Job Description
Set the strategic UX direction for our mobile products (iOS and Android), establishing design vision that connects to business outcomes and long-term product strategy. Build our design system from the ground up—creating the frameworks, patterns, components, and guidelines that enable our small team to design and ship faster with consistency and quality. Partner with product and engineering leadership to shape product roadmap and strategy, bringing user insights and design thinking to high-stakes decisions. Identify systemic design opportunities and challenges across our mobile experience, proposing scalable solutions that improve user engagement, retention, and business metrics. Drive clarity and structure when product direction is unclear—independently framing problems, defining success criteria, and creating alignment in our fast-paced startup environment. Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives that require organizational alignment, from gamification strategy to personalization systems to rewards architecture. Think strategically about mobile-first consumer product growth: acquisition funnels, activation moments, habit formation, and retention mechanics. Establish design standards, processes, and best practices that scale as the team and product grow—from design reviews to research methodologies to documentation. Use data and research at scale to inform strategic decisions: analyzing patterns across user segments, measuring the impact of design initiatives, and identifying high-leverage opportunities. Influence outcomes beyond your direct work by raising design quality, improving processes, and coaching other designers to think more strategically. Develop and mentor senior designers, helping them grow their strategic thinking, systems thinking, and design leadership capabilities. Represent design in cross-functional strategic discussions with product, engineering, and business leadership—advocating for user needs and long-term design quality. Collaborate with marketing and growth teams to ensure coherent user experiences across the entire customer journey—from acquisition through retention. Anticipate technical and organizational challenges before they impact product delivery, proactively addressing them through strategic design decisions.Requirements
- 8+ years of product design experience with demonstrated progression from individual contributor work to strategic design leadership.
- Portfolio demonstrating staff-level impact: design systems built, strategic initiatives led, and organizational influence beyond individual projects.
- Deep mobile-first expertise with proven track record setting design direction for consumer mobile products (iOS and Android).
- Experience building design systems from early stages in startup or high-growth environments—creating frameworks that enabled teams to scale.
- Strategic thinking and business acumen: understanding of how design decisions impact engagement, retention, monetization, and other key business metrics.
- Proven ability to partner with product and engineering leadership on strategy, influencing roadmap and product direction through design thinking.
- Systems thinking: ability to identify patterns, propose scalable solutions, and think in terms of platforms and frameworks rather than one-off features.
- Strong leadership in ambiguous environments: able to create direction and structure when strategy is unclear, operating independently without extensive oversight.
- Experience in consumer loyalty, rewards, gamification, or similar engagement-driven products.
- Track record of developing other designers and raising design capabilities across a team or organization.
- Excellence in communication and influence: ability to drive alignment across teams and levels without positional authority.
- Data-driven decision making: expertise using analytics, research, and experimentation to inform strategic choices and measure impact at scale.
- Experience working in fast-paced startup environments where you shaped how design operates, not just what gets designed.
- Evidence of thought leadership: contributions to design community through writing, speaking, or other visible work.
