Principal Product Designer

Academy is reimagining higher education for the age of AI with an entirely new collegiate experience designed to expand access and opportunity. Backed by $38M from top venture firms including Khosla Ventures, Forerunner, DST Global Partners, and Lightspeed, and led by former Duolingo executives and a founding team that also includes Emmy Award winners, Outsmart is building something ambitious from the ground up. You’ll join a team that’s already generating 1–5 million weekly organic views on social media.

In this hybrid role based in Los Angeles, CA, you’ll take on a hands-on, end-to-end design leadership position. The work blends strategy, interaction and visual craft, research and data, and rapid prototyping to ship and iterate on major student product areas.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead end-to-end design for major areas of the Outsmart student experience
• Translate ambiguous product problems into clear strategies, flows, prototypes, and polished user experiences
• Partner closely with Product and Engineering from early exploration through launch and iteration
• Mentor and manage designers, supporting growth while raising the quality bar
• Run critiques and help build a culture of thoughtful, direct, and productive feedback
• Help establish lightweight design processes so a small team can move quickly without sacrificing quality
• Use research, data, experimentation, and rapid prototyping to inform product decisions
• Evolve Outsmart’s design system and overall product language
• Contribute to design team growth and help shape team culture as the company scales

What you bring

• 8+ years of product design experience, including significant experience designing consumer-facing digital products
• Previous experience managing and developing product designers
• A portfolio showing exceptional product thinking, interaction design, and visual craft
• Experience owning complex products or major product areas from strategy through launch
• A strong track record of shipping products used by real customers at meaningful scale
• Excellent Figma and prototyping skills, with willingness to stay deeply hands-on
• Strong collaboration with Product and Engineering, comfortable navigating technical and business constraints
• Experience using AI tools to accelerate design, prototyping, and exploration
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence product direction across disciplines
• High standards for craft paired with good judgment on when to ship and iterate
• A low-ego approach to leadership, collaboration, critique, and feedback
• Bonus: experience with consumer education, social, gaming, or other highly engaging products
• Comfort moving between big-picture strategy and the smallest interaction details
• Clear, constructive feedback skills that develop designers and support an environment where great work happens
• Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to add structure without unnecessary process
• Genuine curiosity about AI, actively using new tools to prototype, explore, and rethink how product teams work

Benefits

• Competitive salary, equity, and benefits
• Healthcare for you and your dependents (medical, dental, and vision)
• Parental leave for any full-time employee (birthing, non-birthing, and adoptive parents)
• 15 PTO days per year, a winter break, and 12+ paid company holidays per year
• Remote work days
• Lunch provided in-office daily
• Working with super talented people who want to make a difference in the world

Role details

• Level: Staff / Principal (8+ years experience)
• Type: Full-time
• Location: Hybrid in Los Angeles, CA
• Salary: USD 175,000 to 225,000 per year base, plus significant equity

AI Tools Notice: Academy may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist the recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.