Director of Design

Versant•Carlsbad, CA

3d•$170,000 - $195,000

About The Position

The Director of Design will build and lead Full Swing’s Design Center of Excellence, establishing design as a strategic function with clear standards, systems, and career paths. The role owns the design vision and standards across the company’s products and is accountable for consistent design quality across product lines, including simulator software, companion apps, and web platforms. The Director will create a deliberate, predictable design process from concept and architecture alignment through design reviews and final UI/UX sign-off, and serve as the design voice in cross-functional planning with engineering, product, and program leadership. The position leads hiring, mentorship, career development, design capacity planning, and the craft standards of an existing high-performing small team. It also establishes shared design systems and review practices, partners with QA and Release Management to make design sign-off a readiness gate, and presents design strategy, trade-offs, and resourcing needs to senior leadership. The role operates in a hybrid or office-based environment, primarily in an office setting with standard working hours; occasional after-hours support may be required. Work involves frequent cross-department interaction, extended sitting, computer use, and the ability to lift 25 lbs.

Requirements

10+ years of UX/UI or product design experience, including substantial experience leading and managing a design team.
Track record of building or significantly scaling a design organization or practice, including establishing standards, systems, and review processes.
Experience partnering directly with engineering, product, and program leadership on cross-functional roadmaps and delivery, and presenting design strategy and trade-offs to senior or executive stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to allocate design-team capacity across multiple concurrent product lines and support resourcing decisions with evidence.
Experience establishing or maintaining an organizational design system, pattern library, or style guide.
Strong portfolio demonstrating individual design craft and the outcomes of teams led.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to set standards and hold teams and stakeholders accountable to them.
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading design for a games, simulation, consumer hardware, or interactive entertainment product.
Experience designing both consumer-facing apps and internal or administrative tools, such as admin consoles and back-office utilities.
Experience leading design across multiple distinct product lines or brands with separate visual identities under a shared design system.
Experience designing data-dense, real-time, or performance-data interfaces for non-technical consumers.
Familiarity with Jira and Confluence-based design review and PRD workflows.
Interest or hands-on experience applying AI tools to design work, such as prototyping, critique, or design operations.

Responsibilities

Own the design vision and standards for Full Swing products, ensuring consistency in brand, UX, and interaction design across active product lines.
Establish and run a formal design review process from concept and architecture alignment through final UI/UX sign-off.
Hire, mentor, and develop the design organization, including establishing leveling, growth paths, and performance standards.
Create and maintain a shared design system, pattern library, and style guide for software and web products.
Plan design capacity across concurrent product lines and justify additional headcount using workload data and product roadmaps.
Partner with engineering, product, QA, platform, and program management leadership so design participates at requirements and architecture stages.
Represent design in executive and cross-functional planning, presenting strategy, trade-offs, and resourcing needs to senior leadership.
Partner with QA and Release Management to ensure design sign-off functions as a readiness gate.
Lead design critique, provide direct feedback, and uphold a consistent execution standard across the team.