Director, Digital Product Design

HP IQ•San Francisco, CA

2d•$220,000 - $280,000•Hybrid

About The Position

HP IQ is HP’s new AI innovation lab, combining startup agility with HP’s global scale to build intelligent technologies that redefine how the world works, creates, and collaborates. The IQ Design team focuses on creating simple, delightful, and transformative user experiences, spanning new hardware platforms, software experiences, and the emerging spaces between them. This is a design-led group where design drives product development. The Director of Digital Product Design will lead and grow a team of senior designers and design engineers, setting the creative direction for software, and fostering a culture of rapid prototyping, deep craft, and shipping impactful products. The role requires significant autonomy in defining team processes, rituals, and critique culture, with a strong emphasis on building trust across disciplines and protecting creative space. A key aspect of this role is understanding how AI is changing design practices, expecting the team to be AI-native and fluent in using AI tools in their daily workflow. The Director will guide the team's adoption of AI-native design workflows and mentor team members, while championing design craft and representing the team's work to senior leadership.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in digital product design, with at least 3 years managing and growing design teams
A portfolio (or body of work) that demonstrates both personal design excellence and the ability to elevate the output of a team
Proven experience shipping AI-powered or otherwise technically complex consumer products
Working knowledge of LLMs, how they work, what they're good at, where they break down, and a clear point of view on how tools like Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and similar AI-assisted workflows are reshaping the practice of software design
Strong technical fluency. You don't need to write production code, but you should be able to have substantive conversations with engineers about architecture, feasibility, and implementation tradeoffs
Track record of building healthy, high-performing team cultures where people do career-defining work
Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to bring clarity and direction to undefined problem spaces
Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to build conviction across disciplines and levels of seniority

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience prototyping with tools like SwiftUI, React, Origami, or AI or web technologies, enough to evaluate and guide the work of design engineers
Background working in design-led organizations where design and engineering are deeply integrated rather than siloed
Experience designing AI-first systems: memory, personalization, generative interfaces, conversational or agentic experiences
Familiarity with motion design, animation principles, and the craft details that differentiate good software from great software
Experience building or scaling design systems, component libraries, and shared design infrastructure
Interest in the intersection of digital and physical product experiences
Background in creative coding, computational design, or experimental interface work

Responsibilities

Lead, hire, and grow a team of senior product designers, design engineers, and intelligent systems designers working across HP's software experiences
Define and evolve the creative direction for software design across HP's current and future product lines
Build team culture intentionally: critique practices, collaboration norms, and creative rituals that bring out the best in your people
Drive the design point of view. Ensure that experience quality is treated as a first-class priority, not something that gets negotiated away under pressure
Partner with engineering, AI/ML, hardware, and product leadership to ensure design has appropriately shaped the work from strategy through shipping
Create space for deep exploratory work while maintaining accountability for shipping cadence and product quality
Guide the team's adoption of AI-native design workflows, helping designers and design engineers integrate LLMs and generative tools into prototyping, iteration, and production
Mentor leads and seniors, supporting their growth and helping them navigate the ambiguity that comes with designing for emerging technology
Champion design craft across the organization: the motion, the typography, the micro-interactions that make experiences feel alive
Represent the team's work and perspective to senior leadership, translating design decisions into language that builds organizational conviction