Lead Product Designer

As the Lead Product Designer at KIKI, your responsibilities will include co-creating product concepts and polished visuals, leading mobile-first design initiatives, crafting micro-interactions, and collaborating with both product management and engineering teams to ensure high quality and timely launch of products. You will also engage in producing high-fidelity designs and interactive prototypes, while contributing to product marketing visuals across various channels. Your overarching goal is to enhance both merchant and shopper experiences.

To be considered for the Lead Product Designer role at KIKI, you should have at least 5 years of experience designing consumer-facing products with a strong portfolio showcasing your work. A deep understanding of UX principles combined with exceptional visual taste is essential. Proficiency in tools like Figma is required, and familiarity with HTML, CSS, or JavaScript would be beneficial. A background in e-commerce, creator tools, or no-code platforms is a plus, along with a passion for elevating the creative-commerce space.

The Lead Product Designer at KIKI will primarily use Figma for creating high-fidelity designs and interactive prototypes. Knowledge of other tools like Framer, Adobe After Effects, Lottie, or Rive is a bonus, as the role includes crafting delightful micro-animations and polished user experiences. Familiarity with web technologies such as HTML, CSS, or JavaScript may also enhance your contributions to design and engineering collaboration.

Design culture at KIKI is collaborative, focusing on product, research, systems, and brand. The Lead Product Designer will directly influence this culture by collaborating with engineers and product thinkers to redefine high-quality design in our tools. Every design element matters, and the environment promotes rapid iteration, ensuring that your designs can be tested and launched quickly. You’ll have the opportunity to delve into new domains and push the boundaries of creative commerce design.

Joining KIKI as a Lead Product Designer opens up myriad opportunities for growth. You will be involved in influential projects from the get-go, allowing you to expand your skill set in various domains of design. Additionally, working closely with the founding team will provide you with mentorship and a hands-on approach to design strategy, offering a vibrant environment to evolve your crafts, such as scaling design systems and enhancing your UI/UX expertise.

In your response, start with a brief overview of your design process, emphasizing key stages such as research, prototyping, testing, and iteration. Explain how each stage is critical in creating user-centered designs and how you adapt your process using feedback from both team members and end users. Tailor your experience to show how this process would specifically aid the Lead Product Designer role at KIKI, focusing on collaboration with engineers and stakeholders.

Discuss your commitment to continuous learning, emphasizing platforms you utilize such as online courses, design blogs, attending workshops, or following industry leaders on social media. Highlight specific examples of trends you’ve successfully incorporated into your previous work and how attending design conferences has benefited your approach, reinforcing your readiness for the Lead Product Designer position at KIKI.

Your answer should detail your understanding of mobile-first design principles, emphasizing the importance of responsive layouts and user needs. Discuss specific methodologies, such as starting with content hierarchy and conducting user testing on mobile to gather insights. Relate this to KIKI's focus on mobile-first design, showcasing how your strategies will align with their objectives.

Explain that you view feedback as a valuable part of the design process, sharing specific examples where you successfully integrated critique into your work. Emphasize your ability to remain open to suggestions while also advocating for your design rationale. This approach aligns well with KIKI’s collaborative culture and shows that you can contribute positively as a Lead Product Designer.

Choose a project where you faced significant challenges, such as tight deadlines or complex user needs. Describe the steps you took to overcome these obstacles, including collaboration with team members, testing, and iterations. Connect this experience to how such problem-solving skills will be beneficial for the Lead Product Designer role at KIKI.

Share your methods for prioritization, such as considering user impact, business value, and development resources. Discuss tools or frameworks you use to make decisions, illustrating with examples from past experiences. Explain how KIKI’s dynamic environment would influence your prioritization techniques in the Lead Product Designer role to meet tight project timelines.

Discuss how user research is integral to your design process, guiding initial concepts and ongoing iterations. Provide examples of how you’ve applied research findings to enhance user experiences in previous designs. Emphasize how this approach aligns with KIKI’s commitment to user-centric design, showcasing your readiness for the Lead Product Designer role.

Highlight the importance of collaboration between design and engineering. Discuss how you approach joint meetings, design handoffs, and the importance of ongoing communication during the iterative process. Share past experiences in fostering a united front to achieve design goals, reinforcing how you’ll seamlessly integrate as a Lead Product Designer at KIKI.

Discuss elements that contribute to a visually appealing UI, such as balance, color harmony, typography, and whitespace. Use past projects to illustrate your points and how these elements worked together to create user-centric designs. This will allow you to showcase your exceptional visual taste and understanding needed for the Lead Product Designer role at KIKI.

Share your value alignment with KIKI’s mission and philosophy, addressing how their focus on empowering entrepreneurs through intuitive design resonates with you. Discuss specific aspects of KIKI's culture and design initiatives that excite you and how your expertise would contribute to their goals. This will highlight your enthusiasm and suitability for the Lead Product Designer position.