Lead Product Designer

Company Summary

Publishing.com empowers individuals from all walks of life to generate meaningful income streams through book publishing. As a leading online education platform, we specialize in guiding our students through the processes of writing, publishing, and selling books and audiobooks on major platforms like Amazon and Audible. We are thrilled to announce that Publishing.com has been recognized as the 19th fastest-growing private company in America for 2023, according to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list. Over the past two years, we've experienced an incredible 30% year-over-year growth and expanded our team by 500%. Recently, we hit a major milestone by helping 60,000+ students through our programs.

Our mission is to become the premier destination for all publishing-related needs. In line with this vision, we are excited to announce the launch of our latest innovation, Publishing.ai, a software designed to revolutionize the publishing industry further. This year marks a significant milestone in our journey toward achieving our goal, as we continue to expand our offerings and support our community of publishers.
 

About The Role

Publishing.com is seeking a Lead Product Designer to join our dynamic Product team, focusing on our innovative software, Publishing.ai. Reporting to the Head of Product, you will not only execute high-quality design work but also lead and mentor a team of talented product designers. This role requires a strong balance of strategic thinking, resource planning, and hands-on design execution.

You will drive the end-to-end design process, ensuring our user experiences are seamless and effectively leverage the complexities of generative AI, the backbone of our software. In addition to owning the design process, you will provide strategic direction, plan resources, and ensure the team’s output meets the highest standards of polish and user experience.

This is a unique opportunity to influence the direction of a cutting-edge AI-driven product, shaping both the product and the team that delivers it.
 

Responsibilities

• Designing simple and intuitive user experiences that skillfully integrate the complexities of generative AI, ensuring it enhances and supports the overall design. You should be great at making complex things simple. 

• Thinking through user flows and planning how they will integrate into the rest of the platform, ensuring a seamless and cohesive user experience.

• Owning and building the UX strategy with a holistic approach, applying best practices that impact the entire product, including the development and maintenance of design systems.

• Translating well-thought-out UX into polished, high-fidelity designs that reflect the high standards of visual and interaction design, making our product comparable to leading platforms like Canva, Notion, and Slack.

• Creating intuitive interaction designs and affordances, focusing on the fine details and polish that enhance usability and set our product apart.

• Leveraging in-depth user research initiatives to uncover user needs, behaviors, and opportunities, and validating design solutions through qualitative and quantitative testing.

• Collaborating closely with Product Managers, developers, and other stakeholders to ensure high-quality implementations across web and mobile experiences.

• Clearly communicating design rationale through documentation, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs.

• Establishing, maintaining, and operating a design system that ensures consistency and cohesion across all projects.

• Continuously enhancing and improving the UX design strategy based on industry trends, feedback, and experimentation.

• Rapid ideation of multiple design concepts and prototypes to explore different solutions.

• Documenting design decisions, processes, and outcomes to ensure product designs are consistent and can be replicated in the future.

• Collaborating with developers to reach high-quality implementations across the web and mobile experiences.

• Measuring the success of your decisions with the team and iterating when needed.

What We Expect From You

• Continually enhance and improve the UX design strategy from start to finish, ensuring designs meet user, technical, and business requirements.

• Every design decision is intentional and informed by data and qualitative user feedback.
  You know when it’s time to move fast or slow down, balancing between fast scrappy designs and meticulous planning.

• You are detail-oriented and care about consistent, clean designs that align with the overall product strategy.

• Stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices in UX design and generative AI, particularly those that drive product-led growth.

• Iterate and drive experimentation through design, using user feedback to continuously improve the product.

• Give and receive regular feedback in design critiques to improve product and web experiences.

• You are an excellent communicator who can clearly articulate design concepts, strategies, and feedback to all stakeholders.

Requirements

• 5+ years of design experience as a product designer, ideally with B2C software with a freemium to paid product model.

• Experience owning the design process of a product from discovery, to lo-fi, mid-fi and high fi. 

• Preference to candidates that have built/designed AI products. 

• Ideally, you also have experience designing mobile apps / mobile experiences.

• A strong portfolio demonstrating your ability to design experiences that connect users to product value and meet high standards of polish and interaction design.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, agile environment, adapting to changing priorities while maintaining the quality of your work.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, especially when working with cross-functional teams in a remote environment.

• No ego and someone who always strives to learn more.

• Strong experience with Figma and other design tools.

• Experience working in a fully remote team environment and participating in all scrum ceremonies such as stand-ups, planning meetings, and refinement sessions.

Why Publishing.com?

At Publishing.com, our dedication to our mission and core values isn't just talk; it's reflected in how we treat our team. We believe in nurturing our employees' well-being, supporting their families, and empowering them to contribute to their communities. Here's how we stand out:

• Recently recognized as #19 on the Inc 5000's list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America for 2023

• We are a completely remote team located worldwide with 100+ employees

• We have great benefits including paid time off (PTO), competitive health, vision, and dental benefits, 401k, and team socials...yes, even remotely

• We care about our culture deeply and live by our company values (1) Service that WOWs, (2) Ultimate Team Player, (3) Great Freakin' Attitude, (4) Billion Dollar Standards

• We encourage learning, growth, and continuous improvement and create meaningful programs to support our employees' professional development

• If you want to join a team on the ground floor, this is your chance: we are expanding beyond being an education company to become the one-stop shop for all your self-publishing needs

*Some benefits are available to our US-based employees only. 

At Publishing.com, we're dedicated to assembling teams as diverse as a kaleidoscope and fostering an atmosphere as warm as your favorite coffee shop. We understand that the job application process can sometimes feel daunting, but we’re here to offer our support. Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns about the hiring process – if you're interested in joining our ranks, we're eager to hear from you! Email us at careers@publishing.com if you need additional support.

We strive to seek out and support individuals from all different backgrounds recognizing your unique experience contributes to the richness of our collective knowledge. We are committed to fostering an environment where we learn from each other's beliefs and experiences and celebrate the differences that eventually will drive forward our innovation. We strive to ensure that every member of our team feels valued and respected, regardless of where they may be situated. Come be a part of our community – your talents and contributions are welcomed!