Founding Product Designer
Primer
About Primer
Our goal is simple: help the next generation of kids be more ambitious, more creative, and learn to think for themselves. To do that, we're creating a new education system— one that takes kids seriously.
At Primer, students learn at their own pace, pursue their passions, and get the 1:1 support they deserve every day. We started Primer because standard schools can’t possibly make space for every kid’s curiosities. But a small school connected to a big network can. Our goal with Primer isn’t to teach you everything under the sun—it’s actually the opposite. We want you to go deep on whatever it is that drives you. Because we think passion is the surest path to learning. And the world could use more of it. Come join us, and do your life work.
We are seeking a product designer to work with our head of product, head of education, and two person engineering team.
About you
You care deeply about creating a high quality product experience. You obsess over the details.
You're willing to challenge your teammates' ideas, and have yours challenged in return, in the spirit of delivering the best product possible.
You have previous startup experience, and you've designed consumer-facing products from the ground up.
You have experience with user research and a strong grasp of user research best practices.
You are excited about being a part of an early-stage team and setting the long-term vision of the organization.
Bonus: You want to own the visual design and branding execution throughout the website and marketing materials.
Why This Role is Exciting
Primer is different because our schools are built around our technology, and you'll get to work with a world-class product and engineering team. The Lead Product Designer at Primer will get to design groundbreaking new interfaces for education: rethink how virtual instruction should work, give students tools to set their own goals and track their own progress, and design how the entire network of students, families, and teachers interact with each other to create a single, nation-wide community. This role offers the chance to shape the future of education and make a lasting impact on how students learn and interact.
Highlights of an Average Week
Monday: Begin your week reviewing the latest prototype of our virtual instruction UI with the product team. Plan for user testing with teachers in live classes.
Tuesday: Connect with two parents from our Primer community to gather insights on their experience with our platform, focusing on usability and engagement.
Wednesday: Visit one of our classrooms to observe a session in action. You'll see firsthand how teachers and students interact with our tools, gaining valuable context for your design work.
Thursday: Test the new virtual instruction UI prototype with three Primer teachers, giving you hands-on feedback to help iterate and refine our designs.
Friday: Conduct market research on academic progress tracking systems. Your findings will inform the development of our student goal-setting and measurement tools.
Join Us
We want you to do the best work of your life at Primer. If you're excited about shaping the future of education and eager to tackle challenging, meaningful projects, we'd love to hear from you.
Inspiration
Below are a few of the people and pieces that serve as the inspiration for our work at Primer. If any of these resonate with you, we'd be quite excited to chat.
📄 A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages by Alan Kay [1972]
📘 Mindstorms by Seymour Papert [1980]
📘 The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neil Stephenson [1995]
📄 Learning in depth: Knowledge and the Imagination by Kieran Egan [2010]
📄 Quantum Country by Andy Matuschak and Michael Nielsen [2018]
📄 What's Gone Wrong in Schooling? by Mason Hartman [2019]
📄 How can we develop transformative tools for thought? by Andy Matuschak and Michael Nielsen [2019]
📄 The Lesson to Unlearn by Paul Graham [2019]
📄 Enabling Environments by Andy Matuschak [2019]
If this sounds like you, fill out the application below with a bit about yourself and we'll take it from there! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email us at jobs@primer.com.