Director, Product Design

ABOUT the company

The company has been one of the most loved brands in developer tooling, trusted by more than 20 million monthly users and over 20 billion container image pulls. From solo founders to the world's largest companies, developers rely on the company to build, share, and run their applications across our suite of products including the company Desktop, the company Hub, and the company Scout.

We are a globally distributed, remote-first team building the tools that define how software gets built and delivered. As AI agents redefine software development, the company is at the center of that shift, providing the sandboxed environments, verified images, and secure infrastructure that make autonomous workflows trustworthy by default.

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THE ROLE

We're looking for a Director of Product Design to lead the team behind existing and new products in the company portfolio, spanning our GUIs and the CLI. You'll manage the designers and raise the quality of what they ship, and you'll stay close enough to the work to build and critique it yourself, from the first prototype to the details of spacing, states, and copy.

You'll work alongside our principal designers, our Director of UX Research, design engineers, engineering leaders, and product leaders to turn technically complex systems into experiences that feel clear to the person using them.

You will report to the SVP of Design. This role is remote, with working hours that overlap US and Europe time zones.

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WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Lead and grow the product design team.

• Set the craft bar expected at each level and hold it through critique and your own work.

• Partner with engineering and product from the start of a project, so design and engineering ship together.

• Give designers ownership of important problems, with the context and trust to make good calls.

• Shape how the team works with AI tools: human judgment leads, and the tools speed up the work.

• Work with design engineering and the design system team so the shared system helps teams move faster without limiting new ideas.

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ABOUT YOU

You lead people

• You have led a product design team of comparable size through change, and you have grown designers from mid-level through senior and staff.

• You have partnered closely with design engineers and engineering leaders, and you can engage with the technical decisions that shape the experience.

• You state a clear point of view to engineering and product leaders and stay open to challenge and better ideas.

You build

• You still make things. You can prototype, critique a flow at the level of spacing, states, motion, and copy, and show us work from the last year. We will ask to see it.

• You use AI tools in your daily work and can show how you use them, including when you step in because the output isn't good enough.

• You have designed technically complex products and can turn underlying systems into experiences that feel clear and intuitive.

BONUS IF YOU

• Have led design for AI-powered or agent products, including experiences beyond a graphical interface.

• Have designed for both developer-led adoption and complex enterprise customers.

• Can prototype in front-end code, such as React or TypeScript.

Visa sponsorship: Not available for this role.

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COMPENSATION & EQUITY

All full-time roles include equity. Final compensation is determined on factors including but not limited to experience, skills, qualifications, and location.

United States: $206,500 – $295,000 base

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POSTING INFORMATION

• Open vacancy: This posting is for an existing open role.

• AI in hiring: the company may use AI-assisted tools during our recruiting process.

• Interview recordings: Candidates will be invited to opt in to interview recordings to support interviewer calibration and consistent evaluations. Recordings are optional and require explicit consent.

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PERKS & BENEFITS

• Remote-first by design – Work from your home, with offices in Seattle and Paris for connection and collaboration.

• Flexibility that fits your life – We trust you to manage your schedule while delivering great work.

• Time to recharge – Generous PTO, designated quarterly Whaleness Days, and a designated end-of-year Whaleness break.

• Home office support – Set up your workspace for comfort and success.

• Technology stipend – Equivalent to US$100 net per month to help support your work.

• Learning & development – Annual stipend for conferences, courses, certifications, and continued learning.

• Parental leave – 16 weeks of paid parental leave after six months of employment.

• Equity for all full-time employees – Share in the company's long-term success as we continue to grow.

• Comprehensive benefits – Medical, retirement, and paid holidays vary by country.

• the company swag – Because representing the whale never gets old.

The company is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that reflects a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe diverse teams build better products, make better decisions, and better serve our global community.

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