Senior Product Designer

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design on resident-facing products, from concept to launch, owning user research, interaction design, content design, and visual design.
• Move quickly through rapid prototyping, usability testing, MVP iteration, pilot, and public launch, making pragmatic tradeoffs between scope, quality, and timing.
• Plan and conduct user research with New Yorkers, including interviews, usability sessions, and field visits, and synthesize findings into actionable choices for the team.
• Design clear user flows, information architecture, wireframes, and high-fidelity interfaces, and help build prototypes to test interactions.
• Practice plain-language content design, turning complex eligibility rules, legal language, and agency processes into product copy that is clear, accurate, and easy to act on.
• Partner with product managers, engineers, user researchers, and other OTI employees on day-to-day product decisions, and contribute to scoping and prioritization.
• Work directly with agency staff, policy advisors, and legal counsel to translate complex rules and regulations into experiences that are easy to use.
• Build accessibility into the design process from the start and partner with engineers to ship products that meet the city's quality and accessibility standards.
• Contribute to a shared design system and reusable patterns that make the next product faster to design than the last one.
• Shape the design culture of a small, mission-driven team, including mentorship, and onboarding for future hires.
• Perform special projects and initiatives as assigned.

Requirements

• A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college in computer science, engineering, human computer interaction, interactive media, digital and graphics design, data visualization, communication or a related field, and four years of satisfactory full-time experience related to the area(s) required by the particular position and a specialization in a relevant technology, process, methodology and/or domain; or
• An associate degree from an accredited college in computer science, engineering, human computer interaction, interactive media, digital and graphics design, data visualization, communication or a related field, and six years of satisfactory full-time experience related to the area(s) required by the particular position and a specialization in a relevant technology, process, methodology and/or domain; or
• A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, and eight years of satisfactory full-time experience related to the area(s) required by the particular position and a specialization in a relevant technology, process, methodology and/or domain; or
• Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1", "2", or "3" above.

Preferred Skills

• 5+ years of professional product design experience, with a portfolio showing user-facing digital products you have shipped.
• End-to-end design experience comfortable owning research, interaction design, content design, and visual design, even if you have a stronger affinity for some of them.
• Direct, hands-on experience taking a product from concept through launch, not only iterating on existing flows.
• Experience working on small, cross-functional product teams alongside product managers, engineers, and researchers.
• Working fluency with modern design tools (Figma) and practices, including prototyping, design systems, version control for design files, and design handoff to engineering.
• Strong written and verbal communication Ability to explain design decisions to non-designers, write clear documentation, and represent the team in conversations with agency partners and senior stakeholders.
• Experience planning and moderating user research, including interviews with members of the public.
• Hands-on experience designing complex, regulated, or legacy environments, where the rules are messy, the data is imperfect, and the constraints are real.
• Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA, Section 508) and experience shipping products that meet them.
• Familiarity designing with localization and internationalization in mind.
• Content design and plain-language experience, especially in contexts where users have low trust, limited time, or limited patience for jargon.
• Experience with mobile-first responsive design and designing for users on low-end devices and slow connections.
• Experience handling user data with appropriate privacy and ethical considerations built into the design.
• Experience contributing to or maintaining a shared design system.
• Comfort with ambiguity.