Principal Product Designer, Food & Beverage

Since we opened our doors in 2009, the world of commerce has evolved immensely, and so has Square. After enabling anyone to take payments and never miss a sale, we saw sellers stymied by disparate, outmoded products and tools that wouldn’t work together.

So we expanded into software and started building integrated, omnichannel solutions – to help sellers sell online, manage inventory, offer buy now, pay later functionality, book appointments, engage loyal buyers, and hire and pay staff. Across it all, we’ve embedded financial services tools at the point of sale, so merchants can access a business loan and manage their cash flow in one place. Afterpay furthers our goal to provide omnichannel tools that unlock meaningful value and growth, enabling sellers to capture the next generation shopper, increase order sizes, and compete at a larger scale.

Today, we are a partner to sellers of all sizes – large, enterprise-scale businesses with complex operations, sellers just starting, as well as merchants who began selling with Square and have grown larger over time. As our sellers grow, so do our solutions. There is a massive opportunity in front of us. We’re building a significant, meaningful, and lasting business, and we are helping sellers worldwide do the same.

The Role

The restaurant industry has transformed dramatically in recent years. Owners, operators, and staff have had to rethink how they run service, manage complex operations, and stay competitive in an environment that’s constantly shifting. Square’s Food & Beverage team builds the tools that help them adapt and thrive — connecting ordering, production, and operational workflows across Front and Back of House.

We’re looking for a Principal Product Designer to lead design on our highest-priority, company-critical initiatives across Food & Beverage — including the integration of AI and automation into the core workflows that power restaurants.

You will operate at the same altitude as senior product and engineering leaders, shaping multi-year experience strategy and driving execution on our most ambitious bets. You’ll define when the system should suggest, automate, escalate, or stay out of the way, ensuring intelligent features reduce cognitive load and speed up service without removing operator control.

This role reports to the Head of Design, Food & Beverage.

You Will

Lead company-critical, ambiguous initiatives: Frame and drive complex, zero-to-one or transformation-level initiatives. Align senior stakeholders around a clear experience vision and carry it through execution across teams and surfaces.

Define the future of intelligent hospitality: Establish experience principles and interaction models for how AI and automation integrate into restaurant workflows. Balance automation with operator control, ensuring restaurants remain in command of their business.

Design end-to-end operational systems: Own experience strategy across interconnected surfaces (POS, Kiosk, KDS, Orders, Reporting, etc.).

Develop and scale deep operational empathy: Build an expert-level understanding of restaurant environments — physical space, staff roles, shift changes, peak rush, training realities, and edge cases. Use that context to shape intelligent systems that work reliably in motion, not just in mockups.

Influence at the executive level: Partner with senior leaders across Product, Engineering, Data Science, and Platform teams. Shape roadmap decisions through strong storytelling, prototyping, and systems thinking.

Raise the craft and systems bar: Model excellence in UX architecture, interaction design, and visual craft. Define reusable frameworks and patterns for intelligent features that scale across the organization.

Mentor without managing: Act as a force multiplier across the design org. Elevate critique, coach senior designers, and improve how we approach complex systems and AI-driven experiences.

You Have

12+ years of product design experience, with significant time operating at Staff, Principal, or equivalent scope.

A track record of leading large-scale, high-impact initiatives with measurable product and business outcomes.

Experience shaping product strategy and influencing senior or executive stakeholders.

Deep systems thinking — experience designing across ecosystems, platforms, or complex operational workflows.

Strong experience designing data-informed, automation-driven, or AI-enhanced product experiences.

Exceptional interaction design and UX architecture skills, with strong visual craft.

Comfort navigating ambiguity and creating clarity for cross-functional teams.

Experience mentoring senior designers and raising organizational craft.

Ideally, experience in hospitality, operational software, retail, logistics, or other high-throughput, real-time environments.

We’re working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we’re doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page.

While there is no specific deadline to apply for this role, U.S. roles are typically open for an average of 55 days before being filled by a successful candidate. Please refer to the date listed at the top of this job page for when this role was first posted.

Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S. locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

To find a location’s zone designation, please refer to this resource. If a location of interest is not listed, please speak with a recruiter for additional information.

Zone A:$251,600—$377,400 USDZone B: $251,600—$377,400 USDZone C:$251,600—$377,400 USDZone D:$251,600—$377,400 USDApplication Guidelines

Candidates may submit up to 9 active applications within a 60-day period. Reapplications to the same role are accepted 90 days after a previous application has been reviewed.

Use of AI in Our Hiring Process

We may use automated AI tools to evaluate job applications for efficiency and consistency. These tools comply with local regulations, including bias audits, and we handle all personal data in accordance with state and local privacy laws.

Contact us here with hiring practice or data usage questions.

Every benefit we offer is designed with one goal: empowering you to do the best work of your career while building the life you want. Remote work, medical insurance, flexible time off, retirement savings plans, and modern family planning are just some of our offering. Check out our other benefits at Block.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) builds technology to increase access to the global economy. Each of our brands unlocks different aspects of the economy for more people. Square makes commerce and financial services accessible to sellers. Cash App is the easy way to spend, send, and store money. Afterpay is transforming the way customers manage their spending over time. TIDAL is a music platform that empowers artists to thrive as entrepreneurs. Bitkey is a simple self-custody wallet built for bitcoin. Proto is a suite of bitcoin mining products and services. Together, we’re helping build a financial system that is open to everyone.

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