Product Design Lead

Full-time; remote (US-based)

Summary

Cortico was created in 2017 out of a desire to transform our polarized and toxic national discourse into a thriving public sphere. We know that building a healthier public sphere requires not just software and data analytics, but also hardware and technologies for community building. There is an urgency in our work, as we contribute to building better listening channels and stronger civic spaces and where input shared by community members sparks more informed and transparent decisions within and outside our communities.

Cortico’s Local Voices Network (LVN) platform brings people together in recorded small-group conversations around their life experiences. Through a powerful combination of AI and human listening, our platform enables organizations to make sense of the conversations they collect, and surfaces community voices into public dialogue and decision making – with authenticity, nuance, and transparency– a unique approach that surveys and focus groups cannot match.

LVN’s unique human/machine system is borne of a collaboration between Cortico and MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication (MIT CCC).

Cortico is looking for an experienced Product Design Lead to help us thoughtfully build out our growing product ecosystem and to advance our mission and impact at scale. You’ll report to our VP of Design and will collaborate closely with product, engineering and partnership teams as well as researchers at MIT. 

The role is critically important to our success, and will have the opportunity to help build a cohesive design ecosystem for brand and product experiences from the ground up. We are seeking someone with deep experience in designing systems and the ability to implement a brand vision across a diverse range of products and programs. Candidates should have experience and interest in brand design and execution, user experience design (mobile and desktop), development of UI/UX guidelines and toolkits, and have the ability to guide both internal and external communication design. 

The compensation range for this role is $105,000-115,000 and we have competitive benefits which can be found here. Unfortunately, we are unable to sponsor visas at this time.

A note about culture

The Cortico team is kind, collaborative, inquisitive, and inclusive. We have high standards for quality and ethics, and help each other learn in order to reach our objectives. We think technology is best built by teams with a diversity of background, thought, and experience. Every team member is a human first, and we strive to create a culture and environment that supports your career goals and respects all of the hats you wear in life, not just the ones that earn you a paycheck.

Qualities we’re looking for

• You’ve read about our mission and values and they strongly align with yours.
• You’re passionate about the problems we’re working on.
• You’re ambitious and want to scale your ability to positively impact the world.
• You take initiative in ambiguous situations. 
• You value an iterative and inclusive approach to design.
• You’re a champion of clean, accessible and intuitive design.
• You’re passionate about technology and its application in the real world for positive social impact.
• You value accountability, equity and transparency in your work style and seek to design these values into the products you build.

Minimum qualification

• 5+ years of experience as a product designer, designing and shipping technology products at scale in collaboration with engineers, researchers, and end users
• Adept at collecting all of the information needed to make difficult design decisions, with a determination to drive action
• Deep curiosity and empathy for end-users — you love building products successfully that make people feel joy, delight and trust
• Experience collecting and synthesizing user feedback either solo or in partnership with a UI/UX researcher or product manager
• Strong leadership and cross-functional collaboration skills; able to create clarity and drive focus in complex and dynamic contexts
• Excellent and flexible communication skills. You know when to dig into specifics regarding trade-offs for a design decision but can also engage with stakeholders about the status and vision of a project
• Ability to quickly sketch/wireframe UI concepts
• Strong understanding of visual design and user experience — you love turning wireframes into high-fidelity prototypes to share and test
• Passion for contemporary design trends — you’re on top of what’s current and love talking hex values and variable fonts
• Ability to quickly learn, retain lessons and adapt to a wide variety of challenges and asks from the team

Responsibilities

• Work collaboratively with leadership across Cortico and MIT to evaluate changing business needs, priorities, and opportunities
• Help develop, launch and evolve a cohesive design ecosystem across brand and product experiences 
• Lead user experience design across products (mobile and desktop), with deep understanding of user needs in collaboration with product and partnership teams
• Develop, maintain and evolve UI/UX guidelines and toolkits
• Guide internal and external communication design for consistency across channels
• Create and maintain process transparency to support product prioritization, resourcing and sprint planning

Next steps

Please apply here and include the following information:

• A little about you and your interest in the role
• A resumé / cv

If you are unsure if you are qualified, please consider applying anyway.

The process

We aim to review and respond to all applicants within three weeks of submission. Applicants who move forward to the interview process will go through the following steps: 

• A short phone call with the hiring manager to set expectations and make sure we’re all on the same page about the role and your qualifications
• A Zoom meeting with the hiring team where we’ll review your past experience 
• Finally, you’ll have the chance to meet team members from other roles and learn about the inner workings of the organization

Cortico maintains a strong policy of equal opportunity in employment. It is our objective to recruit, hire, and retain the most qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic or status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Our equal employment philosophy applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, compensation, benefits, training, promotions, transfers, job benefits, and terminations.