Senior Product Designer at Microsoft

Redmond, Washington, United States -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

05 Jun, 26

Salary

234700.0

Posted On

07 Mar, 26

Experience

5 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Product Design, Design Systems, AI, Multimodal, Design Tokens, System Foundations, Visual Language, Art Direction, Prototyping, Engineering Partnership, Design-to-Code Workflows, Governance, Accessibility, Coherence, Craft, Systemization

Industry

Software Development

Description

Overview The Fluent Design System team is redefining Microsoft 365’s design system for the AI era. As M365 Copilot evolves into a rich, multimodal productivity platform, Fluent is transforming from traditional design systems into an adaptive, model-aware design foundations—one that blends GUI precision with generative, context-aware behaviors at scale. As a Senior Product Designer, you'll help shape the future of how AI-native experiences are designed, built, and sustained at an ecosystem-level. This role sits at the intersection of design, engineering, and emerging AI systems, with direct influence over the patterns, primitives, and architectural decisions that power M365 Copilot and the broader Microsoft ecosystem. You’ll work within X3, a global, multidisciplinary organization dedicated to bringing humanity, clarity, and trust to AI-powered experiences. Fluent is a critical layer in that mission—providing the shared language, systems thinking, and technical rigor needed to ensure quality, coherence, and craft as AI reshapes productivity software. What You’ll Do As a senior individual contributor, you’ll operate both strategically and hands-on—driving foundational decisions while actively prototyping and exploring what’s next. Shape Token‑Driven System Foundations: Contribute to the design token strategy across taxonomy, naming, governance, and lifecycle management—ensuring Fluent’s foundations are coherent, scalable, and resilient across platforms, themes, and future system evolution. Systematize Visual Language with Intent: Help define and refine Fluent’s design language through art direction and systemization of color, typography, spacing, motion, and state—balancing expressive craft with repeatable, tokenized structure. Elevate Craft at the System Level: Apply strong visual design judgment to evolve core system primitives, raising overall UI quality, consistency, and polish across Microsoft experiences. Translate Design Intent into Scalable Systems: Bridge visual design and implementation by translating design intent into tokenized abstractions that scale across platforms, modes, and themes without losing nuance or clarity. Partner Deeply with Engineering: Work closely with engineers to ensure tokens and foundations are implementable, versioned, and integrated into design‑to‑code workflows—supporting durability, performance, and adoption at scale. Define Clear Guidance for Adoption and Contribution: Create practical guidance for token usage, contribution models, and system adoption—helping teams use Fluent correctly, confidently, and consistently. Lead Through Influence and Alignment: Align designers, engineers, PMs, and accessibility partners around shared system decisions, using influence, clarity, and collaboration to drive coherence across the ecosystem. Why This Role Matters Fluent is more than a visual system—it’s the connective tissue for how we work together. It's what allows Microsoft 365 to move fast without fragmenting. In this role, you’ll help ensure that as AI accelerates what’s possible, the experience remains cohesive, intuitive, and deeply human. If you’re excited by re-architecting design systems for an AI-first world, influencing how models and interfaces work together, and building foundations that millions rely on every day, this team may be the right place for you. Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We work with a growth mindset, lead with empathy, and build inclusive systems that help people thrive—at work and beyond. Responsibilities Contribute to the design token strategy, including taxonomy, naming, governance, and lifecycle management. Contribute to art direction & systematizing design language elements Apply strong visual design craft to evolve system foundations and raise overall UI quality. Translate visual design intent (color, type, spacing, states) into tokenized systems that scale across platforms and themes. Partner deeply with engineers to ensure tokens are implementable, versioned, and integrated into design‑to‑code workflows. Define clear guidance for token usage, contribution, and adoption across teams. Lead through influence — aligning designers, engineers, PMs, and accessibility partners on shared system decisions. Qualifications Required/minimum Qualifications: Master's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 4+ years experience working in product or service design OR Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 5+ years experience working in product or service design OR equivalent experience. Product Design IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $158,400 - $258,000 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.

Responsibilities

The Senior Product Designer will drive foundational decisions for the Fluent Design System in the AI era, focusing on shaping token-driven system foundations, systematizing visual language, and elevating craft at the system level. This involves actively prototyping, translating design intent into scalable tokenized abstractions, and partnering deeply with engineering to ensure implementability and adoption.