Senior Product Designer - Manage

<p> </p><p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">Hello, we’re Instrumentl.<br><br></span></strong></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">Billions in grant funding are still managed in spreadsheets. We're fixing that. Instrumentl is a hypergrowth, YC-backed startup on a mission to help the nonprofit sector drive impact — and we're well on our way to becoming the #1 most-loved grant management tool. We help over 5,500 nonprofits, from local homeless shelters to organizations like the San Diego Zoo and the University of Alaska, find, win, and manage grants in one place. 🌏 ✨</span></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">Our charts are dramatically up-and-to-the-right 📈 — we're cash flow positive and doubling year-over-year, with customers who love us (NPS is 65+ and Ellis PMF survey is 60+). </span></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">About the role:</span></strong></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">We're hiring a </span><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">Senior Product Designer</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> to own </span><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">Manage</span></em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">, our post-award product area where $1.1B+ in grant funding is tracked, reported on, and kept compliant.</span></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">Grant professionals are doing some of the most important, high-stakes work in the country, and they deserve tools to match it. Until recently, that infrastructure didn't exist. Post-award work happened across a patchwork of spreadsheets, email chains, and disconnected accounting exports, with the grant professional as the middleperson: manually moving information between systems instead of doing the strategic work they were hired to do.</span></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">We're building the solution: a single, intelligent platform where every stage of the grant lifecycle connects, and each stage makes the next one smarter. We recently launched </span><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">Spenddown</span></em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">, enabling nonprofits to see real-time budget vs. actuals tracking synced from accounting systems like Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online. We're now building toward program financials, cross-functional workflows, reporting functionality, and compliance reviews.</span></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">These are meaty, genuinely hard design problems: complex data models, multi-stakeholder workflows spanning grant professionals, finance teams, and program staff, and high-stakes compliance contexts where post-award mistakes cost organizations their funding. This product area is still being invented, and the designer who owns it will shape what post-award management looks like for thousands of organizations.</span></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">You'll report directly to Hope, Head of Design, and work as a true strategic partner to your PM and engineering lead. This is an IC role with outsized scope, not a feature factory.</span></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">The Instrumentl team is remote. You can design from anywhere in the continental U.S. or Canada as long as you have 4+ hours of overlap with the Pacific time zone. As a close-knit team, we want to have (virtual) face time with you and watch your cat roam in the background. Get to know us at </span><a href="http://instrumentl.com/about" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none;">instrumentl.com/about</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">. We can't wait to meet you!</span></p> <p></p> <p></p><p><br></p><b>What you'll own </b><div> <ul style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lead end-to-end design for the </span><em><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Manage</span></em><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> product area: discovery and research through shipping and iteration</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Shape how financial data is visualized and surfaced (budget vs. actuals, burn rates, variance flags, forecast views, just to name a few) for people who are not accountants</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Design complex, multi-stakeholder workflows for cross-team collaboration</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Envision AI-powered features to free up grant professionals’ time and increase compliance</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Drive definition of completely greenfield spaces</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Raise the quality bar across Instrumentl's design system</span></p> </li> </ul> </div><p><br></p><b>What you bring </b><div> <ul style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 12pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Seasoned IC: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">You've owned entire product domains, not just shipped features. You write your own brief, define the problem, and set the roadmap in partnership with your PM.</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 12pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Curious:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> You are full of questions, and you seek out answers. Deriving insights from deep listening in user interviews is one of your strengths. You connect with others easily and have a knack for identifying patterns.</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Systems thinker: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">You've designed for data-dense, multi-entity systems: financial dashboards, ops tracking tools, reporting workflows, or similar. You know how to cut through complexity until it feels intuitive.<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">B2B SaaS experience: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">You've spent meaningful time designing complex software. You understand multi-user workflows, role-based access, data provenance, and the operational needs of power users.<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Finance-adjacent experience:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;"> You've designed for finance or adjacent domains. You understand how to communicate variance, forecasting, reconciliation, and compliance to non-technical users.<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">AI skilled: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">You're already using AI tools in your design practice, such as prototyping with v0, iterating with Claude, or thinking seriously about how AI advances product development. You're excited about designing AI-powered features.<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Startup background: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">You have sound intuition and make good calls with incomplete information. You thrive in possibilities and don't need a heavy process to stay organized.<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Strategic partner:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;"> You don't just execute a spec. You bring point of view into the room<br>push back when something isn't right for users, and drive alignment across engineering, product, and GTM.</span></p> </li> </ul> </div><p><br></p><b>Must have skills</b><div> <ul style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">7+ years of product design experience, with at least 2 years at senior level</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Proven track record owning complex B2B or enterprise product areas end-to-end</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Deep expertise designing data-heavy UIs: financial dashboards, tracking tools, reporting views, or similar</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Strong Figma skills: user flows, wireframes, hi-fi mockups, prototypes, and design systems</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Experience working closely with engineers in a fast-shipping startup environment</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Ability to conduct and synthesize user research independently</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Exceptional communication: present work, defend decisions, and align stakeholders clearly</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 10pt; padding-top: 2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Active use of AI tools in your design workflow</span></p> </li> </ul> </div><p><br></p><b>Nice to haves</b><ul style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Exposure to financial software, accounting tools, compliance workflows, or fund reporting<br><br></span></p> </li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Experience designing for nonprofits or social impact<br></span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Design systems experience<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Familiarity with accessibility standards<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Comfort with basic front-end concepts (HTML, CSS) to collaborate closely with engineers<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #333333;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;">Experience mentoring other designers</span></p> </li> </ul><p><br></p><b>Compensation & Benefits </b><div> <ul style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333; margin-left: 24pt;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Salary range: $160 - $205k plus equity<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333; margin-left: 24pt;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Health, dental, and vision insurance<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333; margin-left: 24pt;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Generous PTO policy, including parental leave<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333; margin-left: 24pt;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">401(k)<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333; margin-left: 24pt;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Company laptop + stipend to set up your home workstation<br><br></span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333; margin-left: 24pt;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Twice annual retreats for in-person time with your colleagues</span></p> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333; margin-left: 24pt;"> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Work with awesome nonprofits around the US. We partner with incredible organizations doing meaningful work, and you get to help power their success.</span></p> </li> </ul> </div><p><br></p><p></p> <p> </p><p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">What to expect:<br><br></span></strong></p> <p style="background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; color: #333333;">Instrumentl is evolving rapidly. You'll always have new challenges and opportunities to grow — you won't be bored. You'll join a small but mighty design team and take on one of our most strategically critical product areas from day one.</span></p> <p></p>

Back to blog

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...