Principal Product Designer

We’re now looking for a Principal Product Designer to lead the charge in raising the bar for experience design at Zeals — both through the craft of their work and the impact of their leadership.

As a Principal Product Designer

You’ll be one of the most senior hands-on designers at Zeals. You’ll drive high-stakes product initiatives from strategy through execution, shaping experiences that are both user-centered and business-critical. You’ll guide the evolution of our design systems, push interaction and visual design quality, and act as a mentor and role model for designers across the organization.

You’ll partner with leadership across product, engineering, research, and the business to set the vision, align priorities, and solve complex problems with creativity and clarity.

Your Typical Day With Us 

• Lead and execute critical product design initiatives with high visibility and business impact
• Apply deep expertise in UX, UI, and interaction design to create elegant, scalable experiences
• Set and influence product-wide design standards that raise the quality and consistency of our work
• Partner with cross-functional leaders to shape product strategy and ensure the user voice is central in decision-making
• Drive the evolution of our design system, enabling speed, consistency, and visual excellence at scale
• Mentor and support other designers (both senior and junior), contributing to their growth and the strength of the overall team
• Champion user-centered thinking across the organization, and elevate design’s role in achieving business outcomes
• Identify opportunities for strategic research and partner with UX researchers to uncover actionable insights

What You’ll Need 

• 8+ years of product design experience with a proven track record of leading high-impact projects
• A portfolio that demonstrates exceptional design craft and strategic impact on products and teams
• Mastery of UX, UI, and interaction design principles — with a sharp eye for detail and systems thinking
• Experience setting or evolving design systems for large-scale products
• Strong storytelling and communication skills — able to align, inspire, and influence stakeholders at all levels
• Experience mentoring and supporting other designers to do their best work
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and defining structure where needed
• Proficiency in Figma; familiarity with design operations or workflow tools is a plus

What makes you stand out 

• Experience working in conversational UI, chat products, or AI-powered interfaces
• Background in SaaS, e-commerce, or marketing technology
• Business-level Japanese language ability
• Cross-cultural design experience or working with globally distributed teams

Don’t just take our word for it

Zeals has received the LinkedIn Top Startups award twice in a row. We believe this is a testament to our growth and our ability to attract great talents–who could potentially be your colleagues! 

Ready to roll up our sleeves

We obsess over bringing hospitality to everyone–be it our customers or you! You’re an individual with unique needs. So, while we can’t attract you with ping-pong tables or all-you-can-drink espresso bars, we promise you a once-in-a-lifetime experience and co-workers that you can brag about to your friends, family, or anyone you meet the next time you go out for a party! . As an employer, we are ready to roll up our sleeves and change the status quo if it means making your experience better!

• Salary Range : competitive
• Performance review: twice a year
• Holidays: 10 days paid holidays during the first year, weekends off, national holidays, summer and winter break.
• Visa support: We sponsor visas for the right candidates.
• Flexible working: Highly flexible, remote-first organization (in Japan), Interim work from overseas
• Housing allowance (within 1.5km away from office)
• Club activity allowance
• Team building allowance and Lunch allowance
• Zeals Bar (bi-monthly free flow beer party)

Let’s build the future of digital hospitality — together.

If you’re a strategic, systems-minded designer who wants to shape not just products, but the culture of design in a growing tech company — we’d love to meet you.

Apply now and help us make the internet feel more human, one conversation at a time.