Staff Visual Designer
Job description
About the role
This role defines and elevates Mercury's visual design at scale. You own the craft and vision of the design system and brand-in-product experiences. You partner across teams to set direction and raise the quality bar for visual design.
Designers shape how products look and feel. Designers create user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and polished visuals. They test ideas with users and iterate on feedback. Design work spans research, interaction design, and visual design. Collaboration with product and engineering happens daily. Design decisions are judged by outcomes such as usability, conversion, and customer satisfaction. Most design teams keep a living design system to keep products consistent.
Key facts
What you'll do
Foundational type, color, and iconography systems are reshaped and deployed as core improvements across Mercury's product landscape.
Expressive brand interactions are woven into digital products through collaboration with Brand and craft experts, clarifying how product and brand visual language aligns.
A high bar for visual quality is established by defining excellence and constructing repeatable systems, guidelines, and reference materials for the design organization.
Product designers receive direct coaching on craft, with targeted feedback that elevates the standard of individual work and the maturity of the design system.
Visual decisions from design systems specialists are translated into , scalable, and maintainable components when working closely with engineering partners.
Design systems expertise and visual craft are advocated for in discussions with Brand, Engineering, and design leadership to ensure strategic alignment.
Requirements
Visual design experience spanning 10+ years emphasizes typography, color systems, and iconography at product or brand scale.
Portfolios showcase versatility through foundational systems work and high-craft, expressive visual design outcomes.
Designers clearly communicate what makes work successful and defend opinionated choices with confident, precise language.
Practitioners mentor and coach other designers, holding a distinct point of view on strong craft and methods for teaching it.
Systems thinking balances expressive visual design with the practical demands of a scalable system for a data-rich product.
Stakeholders are engaged to win support from executives and cross-functional leaders on high-visibility initiatives, backed by strong conviction.
Communicators set direction, align stakeholders, and defend decisions with designers and engineers using clear, consistent language.
Practitioners work proficiently in industry design tools and front-end prototyping with React, collaborating closely with engineers on implementation and maintenance. Affinity for AI-assisted prototyping and motion design is an advantage.
Practical notes
This role is based in a Mercury office or remote within Canada or the United States. Employment eligibility and role expectations align with company policies. Typical interview steps
Design interviews usually include a portfolio review, a design exercise, and a team conversation. Candidates present past work and explain their process and decisions. Some loops include a live design challenge. Communication matters as much as the visual output. Portfolios are strongest when they show the problem, the constraints, and the iteration, not just the final screens. Interviewers also watch how you take feedback.
Good to know
Design systems craft defines digital experiences at scale. Motion, typography, and color shape user trust and clarity. Collaboration across brand, product, and engineering drives coherent experiences. Strong visual language balances consistency with expressive moments. Proficiency in modern prototyping tools supports fast, confident delivery. Data-rich products require thoughtful visual systems that scale.
Career growth
Design careers grow from junior to senior, staff, and principal levels. Some designers move into design management or design operations. Specializations include UX research, interaction design, and brand design. Cross-functional influence grows with seniority. Senior designers are expected to influence product strategy, not just execute visuals. Building a habit of user research strengthens any design career.