A career framework in six pillars and seven levels. Built for performance conversations, growth, hiring, and self-assessment.
At Karbon, product definition is a team sport. Our partners in Product help us decide where to invest and which problems are worth solving. Engineers help us understand what's possible and bring the product to life in code. Design's particular contribution is the ability to make ideas visible and tangible, faster than anyone else on the team.
That's the superpower. When a problem is abstract, we prototype it into something people can react to. When a direction is contested, we show it rather than argue it. When a customer describes a pain point, we turn it into an interface they can touch and test. The result is that the whole team gets a shared artefact to rally around, and the product takes shape faster and with better intuition than it otherwise would.
We work AI-native and at high velocity. AI is the environment our work happens in, from first frame to final detail. We use LLMs to pressure-test assumptions, spot edge cases, and draft briefs. We use AI-assisted tools to prototype at the speed of thought. We treat research as a velocity tool, not a gate. We refine in Figma or code until the work is ready for engineering to ship.
We take responsibility for the experience customers actually use. Every interaction, every pattern, every detail that shapes how people feel when they use Karbon.
Craft is built from four skills, run iteratively. Every designer learns them. Seniority shows up in how well you run them, how fast, and how well you coach others to run them too.
Use AI to understand the problem, pressure-test assumptions, spot edge cases, and draft briefs. Get sharp on what we're solving before anything else.
Use AI-assisted prototyping to turn abstract problems into tangible artefacts the team can react to. Prototyping is how we create shared understanding.
Talk directly with customers and teammates. Run quick tests. Treat research as a velocity tool, not a gate.
Take validated concepts to ship-ready in Figma or code. Complete state coverage, system alignment, accessibility.
Five levels. The first three are shared. After Senior, the path splits into Individual Contributor and Manager tracks. Both reach the same level of seniority, with different shapes of impact.
The framework is structured around six pillars. Each pillar is made up of skills that scale across the levels.
Understanding the problem space and bringing Design's perspective on what's worth making.
AI-native design. Frame, Build, Validate, Refine.
Direct customer contact, research, and intuition.
Painting the future and rallying the team around a direction.
How we show up. Drive, collaboration, mentoring, hiring.
Knowing what success looks like and owning what happens after launch.
L1 to L5. The first three levels are shared. After Senior, the path splits into Individual Contributor and Manager tracks. Both reach the same level of seniority, with different shapes of impact.
Six pillars, each made up of skills that designers grow through their career. Together, the skills define what good design work looks like at every level.
Six pillars, seven levels. Read across a row to see how a pillar scales. Read down a column to see what's expected at a level. Use this for calibration, promotion, and growth conversations.
The full expectations per role across all six pillars. Use these for interviewing, calibration, growth conversations, and self-assessment.
An Associate Product Designer is just getting started in their craft at Karbon. The expectation is to build foundational skills, contribute to squad work with curiosity and energy, and develop fluency in AI-native design under guidance from the Triad and senior Design members. The work happens with support, but ownership of growth is on you.
A Product Designer owns features end to end with growing autonomy. The expectation is to run the full design loop on well-scoped work, bring AI fluency into every step, and start forming opinions on what the product needs. Senior Design members are still your fallback on the harder calls, but you're moving toward independence.
A Senior Product Designer is mastering the craft. The expectation is to run the full design loop independently, partner deeply with the Triad on shaping the product, and bring conviction to what's worth making and what isn't. Senior is where the design loop becomes second nature. It's also where designers start influencing direction beyond their immediate work.
A Staff Product Designer leads through depth, not direct reports. The expectation is to set patterns that scale across the team, encode design judgment into systems, and protect the team from building the wrong thing. Staff is where craft starts to compound. You go first, you set direction, others build on it.
A Lead Product Designer leads through people. The expectation is to do everything a Staff designer does on craft and strategy, plus take direct accountability for designers' growth, hiring, and the team's culture. Lead is the entry point into design management at Karbon. You're a player-coach: still hands-on with craft, but increasingly responsible for building a high-performing team around you.
A Principal Product Designer shapes Karbon's design direction. The expectation is to spot what others miss, build systems that compound craft and culture, and influence across the company through judgment that's been earned. Principal is the most senior IC role in Design. The patterns you set become the patterns Karbon evolves with.
A Product Design Manager owns the design function's health. The expectation is to hire, retain, and grow the team, hold them to outcomes, and partner with Principal-level ICs to evolve the practice. Manager is the most senior management role at the team level. The role isn't about being the deepest practitioner; it's about creating the conditions for excellent design work to happen, and holding the team accountable for it.