and modern design tools
• Familiarity with technical concepts like machine learning, APIs, or cloud infrastructure (not required, but a plus)
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present design rationale clearly and influence cross‑functional teams
• A mindset of continuous learning, user advocacy, and pragmatic design execution
• Experience coding front‑end is not required but a big plus!

We are committed to offering competitive compensation that reflects the value each team member brings to our mission. Final offers are based on factors such as experience, skills, geographic location, and role expectations. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package for eligible roles includes a discretionary bonus, a meaningful equity component, and comprehensive benefits.

The anticipated annual base salary range for this role is: $160,000—$200,000 USD.

Benefits and Perks

We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support our employees’ health, well‑being, and long‑term success. Benefits may vary by location, team, and role.

Benefits include:

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage (U.S.); Private medical and dental insurance (U.K.)
• Retirement and financial wellness support (U.S.); Pension contribution (U.K.)
• Generous paid time off, plus holidays
• Paid parental leave
• Professional development support
• Wellness and work‑from‑home stipends
• Flexible work environment

At Lightning AI, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We believe that diverse teams drive innovation and create better products. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We are dedicated to building a culture where everyone can thrive and contribute to their fullest potential.