Director of Product Design

Knak•Ottawa, ON

13d

About The Position

As Director of Product Design, you'll set the strategic design vision for our organization while building and leading a high-performing design team, with an initial focus on strengthening our Product Design capabilities at Knak. You'll champion design excellence across all product teams, drive organizational design maturity, and ensure user-centric thinking is embedded throughout the company. This strategic leadership role requires exceptional design judgment, strong business acumen, and the ability to influence and inspire teams at all levels.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in product design, including 3+ years leading and developing designers
Proven people leadership with a track record of growing and mentoring high-performing teams
Strong strategic thinking—able to connect design decisions to business outcomes and influence product roadmaps
Experience designing enterprise B2B or SaaS products, with an understanding of complex workflows
AI fluency—comfortable shaping design approaches for AI-powered features and understanding their impact on user experience
Deep knowledge of UX best practices, accessibility, and modern product development
A strong portfolio demonstrating visual design excellence — you sweat the details and it shows in pixel-level polish and craft
Experience establishing user research practices and integrating qualitative and quantitative insights into product decisions
Expertise with Figma and prototyping workflows
Experience defining design operations — including workflows, tooling, and resource allocation — to help a team deliver high-quality work consistently
Strong cross-functional collaboration skills and credibility with product, engineering, and go-to-market teams
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to advocate for design without creating friction

Nice To Haves

Experience building or scaling a design system
Background in marketing technology, email marketing, or creative production tools
Background with AI-augmented design workflows and tooling strategy
Experience with rapid growth or scaling organizations
Experience scaling a design team through periods of rapid organizational growth

Responsibilities

Define and drive Knak’s design vision and UX strategy
Partner with executive and product leadership to align design direction with business goals, user needs, and emerging opportunities in AI
Lead, mentor, and grow the product design team
Build a high-performing, inclusive team by developing talent, supporting growth, and fostering a culture of creativity and accountability
Oversee execution of design across product teams
Ensure consistent, high-quality output through critiques, reviews, and alignment with design systems and accessibility standards
Partner deeply with engineering
Establish shared workflows and regular collaboration rhythms with engineering to ensure design intent translates cleanly into the shipped product
Establish and evolve Knak’s design system
Drive scalable component development and close collaboration with engineering to improve speed and consistency
Set and maintain a high bar for visual and interaction design
Own the standard for UI polish, visual consistency, and attention to detail across every product surface
Champion user research and usability testing
Integrate qualitative and quantitative insights into the design process to validate decisions and improve outcomes
Advocate for design across the organization
Represent design at the leadership table and influence product strategy through a strong, credible point of view
Lead cross-functional collaboration and alignment
Facilitate workshops, design reviews, and working sessions that bring product, engineering, and marketing together to solve problems and drive clarity=
Champion design maturity across the organization
Embed user-centric practices and design thinking across departments, fostering cultural change at every level
Explore and guide AI-driven product experiences
Help define how AI enhances our platform and lead the design approach for intelligent, user-centered features