Product Designer

Position: Contract Product Designer
About the Company:

Stable Kernel is a technology services firm and custom software developer building scalable software solutions for cutting-edge, innovative enterprises to move their business forward. We are headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

We're a privately held, Great Place to Work Certified Company™ with a multi-award-winning culture and an impressive 10-plus-year trajectory of sustainable growth. At Stable Kernel, we support our employees in ways that help them do some of the best work of their lives.

About the Role:

As a Senior Product Designer, you'll play a key role in shaping the future of digital products across a range of industries. You'll drive the creation of thoughtful, intuitive, and engaging experiences that not only meet user needs but also align with business goals. Your work will directly influence the success of our clients and the evolution of our design practice.

We're seeking a Senior designer who brings a rare blend of strategic thinking, creative curiosity, and practical execution. You're confident without ego, empathetic by nature, and thrive in collaborative, cross-functional environments. You understand how to balance ideal experiences with real-world constraints - and know when to push the boundaries.

Core Responsibilities Include:

• Technical Impact:
• Designing end-to-end mobile and desktop experiences, from discovery and wire framing through high-fidelity mockups and interaction specifications.
• Creating and maintaining a component library and design system that ensures consistency across the application.
• Conducting user research, usability testing, and design validation to inform and iterate on design decisions.
• Collaborating closely with engineers to ensure designs are implemented with high fidelity and optimal performance.
• Designing for accessibility, responsive layout, and platform-specific conventions on iOS,Android, and web.
• Participating in design reviews and providing thoughtful feedback to peers.
• Business Alignment:
• Understanding and aligning with project objectives, effectively balancing leadership and collaboration to shape design approaches that support overall goals.
• Delivering customer value through design, identifying improvement opportunities within their scope and contributing enhancements that elevate the user experience.
• Supporting project estimation and planning, identifying gaps, risks, and assumptions, and working with team members to ensure accurate planning and costing.
• Partnering with sales and business development teams, offering design expertise and support for scoping and client-facing engagements when needed.
• Interacting with Others:
• Fostering strong collaboration across teams, facilitating communication within project teams, and providing support to fellow designers to ensure alignment and momentum.
• Influencing through insight and mentorship, actively sharing knowledge, and collaborating on solutions with other designers.
• Serving as a design expert on project teams, balancing guidance from senior designers with mentorship for junior team members while confidently advising stakeholders and providing clear design direction.
• Communicating project status proactively, escalating unforeseen challenges, and working with leadership to resolve blockers and maintain progress.
• Autonomy & Ambiguity:
• Taking ownership of design initiatives, delivering high-quality work while aligning with the broader project, departmental, and company objectives.
• Navigating ambiguity with support, demonstrating comfort in uncertain situations while collaborating with peers to plan, structure, and execute complex design solutions.
• Contributing to road mapping and project planning, leading efforts to define phases and timelines with input from cross-functional team members.
• Problem-Solving:
• Driving problem-solving at multiple levels, addressing challenges across project, team, and department contexts with strategic thinking and a solution-oriented mindset.
• Identifying and planning for risks proactively, anticipating potential challenges, and integrating mitigation strategies into project planning.
• Escalating issues proactively to the appropriate team members, including Project Manager or Product…