Principal Product Designer job at Ellevation Education in Boston, MA

Position Overview

Location: Boston, MA

Schedule: Full Time, Hybrid (Remote & In-person)

As a Principal Product Designer, you will play a pivotal role in transforming our suite of point solutions into an integrated ELD platform. We are growing our Product Design organization as part of a strategic evolution, where design is not only about aesthetics, but about defining strategic user experiences that drive impactful outcomes. You will lead UX strategy and evolve our design system (Backpack) while collaborating closely with senior Product and Engineering teams.

This role demands a blend of systems thinking, cross-R&D design leadership, and hands-on execution. You’ll be expected to integrate AI tools into your creative process and mentor fellow designers to continuously raise the bar. This is a hybrid role based at our Boston headquarters.

Responsibilities:

• Within 1 month: Build a clear picture of the strategic context for Ellevation, audit Backpack’s current state to identify gaps, and establish relationships with Design, Product, and Engineering leadership.
• Within 3 months: Own the roadmap for Backpack’s evolution, ship improvements addressing high-priority gaps, and become the go-to for cross-team UX decisions while identifying opportunities to elevate design workflows.
• Within 6 months: Enable integrated experiences with Backpack, shape UX strategy across multiple teams, mentor designers, and elevate the overall quality of design through feedback and process improvements.
• Within 12 months: Materially improve design practices at Ellevation, turn Backpack into a competitive advantage, and serve as a trusted voice in R&D strategy discussions.

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of demonstrated success as a cross-functional designer in a B2B SaaS or adjacent environment.
• Proven experience owning or significantly shaping a design system with a keen understanding of the tradeoffs between flexibility and consistency.
• Ability to work autonomously, set your own direction, and influence without formal authority.
• Fluency in AI-assisted prototyping, leveraging emerging tools for ideation and rapid iteration.
• A strong focus on outcomes through experimentation, user research, usability testing, and data-driven decision making.
• A collaborative mindset with the ability to mentor team members, welcome feedback, and integrate diverse perspectives.
• Systems thinking to create coherent experiences that unify multiple workflows rather than isolated features.

Benefits:

• Salary: $160,000 - $220,000 a year with a competitive base salary, annual performance-based raise, and bonus structure.
• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, basic life insurance, and a 401(k) retirement plan with an employer match.
• Flexible paid time off, additional company holidays, parental leave, and back-up childcare or eldercare options.
• Opportunities for professional development, company offsites, and participation in Employee Resource Groups.
• A supportive, mission-driven culture that values diversity, inclusion, and collaborative work both remotely and in-person.