Product Design Director

About the Role

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.

Key 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.

Key Skills & 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.
• 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.