Product Designer II at 2u

At 2U, we are all in on purpose. We are motivated by our mission – to eliminate the back row in education – and connected by our shared passion to deliver world-class digital education at scale. As the parent company of edX, the world’s leading online learning platform, 2U powers more than 4,000 online higher education offerings – from free courses to full degrees. Together with more than 230 colleges, universities, and corporate partners, we are helping to unlock human potential. What We’re Looking For: The Product Designer II supports the Experience Design team within Executive Education and other lines of business by delivering high-quality, user centered product and marketing experiences. The role combines UX, UI, product thinking, and emerging design system practices to shape intuitive interfaces across pre purchase, up funnel marketing, checkout, and learner acquisition touch points. The successful candidate will collaborate with cross functional partners to translate business goals and learner needs into effective design solutions. This position is ideal for a strong mid-level designer who is comfortable operating in complex environments and ready for responsibilities that begin to overlap with senior expectations. This role is primarily focused on marketing-led product surfaces and acquisition journeys, with experimentation and CRO support contributing to continuous improvement. Responsibilities Include, But Are Not Limited To: User Experience Design: • Conduct experience discovery activities including analytics reviews, behavior analysis, heuristic evaluations, journey mapping, and identification of friction points. • Translate research insights and stakeholder input into problem definitions, opportunity areas, and experience principles. • Apply modern UX frameworks such as Human Centered Design, Double Diamond, Jobs to be Done, Lean UX, and outcome-based design. • Create user journeys, task flows, service blueprints, and ecosystem maps that reflect the complete Executive Education learner and customer experience. • Design for up funnel marketing and acquisition experiences including program discovery, paid and organic landing pages, brochure pages, promotional experiences, thank you pages, checkout, and registration flows. • Produce low and mid fidelity concepts to explore multiple solutions before progressing to high fidelity outputs. • Facilitate lightweight UX research, including remote usability testing, prototype reviews, and concept validation. • Identify measurable UX success metrics and collaborate with Product and Analytics teams to track improvements across the funnel. • Ensure accessibility and inclusive design standards are applied across all breakpoints. • Document design decisions and tradeoffs for alignment and future reference. • Partner with Product Managers to identify UX risks, define requirements, and support phased solution planning. • Support ongoing UX improvements across marketing, discovery, registration, and acquisition flow. User Interface and Visual Design • Produce high fidelity UI designs aligned with 2U brand standards and partner university identities. • Apply best practices for layout, spacing, responsive behavior, hierarchy, typography, and modern interaction design. • Build polished Figma assets using components, auto layout, tokens, and responsive constraints. • Document component behavior and usage patterns to support accurate engineering implementation. • Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure that design intent translates accurately within modern front end frameworks, including, for example, React and Next.js. • Conduct informal QA reviews to validate design quality across devices and breakpoints. Collaboration and Communication • Build positive working relationships with Product, Engineering, Content, Marketing, and Analytics teams. • Present concepts and communicate design rationale, tradeoffs, and recommendations clearly and confidently. • Share work early in the process to maintain alignment and promote collaborative feedback loops. • Demonstrate strong communication skills with both technical and non technical audiences. • Document insights, experiment learnings, and design rationale for cross functional consumption. Design System Adoption and Contribution • Support the adoption and rollout of a new Executive Education design system, which will later extend to broader 2U teams. • Help define and refine component standards, patterns, tokens, and documentation as the system matures. • Create component specifications that support component driven development in frameworks such as React, Next.js, or Vue. • Ensure design outputs contribute to the long-term scalability, consistency, and maintainability of the system. • Collaborate with engineering teams to align on component behavior and feasibility. • Assist in establishing governance guidelines and best practices for design system usage once adopted. This role is expected to contribute significantly to the application and evolution of the design system across marketing and acquisition surfaces, alongside primary marketing product responsibilities. Experimentation and Optimization • Support CRO and experimentation initiatives as a secondary responsibility, contributing design inputs to top-of-funnel and marketing experiences including landing pages, program listings, program details, promotional content, and dynamic marketing components. • Collaborate with Product, Marketing, and Analytics teams to interpret experiment data, evaluate performance, and refine user journeys. • Partner on hypothesis development, variation planning, and documentation of results and insights. • Contribute design iterations to improve clarity, conversion, engagement, and overall experience quality across the funnel. Things That Should Be In Your Background: Required: • Three to five years of experience in Product Design, UX/UI Design, or an equivalent role. • A strong portfolio demonstrating user centered design, systems thinking, problem solving, and high quality visual design. • Proficiency in Figma including components, prototyping, auto layout, and design system oriented workflows. • Experience working in agile or iterative product development environments. • Strong written and verbal communication skills. • Experience conducting or participating in user research and usability testing. • Strong communication and collaboration skills while operating within a larger team environment. Preferred: • Familiarity with modern front end frameworks such as React, Next.js, or Vue, and an understanding of how design components translate to code. • Understanding of responsive front end technologies including Tailwind CSS, utility based CSS, and component driven architecture. • Experience with Storybook, design tokens, or scalable component documentation. • Knowledge of accessibility principles and inclusive design practices. • Experience in education technology, SaaS, or multi touchpoint ecosystems. • Experience contributing to or helping establish a design system. • Experience with experimentation, CRO, or data driven optimization. Management Responsibilities • No formal direct reports. Benefits & Culture Our global employee base is a diverse collection of innovators, dreamers, and doers working together to transform lives through higher education. We believe that every employee can advance our shared purpose, and that life at 2U should be fun and meaningful. If you’re excited by the opportunity to provide over 40 million learners and counting with access to world-class online higher education, then join us – and do work that makes a difference. #NoBackRow We offer comprehensive benefits (unique per country) and excellent work/life balance. Full-time, ZA benefits include: • 2 complimentary Getsmarter short courses per year • Subsidised medical aid with Discovery Health Medical Scheme • 4% 2U contribution towards Discovery Life Pension Fund and Group Risk Benefit • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) • Generous leave policy including time off to volunteer for non-profit organization, study leave, sports leave and a company-wide festive season break 2U Diversity and Inclusion Statement At 2U, we are committed to building and sustaining a culture of belonging, respect, and inclusion. We are proud of the steps we’ve taken to bring together an employee base that embodies diverse walks of life, ideas, genders, ages, races, cultures, sexual orientations, abilities and other unique qualities. We strive to offer a workplace where every employee feels empowered by what makes us different, as well as by how we are alike. 2U is committed to providing reasonable accommodations during our recruitment process. If you need assistance or accommodations, please reach out to us at: [Upgrade to PRO to see contact]. About 2U For more than a decade, 2U has been the digital transformation partner of choice to great non-profit colleges and universities delivering high-quality online education at scale. As the parent company of edX, a leading global online learning platform, 2U provides over 45 million learners with access to world-class education in partnership with more than 230 colleges, universities, and corporations. Our people and technology are powering more than 4,000 digital education offerings — from free courses to full degrees — and helping unlock human potential. To learn more: visit 2U.com. About edX edX is the education movement for restless learners and a leading global online learning platform from 2U. Together with the majority of the world’s top-ranked universities and industry-leading companies, we bring our community of over 45 million learners world-class education to support them at every stage of their lives and careers, from free courses to full degrees. And we're not stopping there — we're relentlessly pursuing our vision of a world where every learner can access education to unlock their potential, without the barriers of cost or location. Learn more at edX.org. Learn more at [Upgrade to PRO to see link] #NoBackRow The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by individuals assigned to this position, and are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required. All employees may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed. 2U is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate against applicants or employees and ensures equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of their race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, age, marital status, disability, citizenship, military or veterans’ status, or any other classifications protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. 2U’s equal opportunity policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, job benefits and pay. 2U is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from South African citizens who are members of designated groups who may contribute to Employment Equity within the workplace and the further diversification of ideas. In this regard, the relevant laws and principles associated with Employment Equity will be considered when appointing potential candidates. We are required by law to verify your ability to work lawfully in South Africa. 2U requires that you submit a copy of either your identity document or your passport and any applicable work permit if you are a foreign national, along with an updated curriculum vitae.