Senior Product Designer, Engagement

About the role

NerdWallet is seeking a designer to join the Engagement team to help users manage their finances through credit tracking, budgeting, and investment tools. This role focuses on the transition to an AI-native product development model, requiring a designer to build experiences that prioritize user retention and financial clarity. You will report to the VP of Product and Design while working within a cross-functional pod. The position demands a strategic thinker who can balance user empathy with business objectives in a rapidly evolving AI landscape. You will be responsible for shaping the end-to-end journey of engagement, ensuring that every interaction drives both value and understanding for the user. Collaboration with data and research will be central to your workflow as you turn insights into coherent, intuitive experiences. Your work will directly influence how users perceive and interact with NerdWallet's core financial products.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Define the north star metrics for engagement and translate them into cohesive product narratives that align with business goals.
• Architect adaptive interfaces that intelligently respond to user behavior, leveraging AI to deliver contextually relevant guidance and financial clarity.
• Prototype conversational flows and dynamic content modules that feel intuitive, trustworthy, and seamlessly integrated into the existing product ecosystem.
• Translate complex financial data into digestible visual narratives, ensuring that users can grasp their financial health at a glance.
• Establish a rigorous design validation process, utilizing usability testing and behavioral analytics to iterate toward optimal solutions.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to de-risk assumptions and align on success criteria before any pixel is finalized.
• Contribute high-quality components and patterns to the design system, ensuring consistency and efficiency across all digital touchpoints.
• Champion accessibility and inclusive design principles, ensuring that experiences are usable for the broadest possible audience.
• Synthesize qualitative user feedback and quantitative performance data to inform design pivots that enhance long-term retention.
• Own the visual and interaction design for native iOS and Android experiences, ensuring pixel-perfect execution and brand cohesion.
• Collaborate with engineers to identify technical constraints and opportunities, fostering a pragmatic yet innovative design approach.
• Maintain a living repository of design insights and decisions, creating a clear lineage from problem to solution for future reference.
• Present design work to leadership and cross-functional partners, articulating the rationale behind every major decision with clarity and confidence.
• Explore emerging AI capabilities to reimagine how users interact with financial tools, always grounding experimentation in user needs.

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional product design experience in consumer-facing technology, with a proven track record of shipping impactful products.
• Portfolio showing end-to-end product work from initial problem framing through research, ideation, prototyping, and final UI implementation.
• Demonstrated experience designing for native mobile applications and mobile web, with a strong understanding of platform-specific guidelines.
• Proficiency in Figma, including advanced prototyping techniques and a deep understanding of component-based workflows.
• A history of using research and data to justify design decisions, showing comfort with ambiguity and evidence-based iteration.
• Experience maintaining or actively contributing to a design system, ensuring scalability and consistency across products.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to articulate design rationale to both technical and non-design stakeholders.
• A commitment to ethical design practices, particularly when handling sensitive financial information and user trust.
• The ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment while maintaining a high standard of detail.
• Willingness to participate in on-call rotations for design reviews as needed to support production releases.
• Understanding of privacy and security considerations in product design, especially within the financial services domain.
• Readiness to engage in hands-on design work, from sketching concepts to refining high-fidelity mockups.

Nice to have

• Experience or interest in AI-powered features such as conversational UI or adaptive content that can dynamically respond to user intent.
• Comfort working in fast-paced environments where problem definitions evolve quickly and require rapid design responses.
• Familiarity with financial data visualization techniques to convey complex information clearly and accurately.
• Previous work in regulated industries, demonstrating an understanding of compliance and its impact on design decisions.
• Knowledge of basic front-end technologies to better collaborate with engineering teams on implementation details.

Skills & tools

• Figma
• Native mobile design (iOS/Android)
• Mobile web design
• Data-driven design
• AI-integrated workflows

Practical notes

• NerdWallet participates in the E-Verify program for all U.S. locations.
• Benefits include medical, dental, and vision plans, a 401K with 4% match, mental health support, and a paid sabbatical after 5 years.
• Additional perks include a monthly wellness stipend, cell phone and wifi stipends, and a work-from-home equipment budget.
• The company offers flexible vacation time, 11 holidays, and new parent leave.