Hiring Guide

Product Designer

Specific duties of a Product Designer can vary from business to business — along with factors like company culture, work environment, and team dynamics — it’s vital to tailor any job description and interview content to your company’s needs and expectations.

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Why you should hire a Product Designer

Product Designers help companies achieve success by improving or developing new product designs that meet the wants and needs of a user's experience. They work closely with the product and development team to create design-oriented solutions to ensure customer ease and satisfaction and drive value for the business.

In this hiring guide, we'll provide everything you need to hire a great Product Designer

Top skills for Product Designers

Visual and UX Design Skills

UX Design
Design Thinking
Prototyping

Developing Design-oriented Product Solutions

Empathy
Customer Centricity
Critical/Analytical Thinking

Knowledge of the Product Development Lifecycle

Product Strategy
Product Development
Business Acumen

Cross-functional Collaboration

Influencing
Teamwork/Collaboration
Adaptability

Sample Product Designer job description

Product Designers help companies optimize their products through digital design to create high quality experiences for their users. They do so by leveraging their visual design skills, their understanding of users’ emotional and functional needs, and their knowledge of how products are developed to ensure products have intuitive workflows and are easy to use. This requires a deep understanding of the user and an ability to apply that information into the design thinking process. They use design tools to wireframe and prototype their ideas, and they work closely with other teams (e.g., product, web developers) or their clients as they execute their work. Doing so requires them to design solutions that capture the core product objectives and achieve business goals by providing exceptional user experiences.

Sample interview questions for Product Designers

Question 1

How do you eliminate personal bias when solving UX problems?

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Rachel Policastro
Senior Product Designer — 10 years professional experience

What does this question reveal?

Candidate has the ability to remain objective and advocate for the user when developing UX solutions

Answer tips

  • Advocates for the primary user
  • Puts aside personal opinions which may cloud judgment of problem
  • Applies critical thinking (e.g., data-driven decision making, consults with engineering, etc.)
  • Conducts user research to understand primary users
  • Understands the UX process

Question 2

Tell me about the most successful product design project you have participated in. How did you develop your designs in a way to optimize the user experience?

User Avatar Green
Anonymous
Product Designer — 8 years professional experience

What does this question reveal?

Candidate has the ability to analyze and produce design content that centers around the user experience

Answer tips

  • Clearly describes the project and highlights their unique contributions
  • Explains why the UX help made the product successful
  • Speaks to their strengths in UX design and how they facilitated project success
  • Emphasizes the role that design plays for facilitating engagement with products
  • Shares tips and best practices for creating exceptional UX design

Question 3

Talk me through some of the best working experiences you have had with other UX and product designers. What did you do to engage with them that made those experiences so great?

Alycia Damp's portrait image
Hireguide I/O Psych Validated
Alycia Damp, PhD IRHR

What does this question reveal?

Candidate has the ability to build successful and collaborative relationships with core team members

Answer tips

  • Highlights great communication and open and honest working relationships
  • Understands the professional strengths and weaknesses of other team members
  • Communicates to achieve alignment on objectives/problems they are solving
  • Engages in feedback loops to share and solicit feedback on others' work
  • Shares key takeaways for successful collaboration within design teams