Lead Product Designer

Interested in working on cutting‑edge blockchain technology and creating equitable access to the global financial system? Since 2014, the mission‑driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open‑source platform that operates at high‑scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem.

We are looking for a Lead Product Designer to lead design across SDF’s products and to raise the bar on craft for the whole team. This is a player‑coach role: you will manage and mentor another designer while remaining a world‑class individual contributor on our most important and visible work. You will set the design vision, uphold an exceptional standard of craft, and you are excited to leverage AI tools to multiply what a small design team can deliver — moving faster from concept to high‑fidelity, shippable design.

• In your first 30 days: ramp on our products, design system, and roadmap; partner with PMs and engineers; and start contributing directly to active design work.
• Within 90 days: own the design vision for key product areas, establish how the team works (including AI‑assisted workflows), and support the growth of the designer you manage.
• Set and champion a clear product design vision aligned with company goals and brand values.
• Lead by example as our most senior designer — contributing directly to our most important projects with exceptional visual and interaction craft.
• Manage, mentor, and grow another product designer; provide thoughtful feedback and career development.
• Maintain and scale our design system to ensure consistency and speed across products.
• Leverage AI design and prototyping tools to increase the team’s leverage and the quality and velocity of what you ship.
• Partner closely with Product and Engineering to ship pixel‑perfect, user‑centered experiences.
• Conduct user research and usability testing to validate decisions, and champion user‑centered design across the organization.

• 7+ years of product design experience with a strong portfolio of shipped, end‑to‑end work.
• Exceptional visual and interaction design skills and a critical eye for detail.
• Experience managing or mentoring other designers (formal management a plus).
• Demonstrated use of AI tools to accelerate and elevate design work.
• Expert knowledge of modern design tools (Figma, Framer, etc.) and experience building and scaling design systems.
• Strong communication; you can present, influence, and align stakeholders at all levels.
• A strong understanding of user‑centered design, with experience in research and usability testing.

• On‑chain / crypto / fintech design experience.
• You have built or scaled a design team.
• You prototype with code or AI tools (Framer, v0, and similar).
• Founder or 0→1 experience.

We offer competitive pay with a base salary range for this position of $170,000 - $235,000 depending on job‑related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, we offer lumen‑denominated grants along with the following perks and benefits:

• Competitive health, dental & vision coverage with most plans covered at 100% for the employee + any dependents
• Flexible time off + 15 company holidays including a company‑wide holiday break
• Generous paid parental leave for all parents, plus paid pregnancy disability leave for birthing parents
• Gym reimbursement ($80 per month)
• Life & ADD (up to $50K)
• Short & long term disability
• 401K with 4% match
• Health & Dependent Care FSA Accounts
• Commuter benefits with $250/month employer contribution
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contribution
• Family building benefits through Kindbody
• Wellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace)
• L&D budget of $1,500/year
• Daily lunch and snacks in office
• Company retreats

Stellar is more than a blockchain. Powered by a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network made for financial products and services and a thriving and passionate ecosystem that includes a non‑profit organization…