Principal Product Designer, Payer

Headway

$249K — $312K *
Healthcare
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years as a product designer with experience in operational tools, regulated workflows, or multi-sided platforms.
  • Proven track record of shipping products balancing user needs, business requirements, and regulatory obligations.
  • Strong visual and interaction design skills that convey complex systems clearly.
  • Ability to use design to clarify incomplete requirements and define problems effectively.
  • Fluency in AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and MagicPatterns for prototyping and design execution.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the payer group design strategy and roadmap in partnership with product and engineering leadership.
  • Translate complex regulatory and clinical requirements into user-friendly designs.
  • Design experiences for multiple audiences, balancing provider and payer perspectives.
  • Conduct initial planning using AI tools to define problem spaces and assumptions.
  • Prototype and iterate on designs using AI-powered tools and code.
  • Conduct customer research to validate design solutions with support from the research team.
  • Contribute to and enhance the design system and foster AI practices within the design team.

Benefits

  • Equity compensation
  • Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
  • HSA / FSA
  • 401K
  • Work-from-Home Stipend
  • Therapy Reimbursement
  • 16-week parental leave for eligible employees
  • Carrot Fertility annual reimbursement and membership
  • 13 paid holidays each year plus a Holiday Break between December 25th and December 31st
  • Flexible PTO
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Training and professional development
Full Job Description
About the Role

At Headway, trust is foundational. Patients trust us to connect them with quality providers. Providers trust us to handle the complexity of insurance. And payers trust us to maintain clinical and coding integrity across our entire network.

As a Principal Product Designer on the Payer group, you'll be the design anchor for the entire group focused on building the experiences that upholds this trust. You'll lead the design vision and execution for how we support clinical excellence, ensure coding accuracy, and provide meaningful feedback to providers to influence their behavior-all while maintaining the provider experience that makes Headway different.

Design at Headway is AI forward. Designers are expected to use AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and MagicPatterns to prototype and stay involved through launch and iteration directly in code. We're looking for designers who're already working this way and see AI as a primary part of their workflow.
In this role, you'll:
  • Operate as a group lead in close partnership with Head of payer product and Eng director to define the payer strategy and roadmap.
  • Translate regulatory requirements and clinical standards into intuitive, human-centered experiences that make complex requirements feel manageable
  • Design for multiple audiences: providers receiving feedback, and payers evaluating our network
  • Start in planning mode, use tools like Claude.ai and internal AI platform to clarify the problem space, understand data, and initial assumptions.
  • Prototype with Claude Code/Cursor and MagicPattern to build and iterate on the flows and Information Architecture. Let AI generate the pixels and code while you define the right patterns, behaviors and quality. Partner with product & Eng to decide when to move into production.
  • Conduct research and directly talk to customers to validate the solution for most of BAU projects with the research team's support.
  • Contribute to the design system and culture, share your AI practice, prompts, and patterns with the design team.
You'll be a great fit if you:

Have deep experience building complex systems with strong craft
  • 8+ years as a product designer, with experience designing for operational tools, regulated workflows, or multi-sided platforms
  • You've shipped products that balance competing constraints-user needs, business requirements, regulatory obligations
  • Your visual and interaction design work is polished and precise
  • You know that good craft isn't decorative-it's the grammar that makes complex systems understandable and usable

Thrive in complexity and ambiguity
  • You're comfortable with incomplete requirements and use design to help clarify and define the problem
  • You can scope work appropriately, knowing when to prototype quickly and when to invest in thorough exploration
  • You balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution-you can develop the vision and then roll up your sleeves to execute it

You're AI fluent
  • You're actively using AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and MagicPatterns to prototype and stay involved through launch and iteration directly in code.
Compensation and Benefits:

The expected base pay range for this position is $249,600 - $312,000, based on a variety of factors including qualifications, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for an equity grant, depending on the position and level.

We are committed to offering a comprehensive and competitive total rewards package, including robust health and wellness benefits, retirement savings, and meaningful ownership opportunities through equity. Compensation decisions are made holistically, ensuring fairness and alignment with market benchmarks while recognizing individual contributions and potential.
  • Benefits offered include:
    • Equity compensation
    • Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
    • HSA / FSA
    • 401K
    • Work-from-Home Stipend
    • Therapy Reimbursement
    • 16-week parental leave for eligible employees
    • Carrot Fertility annual reimbursement and membership
    • 13 paid holidays each year as well as a Holiday Break during the week between December 25th and December 31st
    • Flexible PTO
    • Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
    • Training and professional development


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