Product Designer

About STEAMe

STEAMe is a workforce technology company focused on turning disconnected systems into tools that support economic mobility. Building on experience from NowPow—a widely recognized social care referral platform that helped 13 million people connect to essential services—the company develops multi-sided platforms for complex ecosystems. Its products are designed to close data and workflow gaps, bring stakeholders together, and speed up job placement and long-term prosperity at scale.

Role Overview

The Product Designer is a key contributor to the creation and ongoing improvement of STEAMe’s products. In this position, you will take ownership of the user experience from research through rapid prototyping, support design work across four products, and collaborate closely with product managers and engineers to launch new solutions. The role reports to the Chief Product Officer and works alongside the UX Lead.

What You’ll Do

• Build a deep understanding of user personas, their challenges, and the situations they are trying to solve, then translate that knowledge into useful and engaging product experiences.
• Plan and run user research to help shape problem framing and priority setting.
• Develop complete user experiences using a design-thinking approach, including observational research, customer interviews, usability testing, and both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand behavior and validate ideas.
• Produce fast-turnaround mockups and prototypes for discovery and concept validation.
• Set up, recruit for, and facilitate user testing sessions for new features.
• Review research findings and clearly communicate the most important insights to guide team decisions.
• Work within an established design system and expand it as needed to keep all four products consistent and efficient to build.
• Create polished design deliverables such as wireframes, mockups, and style guides.
• Partner with engineering to make sure implemented work matches design intent and specifications.
• Help shape the product roadmap and assist in defining product requirements.
• Use AI-based design and research tools to improve speed and effectiveness, while contributing ideas on how AI can enhance design workflows and products.
• Collaborate with the UX Lead to refine design processes and best practices.

Requirements

• At least 3 years of experience in user research and UI/UX design, or at least 2 years of experience plus a completed UX/UI design program or a related degree.
• A portfolio, including a password if needed, showing examples where you led both the research work and the design of the final solution.
• Strong understanding of user-centered design, UX best practices, and common research/design methods.
• Hands-on experience with design and prototyping tools such as Figma, plus user testing platforms.
• Background working in agile software teams and influencing product direction through research and iterative feedback with product managers.
• Ability to create responsive experiences for desktop, tablet, and mobile web while meeting accessibility standards such as WCAG.
• Comfort using AI tools in the design process.
• Excellent communication skills for presenting design choices to teammates, users, and stakeholders, and advocating for user needs.
• Genuine interest in social entrepreneurship or using technology to address social challenges.
• Preferred background includes social-impact products or B2B/B2B2C work, 0-to-1 product design, fast-moving startup environments with multiple PMs and engineering teams, and experience contributing to an established design system.

Location and Work Setup

This role is based in Chicago, Illinois. The position follows a hybrid schedule with 3 days working from home and 2 days in the office.

Compensation

The target salary range for this role is $90,000 to $110,000 per year. Final pay will depend on experience, skill set, and how closely a candidate matches the scope and level of the role.

Equal Opportunity

STEAMe is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and is an equal opportunity employer. The company welcomes applicants of all races, religions, colors, national origins, genders, family statuses, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and ages.