Principal Product Designer - Platform

Description

Sprout Social is looking to hire a Principal Product Designer to the Product Design team.

Why join Sprout’s Product Design team?

Design is in our DNA at Sprout, from our best-in-class products and award-winning user experience, to our elegant customer journey and the systems that power our teams. We’ve built a Product Design program centered on the pursuit of growing leaders and tailoring growth paths to individuals—recognizing that every designer is at their best when they’re challenged to grow in ways that map to their unique strengths and opportunities. Supported and challenged by a diverse and connected design community, and armed with an expansive human-centered toolkit, our talented creative problem solvers demonstrate the true power of design to drive business impact, and lead their teams to see social differently.

What you’ll do

• Shape product-wide design strategy, drawing from deep knowledge of customer needs, industry trends and emerging technologies
• Build strong partnerships across product, engineering, marketing, and data science teams, bringing your collaborative spirit to spot opportunities that drive meaningful growth and innovation for our business and customers
• Lead platform-level design initiatives that improve our entire product experience - creating solutions that remove complexity for both users and feature teams
• Work closely with senior leadership to identify strategic platform investments, bringing your passion for solving complex problems and your dedication to delivering true customer value
• Foster a thriving design community by mentoring emerging craft leaders and contributing generously to our creative culture - because you understand that that’s where strong design starts. 

What you’ll bring:
You bring an open mind and infectious curiosity, delighting in both teaching others and continuously learning yourself. Your passion for solving complex problems is matched by your meticulous attention to craft detail and dedication to delivering true customer value. You thrive in collaborative environments where you can work alongside ambitious, caring teammates to build great things together. 

The minimum qualifications for this role include:

• 10+ years of experience leading complex initiatives from strategy through execution, with a track record of shipping experiences that drive business growth
• Mastery in full stack craft skills (UX design, UI design, information architecture, research, ux writing)
• Extensive experience working across teams and disciplines, with demonstrated success elevating product quality across an organization
• A portfolio that demonstrates strategic leadership - showcasing how you've shaped product direction, influenced cross-functional decisions, and scaled design practices to improve both team efficiency and user experience success metrics

Preferred qualifications for this role include:

• Experience designing SaaS platforms with complex, interconnected user journeys
• Experience working on platform, core capability or systems teams, or otherwise being well versed in designing cross-product experiences that balance flexibility, consistency, and technical constraints
• Strong leadership presence and communication skills, with the ability to tell compelling stories around your work, influence senior stakeholders, and align cross-functional teams around shared vision
• Ability to balance visionary thinking with pragmatic execution, helping teams navigate ambiguity while maintaining focus on both short-term wins and long-term strategy
• Deep expertise in establishing research practices at scale, helping teams balance customer insight with business goals to ensure we're delivering meaningful value across our platform
• Eagerness and passion for mentorship and community building

How you’ll grow

Within 1 month, you’ll plant your roots, including:

• Experience Sprout’s in-depth onboarding, covering everything from our company mission and values, hearing directly from executive leaders, to deep training on our products and the value that Sprout delivers to our customers.
• Make a plan with your manager to set initial priorities, align on expectations for your role, plant goalposts for your career, and learn about Sprout’s approach to people leadership and product building.
• Meet all of the designers on our team, get a lowdown on our design system, tools and file structures, and learn how Product Design partners with other departments and disciplines.
• Get to know your counterparts within our product organization and form early bonds with Product, Engineering, and Marketing partners. Start joining team rituals, connecting with your peers, swapping ideas and sharing perspectives.

Within 3 months, you’ll start hitting your stride by:

• Take advantage of Sprout’s ‘Focus Days’— Wednesdays dedicated to no meetings so everyone can focus on the work that we’ve committed to.
• Learn how Sprout has done things to date, and think about how we might make our culture and processes even better going forward.
• Learn the voice, thinking, and habits of our users while developing a solid foundation of knowledge on our product. 
• Collaborate with your team and begin designing real world work!
• Start to design your own days, weeks, and working style to carve out space for focus, rest, and execution– so that you can establish healthy, balanced productivity.
• Share your personal tactics, processes, and favorite things about being a maker while geeking out with teammates within the broader Design organization at Sprout.
• Help your team think through complex problems and offer guidance on each stage of their work.

Within 6 months, you’ll be making a clear impact through:

• Ship a range of work into the world, analyze results, and get real user feedback so that we can continue to make our product even better.
• Further your influence on our design and product strategy as you learn more about our customers and industry. 
• Expand the breadth and depth of  your design toolkit, and your exposure to new challenges, ideas and perspectives. 
• Run collaborative workshops to bring together partners around the company to help define and design great user experiences.
• Influence a strong culture of design critique and collaboration, ensuring our designers and our work are held to a high-quality standard.

Within 12 months, you’ll make this role your own by:

• Become an integral voice in driving future strategy for your product teams.
• Present your research, insights and design strategy and vision with leaders across Design, Engineering and Product Management and executives.
• Continue to sharpen your craft methods and skills, level-up your strategic business acumen, and shape a unique career path to fit your evolving strengths and passions. 
• Further develop as a craft leader, learning from some of the best industry voices and developing alongside other strategic problem solvers across the business.
• Explore involvement in communities in and outside of Sprout, consider opportunities to add your voice and talent to our Community Resource Groups, and ways to live out our company values in the public and civic spaces that matter most to you.
• Having learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t on our team and in our product, you’ll help us think through how we make Sprout even better for the next year ahead!

Of course what is outlined above is the ideal timeline, but things may shift based on business needs and other projects and tasks could be added at the discretion of your manager.

Our Benefits Program 

We’re proud to regularly be recognized for our team, product and culture. Our benefits program includes:

• Insurance and benefit options that are built for both individuals and families
• Progressive policies to support work/life balance, like our flexible paid time off and parental leave program 
• High-quality and well-maintained equipment—your computer will never prevent you from doing your best
• Wellness initiatives to ensure both health and mental well-being of our team
• Ongoing education and development opportunities via our Grow@Sprout program and employee-led diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
• Growing corporate social responsibility program that is driven by the involvement and passion of our team members
• Beautiful, convenient, and state-of-the-art offices in Chicago’s Loop and downtown Seattle, for those who prefer an office setting

Whenever possible, Sprout wants to provide our team with the flexibility to work in the location that makes the most sense for them. Sprout maintains a remote workforce in many places in the United States. However, we are not set up in all states, so please look at the drop-down box in our application to see whether your state is listed. Few roles require an office setting. If your position requires a physical presence in a Sprout office, it will be evident in the job listing and your offer letter.

Individual base pay is based on various factors, including work location, relevant experience and skills, the responsibility of the role, and job duties/requirements. In the United States, we have two geographic pay zones. You can confirm the pay zone for your specific location with your recruiter during your interview process. For this role, our current base pay ranges for new hires in each zone are:

• Zone 1: $218,328 to $327,492 USD annually
• Zone 2: $198,500 to $297,700 USD annually

Sprout’s compensation ranges are intentionally broad to allow for our team members' growth within their role. These ranges were determined by a market-based compensation approach; we used data from trusted third-party compensation sources to set equitable, consistent, and competitive ranges. We also evaluate compensation bi-annually, identify any changes in the market and make adjustments to our ranges and existing employee compensation as needed.

Base pay is only one element of an employee's total compensation at Sprout. Every Sprout team member has an opportunity to receive restricted stock units (RSUs) under Sprout’s equity plan. Employees (and their dependents) are covered by medical, dental, vision, basic life, accidental death, and dismemberment insurance, and Modern Health (a wellness benefit).  Employees are able to enroll in Sprout’s company’s 401k plan, in which Sprout will match 50% of your contributions up to 6% with a maximum contribution. Sprout offers “Flexible Paid Time Off” and ten paid holidays. We have outlined the various components to an employee’s full compensation package here to help you to understand our total rewards package.

Sprout Social is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and an Affirmative Action Employer. We do not discriminate based on identity- race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex (including sexual identity), age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, order of protection status, citizenship status, arrest record or expunged or sealed convictions, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our latest DEI Report.

If you require a reasonable accommodation for any part of the interview process or to submit your application, please email us at accommodations@sproutsocial.com. Include the nature of your request and your preferred contact information. We'll do everything we can to support your success during our recruitment process while upholding your privacy. Please note that only inquiries regarding accommodations will receive a response from this email address; other inquiries will not be addressed (e.g., you send your resume but are not requesting an accommodation). 

For more information about our commitment to equal employment opportunity, please click here (1) Equal Opportunity Employment Poster  (2) Sprout Social's Affirmative Action Statement (3) Pay Transparency Statement. 

When you apply for employment with Sprout Social, we will process your job applicant data, including your employment and education history, transcript, writing samples, and references as necessary to consider your job application for open positions. Your personal data will be shared with Greenhouse Software, Inc., and Crosschq, Inc., cloud services providers located in the United States of America and engaged by Sprout Social to help manage its recruitment and hiring process on Controller’s behalf. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, by clicking “Submit Application” on this site, you consent to the transfer of your personal data to the United States. For more information about our privacy practices please visit our Privacy Policy. California residents have additional rights and should review the Additional Disclosures for California Residents section in our Privacy Policy.

Additionally, Sprout Social participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. 

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