Senior Product Designer

About Niche

Niche is the leader in school search. Our mission is to make researching and enrolling in schools easy, transparent, and free. With in-depth profiles on every school and college in America, 140 million reviews and ratings, and powerful search tools, we help millions of people find the right school for them. We also help thousands of schools recruit more best-fit students, by highlighting what makes them great and making it easier to visit and apply.

Niche is all about finding where you belong, and that mission inspires how we operate every day. We want Niche to be a place where people truly enjoy working and can thrive professionally.

About The Role

We are looking for a Senior Product Designer to use your design and research chops to build high-impact experiences for our Core Business product pod, the revenue center of our company currently focused on user-generated and data-driven content experiences, SEO, and conversion/growth. You will play a pivotal role in a growing space, working closely with cross-functional teams on creating seamless, effective experiences that deliver the future of personalized school search and enrollment.

You’ll help make our small but mighty design team impactful, rigorous and playful, while addressing real problems that affect the earning potential of millions of people. We are in the early stages of an exciting transformation, with the opportunity for you to truly make an impact, both improving the existing product and envisioning next-generation experiences.

What You Will Do

• Design and iterate on key product features using data, research insights and product thinking to form your vision and bring it to life
• Collaborate with your cross-functional partners and other designers to ship and iterate on design solutions that are strategic, thoughtful, and make a real impact to both customers and business  
• Help raise the bar on the quality and craft of design work using systems thinking and workflows, information architecture and content strategy, product reasoning, wireframing and prototyping
• Communicate persuasively about your solutions and present to stakeholders, with the ability to facilitate productive discussions and move work forward
• Strengthen our ability to develop hypotheses, experiment, iterate, and learn quickly through design artifacts and structured decision-making

During the First Month:

• Learn about Niche by meeting with various team members to learn more about our company through our Onboarding meetings
• Meet and get familiar with your cross-functional team, fellow designers and researchers, and key stakeholders
• Understand the company mission and vision, business model, and current state of the product
• Get familiar with our design tools, knowledge base, and research insights
• Join product team meetings and sprint cycles, starting with assisting other designers on projects in flight

Within 3 Months:

• Fully operate in your role, developing design strategy aligned to business objectives and working through the design process
• Collaborate closely with designers in other areas to make stronger design decisions and identify dependencies
• Deliver solutions to increasingly complex challenges, starting to tackle longer-term vision and evolution of the experience in your surface area

Within 6 Months:

• Lead in your lane on the product team, identifying improvements to the way work gets done and how collaboration happens
• Identify opportunities and presenting solutions using persuasive storytelling, concept designs, and a deep understanding of both business objectives and user needs
• Provide constructive and thoughtful feedback to other designers
• Able to contribute to improving Design tools and processes

Within 12 Months:

• Primary designer for one or more product teams handling complex, business-critical projects
• Have a strong understanding of all major product areas, recognizing patterns, and contributing to design strategy across the suite of Niche products
• Mentor and source of support for other designers

What We Are Looking For

• You have designed and shipped product features that customers love, for both mobile and desktop, and can articulate what it took to make that happen, from product strategy down to pixel-level decision-making
• You know how to roll data, research insights, business goals, technical constraints, and customer needs together into strongly-crafted solutions (mockups, prototypes, and flows)
• You iterate fast, ensure you gather feedback, and use strategic reasoning to inform your decisions
• You enjoy and take pride in using your design skills to bring clarity and simplicity to both process and product
• You have experience working on cross-functional product teams in an agile environment
• You are a team player, curious about new ideas and excited to learn, comfortable with ambiguity and an ever-evolving team + product experience
• Extra bonus if you're experienced with one or more of: multi-sided marketplaces, products for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, or AI products in production

Compensation 

Our national target base salary range is $130,000-$150,000, plus participation in our Annual Bonus and Stock Option Program. Base compensation will be commensurate with experience and skills.

At Niche, our Total Rewards Philosophy is centered around creating a workplace environment that attracts, motivates, and retains top talent by providing a comprehensive and competitive rewards package.  This philosophy is built on the principles of performance-based compensation, best-in-class benefits and work-life balance, and employee well-being.

Interview Process

Candidate experience is a top priority for our talent and hiring teams.  We believe in providing a transparent, authentic and comprehensive interview process where you have the opportunity to learn about us while we get to know you and your experience.  The interview process is outlined here:

• Phone Screen with Talent Acquisition Partner - 30 Minutes

• Video Interview with Hiring Manager - 45 Minutes

• Portfolio Review - 60 Minutes

• Cross-Functional  Interview - 45 Minutes

Why Niche?

• We are a fully flexible workforce empowering our employees to choose to work remotely, in our Pittsburgh office or whatever combination suits you
• Full time, salaried position with competitive compensation in a fast-growing company
• Best-in-class 100% paid employee health plan, including vision and dental and supplemental coverage
• Flexible Paid Time Off Policy
• Stipend that allows you to build your work from home office in a style and function that suits your personal preferences
• Parental leave for all employees (12 weeks fully paid) in addition to short term disability for birthing parents
• Meaningful 401(k) with employer match
• Your ideas and work will make an immediate impact on our company and millions of users
• You will join a team that cares about you, our mission, our work - and celebrates our wins together!

Niche will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future for this opening.  

We are currently hiring in states where we currently have employees: AZ, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, DC, WV.

Candidates only.  No recruiters or agencies, please. Sorry, we do not offer relocation assistance.

Niche is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. Therefore, we provide employment opportunities without regard to age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.

All interviews are being held remotely. If there are preparations we can make to help ensure you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please let us know.