Product Designer & Client Lead
Full-time | Salaried plus account-based variable | Hybrid, Calgary AB
About Thrive
Thrive Creative Inc. is a Calgary-based software company that works as its clients' on-demand engineering department. We embed forward deployed engineers directly with client teams, from a single developer in standups to a multi-disciplinary team across product, design, development, data and AI, DevOps and QA, drawing on 50+ specialists as the work requires.
A few things make the model different. One hourly rate across every discipline. We bill only hands-on keyboard time, so meetings and strategy work are never charged. No minimums and no lock-in. Clients own everything we build from the moment it's written. We help clients with funding applications at no separate fee. And we don't work to rigid statements of work: the same team carries a feature from first design through to shipping, with a dedicated engineer holding the project context the whole way.
About the role
This role sits where client relationships, product direction and design meet. You'll be one of the first people a prospective client meets, you'll shape what gets built, you'll design it, and you'll help build it. Once a client comes on board, you stay with them and become the person who understands their business best.
What you'll do
Client relationships
- Take inbound opportunities Thrive generates and develop them: ask the right questions, understand the business behind the request, earn trust and help the client land on the right next step
- Own the relationship after they sign, and spot where Thrive can create more value as you get closer to their business (a new workflow to automate, an internal system to improve, a product to extend)
- Run design sessions with clients directly, and join calls led by our Design Lead or product team
Product and design
- Translate client requirements into clear priorities, scope, roadmaps and requirements
- Ddefine flows and interactions, and produce wireframes, mockups and prototypes across web and mobile
- Validate concepts quickly and iterate on feedback
- Maintain design documentation and help raise our design standards and process
Implementation and delivery
- Build from your own designs: front-end code (e.g. React) and no/low-code tools (Webflow, Framer, site builders)
- Lead project teams on your accounts: drive delivery against functional requirements, share timelines and delivery structure, and work with engineering to keep implementation true to the design
- Occasionally build prototypes and visuals for prospective clients
You won't be expected to cold prospect or carry a sales quota. Account growth should come from understanding the client well. You'll also have room to bring forward the industries, partnerships and markets you think Thrive should pursue.
Who you are
- 5+ years in product design, with end-to-end user journeys you can walk us through
- Comfortable leading conversations with founders, business owners and leadership teams
- Strong in design thinking and UX research methods (interviews, usability testing, surveys)
- Visual design skills that produce interfaces both usable and consistent with a brand
- Able to write front-end code from your designs and understand the constraints of web and mobile implementation
- Fluent in Figma or similar, and actively using modern tools, including AI, in your work
- Commercially minded: you care why a company works the way it does, not just what feature comes next
- Wants ownership and works well with a high degree of autonomy
What you'll have behind you
An experienced department across product, design, engineering, QA, infrastructure and technical leadership. When a conversation gets deep technically, our team joins you. When an opportunity needs scoping, we work through it together. When a client signs, there's a delivery team ready to build what was discussed.
Compensation
A base salary plus variable pay tied to the accounts you own
As the relationships you build grow, your compensation grows with them.
Logistics
Location: Calgary, AB, hybrid with 2 to 3 days a week in office
Employment type: Full-time, salaried
Interested?
- Send your resume to Kevin@thrivecreative.ltd and tell us briefly why the mix of design, product and client relationships interests you. If there's an industry or type of client you think Thrive should pay more attention to, tell us that too.
