Product Designer

Product Designer

Job Description

What we do

Ascend is a fintech company building the financing and payments infrastructure for the $1T insurance market (did you know insurance premiums make up 7.2% of global GDP?). More than 40% of payments are still made with paper checks resulting in poor customer experience and expensive and operationally intensive commercial workflow. Today's solutions were built 40 years ago for pen and paper insurance sales. Ascend is the first modern payments platform for insurance helping to enable the industry's rapid digitalization.

Founded in April 2021, Ascend has achieved the following milestones:

• Annualized run rate of $20 million and growing 15% monthly
• Processing over a billion dollars in transaction volume, originating hundreds of millions of dollars in loans on the platform.
• Acquired over 2,000 customers, including several of the top 25 largest insurance distributors nationally (Acrisure, Insurica, NFP, etc.) as well as leading Inusrtechs (Vouch, Embroker, Founder Shield).
• Operated with an efficiency and profitability mindset - maintaining minimal burn and a balance sheet exceeding $25 million.
• Named a Top 50 Insurtech by CB Insights.
• Built a world-class team of 25 based out of our San Francisco, CA, and Columbus, OH offices.

How we do it

Ascend automates insurance payments end-to-end — from online customer payments and financing to the distribution of commissions and carrier payables — so that insurance distributors can eliminate laborious, expensive processes while giving their customers the great online checkout and financing experience they've come to expect. Think Stripe + Affirm + Modern Treasury for insurance.

Why we do it

We exist to make it easier for people to protect the things they care about by simplifying and modernizing the insurance industry’s financial infrastructure.

Your role

As one of our first Product Design team members, you will play a crucial role in building out the design function at Ascend. You will work on both 0-1 products and improving our existing product offering. Working closely with customers and cross-functional teams, you will be responsible for creating intuitive, visually appealing, and functional designs that solve problems for our customers.

Responsibilities will include

• Closely interacting with customers to understand pain points and needs.
• Developing and presenting design wireframes, prototypes and specs that effectively communicate product features and functionality.
• Working closely with cross-functional teams, including product, engineering, and marketing, to build a world class product.
• Building interactive prototypes to test and validate design concepts. Iterating on designs based on user feedback and testing results.
• Contributing to the development and maintenance of a design system to ensure consistency across all products and platforms.

You might be a good fit if you have

• Proven experience as a Product Designer, with a strong portfolio showcasing a range of design projects.
• Proficiency in design tools such as Figma, Sketch, Axure, or similar.
• Strong understanding of UX principles and interaction design.

Nice to have

• Brand design experience.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to balance creativity with practicality, considering technical constraints and business objectives.
• Very detail-oriented and maintain a high caliber of organization.
• Comfortable with the ambiguity and pace of an early stage startup.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary and meaningful equity in a fast-growing company
• 100% health premiums covered for you and your dependents
• 401k with employer matching options
• Unlimited PTO
• Monthly company-paid commuter benefit options, and fitness stipends
• Parental and family leave
• Lunch provided when in office
• Company outings and offsites

We encourage you to connect with us, even if you think you may not have the exact experience for this opportunity. We know that imposter syndrome is real – and that being outside of your comfort zone often prevents us from meeting candidates we would love to connect with and learn from as we grow.

Equal Opportunity

We're an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We don't discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

In accordance with Ascend policies and our commitment to prioritizing the health and safety of our employees, all positions will require proof of COVID vaccination prior to entering the office. Guests who visit the office must also provide proof of vaccination prior to entry. Our COVID-19 health and safety protocols may change over time as local and national guidance and regulations evolve.