Lead Technical Product Designer

This is a technical design role focused on Poe, meaning this person is expected to design and code reusable components for our AI platform. This role helps us achieve two main goals: 1) create a best in class consumer internet product, and 2) increase product development velocity through a robust design system.

You’ll be responsible for making our system more robust by designing (Figma) and coding (React / TypeScript) components for the design and development team to use. As an evangelist for the Poe Design Language (PDL) and the collective effort required in evolving our system, your goal is to create a foundation for a consistent user experience, streamline the development of new products and increase team velocity.

Designing a global ecosystem for knowledge sharing, and a platform for businesses to reach our audience requires a multidisciplinary approach. To deliver our mission, we are designing systems that make knowledge sharing rewarding and discovery easy, while scaling to support the participation of the entire planet. We're building a diverse team with people of different backgrounds and experiences, empowered to shape strategy.

Our designers leverage what they learn about psychological and social dynamics, communities and networks, systems and policy design, in addition to more typical design skills. Product design plays a significant role in impacting product strategy directly. Designers at Quora work on everything from ranking to UI, from internationalization to moderation systems, with each design decision validated through A/B testing and user studies alike, as we value rigor and empathy in equal measure. We pursue candor, holism, and awareness in our work.

Responsibilities:

• Define a strategy, create a roadmap and productionize PDL into a best-in-class Design System, both in our codebase and in Figma
• Evolve existing design patterns and refine an ‘in-take process’ for identifying, creating and prioritizing new reusable components based on user and team need
• Design and propose new PDL components and design tokens in Figma, while also implementing pattern components on web (i.e. React) and working with cross functional partners to implement on native platforms (i.e. iOS, Android)
• Proactively identify opportunities to review code and design decisions to enforce PDL usage, while socializing upcoming changes to more deeply integrate the PDL in all areas of product development
• Navigate ambiguity by maintaining clear ‘sources of truth’ for engineers and designers that detail: use expectations, decision rationale and other required documentation (i.e. Token Studio, Figma, etc.)
• Work autonomously to quickly and pragmatically execute on multiple projects simultaneously
• Define Design System KPIs to measure health and help optimize for future usage
• Contribute to the Design team’s growth through mentorship and joining Design Team Guilds to improve the day-to-day environment
• Rough responsibility breakdown: 70% execution, 20% strategy / planning / coordination and 10% evangelizing

Minimum Requirements:

• Ability to be available for meetings and impromptu communication during Quora's “coordination hours" (Mon-Fri: 9am-3pm Pacific Time)
• 5 years of experience in product design, with at least 2 years focused on design systems design and development (React, Typescript, or equivalent)
• Portfolio that demonstrates designing and building high-quality design systems components for both consumer and B2B products
• Strong proficiency in building scalable, reusable React / TypeScript web components that integrate design tokens
• Working knowledge of native platforms (i.e. Android, iOS) to confidently work with native engineers in translating web components / designing client-specific components
• Experience collaborating with other product designers, product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders to align roadmaps and implementation details
• Experience building and maintaining design tokens: UI design, light mode / dark mode, naming / categorization, management, conversion, version control, and distribution
• Experience building and maintaining Design Systems documentation

Preferred Requirements:

• Tools: Storybook, Figma, Token Studio
• Experience establishing the operational processes as it relates to Design Systems
• Experience with A/B testing and use of data analysis frameworks
• Skilled at delivering high-quality mobile experiences for social media products