Prize Designer – First Principles Thinker

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Oversee the comprehensive design and development of XPRIZE competitions, which includes defining the problem, establishing success metrics, conducting research, engaging stakeholders, shaping the prize model, and creating final design documentation.

• Collaborate within a structured design process under the guidance of the Prize Design Director, seeking input from the Director at critical decision junctures to maintain alignment with organizational priorities and quality benchmarks.

• Function with a significant level of self-direction between scheduled check-ins with the Prize Design Director.

• Proactively identify and communicate blockers, risks, and decisions requiring Director input, rather than waiting for regular meetings.

• Quickly adapt when the Prize Design Director alters project priorities or changes design direction mid-cycle, while ensuring project momentum and timelines are upheld.

• Create project plans, budgets, and timelines, coordinating with the Project Manager to ensure deliverables meet deadlines and quality expectations.

• Collaborate closely with internal teams and partners, ensuring alignment with Domain Leads, leadership, and Advancement on strategy, content, and positioning.

• Integrate operational, financial, and communication insights from Finance, Marketing, and Operations into the prize model and related documentation.

• Identify and engage external experts and stakeholders, including designing and facilitating workshops, technical interviews, and other participatory research to guide design decisions.

• Foster productive relationships with sponsors as needed, ensuring clear communication, updates, and deliverables that align with sponsor objectives and XPRIZE standards.

• Participate in organization-wide ideation and concept development initiatives, such as Global Visioneering and prize ideation/"Moonshot" workshops.

• Maintain and enhance XPRIZE’s prize design methodology by staying up-to-date with current processes and documentation, capturing lessons learned from previous and ongoing designs, and refining tools and practices.

• Act as an internal resource regarding the prize design process and ensure core documentation is kept current.

• Promote XPRIZE’s prize design process externally through presentations, publications, website content, and thought leadership.

⛳️ Requirements

• Proficient in first-principles reasoning: develops a foundational understanding of unfamiliar problems by building credible insights on scale, feasibility, and impact potential early in the design process.

• Demonstrates a cross-disciplinary approach: navigates comfortably across distinct fields (e.g., Energy/Nature/Climate to Learning/Society) and quickly acquires design-credible competence in new domains.

• Education: A Master's degree in a STEM field is required; recent PhD/post-doctoral experience is encouraged. Candidates with equivalent analytical expertise in rigorous, research-oriented fields will also be considered.

• Exceptional analytical and research experience in related fields may substitute for formal educational qualifications.

• Shows basic proficiency in using dimensional analysis or order-of-magnitude estimates to establish constraints on new problems.

• Applies research, analytical, and creative problem-solving in areas such as engineering, physical or life sciences, data science, economics, or other rigor-driven disciplines.

• Possesses strong design and design-thinking abilities: adept at problem definition, breaking down issues into sub-problems, identifying the right challenges to address, and merging creative and analytical methods to develop design elements.

• Commands core product management skills: budgeting, contractual compliance, client relations, project design, execution, evaluation, and delivery.

• Delivers high-quality research, analysis, and design outputs under tight timelines while maintaining rigor and precision.

• Manages multiple active projects simultaneously and quickly adjusts priorities as organizational needs evolve, keeping direct supervisors informed of any timeline risks or changes in scope.

• Comfortable receiving direction from a senior design leader and executing tasks independently within that framework.

• Understands what decisions can be made independently and what requires escalation.

• Communicates clearly and credibly with experts and external stakeholders, both orally and in writing, adapting style and standards to fit the audience.

• Exhibits exceptionally strong technical presentation skills, able to tailor depth and framing for both expert and non-expert audiences.

• Familiar with research and data platforms (e.g., Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus) and AI-assisted research tools (e.g., Gemini Deep Research).

• Proficient in Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, with a quick adaptability to new productivity, research, and collaboration tools.

🏝️ Benefits

• Remote-first environment (must reside and work in the United States)

• Quarterly company-sponsored All-Hands meetings in Los Angeles for enhanced in-person collaboration

• Options for employee and dependent medical, dental, and vision coverage

• A 401(K) plan with employer matching

• Generous paid time off, including vacation, floating holidays, sick days, and company-recognized holidays

• An Employee Assistance Program offering confidential, professional support for personal, family, or other challenges

• Stipends/reimbursements for employee cell phone, internet, health & wellbeing, and learning & development expenses

• Generous Paid Parental Leave for all employees welcoming a new addition to their family

• One meeting-free block each week and four focus weeks annually to ensure uninterrupted time for strategic projects