Principal Product Designer

Did you know that some cat food contains as little as 4% meat? Cats are carnivores – they need meat to thrive – but cat food companies use powdered animal derivatives because it’s cheaper and easier, and they top it up with grains and fillers that cats find hard to digest. It’s all about shelf life and profit, not what cats really need.

We do things differently at KatKin. We’re changing the cat food industry, with our 100% Fresh-cooked premium meat recipes, delivered to doorsteps everywhere. Each recipe is designed by our in-house vets and nutritionists to be the very best (and tastiest) nutrition for cats.

KatKin is building a global challenger brand in cat health and wellbeing, going after a $50B global market. Beyond the core product of Fresh food for cats, KatKin’s vision is to build a set of products and services for Cat Parents to manage their cats’ health. Everything from litter and treats to digital health management for your cat.

Today, KatKin is a UK D2C business with an established retail presence across the UK and Europe, and is planning to launch international markets from 2025 onwards.

Why You’ll Love Working With Us

We’re not some faceless corp. We’re one of London’s fastest-growing scale-ups - a mission-driven rocket ship, vertically integrated across Digital, Marketing, Brand and R&D to manufacturing (our factory is in Suffolk) and CX, with incredibly talented people from businesses like Amazon, Gousto, Harry’s, Sky, Deliveroo, ASOS, Wise and tails.com. We think big, move fast, challenge and back each other in a high-trust, no blame culture - all for the love of cats and the humans who care for them.

We’re deeply committed to career growth for the team. With a clear, structured internal career framework and biannual performance reviews, we ensure everyone knows what’s expected at each level and how to progress. Whether you aim to deepen your IC mastery or hone your leadership skills, you’ll get regular, actionable feedback and support to help you grow in the direction you choose.

The Role

As Senior Product Designer, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the journeys that build meaningful connections with our customers. From new cat parents looking to give their kittens the best start in life, to struggling cat parents seeking advice and alternatives, you will be creating innovative solutions to solve their problems effectively.

Reporting to the Senior Product Manager, your primary focus will be on retention, especially enabling self-serve, driving organic cross-sell, and fostering continuous engagement and customer satisfaction. You will collaborate closely with the Retention team and Customer Experience team to craft thoughtful and high-performing experiences across the entire lifecycle of customers. From empowering cat parents to tailor KatKin to their lifestyles, to providing timely support in their cat care routines, you’ll play a key role in shaping KatKin’s Digital Product to be a trusted companion for cat parents.

You will lead the evolution of our Digital Product Design System and the implementation of a component library with strong input from the team, empowering them to move faster with exceptional quality, consistently.

You will champion best-in-class UX practices. Working in a product trio, you will also have great influence in product roadmap, strategic project executions, and the team’s ways of working. We’re building one of the most respected product design teams in London, where craft, strategy, and culture meet. You’ll help shape that.

Key ownership areas

• Own the retention experience: Lead the end-to-end design of critical journeys that improve onboarding, customer loyalty, satisfaction, and lifetime value. Owning key product metrics measuring self-serve, cross-sell and NPS.
• Turn insight into action: Plan and conduct user research to deeply understand our customers, validate ideas quickly, and guide product decisions.
• Design from idea to impact: Bring initiatives to life, from early exploration and prototyping, through launch and continuous iteration.
• Elevate design systems: Evolve and strengthen KatKin’s Digital Product Design System, implement and scale a component library that boosts design quality and velocity across teams.
• Collaborate across functions: Working as a product trio with PM and Engineering, whilst maintaining close collaboration with Growth, Brand and CX to deliver solutions that are cohesive and customer-obsessed.
• Mentor and elevate: Pair with other designers to exchange feedback, share approaches, and foster a strong design culture across the team.

This role is based in our London office (Farringdon) at least three days per week. While this is a non-negotiable requirement, you’re free to choose which days you come in - and they can vary week to week to optimise for collaboration.

Who we are looking for:

• You’re deeply passionate about UX and UI design, with strong experience designing digital products. Experience in subscription-based DTC products is a plus.
• You’re fluent in both web and mobile design; experience designing native apps is a bonus.
• You’re confident using modern design, prototyping, and research tools (e.g., Figma, Loveable) to explore and communicate ideas effectively.
• You’re collaborative, pragmatic, and outcome-oriented, able to align diverse stakeholders while staying focused on customer value.
• You communicate clearly and with purpose, whether through prototypes, slides, async docs, or live walkthroughs.
• You’ve directly influenced customer retention or growth, and understand how to balance user value with business outcomes.
• You’re a creative thinker who knows how to challenge conventions and spot opportunity in constraint.
• You have a systems mindset, able to zoom out to see patterns and zoom in to refine components down to the pixel.
• You are versatile; you can be hands-on with delivery, and you can also look further afield to strategise for the future.
• You’re a self-starter who thrives in ambiguity, asks the right questions, and moves ideas forward with clarity and energy.
• You love a fast-paced, evolving environment, and are comfortable making progress with imperfect information.

Note: If your answers to the application questions about your interest in KatKin and this role is generated by AI, your application will be automatically rejected. We’re looking for your genuine motivations.

Nice to haves

What We Offer

• Competitive salary - £90,000 - £105,000
• An exciting opportunity to have full autonomy in an area that can deliver visible impact to the business.
• 25 days of holiday every year plus your birthday off and an additional day for every year at KatKin
• 4-week WFA (work from anywhere) policy
• Hybrid working, up to 2 days WFH (work from home) every week
• 12-weeks paid parental leave for all new parents
• Discount on KatKin fresh food and pantry products for your cat, and £500 for new cat parents
• Comprehensive AXA health insurance including optical and dental
• £800 yearly personal development budget
• Macbook Pro
• Company pension
• Regular company socials and lunch provided on Mondays
• All the fresh fruit, soft drinks, tea and coffee you can eat and drink; great banter and a cat (and dog) friendly office
• No egos and a small close-knit team