Product Designer II

The VS Code team in the Developer Division is seeking a Product Designer II to join our tight-knit, cross-disciplinary team building the world's best code editor. As an integrated part of the VS Code team, you will deeply understand the needs of a passionate community of developers and deliver world-class experiences that empower them to build the software of tomorrow.

You will also be joining the Developer Division Design Studio, a group of highly talented and enthusiastic designers and UX engineers working on software development tools and technologies across Microsoft’s developer-focused portfolio. The design challenges the studio works on span AI integration, client applications, code editors, multiple programming languages, data science tools, source control and more. 

We operate in one of the most technical divisions at Microsoft, so our ideal candidate will have fluency and understanding of the developer journey, the tools they use, and the nuances of the developer community. Additionally, an understanding of and experience with basic web fundamentals will go a long way in this role – this includes things such as semantic and accessible HTML, CSS variables, progressive enhancement, modern vanilla JavaScript, and web components. 

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond. 

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day. 

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 3+ years experience working in product or service design
  • OR equivalent experience (e.g., demonstrated experience working in product or service design or using design thinking to solve problems).
• 2+ years experience with current design tools (e.g. Figma) 

Other Requirements:

• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:   
  • Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 5+ years experience working in product or service design
  • OR Master's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 3+ years experience working in product or service design
  • OR equivalent experience (e.g., demonstrated experience working in product or service design or using design thinking to solve problems).
• Experience designing products in a technical product space 
• Experience creating interactive prototypes 
• Experience working in an engineering sprint-based environment 
• Working knowledge of VS Code or other development tools 
• Fluency in basic web fundamentals (semantic and accessible HTML, CSS variables, progressive enhancement, modern vanilla JavaScript, and web components.) 

Product Design IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $98,300 - $193,200 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $127,200 - $208,800 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until January 13, 2025.

• You'll work side-by-side with developers, product managers, and researchers to design, build, and ship new experiences in VS Code every single month. Because VS Code is an open-source project, you'll be interacting directly with the developer community and designing alongside them "in the open".  
• You will work with a senior team member to design experiences that cut across the whole product: from core code editing experiences to cutting-edge AI workflows. You will also work with others to evolve the VS Code design system, design resources (toolkits, icon library), and design patterns to deliver cohesive user experience. 
• Our ideal candidate is a Product Designer who can contribute and build solid rationale for design decisions; can contribute to creating guidelines, best practices and repeatable design patterns; has participated in inclusive and accessible design work and understands how to implement accessible designs.  
• Our ideal candidate enjoys both product design and web technologies. From roadmap planning to designing features to making code changes directly, you'll collaborate deeply with the team, have a high degree of ownership and will be empowered to deliver the best possible experiences to VS Code's users. You have a high bar for quality and excellence, and value moving quickly and iteratively as a style of working. 
• A portfolio review presentation is expected as part of the interview process for this role. Your presentation should showcase your work experience and demonstrate your design and web coding skills, along with your authentic interest for the space through compelling communication. 
• Embody our &