Senior Product Designer

Company: Kognitos
Location: Mountain View
Posted on: April 2, 2026

Job Description:

Contract Product Designer (Mid–Senior) Location: Bay Area (preferred) Duration: 6-month contract Start Date: Late February (ideal start: last week of February) About the Role We’re looking for a mid-to-senior level Product Designer to join us on a 6-month contract and help carry forward critical design work during a planned team transition. This role is intentionally timed to allow overlap with two senior designers before they roll off, ensuring continuity, context transfer, and momentum. You’ll work hands-on across product and UX design, partnering closely with Product Management and Engineering to design thoughtful, usable experiences for complex workflows. This role is ideal for a designer who is comfortable operating independently, thrives in fast-moving environments, and brings both systems thinking and craft. Bay Area candidates are preferred to enable close collaboration, though we’re open to flexibility for the right person. What You’ll Do Own end-to-end product and UX design for key product areas during a transition period. Translate complex product requirements and technical concepts into intuitive user experiences. Design user flows, interaction models, wireframes, and high-fidelity mockups. Collaborate closely with Product and Engineering to scope, iterate, and deliver solutions. Contribute to discovery work, including research synthesis, journey mapping, and usability testing. Maintain and evolve existing design patterns and systems. Ensure smooth handoff and continuity through structured overlap with outgoing designers. What We’re Looking For 4–7 years of experience as a Product Designer, UX Designer, or Interaction Designer. Experience working across a mix of startup and mid-to-large tech environments. Strong foundation in user-centered design, interaction design, and systems thinking. Proven ability to design for complex, workflow-heavy or enterprise products. Strong communication skills and comfort working cross-functionally. Ability to ramp quickly, work independently, and deliver impact in a contract role. Preferred (Not Required) Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in HCI, Interaction Design, Cognitive Science, or a related field. Experience designing technical products, developer tools, AI-powered products, or internal platforms. Comfort working onsite or hybrid in the Bay Area. Experience stepping into teams midstream and maintaining design quality and velocity. Why This Role Clear scope with meaningful ownership. Strong onboarding and overlap before team members roll off. High-impact work during an important transition window. Opportunity to work on complex product challenges with a collaborative, experienced team. If you’re a seasoned designer who enjoys bringing clarity to complexity and delivering high-quality UX in fast-moving environments, we’d love to connect. Final note You do not need to match all of the listed expectations to apply for this position. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills. Equal opportunities provider Kognitos is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Keywords: Kognitos, South San Francisco , Senior Product Designer, IT / Software / Systems , Mountain View, California