Writing the Perfect Product Designer Job Description (+ Template) (2022)

Writing job descriptions ain’t easy — get it wrong you could get swamped with irrelevant candidates. In this post we’ll show you how to write a Product Designer Job description and provide you with 2 examples.

At 4 day week, we know the impact a well-crafted product designer job description can have on the success of hiring a product designer. It can help you increase the chances of hiring a product designer who has experience in your niche, believes in your values, and understands the tools that your team uses regularly.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of drafting the perfect product designer job description — from the initial brainstorming of what you’re looking for in your ideal candidate to actually putting pen to paper and writing a pitch perfect job description.

We have also included a handy job description template for you to follow, and some inspirations to get started.

What Does A Product Designer Do For Your Company?

Product design isn’t limited to creating product mockups and prototypes. In fact, the design process may involve analyzing user feedback, liaising with marketing and sales teams on what needs to be included, going through key metrics, and analyzing product usage behavior.

The role of a product designer varies depending on the company. If you run a SaaS or an online business, then product design will focus on improving UI and UX.

A project designer undertakes a number of key functions at a business — from creating mock-ups and prototypes to overseeing the creation of the final product. Below, we highlight some of the designer’s chief responsibilities.

1. Create Prototypes

A big part of the product designer’s remit is creating prototypes. These can take many forms, but generally include drafts, wireframes, and online mockups using software like:

• Adobe creative cloud
• Blender
• Figma
• SOLIDWORKS
• Inkbay
• Onshape
• Nuxeo

2. Create User Journey Maps

User journey maps are essential to the product design process. The product designer needs to understand the user’s relationship with the product. It’s an exercise that needs to prioritize user behavior over product aesthetics.

The user journey map should outline all the steps required for a user to make the most of your product. A good designer will anticipate the user’s expectations and guide them away from common mistakes.

3. Create Marketing Material

Because a product designer has an intimate understanding of your product’s features, they are best-positioned to create your marketing assets, as well.

Different Ways To Hire Product Designers

You have two different options when it comes to hiring a product designer for your company.

• You could hire a product designer to work on a freelance basis. This option is best for companies that don’t have a lot of product design work in the pipeline. A freelancer is often much less expensive than a full-time designer.
• Another approach is to hire a full-time product designer. This will allow your company to maintain a consistent standard of work over a long period. Finding a full-time product designer can be a difficult and drawn-out process. That said, once you have settled in with a newly hired designer, you’ll often find that you are able to achieve a consistency of output that wasn’t available when you used freelancers and part-timers.

1. Freelance Platforms

If you’re comfortable with managing freelancers and changing things up, then employing a freelancer might be appropriate for your business. Freelance platforms, such as Upwork and Fiverr, make it easy to advertise for product designer positions. All you have to do is sit back and wait for the applications to roll in. With that in mind, you’ll need to spend substantial time vetting your candidates’ applications.

You’ll also probably need to write more than one product designer job description. Every design task will be slightly different, so you’ll need to revise the description if you’re looking for a designer with a specific skill-set.

Platforms to use: Upwork is usually easier for business owners to manage, but you can find some affordable gems on Fiverr. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a freelance platform that caters specifically to product designers, then you should consider Toptal.

2. Job Search Platforms

It’s not impossible to find long-term product designers on freelancing platforms, but you may be better off posting product designer jobs to websites that are frequented by job hunters looking for permanent work. LinkedIn and Indeed are the obvious choices here, but you could get more quality candidates who value great work-life balance by posting on 4 day week.

Other alternatives may be to use job boards which are more tailored towards designers e.g. Dribbble. The Dribbble platform is used by design professionals and it makes the evaluation process easy because job-seekers can easily attach their portfolios for your viewing. Dribble also provides recruiters with the ability to use handy social media and recruiting tools, which can help recruiters fish for new product designers without the need to post a detailed description.

Who does a Product Designer work with?

Typically, a product designer will work with a team of other designers, product managers and developers to ensure their products are a success. Sometimes, product designers liaise with marketing and sales teams to ensure that the marketing assets represent the product well.

Product Designer Job Description Template

To help you draft the perfect product designer job description, here’s a simple job description template. Feel free to tweak and edit this template to meet your requirements. The template is there to act as a guide for you when it comes time to draft your job description.

A few take-aways: always stick to the point and use bullet points throughout — this will make your job description easy to read and navigate.

About us

Want to be part of a stellar product design team? Our company is looking for an outstanding product designer to take our business to the next level. Due to recent rapid growth, we’re looking to recruit a product designer who can help us kick our business into overdrive.

But enough about us. What about you? You’ll need to have experience in all aspects of product design. Your responsibilities will include defining our product specifications, creating digital or print drawings and designing fully-functional products. This is a role with significant career advancement opportunities.

The Product Designer’s responsibilities

• Identify opportunities for new products.
• Analyze how the new products tie in with current market needs and consumer demand.
• Set design requirements that are based on briefs from teams inside the company and external partners.
• Identify market opportunities for new products.
• Analyze how a new product ties in with market needs and consumer preferences.
• Research & development.
• CAD drafts and sketches (paper or digital).
• 3D modeling to design new products.
• Produce product prototypes.
• Oversee product functionality testing.
• Help us improve our existing products.
• Gather feedback from our users.

Requirements and skills

• BSc/MSc in Product Design, Manufacturing Design Engineering or a relevant field. Equivalent practical experience is also considered.
• Experience as a Product Designer or a similar role.
• Knowledge and practical experience of computer-aided design (CAD).
• X years of experience with design programs (Illustrator and Sketch, for example).
• Time-management skills

Compensation

• Competitive salary.
• Learning and development opportunities:
• Workplace benefits
• Healthcare and wellness benefits.

Product Designer Job Description Examples

Let’s go over what a realistic product designer job description looks like in practice. These examples won’t necessarily fit the exact structure that we have outlined in the template, but they give you a good idea of what a typical job description looks like.

We took both product designer jobs from the listings on our website.

1. Senior Product Designer and Animator — Halftone Digital

Halftone Digital is a digital product design company based in Minneapolis. In their job ad, you can see that they don’t spend much time introducing themselves. Instead, they concentrate on their needs — a talented product designer and animator.

Halftone has merged the responsibilities and requirements sections, and they clearly state their requirements, framing them in terms of experience, skills, and traits. They also ask applicants to validate their skills by submitting a portfolio with the application.

Halftone sells this job by giving a long list of its perks. The 4 day work week is undoubtedly enticing. They include quite a few other employee-centric perks, such as remote work and unlimited PTO.

The most highly sought-after designers will appreciate the brevity of this job description. It tells you exactly what you need to know without any fluff. Halftone is making it easy for people to apply, which allows them to cast their net wider.

2. Senior Product Designer — Usability Hub

This product designer job description is longer than the last. It gives you a more complete picture of what you might want your job description to look like.

The “who we are” section is pretty much perfect. They only take 2 sentences to give you an overview of Usability Hub and the value of their services. Afterward, they legitimize themselves in the eyes of prospective candidates by mentioning their clients.

Once again, this job advert lists its perks with bullet points, which can help you figure out how to structure your compensation program.

At the very end of the job description, they mention some of the things an applicant should include. You might want to include something similar so that you can filter for the best candidates for the job.

Best Practices For Writing and Posting a Job Description

When you sit down to write your job description, there are several things to keep in mind. Below we go over some of the key things to keep in mind when it comes to drafting a pitch perfect job advert.

1. Sell The Job

The best candidates get dozens of job offers every week, they don’t have time for jobs that don’t interest them. Why limit yourself to a dry description? Open with a hook. You can also analyze other listings to see the things that a product designer is looking for from their job. This could include perks, career advancement, and prestige.

2. Sell Your Organization

You probably already know why people want to work for your company, so this section should write itself. You should mention all the benefits that your company offers to its employees. This is your chance to make your company sound like an ideal place to work.

Brevity is key. Your ideal candidate is going to evaluate your organization based on the information in your job description. If you don’t do a good job of keeping your requirements concise, a prospective candidate is unlikely to hit that “apply” button.

3. Use 700–2000 characters

According to Indeed, companies that keep their job descriptions to around 700–2000 characters receive on average 30% more applications than those with more verbose job postings.

Again, less is more. Keep every section of your ad short and sweet. It’s important to provide just the necessary information so that the candidate can understand what the role entails and is incentivized to apply.

Other ways to attract talent

If you’re struggling to think of extra benefits to attract the ideal candidate, you could consider offering a 4-day work week. Switching to a 4 day work week has many benefits including increased productivity — but one of the major benefits is that it makes your company much more attractive from a recruitment perspective.

If you want to learn more, read our guide on how to transition a job from 40 hours to 30 hours a week or check out our recent guide on the 4 day work week.

This article was originally posted on 4 day week — jobs with a four day workweek 🎉