Design
UX / Product Design
Decide how a product looks, flows, and feels, then prove the decisions with real user feedback.
What you'd actually do
- Turn a vague problem into flows, wireframes, and a clickable prototype.
- Put the prototype in front of a handful of real users and change it.
- Work through empty, loading, and error states with engineers.
- Keep the design system coherent as more people contribute to it.
Common job titles
Entry level
- Product Designer
- Junior Product Designer
- UI Designer
Mid-level
- Senior Product Designer
- Design Systems Designer
Senior
- Staff Designer
- Design Manager
- Head of Design
Broad U.S. compensation context
Entry level
$85K–$115K
Mid-career
$125K–$165K
Senior
$180K+
Varies by level, location, company, and date; use as directional context.
Common employers
FigmaAirbnbDuolingoNotionAsanaAtlassianShopifySpotify
Core skills
Interaction designVisual and typographic craftFigma including componentsPrototypingUsability testingDesign critique and rationale
Common backgrounds
- Design, HCI, or fine-arts degree programs
- Graphic or marketing designers moving into product
- Front-end developers moving toward design
- Self-taught designers with strong case studies
What success looks like
- Their work ships close to how it was designed, because engineers were involved early.
- They can explain a decision without defending taste alone.
- They simplify the flow instead of adding another screen.
Career path
- Product Designer
- Senior Designer
- Staff Designer
- Design Manager
- Head of Design
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