Lead Product Designer

BrightPlan is looking for a Lead Product Designer to help shape the next generation of our financial wellness experience. This is a senior individual contributor role with significant ownership and autonomy, combining hands-on product design with leadership of our design systems, practices, and direction. You’ll be the hands-on design lead for App 2.0, translating product strategy, customer needs, and engagement goals into intuitive, accessible experiences across desktop and mobile-optimized environments. You’ll work closely with Product Management, Engineering, Customer Success, and customers throughout the design process, from early concepts and information architecture through prototypes, validation, and implementation. You’ll also help us rethink how design gets done in an AI-first world. We’re looking for someone who is already experimenting with AI in their work and is excited to help establish scalable, AI-enabled design workflows while bringing the judgment and craft needed to know when human design thinking matters most. This is a highly hands-on, IC role. You’ll spend approximately 80% of your time on design and creation and 20% of your time on design leadership, process development, and cross-functional alignment. What You’ll Do Lead product design for App 2.0, taking experiences from concept through implementation, including information architecture, user flows, wireframes, prototypes, interaction design, and high-fidelity UI. Translate product functionality, customer requirements, and business priorities into clear, intuitive experiences designed to improve engagement and adoption. Design responsive desktop and mobile-optimized experiences, accounting for differences in user behavior and interaction across form factors. Establish and evolve our App 2.0 design system, including components, patterns, tokens, behaviors, documentation, and governance. Partner closely with Engineering to ensure design intent translates effectively into implementation and to minimize UX drift, unnecessary custom components, and design debt. Build accessibility into design from the start, applying WCAG 2.2 AA principles across product and design-system work and partnering with Engineering and our compliance team to address accessibility findings. Help define BrightPlan’s AI-first design practice, experimenting with AI across ideation, exploration, prototyping, design variations, documentation, and other parts of the design process. Explore and develop AI-enabled design agents, skills, instructions, and workflows that can increase design capacity and consistency while preserving strong design judgment. Develop a thoughtful point of view on how AI should influence the product experience and what an AI-first financial wellness experience can become. Use customer input, product analytics, experiments, A/B testing, usability feedback, and established UX practices to validate design direction and measure impact. Engage directly with customers, our Customer Advisory Board, and other stakeholders to understand needs, present concepts or prototypes, and validate design decisions. Support App 1.0 design needs during the transition to App 2.0 as development priorities increasingly shift toward the next-generation experience. What We’re Looking For Significant product design experience with a portfolio demonstrating shipped work across complex digital products. Experience leading end-to-end product design for major features, experiences, or new products — from early concept through implementation. Experience establishing, owning, or significantly evolving a design system used in a component-based development environment. Strong interaction, visual, information architecture, and prototyping skills, with fluency in Figma or comparable modern design tools. Working knowledge of WCAG 2.2 AA and experience applying accessibility principles during the design process. Experience using AI in product design and a genuine interest in experimenting with how AI can improve design workflows, exploration, and scale. Strong systems thinking and the ability to balance individual feature needs with consistency across the broader product experience. Strong partnership skills with Product Management and Engineering, including the ability to communicate design rationale, navigate implementation tradeoffs, and move decisions toward execution. Comfort operating with significant autonomy in a small, fast-moving organization where you’ll be expected to establish direction rather than wait for it. An evidence-based approach to design and a willingness to test assumptions, measure results, and iterate. Nice to Have Experience designing financial services, employee benefits, healthcare, or another regulated or trust-sensitive product. Familiarity with React Native, shadcn, Tailwind, or similar component-based development frameworks. Coding is not required, but you should understand how design systems and components translate into implementation. Experience working with accessibility audits, VPAT/ACR findings, or third-party accessibility partners. Experience using product analytics tools such as Mixpanel to inform design decisions. Experience designing AI-enabled product experiences or experimenting with AI agents and other emerging AI design workflows. What Success Looks Like You’ll help establish a distinctive, scalable design foundation for BrightPlan’s next generation of financial wellness experiences. Success means App 2.0 delivers a materially improved user experience; our design system enables greater consistency and accessibility as we move faster; design enables faster, more consistent product development; and we develop practical ways to use AI to increase the speed and scale of great design without sacrificing quality or judgment. Why Join BrightPlan At BrightPlan, we believe financial well-being is a right, not a privilege. You'll join a collaborative, mission-driven team working to make high-quality financial guidance more accessible to employees around the world. This is an opportunity to help shape the next generation of BrightPlan's product experience at a formative moment for both our product and our design practice. You'll have meaningful ownership of App 2.0, establish the design systems and practices that support it, and help us explore how AI can enable both better product experiences and a more scalable approach to design. Location BrightPlan is a fully remote company. This role is remote within the United States and may require occasional travel for company meetings, customer meetings, or other business needs. Compensation & Benefits BrightPlan determines base salary based on job-related experience, skills and qualifications, and relevant market data. The annual base salary range for this position is $165,000–$195,000 . This position is also eligible for an annual performance bonus and equity participation. BrightPlan offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental and vision coverage; 401(k) with company contribution; life insurance; paid time off; and other benefits. Benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and may be modified from time to time. Employment Eligibility This position is open only to candidates who live and work in the United States. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future employment visa sponsorship. BrightPlan does not provide employment visa sponsorship for this position. BrightPlan is not accepting agency referrals for this position. Only direct applicants will be considered. Equal Employment Opportunity BrightPlan is an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.