About the VP, Design Studio at Headspace

We are seeking a visionary and strategic Vice President of Design Studio to lead and scale our multidisciplinary design organization, encompassing Design Research, Experience & Interface Design, and Creative Design. This executive leader will define and elevate the role of design across the company, ensuring that every product, service, and brand interaction delivers meaningful, human-centered experiences aligned with our mission to improve mental health worldwide.

Reporting to Chief Product & Design Officer, this role is responsible for setting the end-to-end design vision and strategy across Headspace portfolio, from discovery and research through experience definition and creative expression. You will help define how AI, content and care come together to shape the future of mental health experiences. You will lead a high-performing team of researchers, product designers, content designers, and brand creatives, fostering a culture of craft excellence, innovation, and measurable impact. You will be accountable for ensuring design directly drives measurable product and business outcomes, including engagement, retention and long-term member value.

You will partner closely with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Clinical, and Commercial teams to shape strategy, inform product direction through deep user insight, and deliver cohesive, high-quality experiences across all touchpoints. This leader will play a critical role in scaling design systems, embedding research into decision-making, and ensuring creative excellence that differentiates Headspace in a competitive, fast-evolving health tech landscape. You will bring clarity and focus to complex, evolving challenges.

What you will do

• Define and drive a holistic design vision and strategy that integrates research, experience design, and creative across all products and brand touchpoints, and translate design strategy into measurable outcomes tied to engagement, retention and growth.
• Own design accountability for outcomes, ensuring design impact is measurable, visible and aligned to business performance.
• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing team and leadership bench, including leaders across research, product design, and creative. Set and continuously raise the bar, ensuring a high-performance, high-accountability culture.
• Establish research as a strategic pillar by embedding user insights into product development, business strategy, and innovation pipelines.
• Elevate experience design practices, ensuring intuitive, accessible, and engaging end-to-end user journeys across platforms (mobile, web, enterprise).
• Oversee and evolve Headspace’s creative direction and brand expression, ensuring consistency, emotional resonance, and differentiation across all channels.
• Develop and scale design systems, frameworks, and tooling that enable consistency, efficiency, and quality across teams.
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Clinical leaders to align design strategy with business goals, driving measurable outcomes such as engagement, retention, and customer satisfaction, and influencing roadmap decisions, prioritization and investment tradeoffs.
• Lead the integration of AI-first thinking, shaping how intelligent systems redefine user experience and care delivery.
• Champion a culture of experimentation and innovation, leveraging emerging technologies (e.g., AI-driven personalization, immersive experiences) to enhance member experiences.
• Own design accountability for outcomes, ensuring design impact is measurable, visible and aligned to business performance (e.g., usability, NPS, conversion, accessibility), using data to continuously improve outcomes.

What you will bring

Required Skills

• 15+ years of progressive experience in design, including 10+ years in senior leadership roles overseeing multiple design disciplines (research, CX, and creative).
• Proven track record of building and scaling high-performing design organizations and proven experience leading leaders and building leadership bench strength across layers.
• Deep expertise in human-centered design, design research methodologies, and experience design across digital products and services.
• Strong creative leadership with experience shaping and evolving brand identity and storytelling across channels.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate design strategy with business objectives, driving measurable impact on growth, engagement, and customer satisfaction.
• Experience working in cross-functional environments, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Marketing, and other executive stakeholders.
• Strong communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to influence and align stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Passion for mental health, wellbeing, and creating meaningful user experiences that improve lives.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Design, HCI, Psychology, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

Preferred Skills

• Experience in consumer subscription products, digital health, or wellness platforms.
• Familiarity with accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) and inclusive design practices.
• Experience integrating AI and data-driven personalization into user experiences.
• Background in building and scaling design systems across complex product ecosystems.

Location

We are currently hiring this role remotely in the US and Hybrid for San Francisco (SF). Candidates must permanently reside in the US full-time. For candidates with a primary residence in the greater SF area, this role will follow our hybrid model. You’ll work 3 days per week from our office, allowing for impactful in-office collaboration and connection, while enjoying the flexibility of remote work for the rest of the week. Your recruiter will share more details about our hybrid model.

Pay & Benefits

The anticipated new hire base salary range for this full-time position is $183,000-$335,000 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are based on the job, level, and location, and reflect the lowest to highest geographic markets where we are hiring for this role within the United States. Within this range, individual compensation is determined by a candidate’s location as well as a range of factors including but not limited to: unique relevant experience, job-related skills, and education or training. Your recruiter will provide more details on the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.

At Headspace, base salary is but one component of our Total Rewards package. We’re proud of our robust package inclusive of: base salary, stock awards, comprehensive healthcare coverage, monthly wellness stipend, retirement savings match, lifetime Headspace membership, generous parental leave, and more. Additional details about our Total Rewards package will be provided during the recruitment process.