Lead Product Designer at Circle

About Circle

Circle is the leading all-in-one platform for building vibrant online communities. We empower creators, coaches, educators, and businesses to unite their audiences with engaging discussions, live streams, events, chat, courses, and payments - all within their own brand. We operate as a fully remote company with approximately 200 team members spanning over 30 countries globally. We are committed to finding exceptional talent worldwide, providing them with the environment to achieve their best work, and making a significant impact on their lives. We prioritize outcomes and high expectations over tracking hours. Our team collaborates across time zones, embraces asynchronous communication, and relies heavily on documentation. We host company-wide offsites twice a year in beautiful international locations, with past retreats in Turkey, Portugal, Mexico, Thailand, Colombia, Italy, and Ireland. Learn more about working with us on our careers page.

About the Lead Product Designer Role

As a Lead Product Designer at Circle, you will take full ownership of design for one of our core product areas. This involves defining problems, shaping strategic direction, and shipping complete user experiences, rather than simply executing on a brief. The specific product area will be assigned based on your strengths and current company priorities. You will report to the product design organization and serve as the most senior Individual Contributor (IC) designer in your area, collaborating directly with product managers, engineers, and design leadership. You will also work alongside other Lead-level professionals across Circle’s product landscape. As the design team expands, you will be instrumental in elevating the standards for your colleagues.

At Circle, AI is integrated into our daily workflows, not just a separate section. Our design team leverages AI tools extensively for exploring product directions, prototyping with code-generation tools, and rapidly stress-testing ideas. We are seeking a designer who already employs these methods and is eager to push the boundaries of AI-assisted design.

Key Responsibilities

• End-to-end Product Area Ownership: Identify opportunities, frame problems, establish design direction, and deliver solutions, acting as a peer to Product and Engineering teams, not a downstream executor.
• Complex Flow Design: Create sophisticated, multi-step product flows that cater to diverse user types, balancing creator needs with member experience, and simplifying complex behaviors.
• Rapid Prototyping and Testing: Utilize AI-assisted tools, code-generation workflows, and other efficient methods to quickly develop and test concepts.
• Influence Product Strategy: Contribute to roadmap discussions, identify cross-team opportunities, and connect product initiatives beyond your immediate area.
• Drive Craft Standard: Uphold and enhance interaction design, visual quality, and meticulous details that differentiate polished products from acceptable ones.
• Close Collaboration: Work closely with engineers and design engineers to transform concepts into shippable, working experiences, moving beyond simple hand-offs.
• Team Elevation: Raise the overall design team's quality through constructive feedback, shared frameworks, and the excellence of your own work.

What You'll Need to Be Successful

• Values Alignment: Strong alignment with Circle's company values, as outlined on our careers page.
• English Proficiency: Proficient in English (spoken, written, and reading) at a CEFR Level C2 / ILR Level 5.
• Experience: 5-7+ years of product design experience. Your portfolio must showcase systems-level thinking, including shipped 0-to-1 work, complex multi-user flows, and evidence of your influence on product direction, not just interface design.
• Leadership Experience: Proven experience as the most senior designer on a product area, setting direction, making tradeoffs, and owning outcomes with minimal supervision.
• Prototyping Skills: Strong ability to build clickable, realistic prototypes yourself. Bonus points if you actively use AI-assisted prototyping tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, v0, or Lovable.
• Figma Proficiency: Expert-level proficiency in Figma for high-fidelity design and collaborative workflows.
• Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, enabling you to clearly articulate complex ideas, influence decisions, and align distributed teams asynchronously. Effective writing is crucial for decision-making in a remote environment.
• Ambiguity Tolerance: Comfortable designing in ambiguous environments and building conviction through iterative processes, rather than waiting for perfect requirements.
• AI Workflow: An active and evolving AI workflow, demonstrating how you integrate AI tools into your design process with concrete examples. This is a critical evaluation criterion.

Compensation

The cash compensation range for this Lead Product Designer role is $140,000 - $170,000 USD per year. This is a starting point, and in addition to equity, benefits, and perks, your cash compensation will be subject to an annual review and potential increase. While we are primarily hiring at a Lead level, we may consider candidates at the Senior level if their experience aligns well, with the offer still falling within the published compensation range.

Benefits and Perks

• Fully Remote: Work from anywhere in the world!
• Autonomy and Trust: We emphasize outcomes above all else, providing you with the autonomy and trust to excel in your role.
• Paid Time Away: All employees receive 35 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) annually. We also offer a paid sabbatical after 5 years of service.
• Generous Compensation & Equity: Competitive U.S. benchmarked compensation and startup equity, regardless of your global location.
• Medical Coverage: Excellent medical coverage with 100% employer contribution for you and your family, or medical reimbursement options where applicable.
• Parental Leave: Comprehensive parental leave for new or expanding families.
• Home Office Stipend: Financial support to set up your ideal home office.
• Learning & Development Stipend: A budget to invest in your professional skills and growth.
• Annual Bonus Potential: For roles that do not include variable income or commission.
• Company Retreats: Join the Circle team twice a year for fully paid company retreats in incredible locations worldwide, such as Colombia, Portugal, and Mexico.

*Note: Your specific role, location, and unique circumstances may affect eligibility for certain benefits.

Candidate Safety & Interview Process Notice

At Circle, candidate safety and trust are paramount. We are aware of the increasing prevalence of recruiting fraud where malicious actors impersonate companies or employees. Please review the following information regarding our official process:

How Our Process Works:

• All applications are submitted exclusively through our official applicant tracking system (Greenhouse).
• If you advance, you may be invited to record a brief introductory video or proceed directly to a live interview.
• All live interviews are conducted face-to-face via video (Zoom or Google Meet) with a member of the Circle team.
• We do not conduct text-only interviews.
• We do not conduct interviews using chat applications or messaging platforms.
• We do not use AI bots for candidate interviews.

Official Communication Channels:

• All official communications from Circle will originate from [email protected], or an email address ending in @circle.co or @circle.so.
• We will never contact you from unofficial domains (e.g., ".team", ".careers", or similar variations).
• We will never request sensitive personal information early in the process or ask for any form of payment.

If you receive any suspicious messages purporting to be from Circle, please do not respond.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

As a fully remote, international company, diversity is fundamental to Circle's identity. Our CEO, Sid Yadav, articulates our hiring mission as: "let's find talent in underserved and under-represented corners of the world, set them up to do the best work of their lives, and in turn, change their life." To support this mission, we offer competitive U.S. benchmarked compensation globally and actively seek candidates who enhance the representation of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and lived experiences within our teams.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Circle is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. Should you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please inform us, and we will endeavor to meet your needs.

How We Use Candidate Data

Circle is committed to safeguarding your personal information. As a job applicant, the personal data you provide is collected and processed in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This notice outlines the types of personal information we collect, the purpose of collection, and your rights.

Information We Collect:

We collect the following categories of personal information from job applicants:

• Contact information (e.g., name, email address, phone number)
• Employment history and qualifications
• Education history
• References and any other information voluntarily shared during the application process

Purpose of Collection:

This information is collected for the following purposes:

• To evaluate your qualifications and suitability for the position.
• To facilitate communication with you throughout the recruitment process.
• To ensure compliance with legal and regulatory obligations.

Your Rights Under GDPR and CCPA:

You possess the following rights concerning your personal information:

• The right to request access to your personal information held by us.
• The right to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions.
• The right to opt out of the sale of your personal information (Note: Circle does not sell personal information).

For further details on our data handling practices or to exercise your rights, please refer to our comprehensive Privacy Policy. By submitting your application, you acknowledge and understand this privacy notice.