UX / Product Designer (strategy + execution)

Job Title: UX / Product Designer (strategy + execution)

Location: Remote (US-Based – EST / CST / MST / PST acceptable)

Contract Length: Through End of 2026 (Extension Possible)

Interview Process: 3 Steps

Role Overview

Senior-level UX / Product Designer role focused on end-to-end ownership of digital learning experiences (learners & educators).

This role requires someone who:

• Takes full ownership
• Operates independently
• Pushes product partners strategically
• Blends UX thinking with strong UI craft
• Works in a highly collaborative, transformation-focused team

A portfolio is extremely important and determines whether the candidate moves forward.

Role Focus (Filtered & Prioritized)

Hard Skills (Mandatory)

• Figma (Mandatory) – Must have a strong working knowledge
• Experience working with Design Systems & Figma Libraries
• Ability to take concept → execution independently
• Strong UX research capability
• Experience leading qualitative research (UserTesting.com preferred)
• Ability to present and speak clearly about portfolio work
• Strong problem-solving mindset
• Strategic thinking

Soft Skills (Mandatory)

• Ownership mindset
• Ability to challenge and push product partners
• Highly collaborative
• Not needing “spoon-feeding.”
• Self-driven and motivated
• Confident communicator
• Ability to operate in a transformation environment

What They’re Struggling to Find

• True UX/Product Designers (not just UI designers)
• Candidates who can clearly explain their portfolio
• Designers who can balance strategy + execution
• People who understand how to solve real user problems
• Designers who can lead independently without constant direction

Portfolio heavily influences interview progression.

Education Requirement

• Education is a valued add but NOT mandatory
• Hard skills + soft skills matter more
• Focus is on capability, mindset, and execution

Team & Culture Insight

• Highly collaborative culture
• Undergoing transformation over the last 2 years
• Building stronger design maturity
• Culture is evolving – candidate must adapt
• Fresh perspective preferred (previous Pearson employees not prioritized)
• Highly motivated team

This individual will play a key role in the ongoing transformation.

Tools & Technical Environment

• Figma (Mandatory)
• Design Systems (must understand and contribute; not redesign from scratch)
• UserTesting.com
• Microsoft Office

• US-based candidates preferred
• EST / CST / MST / PST all acceptable
• Time zone not a major constraint within the US

Experience Expectations

• Senior-level (5–8+ years preferred)
• Candidates with 10+ years are acceptable if aligned to the senior IC level
• Must understand they are applying for a Senior UX Designer (IC role)
• This is not a director-level role
• Individual Contributor capacity

Interview Process

1. First Round – Director (Gus)
2. Second Round – Two Lead Principal Product Designers
3. Final Round – Head of UX

Portfolio will determine whether the candidate moves past Round 1.

Key Takeaways

• Portfolio is critical — must clearly demonstrate problem-solving.
• Figma is mandatory.
• Education not mandatory — skills matter more.
• Looking for UX/Product Designer blend (not pure UI).
• Ownership mindset required.
• Must be strategic, not just execution-focused.
• Strong qualitative research ability preferred.
• Fresh external perspective valued.

Strong Submissions Will Have

• Clear end-to-end case studies
• Strategic thinking demonstrated in portfolio
• Strong Figma & design system experience
• Ability to speak confidently about problem-solving
• Ownership-driven mindset
• Experience working with learners/educators or complex products
• Strong collaboration experience with product & engineering

-Critical Hiring Insight – Cultural & Mindset Expectation (Must-Have):

During the spotlight discussion, the Hiring Manager strongly emphasized that they are seeking a high-caliber senior designer with a strong ownership mindset.

• This role requires:
• No spoon-feeding
• No teaching of basic UX principles
• Strong foundational UX knowledge already in place
• Ability to operate independently
• Confidence to bring ideas to the table
• Capability to challenge product partners constructively
• Immediate value-add from Day 1
• This is not a developmental or training role. The selected candidate must be ready to contribute strategically and elevate the team without requiring foundational guidance.

Job Description:

We're looking for a Senior User Experience Designer with a strong foundation in user-centered design to shape engaging experiences for our higher education products. You're someone who operates through curiosity, collaboration, and craft excellence, ready to grow your strategic thinking while delivering high-quality designs that support learning outcomes.

You'll partner closely with content, product, and engineering teams and be responsible for:

• Designing end-to-end user experiences across web and mobile platforms, from concept through implementation
• Creating high-fidelity designs, including user flows, interactive prototypes, and detailed specifications that enable smooth engineering handoff
• Contributing new patterns and components to our design system with consideration for scalability, accessibility, and consistency
• Planning and conducting user research and usability testing to inform design decisions, validate solutions, and iterate based on insights

You will be challenged in an organization that values vision, execution, and persistence. You will take ownership of your design work by solving complex user problems with clarity, empathy, and attention to detail. Product Designers at are embedded within product teams that are deeply collaborative, and each member is directly responsible for the team's success.

What You'll Own

As a critical partner on our team, you will lead design for major product areas and full user journeys. You'll collaborate with content, product, research, and engineering teams throughout the product development process to advocate for user needs and shape experiences that drive learning outcomes.

• Lead design for complex, end-to-end user experiences, from initial discovery through launch and iteration
• Partner with product managers to define and frame design problems, identify opportunities, and establish clear success metrics
• Create high-fidelity designs including user flows, screens, and interactive prototypes with exceptional craft and attention to detail
• Design and document reusable components and patterns for the design system with consideration for scalability, accessibility, and cross-platform consistency
• Lead user research (or co-create with a researcher) initiatives including planning, facilitation, and synthesis, translating insights into actionable design and product recommendations
• Present design work and strategic recommendations to senior leadership, building conviction for design decisions that shape product direction
• Facilitate design workshops and collaborative sessions that build shared understanding and drive alignment across cross-functional stakeholders
• Partner with product and engineering to scope design work, define timelines, and establish success criteria for initiatives
• Leverage data and analytics to validate design decisions and iteratively improve experiences through A/B testing and experimentation
• Mentor junior designers through design crits, pair designing, and thoughtful feedback that accelerates their growth
• Design for AI-driven teaching and learning experiences (working with learning science), considering ethical implications and pedagogical effectiveness

About You

You bring 5-8 years of product design experience with a portfolio that demonstrates craft excellence, strategic thinking, and measurable impact on user experience and business outcomes. Experience designing AI-powered experiences is a strong plus. You're someone who leads through exceptional design, collaboration, and user advocacy. Additionally, you are:

• A strategic designer and thinker who brings pragmatic judgment to every decision, conducting user research, advocating for design quality, or navigating technical constraints, you excel at reducing ambiguity and defining clear paths forward through thoughtful problem-framing and communication
• Equally comfortable designing pixel-perfect interfaces and shaping scalable design systems, always grounding your work in user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility
• Able to thrive in cross-functional environments where collaboration is the default, partnering seamlessly with content strategists, product managers, researchers, engineers, and stakeholders to solve complex problems and ship high-quality experiences

What You'll Get

we are on a mission to build a direct, lifelong relationship with millions of learners around the world. As the world’s leading learning company, with 18,000+ employees across 70 countries, we reach learners at critical moments of growth, through content, assessment, and digital experiences that shape education, careers, and opportunity at a global scale.

Now, Higher Education is entering its next chapter. We’re in the midst of a deep digital and AI transformation...reimagining learning as agentic, adaptive, and human-centered. Our teams are designing intelligent learning products that don’t just deliver information, but actively coach, challenge, and partner with learners, grounded in Socratic principles, critical thinking, and pedagogical rigor. This is a rare moment to shape the future of learning. Designers here are helping define how AI shows up in education with intention, ethics, and craft. We are creating experiences that evolve alongside tomorrow’s students, instructors, and institutions. From agentic study companions to AI-powered course creation tools, we’re building systems that amplify curiosity, agency, and impact at global scale.

If you believe great design can unlock human potential and AI should deepen learning, then this is where you can do the most meaningful work of your career. Because when learning flourishes, people do too.