Lead Product Designer

Lead Product Designer 

About Catalyst Exchange

Catalyst Exchange is a national nonprofit that helps organizations build capacity and deepen their impact by connecting them to the expertise, resources, and hands-on support they need to achieve transformational outcomes for the communities they serve. As the only entity linking organizations, providers, and knowledge at scale in the impact-driven sector, we bring the expertise, experience, and execution power needed to make capacity building work.

Catalyst Exchange helps organizational leaders identify and leverage the best expertise for their needs and contexts. We support clarifying strengths and growth areas, creating roadmaps to increase capabilities and impact, selecting vetted providers, and managing projects and payments on our platform. By intentionally not providing direct consulting or technical assistance, we avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest. This impartial approach, combined with our strong commitment to equity, has earned the trust of organizations and providers nationwide. 

Since 2020, Catalyst Exchange has served more than 1,500 organizations, and 94% of projects have met their goals. Founded and led by a woman of color, our organization embeds equity and a deep sense of responsibility into all aspects of our work.

We are purpose-driven, innovative, and inclusive, with a supportive culture that encourages every team member to grow and contribute. At Catalyst Exchange, we value diversity, and all team members are encouraged to bring their full, authentic selves to work.

For more information about our mission and work, visit
catalyst-exchange.org

About the Role

Catalyst Exchange seeks a strategic, user-centered, and detail-oriented leader to serve as a Lead Product Designer. This role is designed for an individual with a proven track record of designing intuitive digital products, leading end-to-end user experience strategy, and collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams.

Reporting directly to the Director of Product, the Lead Product Designer will lead the end-to-end design of Catalyst Exchange’s platform, ensuring a cohesive, intuitive, and high-quality user experience. The role will:

• Design and deliver intuitive, user-centered product experiences from concept to implementation
• Partner closely with product and engineering to define and execute on product strategy and features
• Establish and maintain a consistent design system and user experience across the platform
• Lead user research and usability testing efforts to inform product decisions
• Guide and mentor designers or consultants to ensure quality and consistency

The ideal candidate combines strong user empathy and systems thinking with fluency in modern AI-enabled product design workflows. They will use strong UX/UI design expertise, user research and analytical thinking, and cross-functional collaboration skills to deliver a seamless and impactful product experience that advances Catalyst Exchange’s mission.

Key Components of the Role

Product Design & Strategy

• Create detailed product designs, including low-fidelity prototypes and high-fidelity mockups
• Define strategic user flows and product feature sets in partnership with Product
• Design intuitive UI elements (menus, navigation, buttons, widgets)
• Own and ensure consistency of the user experience across the platform
• Maintain and evolve a comprehensive design system and library

Collaboration & Validation

• Partner with product and engineering to gather requirements and ensure technical feasibility
• Facilitate design walkthroughs and incorporate stakeholder feedback
• Validate implemented designs to ensure alignment with specifications
• Collaborate in an agile environment, iterating based on feedback and testing
• Collaborate with the Growth team to prototype and test new workflows and ideas.

User Research & Experience Design

• Conduct user research (interviews, surveys, usability testing)
• Develop personas, user journeys, and user stories
• Lead usability testing and iterate based on findings
• Create a process for sharing user research insights with other teams throughout the organization.

AI-Enabled Product Development

• Rapidly prototype and validate concepts using modern AI-enabled design and prototyping tools
• Partner with product and engineering teams to shape AI-driven product interactions and experiences
• Evaluate opportunities where AI can simplify workflows, reduce operational burden, or improve decision-making
• Establish best practices for responsible, accessible, and transparent AI experiences

By the end of your first three months, you will:

• Establish design workflows with product and engineering teams
• Deliver low- to mid-fidelity prototypes for highest-priority features
• Complete an initial end-to-end design audit of the platform
• Demonstrate an understanding of how AI-enabled design fits into the overall CE product and development process
• Share your insights with other teams within the organization.

By the end of your first six months, you will:

• Design and ship multiple end-to-end product experiences
• Regularly facilitate cross-functional design reviews
• Enable faster product development through the use of AI and reusable components

By the end of your first twelve months, you will:

• Deliver a cohesive, polished product experience across the platform
• Run usability testing cycles on shipped features
• Build and sustain a continuous user research practice
• Establish scalable AI-enabled design and prototyping workflows
• Help define standards for human-centered AI experiences across the platform
• Increase product experimentation velocity through rapid prototyping and validation

Key Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in product and UI/UX design with a strong portfolio
• Proficiency in  Figma, Sketch, or Adobe Creative Suite
• Strong understanding of user research methodologies and analytics
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across cross-functional teams
• Demonstrated user empathy and ability to advocate for user needs
• Experience using AI-enabled tools for rapid prototyping, workflow exploration, and product iteration
• Familiarity with emerging AI-native design patterns and human-AI interaction principles
• Experience maintaining design systems and ensuring accessibility standards
• Experience with agile development and working closely with engineering teams

Salary, Benefits, and Location

• Compensation: This is a full-time, salaried position with full benefits and retirement. Compensation is commensurate with experience. Salary range: $120,800-$132,100.  Benefits include medical and dental insurance coverage, 403(b) with up to 5% match on base salary, and a generous leave policy
• Preferred start date: Jul 20, 2026
• Location: Catalyst Exchange works nationally. We are a remote team with an office in New Orleans. Team members can work from a U.S-based location of their choosing.  
• Travel Requirements: Occasional travel, approximately 1-2 times per quarter, is required for attendance at in-person team meetings, convenings, and events.
• Physical Demands and Working Environment: The bullet points below are representative of the physical demands and working environment that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this role. Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.
  • Standard/remote office setting; proximity to office equipment that includes electronic devices.
  • Multiple people-facing meetings and interactions a day using Zoom or other video call software
  • Must remain at a workstation for at least 50% of the time; will need to use equipment that includes electronic devices.

Catalyst Exchange has a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply, particularly folks who identify as people of color, first generation, low income, or LGBTQIA+.