Principal Product Designer for an AI Research Intelligence Product

WhyItWon is an authenticated AI and data product for performance-marketing teams. It turns ad, customer, competitor, funnel, and market evidence into clearer decisions: who the customer is, which angles deserve testing, what to build next, and why a result happened. The product is real, deep, and already working. The UX/UI is not at the same level as the underlying product. Too much of the current experience reflects how the system was built instead of how a senior operator needs to think. Some flows are dense, the hierarchy is inconsistent, and important evidence can be harder to understand than it should be. I am looking for a principal-level product designer who can take real ownership of that problem. This is not a website redesign, a visual refresh, or a chatbot skin. It is complex product design across AI, research, evidence, data, uncertainty, and decision-making. THE FIRST ENGAGEMENT We will begin with a paid trial focused only on the Research section. The central journey is: Evidence → customer understanding → ranked angle → proposed test The trial should: • Audit the complete Research experience and identify the most important product and usability problems. • Redesign the central Research journey in high fidelity. • Simplify the experience without hiding evidence quality, uncertainty, contradictions, missing data, or source context. • Define the navigation and product-design rules that should govern the wider Research workspace. • Cover secondary Research screens with lower-detail wireframes where appropriate. • Produce a build-ready Figma handoff that I can give directly to the product builder. If the trial is successful, the intention is to continue with the same person as a fractional product-design lead across the authenticated product for an initial three to six months. WHAT BUILD-READY FIGMA MEANS HERE Figma is enough. It must include: • Reusable components and meaningful variants. • Variables, auto layout, and a consistent spacing and typography system. • Desktop, tablet, and mobile behavior for the designed journey. • Loading, empty, error, partial-data, permission, success, and long-content states. • A clickable prototype for the core journey. • Clear interaction, responsive, and behavior notes. • Realistic Research content, not generic placeholder cards. • Export-ready assets where needed. • A concise current-to-proposed change list. • One implementation review after the product has been built. You do not need to write production code. You do need to stay accountable for whether the implemented product matches the design intent. WHAT I NEED FROM YOU • A proven record designing and shipping complex B2B SaaS products. • At least one meaningful AI product workflow beyond a generic chat interface. • Strong experience with dense data, research, analytics, intelligence, or decision-support products. • Evidence of owning the full path from diagnosis and information architecture through detailed UI and shipped implementation. • Excellent Figma systems work and responsive product craft. • The judgment to remove, combine, and simplify features, not just restyle them. • The confidence to challenge product assumptions with a clear recommendation and supporting evidence. • Fluent professional English. • At least three working-hour overlaps with Israel. • Direct access to the senior designer doing the work. No unapproved handoff to junior staff or subcontractors. Experience with advertising, adtech, marketing analytics, research platforms, or competitive intelligence is useful but not mandatory. Exceptional work in fintech, business intelligence, analytics, or another evidence-heavy domain is relevant. RESEARCH METHOD You should know how to use Mobbin and other reference libraries as research tools. I care about why a pattern fits this product, not a collage of attractive screenshots. Your own product judgment and shipped work matter more than the tool. HOW WE WILL WORK • You can start immediately. • You will estimate the scope, timing, availability, assumptions, and milestone structure. • There is no published budget anchor. Propose the price you believe is appropriate for the defined trial. • Written progress updates and short Loom walkthroughs are expected once the engagement begins. • Product access is provided only after a call with me, selection for the paid trial, and a signed NDA. • No unpaid WhyItWon design exercise is required during the application process. TO APPLY Please send a focused response, not a generic agency proposal. Include: 1. Two or three shipped products most relevant to this work. For each one, explain the product problem, your exact contribution, what shipped, and what changed because of your work. 2. One AI workflow you designed that required more than a chat interface. Explain how you handled confidence, system status, corrections, or uncertainty. 3. One dense data or research workflow you materially simplified without removing the information an expert needed. 4. A short explanation of how you use Mobbin or other reference products without copying them. 5. Your proposed approach, timing, availability, assumptions, milestone structure, and price for the Research trial. 6. Your country and the working hours you can overlap with Israel. 7. Whether you personally will do all principal design work. Disclose anyone else who would access the product or files. Applications without specific shipped-work evidence will not be shortlisted.