Principal Product Designer - Zalando Assistant (all genders) - limited contract

Zalando is Europe’s leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle, connecting over 60 million active customers with brands and partners across 25 markets. Our aspiration is simple yet massive: to help people feel confident and have fun with their personal style, building a sustainable ecosystem that is truly inclusive by design.

Imagine a collaborative powerhouse of world-class product designers who actively help each other grow. That’s Product Design at Zalando. We are a thriving community dedicated to sharpening our craft, swapping insights, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI.

The Search & Discovery / Zalando Assistant design team, based in Berlin and Dublin, is creating customer-centric and engaging experiences that adapt to our customer’s needs, interests, intentions and context. We craft innovative personalized experiences that allow our customers to seamlessly discover fashion, beauty and lifestyle inspiration. As a Principal Product Designer on this team, you will play a critical role in shaping the conversational design and customer impact for Zalando Assistant. 

This is a limited contract role until July 31st, 2027. 

THE ROLE & THE TEAM

You are passionate about designing and delivering scalable customer-centric solutions that leverage the latest technological advances, such as generative AI and machine learning. In order to thrive in this, you will use a wide variety of product design skills and frameworks. While strong foundational UX skills are a must, experience with concept design methods, conversational design, conducting user research, workshop facilitation, and experience in balancing the big picture with a strong love of craft will help you succeed. 

You will combine product design with new technologies through collaboration, creativity, craft and proactive mindset. You will work closely with other Designers, Engineers, Data Scientists, and Product Managers as well as other stakeholders and teams across Zalando. By exploring innovative solution spaces with an iterative mindset, you’ll make the future tangible to provide direction and fuel the vision for internal teams, customers, and partners.

As a customer-focused design thought leader and role model, you will contribute to the Zalando Product Design community and the larger European design industry by sharing best practices, mentoring and teaching colleagues, crafting best-in-class solutions, bar-raising in design reviews, and sparking inspiring conversations. 

WE'D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF

• You have worked on complex design projects, and are able to turn innovative ideas into tangible concepts and design artifacts, thus creating clarity amid uncertainty to empower your team to drive the customer experience vision forward.
• You have experience in collaborating with cross-functional teams to design intuitive and impactful user experiences for AI-powered products that leverage machine learning technologies, and data-driven applications.
• You have experience designing and delivering coherent personalized customer experiences by working in/with cross-functional teams, and partnering with stakeholders and other designers to develop remarkable solutions that challenge the status quo.
• You love designing innovative technology products and place humans at the center of your design process — ensuring that geeky tech and forward-looking experience design always serves real human needs.
• You have a solid range of design skills in your ever growing toolkit – including user research, workshop facilitation, UX and UI design, and prototyping – to ensure fluid, holistic, and accessible customer journeys.

WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• Bring clarity to complex design projects by turning bold ideas into concrete concepts and design assets, driving alignment around the customer experience vision.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to shape intuitive and impactful user experiences for AI-powered products, integrating machine learning and data-driven insights.
• Create seamless, personalized customer experiences by collaborating with stakeholders, designers, and product teams to push the boundaries of innovation.
• Design cutting-edge technology products, ensuring AI and machine learning solutions address real human needs.
• Leverage a diverse design toolkit—including user research, workshop facilitation, and UX/UI design, and prototyping—to craft cohesive and accessible end-to-end customer journeys.

OUR OFFER

Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.

• 27 days of holiday a year to start for full-time employees (+1 day for every calendar year up to 30 days)
• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, discounts from external partners
• Family support, including counselling and dedicated services for parents and carers
• Company pension scheme
• Employee shares programme
• Health and wellbeing options, including Wellhub
• Mental health support and coaching
• Development through our training platform and biannual peer-to-peer review
• 2 paid volunteering days a year
• Relocation assistance (subject to prior agreement)

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

If you think you have what it takes, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single requirement. You may just be the right candidate for this or other roles!

At Zalando, our vision is to be the leading European technology platform for fashion and lifestyle – one that thrives on diversity and is truly inclusive by design. We believe that diverse teams fuel innovation and creativity, and we actively seek out talent from all backgrounds.

We actively seek to reduce bias in our hiring and employment processes, focusing on your qualifications, skills, and contributions. To support this, we kindly ask that you refrain from including personal details such as your photo, age, or marital status in your CV, ensuring a fair and equitable evaluation based solely on your abilities and potential.

We are committed to providing an exceptional and accessible candidate experience for everyone. If you require any accommodations to support you throughout the hiring process, please let us know – we are here to assist you.

Discover more about our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/our-culture/diversity-and-inclusion