Senior Product Designer - Design Systems

Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive. 

At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.

Senior Product Designers at Xero are responsible for designing beautiful, enabling and meaningful experiences that solve genuine customer problems. As a seasoned designer you’ll work closely with Product and Engineering on med-large scale projects within a product area of a portfolio.

Work with the Design Manager, Lead and/or Principal Designer within your portfolio and product area to understand the Product Design vision and direction and ensure consistency and quality of execution within your product design delivery. 

● Promote the value of design and collaborative practice across spheres of influence and participation

● Conduct desk research including domain and competitor analysis, interaction/design trends and 'best of' examples

● Analyse relevant considerations such as research insights (when not directly involved), product strategy and roadmaps, technical environment and constraints

● Contribute to the definition and articulation of ‘the problem’ – challenging assumptions and 'pre-set' thinking around solutions, agreeing the purpose, principles and vision

● Create frameworks (read wireframes low/high-fi, visual frameworks, content/data models etc) which articulate the components, journeys and elements required to solve 'the problem'

● Explore ideal future concepts and identify new interaction solutions and patterns that meet customer needs in a better way

● Develop phased design solutions that bridge the gap between a future state and current patterns, XUI design system and other relevant constraints and considerations

● Create prototypes which tangibly demonstrate a proposed concept or solution

● Collaborate with other designers to test ideas, share challenges, provide feedback and build quality in your practice

● Collaborate with content designers to ensure content within an experience is consistent, 'fit for purpose' and meets customer needs

● Create and develop websites and multimedia presentation content - including computer animation, audio, video and graphic image files etc

● Develop detailed interactions and interfaces which are smart and contextually relevant

● Present and communicate design work to a range of different audiences

● Create effective handover materials which clearly communicate how the design should look and behave throughout interaction flows and journeys (e.g. User flow diagrams, design specifications, experience/interaction specifications etc)

Contribute to identifying research opportunities, planning and undertaking research and testing relevant to your product area. 

● Participate in generative user research to understand customer underlying goals, needs, behaviours and pain points (where necessary)

● Participate in the synthesis of research data, drawing out and articulation of insights

● Conduct user testing in conjunction with the Design Research team

Influence, challenge and support other designers within your product area to deliver high quality product experiences. 

● Facilitate cross functional team workshops – to bring everyone together at key points in the process and around key decisions

● Collaborate with cross functional teams to ensure proposed solutions balance user needs, business strategy and technical constraints

● Collaborate with development teams during sprints to provide design QA and problem solve issues as they arise

● Experience working on large design projects and at least 5 to 7 years experience working in Design Systems

● A firm grasp of accessibility, responsive design, web standards, common UI patterns and usability best practices

● Experience building and iterating on a product or experiences based on usage patterns, user feedback and an evolving strategic landscape ● A systems-mindset for creating patterns, componentry, documentation and tooling

● A portfolio that demonstrates high-quality design outcomes, contributing to user experience and business value

● Experience across the entire design process, with mastery in executing elegant interfaces

● Track record of innovating and delivering high quality design experiences

● Track record of solving customers' problems through design thinking and execution

● Excellent communication skills

At Xero we support many types of flexible working arrangements that allow you to balance your work, your life and your passions. We offer a great remuneration package including shares plus a range of leave options to suit your well-being. Our work environment encourages continuous improvement and career development and you’ll get to work with the latest technology.  

Our collaborative and inclusive culture is one we’re immensely proud of. We know that a diverse workforce is a strength that enables businesses, including ours, to better understand and serve customers, attract top talent and innovate successfully. We are a member of Pride in Diversity, in recognition of our inclusive workplace. So, from the moment you step through our doors, you’ll feel welcome and supported to do the best work of your life.