Role overview

Qualifications

Extensive track record of in-house product design work collaborating with product managers and engineers (agency experience likely screened out).
Experience line-managing or acting as a player/coach for other designers.
Confidence with AI prototyping tools (e.g., Figma Make) and standard design tools, principles, and methodologies; basic to detailed understanding of how AI models work.
Experience in scaling startups or working in fast-paced environments is a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead design vision, strategy, and execution across three cross-functional teams, overseeing participant experiences and authenticity in the global marketplace, specialist pool, and internal services powering participant models.
Serve as the hands-on designer for the core participant domain, reporting to the VP of Product and collaborating with product engineers, AI researchers, data scientists, product managers, and designers.
Line-manage 1-3 designers directly, mentor others, coach behaviours, and model game-changing design approaches.
Co-own accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA) and the Design System with other design leaders, and contribute to user research and data analysis for internal tools and participant platforms.

Key facts

Remote from: United Kingdom
Full time
Senior (5-10 years)
Product Designer
English

Hard skills

User Research Systems Design Industrial Design Design Leadership Design Strategies Behavioral Science Web Accessibility Analytics Figma (Design Software) Explainable AI (XAI) Design Theory Data Science Computer Science Machine Learning Cross-Functional Collaboration Conceptual Model Stakeholder Communications Smart Work

Other skills

Communication
Dealing With Ambiguity
Courage
Business Acumen
Reliability
Mentorship
Coaching
Problem Solving

About the company

Prolific

Research

Prolific (www.prolific.co) is changing how research on the internet is done. We started by building a marketplace that connects researchers (from both Academia and industry) with instant, high quality, global research participants. Now, as a growing team, the bigger vision is to build the most powerful and trusted platform for behavioral research. Quantitative and qualitative researchers, data scientists, and entrepreneurs all need valid and reliable data sources to make predictions about human behaviour and social change. Thanks to our online platform, researchers collect responses fast and participants earn cash rewards for themselves or for charity. It takes 5 minutes to start data collection, there's no middleman, and the product easily integrates with any survey software. In a world of unreliable results, Prolific makes data trustworthy and connects the public with science.

Company details

Company typeScaleup

IndustryResearch

Company size51 - 200

Links

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Job description

Lead Product Designer

Team: Product, Research & Design

Prolific

Prolific is not just another player in the AI space – we are the architects of the human data infrastructure that's reshaping the landscape of AI development. In a world where foundational AI technologies are increasingly commoditized, it's the quality and diversity of human-generated data that truly differentiates products and models.

The Role

As the Product Design Lead in the Prolific for Participants Group, you will lead the design vision, strategy, and execution across three cross-functional teams. You’ll oversee participant experiences and authenticity within both our global marketplace and our dedicated specialist pool, as well as the internal services powering our participant models.

In addition to this leadership responsibility, you will be the hands-on designer responsible for the outcomes of a core participant domain, reporting to the VP of Product and collaborating with a world-class team of product engineers, AI researchers, and data scientists – as well as product managers and designers across Prolific.

You bring a background in crafting user-psychology-informed experiences for large-scale audiences and a natural ability to synthesize complex systems into elegant and transparent solutions. Thriving in ambiguity and juggling multiple initiatives, you move at a rapid pace while galvanizing exceptional performance around you. Ultimately, your success will be defined by your conceptual clarity, peer-to-peer bridge-building, and your consistent ability to bring the participant “into the room

Our Product, User Research, and Design Team indexes heavily on drive, commercial acumen, and pragmatism. Building on our Prolific Principles, we expect you to demonstrate reliability, grit, and bravery, and to model these traits within the team. You’ll be given a lot of trust and autonomy in return, as is always the case within Product at Prolific.

What you'll be doing

You'll bring your rich and varied design career experience to bear to solve customer problems and create new moments of joy for our participants who use Prolific—both ‘pocket money’ academic research participants around the world and deeply skilled experts working on AI training and evaluation.
You’ll build extensively for internal use cases and users, including in participant modeling platforms and tools for our Human Data Ops team.
You’ll raise the bar in our Design Team, and co-own cross-functional areas like accessibility (we are WCAG 2.1 AA compliant) and our Design System with other design leaders.
You will line-manage a group of 1-3 designers directly, and mentor others, coaching behaviours and skills, and modeling game-changing approaches by directly doing.
You'll have user research and data analysis responsibilities

What you'll bring

An extensive and varied track record of in-house product design work alongside product managers and engineers. (Pure agency experience is likely to be screened out.)
Experience in either line-managing or acting as player/coach for other designers.
Confidence working with AI prototyping tools. We use Figma Make.
Competence or expertise in the industry's standard design tools, principles, and methodologies, and a basic to detailed understanding of how AI models work.

Even better if you have

A lived experience of a rapidly scaling startup – especially if you loved it!
AI training experience, or a data science or computer science background.
A track record of giving back to your Product/Design community.
A track record of excelling across all your pursuits, beyond your chosen career.

Why Prolific is a great place to work

We've built a unique platform that connects researchers and companies with a global pool of participants, enabling the collection of high-quality, ethically sourced human behavioral data and feedback. This data is the cornerstone of developing more accurate, nuanced, and aligned AI systems.

We believe that the next leap in AI capabilities won't come solely from scaling existing models, but from integrating diverse human perspectives and behaviors into AI development. By providing this crucial human data infrastructure, Prolific is positioning itself at the forefront of the next wave of AI innovation – one that reflects the breath and the best of humanity.

Working for us will place you at the forefront of AI innovation, providing access to our unique human data platform and opportunities for groundbreaking research. Join us to enjoy a competitive salary, benefits, and remote working within our impactful, mission-driven culture.

Links to more information on Prolific

Privacy Statement

By submitting your application, you agree that Prolific may collect your personal data for recruiting and global organisation planning. Prolific's Candidate Privacy Notice explains what personal information Prolific may process, where Prolific may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over Prolific use of your personal information.