Product Designer

At GitLab, product designers collaborate closely with product managers, engineers, UX researchers, technical writers, and other product designers to create a productive, minimal, and human experience.

Product Design Roles at GitLab

A Product Designer reports to a Product Design Manager.

Responsibilities

Help define and improve the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) of GitLab.
Design features that fit within the larger experience and flows.
Create deliverables (wireframes, mockups, prototypes, flows, and so on) to communicate ideas.
Work with product managers and engineers to iterate on and refine the existing experience.
Define and contribute to research initiatives (usability tests, surveys, interviews, and so on) alongside UX researchers and product managers.
Stay informed and share the latest on UI/UX techniques, tools, and patterns.

Base Requirements For All Roles

Ability to use GitLab.
Several years professional experience designing for complex products.
Demonstration of design craft through visual and interaction skills, attention to detail, and commitment to creating high-quality work.
Thoughtful decision making motivated by data and research.
Familiarity with accessibility best practices and WCAG guidelines.
Comfort working in highly agile, iterative product development process.
Design systems knowledge, understanding, and practice.
You share our values, and work in accordance with those values.
Strong bias for action and ability to develop daily priorities to achieve goals (manager of one).
Proficiency in the English language, both written and verbal, sufficient for success in a remote and largely asynchronous work environment.
Working knowledge of HTML/CSS, and familiarity with JavaScript.
General knowledge of Git (for example, branching, push/pulling, committing, squashing) and DevOps (for example, pipelines, deployments, security) flows.

Levels

Product Designer

A Product Designer is assigned to a group, with exceptions made based on business needs.

Job Grade

The Product Designer is a grade 6.

Responsibilities

Product knowledge: Have working knowledge of the capabilities in your group.
Research: Conduct competitor evaluations, usability studies, and formative evaluations (like UX Scorecards). Incorporate insights to fulfill user and business needs.
Deliverables: Create tactical deliverables for your group that solve user problems (for example, user flows, low and high fidelity designs, prototypes).
Communication: Communicate UX activities to others with clear language that simplifies complexity.
Usability: Identify small and large usability issues in your group.
Iteration: Practice design iteration and break down designs to fit the release cadence. Review merge requests with user-facing changes.
Design system: Actively contribute additions or enhancements to the Pajamas Design System based on your work.
UI copy: Collaborate early and often with a technical writer on microcopy and documentation.
Design reviews: Participate in design reviews, exchanging feedback appropriately.
Deferred UX: Identify, track, and make recommendations to address deferred UX in your group.
Recruiting: Evaluate design portfolios, and interview product design and product management candidates.

Requirements

A Product Designer is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities with a commitment to results and agreed actions.

Senior Product Designer

A Senior Product Designer is assigned to a group, with exceptions made based on business needs.

Senior Job Grade

The Senior Product Designer is a grade 7.

Senior Responsibilities

Everything in the Product Designer role, plus:

Product knowledge: Have deep knowledge of the technology and capabilities in your group. Proactively learn and have working knowledge of other groups.
Research: Conduct competitor evaluations, usability studies, and formative evaluations. Incorporate insights to fulfill user and business needs. Identify research opportunities.
Deliverables: Create tactical deliverables for your group that solve user problems. Define strategic outputs that connect vision to product outcomes (for example, journey maps, storyboards, design visions).
Communication: Communicate UX activities to others with clear language that simplifies complexity. Show a strong point of view on how those activities address user and business needs.
Usability: Identify small and large usability issues in your group. Influence their prioritization.
Iteration: Practice design iteration and break down designs to fit the release cadence. Review merge requests with user-facing changes. Advocate for and guide others in adopting effective iteration practices within your group.
Design system: Actively contribute additions or enhancements to the Pajamas Design System based on your work. Help determine use cases and provide recommendations.
UI copy: Collaborate early and often with a technical writer on microcopy and documentation. Help improve documentation and incorporate guidance in the UI for a better experience.
Design reviews: Participate in design reviews, exchanging feedback appropriately. Model best practices for feedback exchange.
Deferred UX: Identify, track, and make recommendations to address deferred UX in your group. Mitigate the risk for deferred UX with MVCs. Help prioritize such issues in your group.
Public presence: Promote GitLab publicly through articles, talks, videos, or social media interactions, where appropriate.
Cross-stage collaboration: Note dependencies and advocate for cross-stage collaboration when needed to promote a holistic UX.

Senior Requirements

A Senior Product Designer is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while modeling a sense of urgency and commitment to deliver results.

Staff Product Designer

A Staff Product Designer is assigned to a group, with exceptions made based on business needs.

Staff Job Grade

The Staff Product Designer is a grade 8.

Staff Responsibilities

Everything in the Senior Product Designer role, plus:

Product knowledge: Have deep knowledge of the technology and capabilities in your group. Proactively learn and have working knowledge of the end-to-end product.
Research: Conduct competitor evaluations, usability studies, and formative evaluations. Incorporate insights to fulfill user and business needs. Identify research opportunities. Collaborate on problem validation and strategic research needs.
Deliverables: Create tactical deliverables for your group that solve user problems. Define strategic outputs that connect vision to product outcomes. Shape the deliverables with a focus on long-term vision and execution.
Communication: Communicate UX activities to others with clear language that simplifies complexity. Show a strong point of view on how those activities address user and business needs. Exemplify frequent and effective asynchronous communication.
Iteration: Practice design iteration and break down designs to fit the release cadence. Review merge requests with user-facing changes. Advocate for and guide others in adopting effective iteration practices across the company.
Craft: Demonstrate mastery in design execution through detail, refinement, and implementation. Set quality standards and provide constructive critiques that elevate other designers’ work.
Thought leadership: Promote best practices and support others in advocating for them.
Recruiting: Evaluate design portfolios, and interview product design and product management candidates. Help identify top product design talent.
Cross-stage collaboration: Note dependencies and advocate for cross-stage collaboration when needed to promote a holistic UX. Help others navigate the organization and consider overlaps.
Mentoring: Provide impactful feedback to UX department members and mentor them throughout product development.
Vision: Collaborate with your group on a user-centric vision and long-term roadmap that is connected to company goals.
UX process: Expose operational needs (for example, in design and solution validation), and address them through experimentation and change management.
Open source: Create a welcoming community for design contributors and drive engagement.

Staff Requirements

A Staff Product Designer is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while coaching team members to collaborate and work iteratively.

Principal Product Designer

A Principal Product Designer is assigned to projects, based on their skills and business needs. This flexibility enables us to create broader impact and handle the most complex problems, and provide them with more diverse opportunities for career development.

Principal Job Grade

The Principal Product Designer is a grade 9.

Principal Responsibilities

Everything in the Staff Product Designer role, plus:

Product knowledge: Have deep knowledge of the technology and capabilities in your projects. Proactively learn and have working knowledge of the end-to-end product.
Research: Conduct competitor evaluations, usability studies, and formative evaluations. Incorporate insights to fulfill user and business needs. Identify research opportunities. Collaborate on problem validation and strategic research needs. Help connect research efforts, and cultivate accountability and learning through research.
Deliverables: Create tactical deliverables for your project that solve user problems. Define strategic outputs that connect vision to product outcomes. Shape the deliverables with a focus on long-term vision and execution. Reduce the scope, complexity, and ambiguity of projects to a more manageable state.
Communication: Communicate UX activities to others with clear language that simplifies complexity. Show a strong point of view on how those activities address user and business needs. Exemplify frequent and effective asynchronous communication. Unblock conversations and encourage collaboration across teams.
Iteration: Practice design iteration and break down designs to fit the release cadence of your projects. Review merge requests with user-facing changes. Advocate for and guide others in adopting effective iteration practices across the company. Help others break down solutions into actionable steps, aligned with long-term goals.
Craft: Drive design proficiency across teams through innovation and strategic vision. Model the application of design criteria and principles while creating frameworks that embed design quality throughout the organization.
Deferred UX: Identify, track, and make recommendations to address deferred UX in your projects. Mitigate the risk for deferred UX with MVCs. Help prioritize such issues in your projects.
Thought leadership: Promote best practices and support others in advocating for them. Bring a UX voice to complex scenarios and build trust with other disciplines. Enable designers to engage on large-scale initiatives.
Recruiting: Evaluate design portfolios, and interview product design and product management candidates. Help identify top product design talent. Coach others to find and interview design candidates. Help attract and retain a world-class product design team.
Cross-stage collaboration: Note dependencies and advocate for cross-stage collaboration when needed to promote a holistic UX. Help others navigate the organization and consider overlaps. Identify cross-stage opportunities and drive collaboration to influence product strategy.
Mentoring: Provide impactful feedback to UX members and mentor them throughout product development. Support designers’ career development, mentor cross-functional team members and UX leaders, and foster a skill-building environment within the department.
Vision: Influence the vision and roadmap of your projects to ensure they are user-centered and connected to company goals.
Goal setting: Help set achievable, measurable, and impactful goals for your projects that drive results.
UX process: Expose operational needs, and address them through experimentation and change management. Also identify and address cultural and organizational needs. Enable others to help and drive changes.
Public presence: Promote GitLab publicly through articles, talks, videos, or social media interactions, where appropriate. Be an active voice in the UX industry, and share our learnings.
Supporting others: Support peers in their working rhythm. Translate their successes, concerns, and morale to leadership.

Principal Requirements

A Principal Product Designer is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while fostering a culture of ownership of personal performance.

Distinguished Product Designer

A Distinguished Product Designer operates at the highest level of individual contribution, serving as a strategic design leader who shapes GitLab’s product direction and represents design excellence both internally and externally.

Distinguished Job Grade

The Distinguished Product Designer is a grade 10.

Distinguished Responsibilities

Everything in the Principal Product Designer role, plus:

Product knowledge: Possess comprehensive knowledge across GitLab’s entire product surface and deep expertise in multiple domains. Partner with executives and senior leadership to shape product strategy, ensuring user-centered design is foundational to company direction.
Research: Champion a culture of evidence-based design across the organization. Synthesize research across multiple domains to identify patterns, opportunities, and strategic insights that inform company-wide decisions. Partner with UX Research leadership to define research strategy.
Deliverables: Lead design on the most complex, ambiguous, and strategically important initiatives—those that span multiple stages, require significant organizational alignment, or represent new product territories. Create compelling Northstar narratives that connect product vision with brand direction through high-quality artifacts including video, motion, and visual explorations. Define multi-year design visions that connect product experiences to GitLab’s mission and market position.
Communication: Communicate design vision and strategy to executives and external stakeholders with clarity and conviction. Develop vision materials tailored for distinct audiences–customer validation, executive alignment, product team consumption, marketing inspiration, and Board review. Represent GitLab’s design perspective in executive-level discussions, influencing company direction and investment priorities.
Craft: Set and evolve the quality bar for design excellence across GitLab. Establish frameworks, principles, and criteria that guide design decisions organization-wide. Drive innovation in design practice, introducing approaches that elevate the entire design team’s capabilities.
Design system: Provide strategic direction for the Pajamas Design System evolution, ensuring it scales with product complexity and supports long-term experience goals. Identify systemic experience patterns that should become platform capabilities.
Thought leadership: Represent GitLab as a recognized voice in the design industry through keynotes, publications, and community engagement. Shape industry conversations on topics relevant to GitLab’s mission. Build GitLab’s reputation as a destination for world-class design talent.
Cross-stage collaboration: Build strong partnerships with VPs and Directors across Product, Engineering, Brand, and other functions. Navigate complex organizational dynamics to drive alignment on experience-critical initiatives. Represent design in cross-functional forums.
Mentoring: Partner with design leadership on organizational strategy, team structure, and capability development. Mentor Principal and Staff designers, accelerating their growth and expanding their impact. Cultivate a healthy design culture that attracts and retains exceptional talent.
Vision: Anticipate market shifts and emerging user needs, translating foresight into strategic design initiatives. Identify and unite multiple problem areas across the stages and domains into coherent possibilities. Lead speculative design initiatives that inform long-term product strategy. Balance near-term execution needs with investment in future-focused design exploration.
Brand integration: Partner with Brand to identify opportunities where brand expression strengthens product experiences. Apply GitLab’s brand identity within Northstar visions and product direction where it reinforces the user experience.
Goal setting: Partner with executives to define experience-level goals that drive company results. Ensure design initiatives are measurable and connected to business outcomes.

Distinguished Requirements

A Distinguished Product Designer is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while driving a culture of accountability across the organization and coaching others to achieve ambitious goals.

Foundations Specialty

In addition to embedding in groups that focus on a specific product area, we also have a Foundations team that works on building a cohesive and consistent user experience across platform experiences like navigation, both visually and functionally. You’ll be responsible for leading the direction of the experience design, visual style, and technical tooling of the GitLab product. You’ll act as a centralized resource, helping to triage large-scale experience problems as the need arises.

You’ll spend your time collaborating with a cross-functional team, implementing our design system, building comprehensive accessibility standards into our workflows, and defining guidelines and best practices that will inform how teams are designing and building products. A breakdown of the vision you’ll be helping to deliver within the UX Foundation category can be found on our product direction page.

AI Specialty

Everything in the various levels of product designer roles, plus:

knowledge of AI technologies, including subsets of GenAI and ML.
participate in prompt engineering to maximize user satisfaction.
test prompts and prototype conversation flow happy paths.
understand model evaluation approaches, and use knowledge of user intents to enhance datasets to closely mirror human interactions.
stay up to data on emerging technology and UI design patterns.
leverage solution validation methods that go beyond usability to evaluate user satisfaction with model responses.
create learning materials that support designers who work on AI-powered features.

Performance indicators

Relevant links

Hiring Process

Candidates for this position can expect the hiring process to follow the order below, although it can change depending on calendar availability. Please keep in mind that candidates can be declined from the position at any stage of the process. To learn more about someone who is conducting your interview, you can find their job title on our team page.

Screening Call

Selected candidates will be invited to schedule a 30-minute screening call with a member of our hiring team. In this call, we will discuss your experience, understand what you are looking for in a product design role, talk about your work and approach to product design, discuss your compensation expectations and reasons why you want to join GitLab, and answer any questions you have.

Interview Process

The interview panel will vary based on the role level and reporting structure:

For roles reporting to a Product Design Manager or Senior Product Design Manager

Interview with a Product Designer (1 hour): This interview focuses on your design experience, process, and approach. You’ll be asked situational questions about how you’ve handled specific scenarios in your work. You should be prepared to discuss your design and research process, how you collaborate with others, and how you approach your role. You’ll also walk through a case study from your portfolio for approximately 30 minutes. We’ll want to understand your process, the size and structure of your team, the project goals, your low and high-fidelity design work, how you approached and synthesized research, what design standards you worked within, and how you collaborated. Choose a project that demonstrates how you solved a problem, ideally with similar challenges or context to the stage group you’re interviewing for. Be prepared to discuss your project throughout the walkthrough. You’ll have time at the end to ask questions.

Interview with the Hiring Product Design Manager (1 hour): This interview follows a similar format to the peer interview, with situational questions and discussion of your design process, collaboration style, and approach to your work. You may present the same case study or a different one. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the role and team.

Interview with a Director of Product Design or Senior Director of Product Design (50 minutes): This interview assesses your research, strategy, and design skills. The interviewer will want to understand how you’ve incorporated research into your work and your grasp of UX research fundamentals and methodology. Be prepared to discuss the soft skills product designers need and how you apply them in practice.

Interview with a Product Manager and Engineering Manager (1 hour): This interview focuses on your ability to collaborate with product and engineering teams and evaluates how well your skills align with the needs of a specific stage group.

For Staff, Principal, and Distinguished roles reporting to the Senior Director of Product Design

Interview with a Staff+ Product Designer (1 hour): This interview focuses on your design expertise, strategic thinking, and ability to work at a senior level. You should be prepared to discuss your case study and demonstrate how you approach complex design challenges. The interviewer will be evaluating your ability to drive design direction, mentor others, and balance user needs with business goals and technical constraints.

Interview with the Hiring Manager (1 hour): This interview assesses your strategic design thinking, leadership capabilities, and alignment with team goals. The conversation will focus on how you drive design point of view, interact with peers and stakeholders, handle challenges, and what you’ve learned from your work.

Interview with Product Management and Engineering Leadership (1 hour): This interview evaluates your ability to partner with and influence senior product and engineering leaders across the organization.

Interview with the Chief Design Officer (50 minutes): This conversation focuses on your vision for design, strategic thinking at the organizational level, and how you can contribute to GitLab’s design excellence.

Offer

Successful candidates will subsequently be made an offer through a video call or phone call.

Preparing for your interviews

Case studies

Here are some helpful tips for when you are sharing a case study:

A formal presentation is not required but it is helpful to bring your materials together. We recommend not sharing entire design files as it can be difficult for an interviewer to follow along.
Clearly outlined user and business problems that you were solving and how you learned about them.
What your role was (for example, who did you work with and what was your responsibility).
The details of the design process (polished visuals are fine but you may want to include the sketches, wireframes, prototypes, or the ideas that didn’t make it).
The result of your work (learnings, successfully achieved goals, impact on key metrics).

Internal candidates

The hiring process for internal candidates may be slightly adjusted from the above, but in general the goal is still to evaluate the best fit for the role. Interview questions may be adapted to gauge interest and skills in specific areas the team would like to grow, or about specific team responsibilities. A case study review is not necessary; instead, consider current or previous work assignments and experience in light of the position.

Additional details about our process can be found on our hiring page.

About GitLab

GitLab is an open core software company that develops the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps Platform, used by more than 100,000 organizations. Our mission is to enable everyone to contribute to and co-create the software that powers our world. When everyone can contribute, consumers become contributors, significantly accelerating the rate of human progress. This mission is integral to our culture, influencing how we hire, build products, and lead our industry. We make this possible at GitLab by running our operations on our product and staying aligned with our values. Learn more about Life at GitLab. Thanks to products like Duo Enterprise, and Duo Workflow, customers get the benefit of AI at every stage of the SDLC. The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier. All team members are encouraged and expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact across our global organisation.

See our culture page for more!

Work remotely from anywhere in the world. Curious to see what that looks like? Check out our remote manifesto and guides.

Last modified December 19, 2025: Update PD Interview Process (06c75c41)

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