Product Design Lead

Job Description: Product Design Lead

Location: CO/KS/IL/MO (Remote)

Salary: $120k-$160k

Reports to: CTO

About the Company

We are a mature software company with a long history of serving county and city government customers. Our product portfolio spans ~40 Windows-based client/server applications, from VBA extensions to standalone VB.NET tools. We are now consolidating these into a modern SaaS suite of 3–5 integrated products that will power the next chapter of our growth.

Role Overview

As Product Design Lead, you will set the design direction for our SaaS transformation. Reporting to the CTO, you will ensure our new suite delivers intuitive, consistent, and customer-centered experiences.

This is a hands-on design leadership role: you will shape UX standards, guide product squads with design thinking, and work closely with product managers, developers, and customer-facing teams. Over time, you will have the opportunity to expand into broader product leadership responsibilities, with an emphasis on product strategy.

Key Responsibilities

• • Design & User Experience Leadership
• • Establish and own the design vision, systems, and standards for our SaaS suite.
• Drive UX consistency across multiple products, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
• Lead hands-on design execution: wireframes, prototypes, flows, and high-fidelity designs.
• • Collaboration & Delivery
• • Partner with product managers and developers to translate customer needs into elegant, usable workflows.
• Ensure design deliverables are well-scoped, feasible, and aligned with technical realities.
• Facilitate design reviews and critique sessions to raise the quality bar.
• • Customer Engagement & Research
• • Conduct user research, usability testing, and iterative design validation.
• Devise and substantiate user personas.
• Synthesize insights into actionable improvements that directly shape the product roadmap.
• • Team Growth & Influence
• • Grow the design/UX function over time.
• Evangelize design-led thinking across the organization.
• Shape product strategy as a design voice.

Qualifications

• 10 years of experience in product design, UX, or interaction design; at least 3 years in a lead or principal role.
• Strong portfolio showcasing SaaS product design, design systems, and end-to-end UX delivery.
• Fluency in design and prototyping tools (Figma, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, etc.).
• Experience conducting and synthesizing user research and usability studies.
• Solid grasp of information architecture, interaction design, and visual design fundamentals.
• Track record of collaborating successfully with product and development teams.
• Excellent communication skills; able to tell the story of design decisions to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Pragmatic, hands-on design leader who thrives in lean environments.

Why Join Us

• Define and elevate the design practice during one of the most significant transformations in our company's history.
• Build the design foundation for a SaaS product suite that will serve governments for the next decade.
• Join a collaborative team balancing legacy modernization with new product innovation.
• Clear path to increase scope of strategic influence and leadership as our product development function matures.

CIC Team Member Benefits & Compensation

• Health & Wellness Covered: We've got your health taken care of with comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits, with CIC covering 75% of the monthly premiums. Stay healthy while saving money!

• Retirement Planning Made Easy: Secure your future with our 401k plan—complete with company contributions to help grow your retirement fund faster.

• Generous Time Off: Take time to recharge with our vacation, sick leave, and holiday benefits, designed to support your work-life balance and keep you feeling refreshed.

**A Culture Index survey will be sent to you via email upon completion of the application** This must be completed in order to be considered for the position.