Staff Product Designer (US Based)

Dispel builds secure remote access for critical infrastructure. Our platform serves operators at utilities, manufacturing plants, and essential services, people who need tools that are reliable, secure, and clear. As a Staff Product Designer, you'll shape how all of that works and feels, not just for one product area, but across the platform.

This is a design leadership role. You'll set the strategic direction for Dispel's product design, defining the systems, standards, and quality bars that the whole team builds on. You'll own the design system at an architectural level, lead our most complex design initiatives, and partner with Product and Engineering leadership to make sure design has a seat at the table when we decide what to build and how.

We move fast and expect you to lead from the front. AI tools should be deeply integrated into your workflow, from generating design explorations and prototyping at speed, to analyzing research and building documentation. You'll also help define how the broader design team uses AI to multiply their output.

Beyond craft, you'll build the team around you by mentoring senior designers, elevating critique culture, and establishing the practices that let us ship great work consistently.

Requirements

Design Strategy & Systems Leadership

• Set multi-year design direction for Dispel's product platform in partnership with Product and Engineering leadership.
• Own the design system at an architectural level: token structures, component governance, theming, and scalability principles across product and brand surfaces.
• Establish quality bars, review gates, and acceptance criteria for design work across all product surfaces.
• Define design principles, interaction patterns, and documentation standards that guide decisions across teams.
• Drive platform-level design initiatives (design system adoption, accessibility compliance, information architecture) from vision through execution.
• Evaluate and introduce tooling, AI workflows, and automation that help the design team move faster and deliver more.

Product Design & Cross-Org Collaboration

• Lead design for the most complex, highest-stakes initiatives, those spanning multiple teams, surfaces, or requiring architectural decisions.
• Partner with PMs, engineering leads, and architects to translate deep technical constraints (networking, identity, secure access, multi-tenancy) into clear, usable experiences.
• Drive end-to-end design for critical workflows across admin, operator, and end-user surfaces.
• Coordinate design across squads so integrated features land cohesively.
• Contribute to roadmap planning, OKR setting, and investment decisions with a design perspective.
• Collaborate with Brand & Web Design to keep product and marketing surfaces visually aligned.

Mentorship, Culture & Organizational Impact

• Mentor and coach senior and mid-level designers on craft, systems thinking, and career growth.
• Elevate design critique: run structured reviews, model quality feedback, and raise the bar for documentation.
• Help build hiring rubrics and interview processes that strengthen the design team.
• Influence executive decisions through clear narratives, prototypes, and evidence.
• Champion accessibility and inclusive design as organizational priorities.
• Represent design in cross-functional leadership forums.

What We're Looking For

• 10+ years of product design experience across web and native applications, with at least 3 years at a senior or staff level.
• A portfolio demonstrating systems-level thinking, complex problem-solving, and design leadership across multiple product surfaces.
• Deep expertise in building, governing, and scaling design systems used by multiple teams.
• Fluency with AI-assisted design tools and workflows as a daily practice, not a side experiment. We expect you to help define AI-first practices for the team.
• Ability to influence product and engineering direction through design strategy and evidence.
• Strong facilitation, mentorship, and communication skills in a remote-first environment.
• Proficiency with Figma and prototyping tools. Familiarity with front-end constraints (HTML/CSS/JS, React component architecture).
• Experience designing for high-security, high-reliability, or compliance-sensitive environments.

Bonus Points

• Ability to contribute directly to production code (ideally React).
• Experience with infrastructure platforms, enterprise admin consoles, or multi-tenant architectures.
• Background modernizing legacy products through systematic design evolution.
• Experience establishing accessibility programs (e.g., WCAG 2.1 AA compliance).
• Interest in motion design, data visualization, or complex workflow design.
• You've built or operationalized AI-assisted design pipelines for a team.

Benefits

We Offer:

• $150,000-160,000 salary range
• 401(k) w/ company match
• Unlimited paid time off
• Parental leave
• Full medical, dental, vision insurance
• Performance bonus and equity eligible
• Remote work