Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
What's Next for ICs: Exploring Staff and Principal Designer Roles
Summary
In this panel, we will hear from Staff and Principal Designers who've managed to stay on the IC track while growing their careers. We'll get into some of the day-to-day nitty-gritty of what it means to be a Staff Designer or Principal Designer, and how to make this role a reality within your organization.
Key Insights
-
•
IC design leadership paths are less formalized and often self-defined compared to management tracks.
-
•
Senior designers act as subject matter experts focusing on one area, while staff designers navigate ambiguity and influence cross-functional teams.
-
•
Principal designers take on broader business impact and strategic initiatives aligned with company goals.
-
•
Growth at senior IC levels requires balancing continued craft excellence with strategic leadership and influence.
-
•
Building influence is key and involves strong communication, relationship-building, and aligning design goals with business and user needs.
-
•
Advocating for new IC leadership roles involves collective action, clear problem statements, competitive research, and trial experiments.
-
•
Company size and maturity heavily impact role definitions and expectations between senior, staff, lead, principal, and management roles.
-
•
Effective staff/principal designers spend time shaping roadmaps, driving vision, and ensuring cross-functional buy-in beyond hands-on design.
-
•
Maintaining and evolving design skills (e.g., mastering Figma auto layout) is important even at senior IC levels to remain effective.
-
•
Creating evergreen documents and storytelling frameworks enables asynchronous influence that extends beyond in-person meetings.
Notable Quotes
"I kind of think of it one as like fields of influence — staff influences the team or pillar, principal influences organization-wide."
"If you’re sitting there thinking I need to build out this project and nobody else is saying the same thing, it means you have to do it, period."
"Levels can mean really different things at different companies, so ask a lot of questions about expectations for each level."
"Building influence has been such a challenging part of growing in my own career. It takes a lot of communication and understanding others’ goals."
"Propose new IC roles like a design problem: identify the need, gather research, and try it as an experiment with retrospectives."
"You don’t have to become a manager or director to advance; becoming a principal IC role is equally influential."
"Staff and principal designers need to balance zooming in on execution and zooming out to define strategic vision and minimize risk."
"Keeping your craft sharp, learning new tools like auto layout in Figma, and challenging yourself help maintain relevance."
"Creating evergreen documents enables asynchronous influence — it’s not about being in the room all the time, it’s about having your voice heard."
"The difference between director and principal often lies in whether you’re inspired more by leading people or focused on outputs and craft."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"You want to code once and reuse components consistently for better UX; inconsistent skip-to-content links are a classic accessibility failure."
Sheri Byrne-HaberThe Importance of Accessible Design Systems
January 8, 2024
"Target’s internal teams varied in design maturity from totally nonexistent to full design strategy, so we had to meet them where they were."
Abbey Smalley Sylas SouzaScaling UX Past the Size of Your Team
January 8, 2024
"Knowledge gardening requires continuous nurturing — revisiting notes, expanding them over time, not just capturing and forgetting."
Jorge ArangoExploding the Notebook: How to Unlock the Power of Linked Notes (2nd of 3 seminars)
April 19, 2024
"Our CMO incorporated our experience principles into the brand strategy, which was a huge and unexpected boost."
Sarah WilliamsA Framework for CX Transformation
June 11, 2021
"People put stressful topics like money at the back of their head, so self-reported surveys on money stress are often inaccurate."
Yasmine KhanChecking Bias and Listening to Financially Vulnerable Americans
March 30, 2020
"I like to think about individuals as cells, teams as organs, and organizations as organisms in an ecosystem."
Dave MaloufTheme 3: Introduction and Provocation
January 8, 2024
"Objectives are qualitative, inspirational statements about the future we want to create for our customers without mentioning any solutions."
Jeff GothelfWho does what by how much?
November 20, 2025
"The key to combating survey fatigue is short surveys triggered at the right context, making respondents feel listened to and valued."
Aleksandra Korczynska Caroline Jarrett Justyna ParmeeSurvey Tools
March 12, 2026
"We want to hear our partners speaking design language and advocating for design activities across the organization."
Frank DuranPartnership Playbook: Lessons Learned in Effective Partnership
January 8, 2024
