Principal Product Designer, Contract

The Opportunity

We're looking for a seasoned Principal Product Designer to join us on a contract basis during a critical period of growth. You'll own the design of some of our most impactful buyer and owner-facing experiences, starting with a rebrand of Pacaso.com and ultra personalized experiences for our buyers to drive conversion, followed by our swap and scheduling features for owners. 

This is a rare contract role with real runway: the right person has an opportunity to extend beyond the initial engagement, with a potential path to a full-time position in 2027.

What You'll Own

Buyer Collaboration

• Lead design of ultra-personalized experiences tailored to high net worth individuals to drive buyer conversion and the website and mobile app 
• Lead the design perspective of our brand redesign, expected to take place in Q2 — bringing a fresh visual lens to how Pacaso presents itself to prospective buyers

Owner Experience

• Lead design for Pacaso's swap experience — the core feature that allows co-owners to trade stays across our global portfolio — including new swap functionality being extended to Infinity (whole home) owners
• Own the in-app owner experience holistically, including enhancements to other features such as scheduling, our AI concierge, and financing.
• Translate complex concepts into elegant, intuitive experiences that feel premium at every touchpoint

What We're Looking For

Customer obsession. You have a customer first mentality. You are a data driven decision maker, leveraging customer research and feedback to drive design decisions. 

Luxury-first design instincts. You have a portfolio that demonstrates deep experience designing for premium and luxury audiences. You understand the nuance between clean and elevated — and you never settle for generic.

AI-augmented workflow. You actively leverage AI tools to accelerate your design process, from ideation to production-ready specs. You clone yourself with the right tools and move faster without sacrificing craft.

Engineering partnership. Working with engineers isn't just something you tolerate — it's one of your superpowers. You communicate clearly, document thoroughly, and build trust quickly with technical partners.

Startup agility. You've operated in fast-moving environments and know how to get up to speed quickly, make decisions with ambiguity, and ship high-quality work at pace.

Sharp attention to detail. You catch what others miss. Your work reflects a high bar for typography, spacing, interaction, and consistency — especially at the component and system level. You are comfortable working in ambiguity in the midst of product complexity. 

Collaboration and communication. You're a clear, proactive communicator across design, product, and engineering, and cross-functional teams — and you raise the design quality of every team you're part of.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of product design experience, with a significant portion at the principal or senior + level
• Portfolio demonstrating luxury or premium consumer product design (hospitality, real estate, travel, fintech, or adjacent industries strongly preferred)
• Experience translating brand vision into elevated product experiences 
• Experience translating complex concepts into simple experiences for a luxury audience 
• Proficiency in Figma, including component libraries and design systems
• Experience with mobile app design (iOS and Android) and responsive web
• Demonstrated use of AI tools in your design workflow (e.g., generative design, AI-assisted prototyping, documentation acceleration)
• Experience in a startup or high-growth environment where speed and quality coexisted

Nice to Have

• Experience with fractional ownership, real estate, or luxury travel platforms
• Familiarity with brand redesign or design system migration projects
• Prior work on owner/member portals or loyalty/swap/exchange-type features

Why This Role

• Work on a product used by real people at their second homes — a genuinely exciting design challenge
• Direct access to executive leadership and meaningful ownership over key experiences
• Fast feedback loops, low bureaucracy, and a team that values craft
• Real potential for this to become something more

Details

• Location: Remote 
• Type: Full-Time Contract 
• Duration: 3 months, with strong potential for extension and full-time opportunity in 2027