Principal Service Designer - Zillow Home Loans

About the Role

The role is highly visible, with the potential to impact millions of customers navigating the complex process of buying or financing a home. You will collaborate closely with various stakeholders, including product, engineering, marketing, and sales enablement teams, to deliver service improvements and drive innovation. Your ability to work through organizational silos, build strong relationships, and communicate effectively will be crucial to your success.

As a leader in service design, you will also mentor other designers and product managers, raising the quality and consistency of service design work and exploring the potential of AI-enabled tools and workflows to strengthen service design practices.

What You Will Do

• Lead experience strategy and define multi-year experience visions for Zillow's integrated financing customer journey
• Identify strategic bets and investment priorities by connecting customer needs, operational constraints, and business outcomes
• Build frameworks, narratives, and artifacts to support senior leaders in making better experience decisions
• Translate enterprise strategy into actionable design direction for product teams
• Execute against an experience strategy, working closely with multiple stakeholders to deliver service improvements
• Audit existing services and create service design artifacts, such as journey maps, service blueprints, and multi-channel prototypes
• Envision and create new services and channels, driving innovation that fulfills larger business objectives
• Orchestrate the delivery of service improvements across channels and lines of business
• Work through organizational silos to coordinate efforts and help others achieve better results
• Build and implement agentic AI capabilities related to service design work
• Lead multiple projects independently and deliver high-quality work on time
• Mentor other designers and product managers, and explore how AI-enabled tools can strengthen service design practices

What We Are Looking For

• 8+ years of experience in service design, with a proven track record of delivering complex, customer-centric projects
• Expertise in service design methodologies, tools, and techniques, including journey mapping, service blueprinting, and prototyping
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas and design concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, with a strong focus on innovation and customer satisfaction
• Experience with design thinking, human-centered design, and user research methodologies
• Strong business acumen, with an understanding of the intersection of business goals, operational realities, and customer needs
• Experience with design tools, such as Sketch, Figma, or Adobe Creative Cloud

Nice to Have

• Experience with AI-enabled design tools and workflows
• Knowledge of financing and real estate operations
• Familiarity with Zillow's products and services
• Experience working in a remote or distributed team environment
• Certification in service design or a related field

Benefits and Perks

• Competitive base salary
• Equity awards based on experience, performance, and location
• Comprehensive health insurance
• Remote work stipend and support for home office setup
• Generous PTO and paid holidays
• Opportunities for professional growth and development
• Access to cutting-edge design tools and technologies
• Collaborative, dynamic work environment with a team of experienced professionals

• Showcase your expertise in service design, leadership, and collaboration by highlighting specific examples of successful projects and initiatives.
• Develop a deep understanding of Zillow's products and services, as well as the financing and real estate industries, to demonstrate your ability to make a meaningful impact.
• Be prepared to articulate your design thinking process and how you approach complex, customer-centric projects.
• Highlight your experience working with cross-functional teams and stakeholders, and your ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Consider creating a portfolio that showcases your service design work, including journey maps, service blueprints, and prototypes, to demonstrate your skills and expertise.
• Research Zillow's company culture and values to understand how your skills and experience align with their mission and goals.
• Prepare to discuss how you stay current with industry trends and developments in service design, and how you apply that knowledge to drive innovation and improvement.