Staff Product Designer

Job Title: Staff Product Designer
Team: Product
Location: Onsite - Sawtelle (Between Santa Monica & West LA) or San Francisco, CA
Employment Type: Full-time
Reports To: SVP, Product & Technology

About Plug

Plug is an automotive fintech startup building the marketplace for electric vehicles. Consumers, dealers, and commercial partners trade in, sell, and auction used EVs through a platform built exclusively for electric, with nothing adapted from legacy automotive.

Consumers can get an instant cash offer in minutes, backed by data-driven pricing, battery state-of-health analysis, with pickup, payment, and title transfer handled end-to-end. Franchise and independent dealers across the United States bid in real time on inventory sourced directly from these consumers, dealers, and commercial partners. The result is a single platform that gives sellers a fast, fair exit and gives dealers a dedicated channel for sourcing used EV inventory.

Founded in 2023 and led by former Tesla executives, Plug has facilitated $100M in EV sales since launch and is backed by a $20M Series A from Lightspeed Venture Partners. We're building the most AI-native startup team in Los Angeles, full of operators, engineers, and ML researchers laying the transaction rails for the used EV market's exponential growth.

Why Plug

• You'll own a piece of the biggest infrastructure opportunity in automotive.

• You'll work on a platform built exclusively for EVs, with nothing adapted from legacy automotive.

• You'll be part of an AI-native company. We're rethinking how work gets done at a fundamental level.

• You'll work directly with operators who have scaled multi-billion dollar businesses in automotive, EV, and marketplaces.

• You'll have real ownership, high autonomy, and a direct line to company outcomes.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Product Designer to own design across Plug, from the consumer selling experience through the dealer and partner tools. You will report to the SVP of Product and Technology.

This is a senior individual contributor role. You will own your surface end-to-end, paired closely with product and engineering, operating with high agency. You talk to customers directly, form a point of view, and ship. You will not wait on a committee or a process. Most of the value you create will come from how well you understand the people using what you build.

You will also set the bar. We move fast, and AI is a real part of how we work - which means the risk isn't velocity, it's sameness. We're looking for someone who uses every tool available to help the team ship quickly and on target, and who also knows which moments deserve soul and will fight for them.

What You'll Do

• Own end-to-end design for our OEM, commercial partner, and dealer-facing surfaces, from early concept through shipped, polished product.

• Set the bar for taste and craft across Plug. You'll be the standard the company calibrates against.

• Define how we build. You'll design the systems that let design scale - our design system, prototyping and handoff workflows, and how we use tools like Claude Design - so a small team ships fast without drifting from our brand, our craft bar, or what customers actually need.

• Lead customer research directly - interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing - to build a deep, first‑hand understanding of how partners and dealers actually work.

• Bring a curious, AI-forward mindset - you understand how product, engineering, and design work together in an AI-native workflow

• Help empower teams to move fast with AI while maintaining strong design governance

• Translate complex B2B workflows (inventory processing, bidding, API‑driven integrations) into interfaces that are simple, fast, and trustworthy for professional daily use.

• Drive innovation in how the team works with AI, not just what gets designed

• Empower teams to design independently, with you as the final say and taste‑maker for the org

• Scale yourself through AI‑forward operations, working closely with product and engineering

• Partner closely with product managers and engineers from problem framing through delivery, not just handoff - you're in the room for the trade‑offs.

• Design and iterate based on real usage data, session replays, and experiment results, alongside qualitative research.

• Represent the voice of the customer in roadmap and prioritization discussions, backed by evidence, not opinion.

• Work directly with high‑value external partners (OEMs and commercial accounts) to understand their workflows and constraints.

What You'll Bring

• 6+ years in product design, with a strong track record designing B2B SaaS products for professional or enterprise users.

• Excellent customer research skills - you know how to get past what people say they want to what they actually need, and you do this proactively, not just when asked.

• Experience designing complex workflows (dashboards, admin tools, partner platforms, marketplaces) into interfaces that feel simple.

• Comfortable operating at the intersection of design, product, and engineering, with strong opinions loosely held.

• Hands‑on, shipped experience building with AI tools, and opinions about how they change design work. You've already changed your own workflow because of them, and you're energized by designing the workflow, not just using the tools. As part of the process, we will ask you to show us something you have built.

• Judgment about when to spend craft. You use AI to move fast on the work that should be fast, and you know which surfaces have to be he­man‑made - and you can explain the difference without hand‑waving.

• Builder mentality: you act, you do not just plan, and you are energized by broad ownership in an environment where roles are fluid and the lines between product, engineering, and design are blurring.

• Strong communication skills - able to present work, defend decisions with evidence, and influence cross‑functionally.

• A portfolio that demonstrates both craft and process: how you got to the solution, not just the final screens.

• Authorized to work in the US for any employer.

• Prior experience in automotive, EV, marketplace, or fintech systems is a plus.

Compensation and Benefits

Annual salary: $194,000 - $229,000

Salary ranges reflect independent, third‑party benchmarking against national compensation data. Where an individual's actual offer falls within that range depends on a combination of factors, including relevant experience, specialized skills, training and qualifications, current business needs, and prevailing market conditions. Ranges are reviewed periodically and may be adjusted to reflect changing market conditions.

Benefits & Perks:

• Health, Vision, and Dental insurance

• 401(k) plan

• 30 days work from anywhere per calendar year

• Daily lunch stipend

• Equity (based on role and performance)

• Unlimited PTO

• Fully stocked kitchen

• Dog-friendly office

• Ongoing opportunities for growth and development

This full‑time position is an in‑person role ideally based in Sawtelle (between Santa Monica and West Los Angeles). We are headquartered in Los Angeles and is our preferred location, with relocation assistance provided for successful candidates who need to relocate. Candidates already based in the San Francisco area will also be considered; relocation is not required for these candidates. Sponsorship is not available at this time.

Acknowledgments

Plug is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We believe diverse teams build better products.