Senior Staff Product Designer | AI
Deel, Italy, NY, United States
About the Role
We’re looking for a Senior Staff Product Designer to lead the design vision for Deel’s AI vertical—one of the most ambitious and strategically important areas of the company. This role sits at the intersection of conversational AI, agentic workflows, and intelligent automation, shaping the experiences that define Deel’s next‑generation platform.
You’ll own the end‑to‑end design strategy for our AI products, including Deel AI, Akai, conversational interfaces, AI‑powered agents, and developer experience tools. Your scope covers everything from in‑chat interactions and agent‑driven workflows to proactive notifications, anomaly detection, and human‑in‑the‑loop interventions across payroll, HR, and compliance.
You’ll lead a growing team of designers and partner directly with engineering, product, and leadership to set the direction for AI design at Deel—codifying craft standards, mentoring designers, and influencing strategy across verticals.
Key Responsibilities
Define the design direction for Deel’s AI vertical, Akai, conversational interfaces, agents, labs, and developer experience tools.
Establish the strategic approach for how intelligence surfaces across the platform—from proactive agent notifications and anomaly detection to in‑chat actions and workflow automation.
Shape strategic conversations using insights, narratives, and design vision to influence direction and uncover new opportunity spaces across the AI product portfolio.
Work in close synergy with the Principal Designer to define the boundary between conversational AI and intent bar orchestration and the intelligent OS, ensuring seamless handoff and coherence.
Codify craft standards for AI interactions by formalizing patterns, quality expectations, and reusable approaches that emerge from practice.
Ensure coherence across the AI vertical, reducing fragmentation and inconsistencies between teams building conversational, agentic, and automated experiences.
Turn implicit good design into explicit guidelines and mentor designers to consistently apply high‑quality craft to AI products.
Design and prototype at speed—rapidly exploring new interaction patterns for conversational AI, agent‑driven workflows, and human‑in‑the‑loop experiences.
Drive effective cross‑team collaboration within the AI vertical, fostering alignment and shared ownership across designers, engineers, product managers, and business partners.
Influence alignment through clear narrative and communication—managing stakeholders across teams with minimal oversight.
Shape shared understanding through compelling design narratives that connect AI design choices to user impact and business outcomes.
Partner with the design system team to ensure AI‑enabled workflows, agentic UI patterns, and tool integrations are reflected in the system.
Lead problem spaces within the AI vertical, setting direction and defining success for complex, ambiguous initiatives.
Anticipate challenges and opportunities ahead of time, creating clarity before issues materialize across DAI, agents, and conversational AI.
Make prioritization and trade‑off decisions that unblock teams and maintain momentum across the AI product portfolio.
Take accountability for progress and outcomes—shipping high‑quality AI experiences that move the needle for customers and the business.
Establish user research and customer insight practices within the AI vertical, ensuring empathy and evidence are embedded from problem framing through delivery.
Drive competitor and market analysis that shapes AI design direction and informs strategic priorities across teams.
Champion quality control by defining dogfooding rituals and feedback loops that surface issues early and raise the bar for AI experience quality.
Coach designers on research methods and ensure the voice of the customer is represented in cross‑functional decisions about AI products.
Shape design org culture within the AI vertical, driving initiatives that improve how designers work and grow.
Invest time in coaching and supporting designers—turning successful experiments into repeatable approaches that others can build on.
Provide mentorship and constructive feedback that fosters growth, skill development, and career progression for product designers.
Thrive in ambiguous or rapidly evolving contexts, and help others do the same.
Requirements Experience and expertise
8+ years as a Product Designer in a fast‑paced environment, with at least 3 years operating at Staff level or above, leading holistic design for complex product areas.
Deep experience designing AI‑powered products—including conversational interfaces, chatbots, AI agents, copilots, or intelligent automation. A portfolio that demonstrates this work is essential.
Proven track record of leading design for AI or ML products from zero‑to‑one and through iterative scaling.
Strong multidisciplinary skills across UI, UX, interaction design, and visual design, with a proven ability to craft functional yet delightful experiences for complex workflows.
AI and technical fluency
Deep understanding of AI/ML product design patterns—including prompt design, conversational UX, agentic workflows, human‑in‑the‑loop patterns, progressive disclosure of AI capabilities, and trust calibration.
Comfort with technical AI concepts and the ability to collaborate deeply with ML engineers and AI researchers on interaction models, error states, and confidence thresholds.
Active use of AI tools in your own design workflow—prototyping, research synthesis, design exploration, or code‑assisted design.
Leadership and influence
Outstanding communicator and facilitator who can bring people together, build strong relationships, and gain alignment across teams through inspiring design narratives.
Experienced in mentoring and growing designers—providing guidance that enables them to learn, progress, and deliver high‑quality work.
Comfortable navigating ambiguity at speed, driving clarity from complexity, and balancing user needs with business objectives in rapidly evolving product areas.
Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills—builds trust with product, engineering, data science, and business partners to deliver coherent, impactful experiences.
Mindset
Data‑informed and evidence‑driven—your design work is rooted in experimentation, user research, and measurable outcomes.
Passionate about the intersection of design and AI, with a genuine curiosity about how intelligent systems can transform complex global workflows.
Knowledge of payroll, HR, fintech, or compliance domains is a strong plus.
Total Rewards
Stock grant opportunities dependent on your role, employment status and location.
Additional perks and benefits based on your employment status and country.
The flexibility of remote work, including optional WeWork access.
At Deel, we’re an equal‑opportunity employer that values diversity and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of race, religion, sex, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy or maternity or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
Deel will provide accommodations on request throughout the recruitment, selection and assessment process for applicants with disabilities. If you require accommodations, please inform our Talent Acquisition Team via this link and a team member will be in touch to ensure your equal participation. If you have difficulty accessing the form, please email recruiting@deel.com.
Disclaimer: This posting is subject to the service‐level description of our employment terms and the privacy policy that governs our further processing of your information.
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You’ll own the end‑to‑end design strategy for our AI products, including Deel AI, Akai, conversational interfaces, AI‑powered agents, and developer experience tools. Your scope covers everything from in‑chat interactions and agent‑driven workflows to proactive notifications, anomaly detection, and human‑in‑the‑loop interventions across payroll, HR, and compliance.
You’ll lead a growing team of designers and partner directly with engineering, product, and leadership to set the direction for AI design at Deel—codifying craft standards, mentoring designers, and influencing strategy across verticals.
Key Responsibilities
Define the design direction for Deel’s AI vertical, Akai, conversational interfaces, agents, labs, and developer experience tools.
Establish the strategic approach for how intelligence surfaces across the platform—from proactive agent notifications and anomaly detection to in‑chat actions and workflow automation.
Shape strategic conversations using insights, narratives, and design vision to influence direction and uncover new opportunity spaces across the AI product portfolio.
Work in close synergy with the Principal Designer to define the boundary between conversational AI and intent bar orchestration and the intelligent OS, ensuring seamless handoff and coherence.
Codify craft standards for AI interactions by formalizing patterns, quality expectations, and reusable approaches that emerge from practice.
Ensure coherence across the AI vertical, reducing fragmentation and inconsistencies between teams building conversational, agentic, and automated experiences.
Turn implicit good design into explicit guidelines and mentor designers to consistently apply high‑quality craft to AI products.
Design and prototype at speed—rapidly exploring new interaction patterns for conversational AI, agent‑driven workflows, and human‑in‑the‑loop experiences.
Drive effective cross‑team collaboration within the AI vertical, fostering alignment and shared ownership across designers, engineers, product managers, and business partners.
Influence alignment through clear narrative and communication—managing stakeholders across teams with minimal oversight.
Shape shared understanding through compelling design narratives that connect AI design choices to user impact and business outcomes.
Partner with the design system team to ensure AI‑enabled workflows, agentic UI patterns, and tool integrations are reflected in the system.
Lead problem spaces within the AI vertical, setting direction and defining success for complex, ambiguous initiatives.
Anticipate challenges and opportunities ahead of time, creating clarity before issues materialize across DAI, agents, and conversational AI.
Make prioritization and trade‑off decisions that unblock teams and maintain momentum across the AI product portfolio.
Take accountability for progress and outcomes—shipping high‑quality AI experiences that move the needle for customers and the business.
Establish user research and customer insight practices within the AI vertical, ensuring empathy and evidence are embedded from problem framing through delivery.
Drive competitor and market analysis that shapes AI design direction and informs strategic priorities across teams.
Champion quality control by defining dogfooding rituals and feedback loops that surface issues early and raise the bar for AI experience quality.
Coach designers on research methods and ensure the voice of the customer is represented in cross‑functional decisions about AI products.
Shape design org culture within the AI vertical, driving initiatives that improve how designers work and grow.
Invest time in coaching and supporting designers—turning successful experiments into repeatable approaches that others can build on.
Provide mentorship and constructive feedback that fosters growth, skill development, and career progression for product designers.
Thrive in ambiguous or rapidly evolving contexts, and help others do the same.
Requirements Experience and expertise
8+ years as a Product Designer in a fast‑paced environment, with at least 3 years operating at Staff level or above, leading holistic design for complex product areas.
Deep experience designing AI‑powered products—including conversational interfaces, chatbots, AI agents, copilots, or intelligent automation. A portfolio that demonstrates this work is essential.
Proven track record of leading design for AI or ML products from zero‑to‑one and through iterative scaling.
Strong multidisciplinary skills across UI, UX, interaction design, and visual design, with a proven ability to craft functional yet delightful experiences for complex workflows.
AI and technical fluency
Deep understanding of AI/ML product design patterns—including prompt design, conversational UX, agentic workflows, human‑in‑the‑loop patterns, progressive disclosure of AI capabilities, and trust calibration.
Comfort with technical AI concepts and the ability to collaborate deeply with ML engineers and AI researchers on interaction models, error states, and confidence thresholds.
Active use of AI tools in your own design workflow—prototyping, research synthesis, design exploration, or code‑assisted design.
Leadership and influence
Outstanding communicator and facilitator who can bring people together, build strong relationships, and gain alignment across teams through inspiring design narratives.
Experienced in mentoring and growing designers—providing guidance that enables them to learn, progress, and deliver high‑quality work.
Comfortable navigating ambiguity at speed, driving clarity from complexity, and balancing user needs with business objectives in rapidly evolving product areas.
Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills—builds trust with product, engineering, data science, and business partners to deliver coherent, impactful experiences.
Mindset
Data‑informed and evidence‑driven—your design work is rooted in experimentation, user research, and measurable outcomes.
Passionate about the intersection of design and AI, with a genuine curiosity about how intelligent systems can transform complex global workflows.
Knowledge of payroll, HR, fintech, or compliance domains is a strong plus.
Total Rewards
Stock grant opportunities dependent on your role, employment status and location.
Additional perks and benefits based on your employment status and country.
The flexibility of remote work, including optional WeWork access.
At Deel, we’re an equal‑opportunity employer that values diversity and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of race, religion, sex, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy or maternity or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
Deel will provide accommodations on request throughout the recruitment, selection and assessment process for applicants with disabilities. If you require accommodations, please inform our Talent Acquisition Team via this link and a team member will be in touch to ensure your equal participation. If you have difficulty accessing the form, please email recruiting@deel.com.
Disclaimer: This posting is subject to the service‐level description of our employment terms and the privacy policy that governs our further processing of your information.
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