Senior Product Designer

Senior Product Designer

23andMe is seeking an exceptional Senior Product Designer to shape cohesive, thoughtful experiences that help millions of people understand and benefit from their genetics. Our products help customers uncover their ancestry, connect with relatives, learn about their health, and contribute to scientific research. These are deeply personal and often complex experiences, requiring a designer who can translate science, data, and customer needs into products that feel clear, meaningful, and engaging.

Reporting to the Design Director and partnering closely with Product Management, Engineering, Research, Data, Science, and Brand, you will own major product experiences from early discovery through launch and iteration. You will not simply execute predefined requirements. You will help identify the right problems to solve, influence product strategy, anticipate customer needs, and connect individual features into a more cohesive end-to-end experience.

We are looking for a senior individual contributor with strong product judgment, exceptional interaction and visual design skills, and the initiative to bring clarity to ambiguous problems. The right person is equally comfortable digging into customer research, analytics, technical constraints, business goals, and the details of craft. Depending on experience and track record, this role may be leveled as a Senior or Lead Product Designer.

Who We Are

We are a group of individuals passionate about genetic discovery. 23andMe Research Institute is a nonprofit medical research organization that enables people everywhere to access their genetic information, learn about themselves, and participate in the world's largest crowdsourced research initiative. The Institute aims to be the world's most significant contributor to scientific advancement, uniting people with the common goal of improving health and deepening our understanding of DNA — the code of life.

What You'll Do

• Own End-to-End Product Experiences Lead the design of major customer journeys from discovery through implementation, launch, and iteration. Create intuitive experiences that make complex genetic, health, and scientific information understandable and actionable.
• Shape Product Strategy Partner with Product Managers, Engineers, Researchers, Data Scientists, and Scientists to identify customer problems, explore opportunities, define product direction, and prioritize solutions. Use design to clarify strategy rather than waiting for requirements to be fully defined.
• Lead Discovery and Validation Develop a deep understanding of customer needs through research, behavioral data, experimentation, competitive analysis, and collaboration with cross-functional partners. Create prototypes and test concepts early to reduce uncertainty and avoid costly downstream rework.
• Design for Cohesion Think beyond an individual screen or feature. Identify how experiences connect across Ancestry, Health, Research, Growth, and other parts of the customer journey, and advocate for solutions that make the overall product feel more consistent and intentional.
• Use Data to Inform Decisions Partner with Product, Research, and Data teams to define success metrics, understand customer behavior, evaluate product performance, and improve experiences after launch. Balance quantitative insights with qualitative research and strong design judgment.
• Translate Complexity into Clarity Develop a strong understanding of the science, technology, and business context behind the product. Turn technical or abstract concepts into experiences that feel approachable, self-explanatory, and trustworthy.
• Contribute to the Design System Evolve reusable patterns, components, and interaction standards in partnership with other designers and engineers. Help strengthen the design system while ensuring it supports real customer and product needs.
• Partner Through Implementation Collaborate closely with Engineering throughout development, helping resolve design questions, account for technical constraints, and ensure the final product meets a high bar for usability and craft.
• Raise the Quality Bar Give and receive direct, thoughtful feedback. Contribute to critiques, planning, and team processes, and help improve how Product Design works with Product Management and Engineering. Depending on experience, you may mentor other designers and lead design across multiple related initiatives.

What You'll Bring

• Product Design Experience Six or more years of product design experience, including at least two years operating as a senior individual contributor or design lead within an in-house product organization.
• End-to-End Ownership Experience leading complex digital products from early discovery and concept development through detailed interaction design, implementation, launch, and iteration.
• Strong Product Thinking The ability to connect customer needs, business goals, technical constraints, and data to make thoughtful product decisions. You can challenge assumptions, identify gaps, and bring structure to ambiguous problems.
• Exceptional Interaction and Visual Design A portfolio demonstrating strong information architecture, user flows, interaction design, prototyping, typography, hierarchy, layout, and attention to detail across web or mobile products.
• Research and Validation Skills Experience partnering with researchers or conducting lightweight discovery and usability testing independently. You know how to choose the right level of research for the decision being made.
• Systems Thinking The ability to see relationships across features, journeys, and platforms and create solutions that improve both the immediate experience and the broader product ecosystem.
• Data Fluency Comfort using product analytics, customer feedback, experiments, and success metrics to inform decisions and evaluate outcomes.
• Collaboration and Influence A strong point of view paired with a collaborative approach. You can communicate your rationale clearly, incorporate feedback, navigate disagreement, and influence partners and senior leaders without relying on authority.
• Initiative and Independence The ability to proactively identify opportunities, manage multiple priorities, and move work forward in a fast-paced environment without waiting for detailed direction.
• Technical Proficiency Advanced proficiency in Figma and modern prototyping tools. Experience working with design systems and partnering closely with engineers. Familiarity with Jira or similar product-development tools is helpful.
• Hybrid Availability Ability to work from our Palo Alto office three days per week and collaborate in person with Product, Design, Engineering, and other cross-functional partners.

Nice to Have

• Background in health, science or other complex-content category.
• Working knowledge of data visualization principles and how to make complex concepts engaging.
• Experience designing for nonprofits, foundations, or mission-driven institutions.
• Existing understanding of genetics or a genuine enthusiasm to learn.
• Experience working within a startup or fast-paced, mission-driven environment.