Senior Product Designer

About Partly

Partly is a global company headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices in London, Christchurch, and Auckland. The company is pioneering AI infrastructure for the global repair sector, focusing initially on the $2 trillion automotive market. Their flagship product, Interpreter, is an AI model uniquely designed to comprehend vehicle damage and identify the parts necessary for repairs. Thousands of businesses throughout the global supply chain rely on this technology. Founded by former Rocket Lab engineers, Partly has experienced rapid growth, recently closing a $50 million Series B funding round led by DST Global and other notable investors.

Position Overview

The Senior Product Designer role is critical to helping the product keep pace with rapid customer growth and the shift to an AI-first experience centered around Interpreter. This role will partner closely with product engineers and product managers, working across multiple projects to enhance the UX with speed and precision while maintaining high-quality design standards. Candidates who demonstrate ownership beyond design tasks, including taking on end-to-end features and contributing extensively to the design system and product areas, will find significant growth opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

• Transform complex, data-dense workflows involving large parts catalogs into trusted, efficient experiences.
• Design searching and discovery features that ensure high accuracy to avoid critical errors such as incorrect vehicle part matches.
• Own the quality of design deliverables, aligning with product leads on direction but ultimately accountable for the user experience.
• Develop scalable design system components, patterns, and guidelines to support engineers and AI tools creating the product interface.
• Provide rules and frameworks that simplify decision-making and uphold design standards even without direct involvement.
• Create early-stage artifacts like job stories, user journeys, and process flows to enable engineering teams to move forward independently.
• Deliver designs promptly to keep pace with rapid engineering cycles and support global teams across New Zealand, the UK, and the US.
• Design for real-world conditions, addressing all states, edge cases, errors, and authentic data scenarios.
• Offer clear, actionable critiques that elevate the quality of work for designers, product managers, and engineers.
• Set high standards through personal contribution and mentorship, fostering shared excellence within the team.
• Take full ownership of workstreams when entrusted, expanding responsibility over the design system and product domains.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in senior product design roles involving complex software applications.
• A robust portfolio evidencing production-quality work handling real data, various states, and edge conditions—beyond only polished prototypes.
• Expertise in interaction and UX design with proficiency in prototyping for rapid experimentation and communication.
• Experience building or enhancing design systems heavily used by engineers.
• Strong decision-making skills with clear ability to articulate design trade-offs and rationale.
• Keen interest in understanding professional users, specifically repair technicians and parts sellers, with high standards and low tolerance for friction.
• Excellent communication abilities across written, verbal, and visual mediums to influence and collaborate effectively.

Desirable Attributes

• Contributions to widely adopted design system components, patterns, or guidelines.
• Demonstrated growth in scope and responsibilities over recent years.
• Integration of AI-assisted design methods in your workflow.
• Comfort in working closely with engineers independently, making on-the-spot design decisions.
• Reflection on shipped work and insights on possible improvements.
• Experience with data-rich, workflow-heavy B2B products.
• Collaboration with research teams and use of quantitative data for decision-making.
• Background in marketplaces, catalog management, e-commerce, or supply chain environments.
• Exposure to fast-growing startup ecosystems.

Work Philosophy

Partly values proactive designers who ship early iterations without waiting for complete briefs, prioritizing real-world edge cases over polished prototypes, with transparency about decision trade-offs. The company rewards demonstrated ability to handle increasing responsibilities based on results rather than titles, emphasizing craftsmanship, speed, and sound judgment.

Challenges of the Role

• Navigating complex domain knowledge including vehicle fitment, taxonomy, and extensive catalog data.
• Meeting the expectations of expert professional customers who demand seamless workflows influenced by decades of industry norms.
• Designing solutions adaptable across varied global markets, languages, and part standards.
• Operating in an engineering-driven environment where rapid releases sometimes occur without immediate design involvement, raising the baseline quality through systemized design.
• Integrating smoothly with ongoing, fast-moving projects and deciding when detailed refinement is warranted.
• Embracing speed as a core value, favoring functional solutions delivered quickly over delayed perfection.
• Performing in a small team with high expectations for quality and impact.

Additional Information

If you don’t meet all the requirements but believe your skills align well, Partly encourages you to apply regardless.

Benefits

• Daily catered healthy meals at all office locations in Auckland, Christchurch, London, and Austin.
• An annual wellness allowance of $1,500 USD (or equivalent), usable on health and wellness needs.
• Three months of fully paid parental leave for primary caregivers and a flexible phased return-to-work plan.
• Modern, inspiring office designs with convenient locations near cafés and social spaces.
• Commuting support including paid parking or allowances for those attending the office at least four days a week.
• Office-first culture promoting faster collaboration with flexible time management to balance personal life.
• Immediate eligibility for annual leave and sick days with trust-based time off management.
• Regular social events such as weekly happy hours, monthly lunches, quarterly gatherings, and annual global offsites to foster team connection.
• Charitable giving support, including a 33% top-up on donations to GiveWell-listed charities.
• Employee stock options with a 4-year vesting schedule and 1-year cliff, granting ownership with a nominal strike price and extended exercise window.