Product Design Director

We are seeking an experienced Product Design Director to lead our Audience (Awareness, Acquire, Retain) design team and drive the creation of innovative and user-centred products. This role will be pivotal in shaping the design strategy for one of our flagship features, driving world-class design outcomes for our App experiences and ensuring that our products meet user needs, brand goals and business objectives.

Responsibilities:

• Vision and Strategy: Define and communicate the design vision and strategy for your area, aligning with overall business goals and high-level design strategies across the business.

• Innovation Culture: Promote a culture of innovation within the design team while balancing optimisation needs across business teams.

• Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 10 product designers, including 3-4 managers reporting to you, fostering a collaborative environment.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, engineers, and marketing teams to ensure cohesive user experiences across products with your area as well as joining the dots across the business for a seamless experience for our travellers.

• Design Execution: Oversee, with and through your team, the entire design process from ideation to implementation, ensuring high-quality output that align with brand standards.

• User-Centered Design: Advocate for user-centered design principles, facilitating strategic Design Thinking workshops, collaborating with the user research team and using test-to-learn approaches to inform design decisions. 

• Performance: Establish metrics to measure the impact of design on business outcomes, iterating on processes as necessary.

Requirements:

• 15+ years of experience in product design with strengths in design thinking, UX and UI design.

• At least 5 years experience leading diverse teams from the front, managing multiple projects simultaneously and making informed decisions quickly.

• Must have proven experience in driving high-quality app design.

• Must have experience both agency-side and client-side in a modern tech business.

• Bachelor's degree in Design, HCI, or related field; Master's degree preferred.

Skills:

• Strong communication skills to articulate design concepts to stakeholders effectively.

• Proven record of applying, facilitating and running Design Thinking processes.

• Deep knowledge of UX, service design methodologies, design principles.

• High-level of visual and UI design craft and proven ability to lead others by example.

• Proficiency in design tools and prototyping tools (we use Figma and Framer).

• Data literacy and experience engaging research teams in generative user research.

• Strong systems thinker.

• Proven ability to create and drive clear and impactful programmes of design work.

• Familiarity with front-end technologies (HTML/CSS) is a plus.