Role: Principal Product Designer

Salary guide: $140,000 to $165,000 base + Equity

Please note applicants must be based in Auckland, New Zealand or willing to relocate however you will already need the legal right to work permanently in New Zealand.

📍 Location: Auckland (Office First)
🕒 Hours: Full-time

🔍 Why Join Cotiss
Based in New Zealand and serving clients across Australia and New Zealand (and soon to be United States), Cotiss is growing from our home base in Auckland NZ. We offer excellent benefits, including an opportunity to own a part of Cotiss as it grows, career growth, team lunches, a duvet day, and a learning & development budget.

We’re an in-office-first team, because we believe great work happens face-to-face, but we trust you to work flexibly when you need to. The impact of the work you do today could be career-defining and will change the world for the better.

💻 About the Role
As a Principal Product Designer, you’ll be both hands-on and a strategic thought partner in the product team. You’ll lead design for high-impact products and elevate product quality across the board.

What you’ll do:

• Own the end-to-end design process from discovery through delivery across complex product areas

• Bring a human centered approach to unpacking customer pain and solving through empathy

• Influence product direction with strong storytelling and a user-centered mindset

• Facilitate collaboration with Product, Engineering, and Marketing to help define product strategy, vision, and identify news areas of product opportunity.

• Define and conduct customer research through various forms such as workshops, focus groups, or interviews

• Makes informed decisions with limited information, and know when to push, pivot, or test ideas.

• Create polished, customer-centered, scalable design experiences with strong attention to detail.

• Champion accessibility, usability, and interaction best practices

• Establish and define design systems and processes that scale design excellence

• Lead, mentor and grow the design team

What you’ll bring:

• 8+ years of product design experience, with a portfolio that demonstrates elegant, thoughtful solutions to complex problems

• Track record of leading product areas or initiatives with measurable impact
• Strong systems thinking and ability to work at both strategic and detailed levels
• Excellent communication skills - comfortable influencing founders and inspiring teams

📈 Career Progression
At Cotiss, your growth is our priority. As we expand, you’ll have opportunities to take on leadership roles, specialize in a certain area or move into a more strategic role. We’ll work with you to create a career path that aligns with your goals, ensuring long-term professional development.

🤝 Join us at Cotiss, where your work will transform how organizations manage their vendors and propel us to the forefront of the industry. If this sounds like you! Apply today!

Cotiss is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace — a place where we can each be ourselves and do the best work of our lives. Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the requirements, women and under-represented groups of candidates tend to only apply when they meet every requirement. If you think you have what it takes but don’t necessarily tick every requirement on this job description, please still get in touch and apply. We’d love to chat to see if you’ll be an epic fit!