BetterUp is looking for a Principal Product Designer to join our Design team and shape the future of human transformation at scale. This is a rare opportunity to work at the highest individual contributor level in Design-owning domain-level craft, strategy, and systems thinking across BetterUp's core product experiences. Reporting to the VP of Product Design, you will set the bar for design excellence, influence cross-functional direction, and help define what it means to build a world-class human-AI product.
Responsibilities
Architect the design vision for BetterUp's core product experiences-identifying the highest-leverage opportunities, defining the strategic direction, and ensuring continuity across complex, multi-surface journeys
Drive design quality and craft standards across the product, raising the bar for the entire Design org through rigorous critique, deep collaboration, and principled decision-making
Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Research to shape roadmaps from the earliest stages-bringing design perspective to problem framing, not just solutions
Lead complex, ambiguous design challenges from 0→1 and 1→n, navigating organizational complexity with clear thinking and strong point of view
Build and maintain scalable design systems and foundational patterns that enable speed and coherence across teams
Mentor and elevate senior designers, providing thoughtful feedback that develops taste, confidence, and craft
Influence VP-level and executive stakeholders with clarity and conviction, earning trust as a thought partner on product and design strategy
Represent the design function in cross-functional planning, helping align design investment with company priorities
Requirements
10+ years of product design experience, including time at a consumer or B2B SaaS company where design played a central role in product strategy
A portfolio that demonstrates exceptional craft, systems thinking, and the ability to operate across the full design spectrum-from early concept to polished execution
Proven track record of leading complex, multi-year design initiatives with measurable impact on product outcomes and user experience
Deep experience influencing product and engineering direction at the senior leadership level
Strong design systems sensibility-you understand how foundational decisions compound across a product at scale
Experience designing products at the intersection of human behavior and technology; familiarity with AI-native product patterns is a strong plus
Exceptional communication and storytelling skills-you make complex ideas clear and compelling to any audience
A growth mindset and genuine curiosity about how AI tools can enhance design craft and process
AI at BetterUp
As a Principal Product Designer, you'll:
Shape company-wide AI strategy in partnership with executive leadership, ensuring design's voice is central to how BetterUp's AI capabilities are built and experienced
Remove institutional barriers to AI adoption and drive cultural change that embraces continuous reinvention across the Design org
Serve as BetterUp's foremost design expert in AI-powered product experiences, with recognized internal and external influence
Directly contribute to competitive differentiation through breakthroug
Benefits
Vision insurance
Additional Information
Let's face it, a company whose mission is human transformation better have some fresh thinking about the employer/employee relationship.
We do. We can't cram it all in here, but you'll start noticing it from the first interview.
Even our candidate experience is different. And when you get an offer from us (and accept it), you get way more than a paycheck. You get a personal BetterUp Coach, a development plan, a trained and coached manager, the most amazing team you've ever met (yes, each with their own personal BetterUp Coach), and most importantly, work that matters.
This makes for a remarkably focused and fulfilling work experience. Frankly, it's not for everyone. But for people with fire in their belly, it's a game-changing, career-defining, soul-lifting move.
Join us and we promise you the most intense and fulfilling years of your career, doing life-changing work in a fun, inventive, soulful culture.
If that sounds exciting-and the job description below feels like a fit-we really should start talking.
Betterup · Austin, TX