Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
Principal Product Designer roles are increasingly central in SaaS as AI moves from standalone features into core workflows. This position sits at that intersection, focusing on how automation, agent-like experiences, and intelligent insights are delivered inside an established operations platform used in production environments. In SaaS terms, it is a design mandate where reliability, clarity, and user trust matter as much as novelty, especially when the end users are technical operators making time-sensitive decisions.
For a long-term SaaS career, the role offers exposure to the emerging craft of AI UX in enterprise software: designing for explainability, control, and confidence in semi-autonomous systems. Work at this layer tends to build durable expertise in turning complex capabilities into productized experiences, partnering closely with engineering and data science, and shaping patterns that can scale across multiple teams and surfaces in a subscription product.
This role is best suited to senior designers who prefer setting direction as well as shipping, and who are comfortable navigating ambiguity in new interaction models. It also fits practitioners drawn to technical audiences and systems thinking, where success is measured by adoption and safe outcomes rather than visual polish alone.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
PagerDuty is seeking a Principal Product Designer to join our diverse, customer-focused team! As Principal Product Designer, you will join our UX team and lead design strategy for our AI and Automation team, partnering with senior leadership, product management, engineering, and data science teams. You will define the vision and execution for how AI agents, automation workflows, and intelligent insights are experienced across the PagerDuty Operations Cloud, ensuring our AI capabilities are intuitive, trustworthy, and transformative for technical operations teams. This is an exciting opportunity to pioneer the future of AI-driven operations at scale, shaping how thousands of organizations leverage autonomous agents and intelligent automation to prevent incidents, accelerate resolution, and improve operational resilience. The ideal candidate has deep expertise in AI/ML product design, a track record of leading design for complex technical products, and a passion for making cutting-edge technology accessible and valuable to practitioners.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Define and drive the design vision for PagerDuty's AI and automation capabilities, including AI agents
- Lead cross-functional collaboration with AI/ML engineers, product managers, and data scientists to translate complex AI capabilities into intuitive, trustworthy user experiences
- Establish design principles and patterns for AI transparency, explainability, and user control that build confidence in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems
- Mentor and guide designers across the organization on AI/UX best practices, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence
- Conduct strategic research to understand how technical teams adopt and trust AI-driven recommendations, automation, and insights in mission-critical contexts
- Partner with product leadership to shape the AI and automation roadmap, balancing innovation with user needs and technical feasibility
- Represent design in executive-level discussions and contribute to company-wide AI strategy and product positioning
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 10+ years of experience in product design, UX design, or interaction design with a focus on complex technical products
- 3+ years of experience designing for AI/ML products, intelligent systems, automation platforms, or data-driven applications
- Demonstrated experience leading design strategy and influencing product direction
- Portfolio showcasing expertise in AI/UX, conversational interfaces, automation design, or intelligent agent experiences
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience designing for developer tools, DevOps platforms, or technical operations products
- Deep understanding of AI/ML concepts including LLMs, generative AI, predictive models, and agentic systems
- Track record of establishing design systems, frameworks, or principles that scale across product teams
- Strong thought leadership through speaking, writing, or contributing to the design community
- Experience working in high-growth SaaS or enterprise software companies with complex technical audiences
The base salary range for this position is 161,000 - 270,600 USD. This role may also be eligible for bonus, commission, equity, and/or benefits.
Our base salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location.
The range, which is subject to change based on primary work location, reflects the minimum and maximum base salary we expect to pay newly hired employees for the position. Within the range, we determine pay for an individual based on a number of factors including market location, job-related knowledge, skills/competencies and experience.
Your recruiter can share more about the specific offerings for this role, as well as the salary range for your primary work location during the hiring process.
