Lead Product Designer

Our Organization: Illustrative Mathematics

IM seeks to ensure that students, particularly students who have historically been underserved, and their teachers have access to aligned, grade-level, mathematics curriculum resources, and that teachers experience professional learning that leads to enduring mathematical learning for their students.

The Department: The Lead Product Designer is a part of the Product Engineering team. The Product Engineering department is responsible for developing and maintaining technology systems to support the use of IM’s products, services, and partnerships. The department supports information technology for the organization, including hardware and software for productivity, access control, security, and onboarding and offboarding users. In addition, the department manages curriculum production and delivery, as well as measuring IM’s impact on schools.

Position Summary

As the Lead Product Designer, you will be a key player in our Product Engineering team, responsible for driving the design vision and user experience across our suite of digital educational products. Your role will translate our organization’s mission and educational principles into intuitive, engaging, and effective digital experiences for students, teachers, and administrators. In this role, you’ll collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, engineers, curriculum specialists, and researchers. You’ll be expected to advocate for user-centered design principles, leverage data and user research to inform design decisions, and balance pedagogical requirements with technical feasibility and user experience best practices.

Position Type: Full-Time

Location: Remote – United States only

Job Level: Senior Specialist

Travel Requirement: < 10 percent

Travel Notice: IM aims to provide employees with a minimum of two weeks’ notice before requiring them to travel for the company. However, due to the specific demands of certain roles within IM, there may be instances where travel becomes necessary without the ability to provide the full two weeks’ notice.

Essential Functions/Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain IM’s design system, ensuring consistency across all digital products.
• Lead the design process for IM’s digital product design system, from concept to implementation.
• Collaborate with product managers, engineers, and educators to understand user needs and translate them into practical design solutions.
• Lead the end-to-end UX design process, from user research and ideation to prototyping and final implementation.
• Design and iterate on low-fidelity wireframes into high-fidelity mockups, ensuring they meet both user needs and educational goals
• Assist in the creation of UI/UX acceptance criteria and ensure that acceptance criteria are met.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in product design, preferably in educational technology or SaaS products
• Strong portfolio demonstrating user-centered design process and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency in design tools such as Figma, Sketch, or Adobe Creative Suite
• Experience with design systems and component-based design
• Professional experience with conducting user research, including designing and executing user interviews, surveys, usability testing
• Professional experience analyzing user data and translating research findings into actionable insights to inform design decisions and improve user experience
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, agile environment
• Passion for education and improving learning outcomes
• Experience working in a team-oriented, relationship-building, collaborative environment
• Ability to work independently and follow through on assignments with minimal direction and supervision
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to deliver clear, concise information tailored to specific and varied audiences
• Must reside in and be legally authorized to work in the USA

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience designing for K-12 educational products
• Familiarity with accessibility standards and designing for diverse user groups
• Knowledge of front-end web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
• Experience with data visualization and designing for complex information systems
• Strong computer skills with cloud-based systems, especially Google Workspace applications, Zoom, and Slack
• Expertise in defining relevant quantitative and qualitative metrics to collect based on project goals and user needs

Compensation and Benefits

In alignment with our commitment to equity in practice and policy, Illustrative Mathematics is committed to equity and transparency for our team and offers competitive salaries commensurate with experience and education. This position is exempt. The annual salary range for this position is $145,000 – $155,000.

IM also offers employees a robust benefits package that includes:

• Comprehensive group health benefits, including medical, dental, and vision (premiums are 100% employer-paid for employees and partially employer-paid for dependents)
• Self-managed paid-time-off and flexible sick days
• 10 federally recognized holidays plus five business days off between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve
• An employer-sponsored 403(b) plan with an employer match up to 4%
• Employer-paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability insurance, and parental leave
• Monthly allowances for telecommunications (phone and internet) and wellness

• Home office set-up and maintenance reimbursement

Please complete all areas that are indicated as required (*) on the application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Illustrative Mathematics is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and does not discriminate against any applicant, candidate, or staff member on the basis of actual or perceived ancestry, age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.

Applicant Workplace Posters

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired for employee roles will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.