VotingWorks is hiring a Product Design Lead to simplify election technology. This role will own software product design for all VotingWorks products: our voting system, risk-limiting auditing software, and more.

About VotingWorks

VotingWorks is the only non-profit in the United States building voting machines, audit software, and other technology to power our public elections. We believe in democracy and well-run free & fair elections. We see a growing crisis of voter confidence in our elections, and we believe transparent, secure, and simple technology can help. That's what we're building. Voting technology developed in concert with election administrators, with all source code and documentation published for the world to see, modern security practices that provide positive evidence of proper operation, and a focus on simplicity in our product so users make fewer errors.

The Role

The Product Design Lead will own software product design for all VotingWorks products and will report to Head of Product.

You'll be responsible for:

• Designing the user experience for new product features that solve problems we are prioritizing.
• Working in the best medium for the stage of the product development lifecycle you're in, whether that be documents, sketches, high-fidelity mockups, or prototypes.
• Conducting user research and usability testing to confirm design hypotheses.
• Defining the design system for the user interface across the VotingWorks product suite.
• Helping with other organizational design needs such as graphic design for marketing assets.
• Developing a deep understanding of user needs and constantly pushing VotingWorks to simplify product design.

We're looking for someone who:

• Has 5+ years of experience designing software products for a diverse set of users.
• Rapidly prototypes designs in Figma, code, or other interactive tools of choice.
• Methodically breaks down a product problem statement into product design hypotheses and tests these hypotheses with users.
• Builds design systems that enable engineers to move faster and collaborate to understand the technical feasibility of designs.
• Knows how to balance attention to detail and shipping features.
• Wants to put their skills towards increasing public trust in elections.
• Nice to have: experience as the first design hire at an early-stage startup. You will initially be the only designer at VotingWorks.

Location, Teamwork, Work-Life Balance

VotingWorks is a fully distributed organization. Team members work from wherever they choose in the United States and attend meetings over video or audio conference. Work when you prefer, as long as you can be available 4 hours per weekday during Pacific timezone business hours for team coordination. We use Slack a lot, and we jump on video or audio calls when the synchronous discussion is more effective.

We're a small organization where work can sometimes get busy because elections are never rescheduled, and we care deeply about setting limits and ensuring team members have the balance they seek in their lives.

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation for full-time employment ranges from $120,000 to $180,000 depending on experience, cost of living where you live, desired workweek length. This role will have the option to work at 100% time (40 hour workweek, M-F) or 80% time (32 hour workweek, M-Th) as much of our engineering team chooses to work 80% time.

VotingWorks also provides medical, dental, and vision insurance with the base plans being fully covered for employees. VotingWorks also sponsors a 401k plan and will match 100% of contributions up to 3% and 50% of contributions up to 5%. A full list of benefits can be found here.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

VotingWorks is deeply committed to building a diverse team and an inclusive work environment. We aim to build a voting system that earns American's trust, and so we must build a team that represents all Americans. We believe that a team with a diversity of life experiences and points of view is a much better team than one where “culture fit” really means “everyone is the same.” And we know that all of this is a lot easier said than done. We strive in our application process to look for proven skills and real-world experience. We rely less on which diploma you received and from which school you went to. Our interview process is built on rubrics and a scoring process we define ahead of time, so as to reduce the chance that our biases will get in the way. Finally, we welcome feedback, at all times, about anything in our recruiting process that puts you at a disadvantage for reasons unrelated to the work that needs to get done.