Lead the design vision for a software platform for mechanical and aerospace engineers, focusing on user research, design systems, and cross-functional collaboration.
[ABOUT ISTARI DIGITAL]
Istari is a digital engineering software company enabling our customers to turn the physical world into the digital to accomplish their specific mission or business objectives.
Istari was founded with the vision of making open, scalable digital engineering ecosystems a reality – where new technologies and systems are created digitally, free from the real-world constraints of costs and schedules. We are creating the world’s best engineering model sharing platform, allowing our customers to simply and securely integrate their models across different engineering disciplines, organizations, and security levels.
At Istari, we are passionate about our mission of creating the world's first open and scalable industrial metaverse. Whether our customers are designing prototypes, performing virtual testing, or training AI and autonomy for complex systems, we know that going digital will save them time, resources, and reduce their environmental impact.
While we are a distributed team with most team-members working remotely, we place an emphasis on staying connected and collaborative, prioritizing in-person opportunities to build trust as a team. At Istari, we still believe that trust is best built in-person. To do this, we have an engineering headquarters in Cambridge, MA for focused technical development and several times per year we gather for an off-site that allows us to develop our professional skills and our team relationships.
[VALUES]
At Istari, we live by our values, which include:
Purposeful Autonomy
We value letting people self-organize and self-motivate.
Our flat structure and lack of meeting clutter are meant to empower individuals and teams to be proactive.
Our autonomy is measured, goal-oriented, and results-driven – not meandering.
Clear objectives help us prioritize our time.
Smart Transparency
We believe in honest-but-kind communication, transparency, and open-door policies.
We love learning about challenges and tackling them early, not hearing good or bad news late.
We share work-in-progress across our team.
Fast feedback keeps autonomy purposeful.
Continual Curiosity
At Istari, we love learning to do things ourselves.
We ask, read, share, teach – even watch YouTube videos – to learn new skills to solve problems.
When we make breakthroughs, we write them down.
Writing focuses ideas, helps us learn, and helps us share.
Equal Opportunity
Istari is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.
We are seeking a Principal Product Designer to lead the design vision and execution for a software platform serving mechanical and aerospace engineers. You will be responsible for creating intuitive, high-quality product experiences that balance technical complexity with usability. This role sits at the intersection of design excellence, user empathy, and system-level thinking—shaping how engineering teams interact with critical tools in their workflow.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end design: Drive concepting, prototyping, and delivery of product experiences for mechanical and aerospace engineering use cases.
- Champion user research: Partner with product and engineering to conduct interviews, usability tests, and workflow analysis to deeply understand user needs.
- Build and maintain design systems: Develop scalable, accessible, and consistent design patterns that ensure high-quality UI/UX across the platform.
- Collaborate cross-functionally: Work closely with product management, engineering, and domain experts to translate complex requirements into elegant user experiences.
- Mentor and inspire: Provide leadership and guidance to other designers, helping elevate design standards across the organization.
Required Qualifications
- 7+ years of professional product design experience, with at least 3 years at a senior/principal level.
- Expertise in designing complex product UIs, with a portfolio that demonstrates thoughtful interaction design and visual polish.
- Proven experience conducting user research and applying insights to improve workflows and usability.
- Strong background in building and scaling design systems.
- Comfort working in highly technical domains.
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence product strategy through design leadership.
Preferred Qualifications
- Designing technical products such as developer tools, engineering software, or tools for scientists.
- Exposure to CAD, simulation, or other specialized engineering workflows.
- Comfortable using AI tools to generate code/small tweaks to front end code
BENEFITS
We offer highly competitive benefits, including:
Health and Family
- Medical/Dental/Vision
- Employee Premiums are 100% Company Paid
- Life Insurance
- Flexible Work Hours
- Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO) with federal government holidays
Financial
- Competitive Compensation
- 401k
- Company Stock Options
- Home Office Setup Budget
Learning
- Reimbursement for approved trainings and subscriptions
- Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
Note - some benefits are not available to interns or contractors.
Thank you for your interest in Istari. Expect to hear back from us soon with next steps.
Top Skills
Ai Tools
Cad
Engineering Software
Front End Code
Simulation
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