When your product grows out of the garage stage and has a team that is bigger than two founders, you may start thinking of hiring a product designer. There is no rule defining the exact moment when you really need a product designer. Many startups can be fine without having any, but if you are reading this article, chances are that you have already made that decision.

A good product design can be a link between the design team and other departments: development, marketing, sales.

Product designer vs UX/UI designer

Nowadays when new professions appear every day, sometimes just changing titles, there is constant confusion regarding what each of them means. If you are not sure, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

These professions are similar, and switching from UX/UI to product design is a common career path (switching vice versa is also possible). The skills required for these positions are similar, and both use the same tools.

So, what is the difference between product designers and UX/UI designers?

Typically product designer has a wider range of tasks, while the UX/UI designer is focused mainly on making the product easy to use and improving user experience.

The product designer would take into account business goals, strategy, brand positioning, nuances of marketing, and so on (all this in addition to user experience). Also, they work on the product constantly, monitoring its performance, gathering feedback, making decisions about iterations, new features. On the other side, UX/UI designers often finish their work after the launch.

Background and skills

As said before, it is common for UX/UI designers to move to product design. So you shouldn’t feel puzzled when a big part of the applications that you receive will be from UX/UI designers. Apart from them, information architects, experience architects, and interaction designers would be a good fit for the product designer position.

An ideal candidate should have diverse competencies. Here are some of the skills that are useful in product design:

  • business development
  • knowledge of psychology
  • marketing
  • branding and strategy
  • user research
  • experience design
  • project management
  • software development
  • user interface design

…and others.

Job description

A good job description can save you hours of scrolling through tons of irrelevant applications. When you don’t have an HR, writing a job description can be really challenging. Avoid copying others and try to take a more tailored and thoughtful approach. 

A well-written job description can also become a basis for the future job offer, and it definitely helps you understand what you are expecting from the future employee.

When it is the first time you hire a product designer, the first thought would be to look up some existing job openings. That would surely help, but I urge you to wait a bit before searching for examples. First, think of what your company needs and what you expect from your future team member.

Surely, job openings at Google are well written, and you know there are top HRs behind them. However, the profile that you are looking for as, let’s say, an emerging startup in food tech is likely to be quite different from that of a FAANG company. 

After you have taken some time to think about your requirements and made notes, you can make research on job websites. Well, if you found it too hard, starting with research right away is also fine.

A good idea is to look at job openings in companies that are similar to yours in size, product type, or industry. Checking the profile of the companies is easier on LinkedIn. Also, it is more likely to have professionally written job descriptions there than on other websites.

To save your time writing all of this from scratch, use this template for the product designer job description.

Hiring process

Before you post the vacancy, make sure you have defined the hiring procedure. The amount of interviews and the length of the selection process is up to you. It depends a lot on the size of the company and corporate policies and can go from one interview up to six. 

Make sure that the test task has a reasonable size and won’t take too much time. When you are not sure about what to include in the task, ask your teammates or get a consultation from an experienced product designer.

If you don’t have an experienced HR, just make sure that you know the procedure so you won’t be overwhelmed when you receive loads of applications. Don’t make prospective candidates wait too long for the response: the best are also the most likely to find a good alternative before you get to sending the job offer.

Salary

Ok, so how much do product designers make?

According to Indeed, the average salary of a product designer in the US in 2021 is $118,654 per year, and in top companies like Facebook, Dropbox, Zendesk it can go up to $200,000. The salaries tend to be higher on the west coast.

Image source: Indeed

Product designers have quite good earnings at the beginning of the career. According to payscale, an entry-level candidate makes on average $71,000 and reaches the peak of earnings at 10 years of working experience.

Product designers with skills in information architecture, interaction design, and software development make more money.

Also, the salary is a good indicator of the difference between UX/UI designers and product designers: the formers have a lower salary, averaging about $98,195 per year. Surely, being a product designer requires more skills and (in most cases) experience.

The salary level of product designers in the US is some of the highest compared to other countries, about twice as high as the world average. Many countries have 5 times lower salaries. 

Keeping that in mind, if you are used to working in distance (find a person who is not used to it in 2021), consider hiring a product designer from another country. It would save you some money and also bring more diversity to the team. Good English is a must for this job in any country, so there shouldn’t be any language-related issues.

Benefits

Product designers often would be willing to make an employment deal that includes profit sharing and commissions, given that they have a direct relation to the revenue of the business.

Along with that, equity compensation is a common bonus to offer to your prospective candidate.

To sum up

This is the basic information you need to know when you are about to hire a product designer. Finding the right candidate will take time, so plan in advance. This is a key position for a startup, and therefore the selection process needs a thorough approach.