Wanted: Lead Product Designer

Who are we? Transcenda, headquartered in the US, was founded in July 2019 and is a full-lifecycle product development company. With locations throughout Romania, Poland, Ukraine, and Brazil, Transcenda works with Fortune 500 companies and well-funded startups to help bring new products to life.

Transcenda helps companies ideate new product concepts, build prototypes, design world-class solutions then engineer new commercial products. Transcenda puts people first and strives to be a changemaker by building a better world through technology. Transcenda has grown from a 5-person team to over 250 people over the past four years and plans to continue growing.

About the role This is a senior, consultancy-style design role. You'll move between leading projects end-to-end — driving discovery, aligning stakeholders, shaping direction — and rolling up your sleeves as a senior-level individual contributor when that's what the work needs.

You'll be working on mature, live products where the bar is improving what exists: smoothing workflows, sharpening hierarchy, lifting conversion, and removing friction. This is not a greenfield, portfolio-piece role. If you get satisfaction from making a working product noticeably better for the people who use it every day, you'll like it here.

Key responsibilities Take ownership of design problems on assigned projects — frame the problem, drive it through discovery, design, and delivery, and bring stakeholders along the whole way. Lead or contribute on a project depending on what's needed — sometimes you're directing the design effort, sometimes you're the one in Figma producing the work. Both modes should feel comfortable. Partner closely with product managers and engineers, translating ambiguous requirements into concrete, testable design solutions and iterating against live implementations. Run the iterative cycle from low-fidelity exploration through high-fidelity delivery, with usability validation at the points where it actually changes the outcome. Facilitate workshops, design reviews, and working sessions with cross-functional and executive stakeholders. Make decisions visible and trade-offs explicit. Mentor and raise the bar for designers around you. Build durable relationships with stakeholders. Understand what they're actually trying to achieve and push back constructively when the brief is wrong.

Must haves 6–10+ years of UX/Product Design experience, ideally including time in a consultancy, agency, or embedded-team setting where you've owned client or stakeholder relationships directly. Demonstrated ability to flex between leading a project (or a small team) and contributing as a senior IC, depending on what the engagement needs. Track record of improving existing products rather than designing greenfield experiences — measurable wins on usability, conversion, or workflow efficiency. Strong visual and UI judgment for forms, workflows, CTAs, hierarchy, and layout. You can defend a layout decision on the merits. Comfort working closely with engineering against live implementations — you can read a real interface and tell us what's wrong with it before opening Figma. Ability to articulate why a design decision was made and what problem it solves, to audiences ranging from engineers to executives. Experience facilitating cross-functional workshops and leading business reviews or strategic planning sessions with senior stakeholders.

Nice to have Background designing for regulated or enterprise domains (finance, compliance, GRC, banking, or similar). Experience designing software embedded inside third-party platforms. Familiarity with mature component libraries and design systems (MUI or similar). Experience mentoring or leveling up other designers through example and critique. Working knowledge of HTML/CSS; JavaScript a plus. Degree in Design, HCI, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent experience.