Untangling product design titles: A straightforward guide to roles, responsibilities & growth
The world of product design has never been more vibrant. It’s also super confusing for many when it comes to job titles. Whether you're entering the industry or scaling a design team, it’s safe to say that job titles are all over the place at the moment. Something I hope to shine some light on for you.
So what do all these roles actually mean? Where do they overlap? And how do they fit within a healthy product design organisation?
Let’s break it all down, clearly and simply.
Listed roles
UI Designer / Visual Designer
UX Designer
Product Designer
Interaction Designer
Senior UX Designer
Service Designer
Design System Lead
DesignOps
Senior Product Designer
Product Design Manager
Lead Product Designer
Staff Product Designer
Principal Product Designer
Director of User Experience (UX)
Product Design Director / Head of Product Design
VP of Product Design / Chief Product Design Officer (CPDO)
UI Designer / Visual Designer
Think: the look and feel specialist
UI (User Interface) Designers, sometimes also called Visual Designers, focus on the visual and interactive aspects of a digital product. They ensure that the interface is not only beautiful but also consistent, accessible, and usable. Their work defines how a product looks and guides the emotional response of the user.
UI Designers typically work with existing design systems, refining components or creating new ones when needed. They often collaborate with UX Designers or Product Designers, bringing wireframes and flows to life with typography, colour, layout, and iconography.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Designing and maintaining design system components
Creating polished, responsive UIs across devices
Selecting typography, colour schemes, iconography
Creating interaction states and feedback visuals
Applying brand identity to product interfaces
Ensuring visual accessibility and WCAG compliance
Supporting handoff to engineering with detailed specs
Creating mockups, UI kits, and animation guides
Reviewing UI implementation for quality control
Communicating visual decisions clearly to stakeholders
UX Designer
Think: focused on understanding people
UX (User Experience) Designers focus on how a product works, how it flows, and how usable it is. While there's often overlap with Product Designers, UX Designers are more heavily invested in the research, analysis, and structural design of a product. They work to ensure the product makes sense from the user's perspective, before any pixels are pushed.
UX Designers spend their time understanding user behaviours and needs through qualitative and quantitative research. They then translate this into wireframes, user journeys, and interaction models. In some organisations, UX Designers may be paired with UI Designers to deliver a complete product experience.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Planning and conducting user interviews, surveys, and field studies
Mapping user journeys, personas, and service blueprints
Wireframing and prototyping low-fidelity concepts
Synthesising insights into actionable design recommendations
Performing heuristic evaluations and usability testing
Identifying friction points and design opportunities
Collaborating with researchers, analysts, and engineers
Advocating for accessibility and inclusive design
Facilitating workshops (e.g. journey mapping, problem framing)
Creating interaction flows and decision logic
Product Designer
Think: the all-rounder
Product Designers are the modern-day generalists of the digital design world. Their strength lies in their ability to take a product or feature from discovery through to delivery, often wearing multiple hats, UX researcher, interaction designer, visual designer, and sometimes even a light frontend prototyper. In many organisations, particularly lean startups or scale-ups, the Product Designer is the core design role that balances user needs with business goals across the entire product development lifecycle.
These designers typically work end-to-end, collaborating closely with product managers and engineers. They're expected to understand the problem space, conduct user research, design user journeys and flows, create wireframes and high-fidelity designs, and work with developers to bring designs to life. Their responsibilities often vary based on the maturity and structure of the company.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Designing user flows, wireframes, and prototypes
Conducting or participating in user research
Collaborating with cross-functional teams (PM, Eng, Marketing)
Creating pixel-perfect visuals that align with brand guidelines
Using data and feedback to iterate on designs
Supporting usability testing and product validation
Presenting and rationalising design decisions
Building and maintaining design system components
Documenting design work for future reference
Advocating for user needs within product strategy discussions
Interaction Designer
Think: orchestrating user behaviour
Interaction Designers define how users engage with digital interfaces. They focus on designing workflows, behaviours, transitions, and responses that make experiences intuitive, predictable, and emotionally satisfying. Their work is often the bridge between UX structure and UI execution, ensuring the product feels responsive and cohesive.
They work closely with UX and UI designers, as well as developers, to ensure that interactivity is thoughtful and enhances usability. In organisations with a strong motion or prototyping culture, Interaction Designers may own microinteractions or create animated prototypes that guide engineering implementation.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Designing how screens, elements, and states behave
Creating detailed interaction specifications and prototypes
Mapping multi-step interactions and edge cases
Collaborating with engineering to refine transitions and flows
Exploring feedback loops and error handling
Prototyping animations and dynamic behaviours
Ensuring consistent behaviour across platforms/devices
Creating interaction patterns and design tokens
Conducting usability testing on interaction flows
Aligning design language with motion principles
Senior UX Designer
Think: user-centred expertise with experience
Senior UX Designers are experienced professionals who focus deeply on user research, experience strategy, and interaction design. They may or may not be involved in the visual or UI execution, but they are expected to lead research initiatives, map complex journeys, and shape user flows with strategic clarity.
They bring empathy, critical thinking, and structure to product development and are often responsible for validating ideas before design and engineering get to work.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Leading qualitative and quantitative user research
Designing interaction flows, wireframes, and prototypes
Synthesising insights into user needs and product opportunities
Defining personas, journey maps, and use cases
Running usability testing and A/B experiments
Collaborating across product and engineering teams
Contributing to the UX strategy and design principles
Mentoring junior UX researchers/designers
Advocating for accessibility and inclusive design
Aligning research findings with product direction
Service Designer
Think: end-to-end systems thinker
Service Designers look at experiences holistically. They consider both digital and physical touchpoints, designing not only what users see, but what supports those experiences behind the scenes. Their work often extends beyond screens, mapping operational processes, customer support workflows, and internal systems that impact the overall service.
This role is especially critical in industries like government, healthcare, finance, and hospitality, where digital interactions are just one part of a broader service journey. Service Designers collaborate across departments to align internal capabilities with customer-facing value.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Mapping service ecosystems (frontstage & backstage)
Creating service blueprints and journey maps
Identifying operational pain points and user gaps
Aligning business processes with customer experience
Facilitating workshops with cross-functional stakeholders
Designing interventions across physical and digital layers
Co-designing with frontline staff and users
Visualising service concepts for buy-in
Supporting strategic decision-making with experience maps
Working across product, operations, and policy teams
Design System Lead
Think: systems builder and design enabler
The Design System Lead owns and evolves the design system used across the company’s product teams. This person combines design craft, technical understanding, and cross-team collaboration to ensure scalable and consistent UX/UI across all digital products.
This role is equal parts systems thinking, stakeholder alignment, accessibility advocacy, and pixel-level perfection. It often lives within DesignOps or a central UX team.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Building and maintaining cross-platform design systems
Collaborating with engineering on component libraries
Creating documentation, usage guidance, and governance
Auditing and evolving existing UI patterns
Driving accessibility standards and responsive behaviour
Standardising naming conventions and structure
Supporting designers and developers with implementation
Managing contributions from across the org
Measuring design system adoption and effectiveness
Aligning system work with product strategy
DesignOps
Think: scaling design sustainably
DesignOps professionals ensure design teams can operate efficiently and consistently as they grow. They focus on workflows, tools, documentation, onboarding, and collaboration practices. As design matures within organisations, DesignOps becomes the glue between design quality and organisational clarity.
DesignOps may work on hiring pipelines, rituals (e.g. critiques, retros), and playbooks to ensure teams are aligned and empowered. They often collaborate with HR, IT, product ops, and engineering to keep the design organisation running smoothly.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Designing and maintaining team workflows and tooling
Coordinating rituals: stand-ups, design reviews, planning
Onboarding new designers and maintaining team documentation
Managing design system operations and governance
Supporting hiring and performance development processes
Aligning cross-functional team practices
Evaluating and implementing new design tools
Tracking and measuring team health and productivity
Standardising documentation and templates
Advocating for the design function internally
Senior Product Designer
Think: experienced contributor
Senior Product Designers are seasoned individual contributors who not only deliver end-to-end product experiences but also raise the quality of design work across the team. They act as bridges between junior designers and design leadership, often mentoring others, owning complex projects, and guiding strategic initiatives.
They’re expected to work independently, collaborate across disciplines, and drive outcomes with confidence. While they remain hands-on, their thinking becomes more systems- and business-oriented.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Leading complex product design projects from discovery to delivery
Mentoring junior and mid-level designers
Collaborating with product and engineering on strategic planning
Influencing product roadmaps with design insights
Defining and refining UX patterns and frameworks
Presenting work to executives and stakeholders
Driving cross-functional alignment and buy-in
Supporting research and usability validation
Designing scalable, accessible experiences
Uplifting design craft and consistency across teams
Product Design Manager
Think: hands-on design leadership
Product Design Managers combine people leadership with a strong foundation in design. They’re responsible for managing a team of designers while remaining close enough to the work to guide, mentor, and critique effectively.
They align their teams with product goals, coach for growth, manage performance, and ensure that the quality of design across initiatives meets or exceeds expectations. They’re the first formal layer of design leadership.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Leading and mentoring a team of product designers
Setting design direction across features or platforms
Hiring, onboarding, and career coaching
Providing consistent and constructive feedback
Aligning design team output with business goals
Collaborating with peers in product, eng, and research
Managing prioritisation, delivery, and execution
Elevating team health and workflow efficiency
Acting as liaison between ICs and design leadership
Ensuring clarity of roles and responsibilities within the team
Lead Product Designer
Think: leadership without formal management
A Lead Product Designer typically owns the design strategy across a feature set, product line, or domain. They may lead a small team of designers or act as a design authority across multiple squads. They are expected to connect the dots between product goals, user needs, and design quality.
While not always a people manager, this role requires strong leadership skills, influencing power, and the ability to align design with business priorities.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Setting design vision for a domain or product vertical
Leading design efforts across multiple squads
Providing feedback and coaching to peers
Facilitating critiques and alignment workshops
Advocating for design excellence at all levels
Acting as liaison between product, engineering, and leadership
Balancing speed with craft in delivery
Helping shape team process and rituals
Aligning product vision with UX direction
Promoting a culture of curiosity and quality
Staff Product Designer
Think: strategic, senior IC bridging execution and vision
Staff Designers typically operate alongside Principal Designers but with more focus on execution and partnership within cross-functional teams. They are embedded in major initiatives and often lead the design strategy on flagship features or core platform components.
Staff Designers are expected to think big, execute with clarity, and mentor others without formally managing them. They balance strategic influence with tactical excellence.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Leading design on foundational or high-impact initiatives
Partnering with Staff Engineers and Product Leads
Translating ambiguous goals into concrete solutions
Establishing UX strategy across product pillars
Mentoring and unblocking team members
Championing systems-level design thinking
Collaborating across design, content, and research
Owning quality and delivery in high-pressure environments
Aligning UX goals with technical and business needs
Documenting design rationale for scalability and continuity
Principal Product Designer
Think: deep craft and org-wide influence
Principal Designers are high-level individual contributors who remain hands-on but focus more on strategy, design systems, and org-wide initiatives. They influence multiple product areas, partner with senior leadership, and lead by example in craft, systems thinking, and cross-functional alignment.
This role is less about direct team oversight and more about shaping how design is done across the company.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Leading high-impact, cross-product design initiatives
Defining and evolving design systems and principles
Acting as strategic partner to product and engineering leads
Mentoring across teams and functions
Evangelising user-centred thinking at the org level
Solving complex, systemic product challenges
Representing design in executive-level discussions
Defining and scaling UX patterns and processes
Balancing short-term needs with long-term vision
Elevating quality through critique, review, and refinement
Director of User Experience (UX)
Think: UX-focused strategic leadership
A Director of UX is a senior leadership role focused specifically on elevating user experience across products, platforms, or the entire organisation. While similar to a Design Director, the UX Director may come from a research or interaction design background and tends to lean more into user-centred strategy than visual design.
This role manages teams, guides vision, influences product direction, and ensures that UX is woven into how business decisions are made.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Leading cross-functional UX strategy across products
Managing teams of designers and/or researchers
Aligning product and UX roadmaps with company goals
Influencing leadership through insights and user needs
Overseeing UX research, testing, and validation practices
Creating scalable experience design frameworks
Championing accessibility, ethics, and inclusion
Defining UX success metrics and reporting on them
Partnering with brand, design systems, and product leads
Advocating for UX investment at the executive level
Product Design Director / Head of Product Design
Think: shaping the team and the culture
Design Directors and Heads of Design are leadership roles responsible for guiding the design organisation. They manage people, oversee quality across multiple teams, align design with business strategy, and build the culture, rituals, and environment that allow great work to happen.
They typically report to executive leadership and influence org-wide priorities. While they may remain creatively involved, their primary focus is on people, process, and performance.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Managing and growing design teams and managers
Aligning design direction with company vision and goals
Creating an inclusive and inspiring design culture
Defining and evolving team structure and capabilities
Representing design at the executive level
Overseeing quality and consistency across all work
Establishing career paths, performance frameworks, and hiring plans
Driving cross-functional collaboration and trust
Balancing craft, culture, and delivery outcomes
Advocating for design investment and strategic value
VP of Product Design / Chief Product Design Officer (CPDO)
Think: executive-level design leadership
At the highest levels of design leadership, VPs and CDOs own the strategic vision for design across the company. They champion design’s role in business outcomes, product innovation, and customer experience. These leaders often sit on exec teams and work across departments, product, marketing, brand, engineering, HR, and operations.
Their role is to elevate design as a core function, align it with revenue and growth goals, and build resilient, forward-looking teams.
Key responsibilities and focus areas:
Leading the strategic vision for the design org
Representing design in board-level or C-suite discussions
Creating cohesion across brand, product, and service design
Scaling global teams and supporting global initiatives
Building systems of accountability and leadership growth
Aligning design goals with customer and business outcomes
Defining long-term roadmaps for design capability
Overseeing design maturity and operational excellence
Securing resources and executive buy-in for design
Shaping the company’s design voice in the market
So…
The title soup is real. But having clarity really matters.
For designers: understanding the landscape helps you grow intentionally.
For teams: aligning titles to expectations builds trust, reduces friction, and attracts the right talent.
Titles aren’t everything, but they do shape perception, progression, and culture. Let’s keep talking about them, and keep them meaningful.
Hopefully this clears a few things up for you.
If there’s anything missing, let me know and I’ll add it to the list!
