Product Designer

The position is anticipated to be short-term, and not expected to exceed 12 months. Please note that there is no guaranteed duration of the position, and your employment will be at will and for no fixed duration. As such, it can be terminated by you or the organization at any time, with or without notice or cause, for any reason not otherwise prohibited by law.

*This position is fully remote/home based. Applications will be accepted from candidates based in the following US states: FL,GA, MA, MD, NY, PA, VA, VT.

Role Summary  

PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. 

Product Designers are crucial to our user-centred design function, collaborating with teams across the organisation—particularly Product Management, Research and Insight, and Engineering—to create impactful and accessible digital services. We're looking for a highly self-motivated individual who can make decisions confidently and enjoys owning their work from concept to implementation. 

Management Responsibilities 

• Not applicable 

 Responsibilities 

• Take design ownership in the areas you are working on from discovery to delivery, with a focus on putting the user first. 
• Use prototyping to test and visualise hypotheses as a crucial part of experimenting and learning with the team and stakeholders. 
• Work closely with the Product Manager and UX Researcher to define problems, scope, and hypotheses. 
• Collaborate with engineers, drawing inspiration from their expertise to experiment and solve problems. 
• Establish and maintain visual consistency across all touch points. 
• Contribute to the evolution of PLOS’s design system by developing new UI patterns, components, and interaction paradigms. 

 Knowledge and Skills 

• Demonstrated ability as a Product designer. 
• Evidence of working in an agile development environment alongside Product Managers, subject-matter experts, researchers, content designers, and developers to design and build new digital services. 
• Proven industry experience in applying design knowledge—graphic design, interaction design, and service design—to real-world applications. 
• Experience in effectively collaborating with cross-disciplinary teams, ensuring design decisions are grounded in evidence-based user research and a thorough understanding of user journeys. 
• Able to demonstrate experience and skills in: 
• Designing user interfaces 
• Designing and fulfilling user needs 
• Designed and building a new digital service 
• Capable of demonstrating knowledge of graphic design, including web typography, progressive disclosure, hierarchy, colour use, and the role of imagery and iconography. 
• Experience in simplifying complex data and information into clear and understandable forms for users. 
• Evidence of working to WCAG 2.1/2.2 standards. 
• Can demonstrate end-to-end "design ownership" across different phases of a relevant production process. 
• Skilled in designing systems for use across multiple services and adept at identifying the simplest solution from a range of alternatives. 
• Demonstrated ability to integrate standards into team projects. 
• Experience and ability to of acting independently, and acting when dealing with uncertain situations or opportunities. 
• Proven ability to think strategically and take steps toward achieving strategic goals. 
• Experience with information-rich websites or scholarly publishing is advantageous, but not required. 

 Qualifications 

• Related qualifications or a degree strongly preferred. 
• Previous experience and a strong portfolio are required. 

 Physical Requirements and Work Environment 

• Prolonged periods stationary at a desk and working on a computer 
• Some national and international travel will be required 
• Some flexibility to work across time zones 

The base salary range we’ve established for this position is $105,000 - $125,000. PLOS also offers a comprehensive benefits package that will be shared with candidates in the interview process.

The Organization:

PLOS is a non-profit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. PLOS journals propelled the movement for OA alternatives to subscription journals. We established the first multi-disciplinary publication inclusive of all excellent research regardless of novelty or impact and demonstrated the importance of open data availability. As we continue to lead the way in making research content more open, we need to make it a system that's open for everyone. We are intentionally spreading our roots deeper, globally. 

We believe in pushing the boundaries of 'Open' to create a more equitable system of scientific knowledge and understanding—it’s core to who we are, inside and out. Beyond accepting distinct perspectives, we seek and support divergent backgrounds among our staff because we know differences strengthen our teams, our work, and our communities. We’re ever-evolving in our journey for representation and equity, and strongly encourage applicants of diverse identities to apply: you’ll find a group of critical thinkers eager to challenge the status quo and learn with you as we continue breaking barriers to open science.

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