Senior Product Designer

As a Senior Product Designer, you will lead the design of innovative, user-centered products that align with business strategy and deliver exceptional experiences. You will influence product direction, mentor designers, and advocate for design excellence across the organization. Your work will shape global cinema software solutions, combining creativity, strategy, and craftsmanship

Our team

We are a rapidly-growing, fast-moving, highly-capable Product Design team building the world's leading cinema software. Our designers work in Auckland and, collaborating with Product Directors, Engineers and BAs, work with our customers to deliver elegant solutions to the complex real-world problems that cinema operators face. The design team has established itself as a critical part of the software development process, and our team's results are having an important impact on the business.

About the role

Strategic:

• Work with the product and design team to strategise, create and deliver best-in-class guest-facing products by understanding the Vista, client business, and user needs
• Present design concepts to stakeholders, executives, and external partners, managing expectations and negotiating trade-offs
• Define success criteria and performance metrics for design initiatives (e.g., usability scores, adoption rates)
• Align design decisions with business objectives, user needs, and market trends
• Champion user-centered design principles across teams and stakeholders
• Flags design risks; suggests mitigations within the project

Design and Execution:

• Decisions are informed based on alignment with Vista OKRs, deep knowledge of what client's want and why, through active engagement, understanding competitors and where the market will be tomorrow
• Ensure we have data about how our products are being used and review it regularly
• Drive end-to-end design processes: research and discovery, ideation, workshops, interaction design, and visual design
• Create detailed wireframes, prototypes, and interaction flows to communicate design intent
• Ensure designs meet accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG compliance) and follow inclusive design principles
• Collaborate with engineering to balance technical feasibility with design quality
• Support QA testing to validate UX requirements
• Help maintain and evolve research methodologies and documentation for consistency and scalability
• Help maintain and evolve design systems to ensure consistency and scalability
• Ensure design documentation and assets are clear, accurate, and developer-ready

Culture and Leadership:

• Help build a culture of accountability, where we are not afraid to fail early and cheaply and where our outcomes are always shared
• Act as an advocate for design excellence across the business in a way that nurtures a culture of true collaboration and unity. This includes engineering and all areas of the business
• Motivate the team to consistently deliver high-quality work and improve productivity, ensuring that team members are performing their roles to a high standard, providing coaching where necessary
• Mentor and coach juniors, introducing innovative methods and tools
• Engage cross-functional teams early, including Marketing, Knowledge Services, and Engineering
• Stay current with emerging design trends, tools, and technologies
• Contribute to the evolution of Vista’s design systems and processes
• Facilitate workshops, usability testing, and user research to inform design decisions
• Present design concepts and solutions to internal and external stakeholders with clarity and confidence
• Identify opportunities for innovation and propose solutions that enhance user experience and business outcomes

Risk and Issue Management:

• Proactively identify design risks and escalate issues when necessary
• Manage conflicting priorities and ensure timely resolution of design challenges

Requirements

We're looking for

• Extensive experience delivering UX/UI design solutions
• Proven experience in product design with a strong portfolio showcasing strategic, user-centered solutions
• Proven strong understanding of accessibility and inclusive design principles
• Bachelor’s degree in design, HCI, or equivalent professional experience
• Proven ability to influence product strategy and contribute to business outcomes through design
• Proven ability to own and drive the design process by independently defining requirements, scoping projects and prioritising tasks
• Comfortable working independently with minimal direction
• Demonstrate an understanding of visual design hierarchy, typography, iconography, and layout, with the ability to produce fresh, simple yet elegant layouts and interactions that are exceedingly usable - you care about pixels and subpixels
• Expert in tools such as Figma, Sketch, Axure, and XD; familiarity with collaboration tools (e.g. Miro, TFS)
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills; ability to articulate complex design concepts clearly
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

About Vista

Vista is a world-leading company that makes software for the cinema industry. Started in Auckland, New Zealand, over 25 years ago, we now serve cinemas, film distributors, and moviegoers worldwide.

Our HQ is in the City Works Depot in Auckland. We have offices and subsidiary companies in Sydney, Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Kuala Lumpur. We use the latest technologies and offer a fun, agile and collaborative environment. We continue to innovate and build our reputation as one of the best Kiwi tech companies to work for.

Shared Standards

Our Shared Standards act as a compass for how we work together and reflect the behaviours we value at Vista Group. The way in which each member of our crew embodies these Shared Standards is an indicator for performance and success, as it aligns with our vision and strategy.

One Crew

• We're a diverse team, in different places and functions, and we're at our best when we connect, help and collaborate

Shine a Light

• We communicate openly, we explain the why, and we ask when we don't understand. We don't leave people in the dark

Make it Happen

• We make good things happen as people and as teams through our focus on delivery

Chase Great

• We challenge ourselves and each other to keep improving

Benefits

Diverse and inclusive, the Vista team love what they do and share a passion for great software and great cinema experiences. You will be supported to grow your career goals, improve your skills and share knowledge and ideas.

You’ll be joining a world leader in the cinema industry and will enjoy great benefits that include:

• Excellent work/life balance including a 4 ½ day working week
• Hybrid working (home and office-based split, requiring 2 days attendance per week in the Auckland office)
• Medical and Life insurance (after qualifying period)
• Volunteer day, enhanced paid parental leave and wellness benefits
• Strong mentoring & career development focus
• Fun team events including the Vista Innovation Cup

Get in touch today for a confidential discussion! Please send your CV along with a link to your portfolio / examples of your work.

If you enjoy a challenge and working in a dynamic and collaborative team, you’ll love working at Vista.

We value inclusivity celebrate diversity and are committed to offering equal opportunity to our staff and candidates - regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, marital status, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religious, ethical beliefs or political opinion. This commitment is reflected in all our employment policies and procedures.