Head of Design

About the role

As Head of Design, you'll own the entire design language for a consumer product reaching hundreds of thousands of young users. Reporting directly to the CEO, you'll sit at the executive table from day one and partner as a peer with the Head of Product and Head of Engineering — not buried under layers of management. This is a true player-coach role: hands-on building for the first year while leading and growing a team of three designers, with a clear path to 5+. You'll own design strategy, brand, and the craft bar end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the design system, visual identity, and craft standard for a rapidly scaling consumer product
• Design polished, mobile-first consumer experiences end-to-end, including running user research
• Lead, mentor, and grow the design team from three toward five and beyond
• Partner directly with the CEO and cross-functional leaders on product and brand direction

Requirements

• 8+ years in product design, including proven design leadership (director-level, or founder / founding-designer equivalent) at a scaled or well-known VC-funded company
• Track record of owning and shipping whole consumer products end-to-end
• A strong portfolio of polished, mobile-first consumer or social product work with a clear aesthetic point of view (playful or editorial-minimal)
• 0-to-1 / founding-designer experience
• Expert in Figma with strong design-systems fluency
• Comfortable as a hands-on player-coach who still does IC design work while leading a team

Qualifications

• Nice to have
• Web product design in addition to mobile
• Experience designing expressive, engaging consumer social or dating products (e.g., companies like Snapchat, BeReal, Partiful, Hinge, or Bumble)

Pay

Base salary: $225,000–$275,000, plus meaningful equity

Schedule

Hybrid in NYC, onsite Mon / Wed / Fri

Benefits

Full-time, direct placement