Principal Product Designer

Principal Product Designer

Your mission as Principal Product Designer

As Energage's Principal Designer, you'll be our most senior design practitioner and a strategic partner to design leadership as we mature our design practice and elevate design's voice across the organization. You'll tackle our most complex design challenges—including creating a new unified experience that brings together multiple platforms and introduces new user types—while establishing the frameworks, standards, and practices that position design as a strategic driver of business value and exceptional user experiences.

Accountability & Impact: 

In this role, you will...

Provide Strategic & Tactical Design Leadership

• Lead design for our most complex, ambiguous initiatives, including a new unified experience consolidating multiple platforms
• Define design system architecture and interaction models that work across diverse user needs
• Establish design as a strategic business partner through high-impact work that demonstrates measurable value
• Balance hands-on design work with organizational leadership, with the ratio evolving based on team needs

Build Practice & Standards

• Partner with the Director of Design to establish design frameworks, standards, and documentation that mature our practice
• Lead strategic design system initiatives including unification, consolidation, and new pattern creation
• Identify systemic gaps in design practice and address them at scale
• Help build design's credibility and voice at the leadership table

Drive Research & Strategy

• Design research strategies that ensure insights ladder up to holistic experience goals across workstreams
• Synthesize research findings from across the team to identify patterns and strategic opportunities
• Envision and articulate compelling futures that inspire teams and influence product direction

Mentor & Develop the Team

• Mentor designers across all levels on product strategy, craft excellence, collaboration, and influence
• Develop designers' skills through regular coaching, feedback, and hands-on guidance
• Model exceptional design practice that others learn from and aspire to

Collaborate & Influence

• Serve as a trusted partner to product, engineering, and executive stakeholders
• Communicate complex ideas with clarity and influence at the highest levels
• Champion design's strategic value in business and product discussions
• Deescalate conflict and push teams to alignment on difficult projects

What You Bring to the Role:

• 8-15 years of product design experience with demonstrated progression to senior IC roles
• Deep expertise in at least two areas: visual/UI design, interaction design, UX research, design systems, or information architecture
• Proven track record leading complex, strategic initiatives with measurable business impact
• Strong research skills including ability to design research strategies, synthesize insights across workstreams, and ensure research ladders up to holistic experience goals
• Design systems expertise creating, evolving, or governing design systems at scale
• Strategic thinking balancing user needs, business goals, and technical constraints
• Exceptional communication influencing stakeholders at all levels, including executives
• Experience elevating design's organizational influence and establishing design as a strategic partner
• Mentorship experience helping designers grow their skills and impact
• Portfolio demonstrating craft mastery, strategic thinking, and impact
• Expertise in industry-standard design and collaboration tools such as Figma, Confluence, Notion, Google Drive
• Inclusive design expertise with understanding of WCAG standards and designing for diverse abilities, contexts, and user needs
• Agile/Scrum experience working in iterative, cross-functional product teams
• Complex B2B product experience with multi-user, multi-role enterprise workflows

Nice to have's:

• Experience maturing design practices at growing organizations
• Background establishing design's strategic voice at the leadership level
• Experience with platform consolidations or multi-product unification
• Familiarity with HR tech, survey platforms, or workplace culture tools
• Track re