Director Product Design

Know Ink, LLC • Creve Coeur, MO

14h • Onsite

About The Position

KNOWiNK builds technology that powers elections. Our products are trusted by election officials across the country to run accurate, efficient, and accessible elections, forming a foundation for democratic participation. We are an AI-forward company committed to continuous innovation, and we build software that serves a wide range of users: from poll workers managing a busy precinct on Election Day to county clerks who depend on our tools day in and day out. Designing for this mission demands rigor, empathy, and an unwavering commitment to clarity.

The Director of Product Design is a senior leadership role responsible for the strategy, quality, and execution of user experience across KNOWiNK's suite of election products. This role owns KNOWiNK's design vision, shaping the experiences that ultimately touch tens of millions of voters across the country. The Director leads a team of three UX designers and operates as a player/coach, contributing hands-on design work on cross-functional teams while setting the direction, standards, and processes that elevate the entire design function.

The Director of Product Design will report to the Director of Product and work closely with Engineering and Product leadership to define and continuously refine the processes, standards, and direction that enable the team to deliver great user experiences across KNOWiNK's product portfolio, spanning web and native iPadOS applications. A primary objective of this role is to unify a product portfolio that has historically felt fragmented, bringing consistency, coherence, and a shared design identity across all KNOWiNK products.

Requirements

• 7+ years of UX/product design experience, with at least 2 years in a people management role (design manager, design lead, or director)
• Demonstrated experience designing software products, with a strong portfolio showing end-to-end product design work
• Experience leading or contributing significantly to a design system in a multi-product environment
• Proven ability to drive design consistency across a portfolio of products
• Strong collaboration skills with Engineering and Product counterparts, including experience working within an agile SDLC
• Experience designing for diverse user personas with varying technical sophistication
• Solid foundation in accessibility standards and inclusive design principles
• Comfortable operating as a player/coach, both leading the team and contributing hands-on design work

Nice To Haves

• Experience designing for native mobile or iPadOS applications
• Familiarity with AI-assisted design tools and a perspective on responsible AI use in design workflows
• Experience working across products at varying stages of maturity and go-to-market readiness

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of three UX designers, ensuring work quality meets KNOWiNK's standards and each designer is growing in their craft
• Make decisions about designer assignments to cross-functional (XFN) teams, ensuring effective design coverage across the product portfolio
• Foster a culture of feedback, craft, and continuous improvement within the design team
• Own the end-to-end user experience strategy across KNOWiNK's product suite, with a clear mandate to achieve consistency and coherence across historically fragmented products
• Lead and mature the KNOWiNK design system, driving adoption across all product teams and technology stacks
• Contribute directly as a designer on cross-functional teams, delivering high-quality UX work alongside your team
• Design for a diverse set of user personas, including poll workers who require highly accessible, self-explanatory interfaces, and county clerks who prioritize speed and efficiency
• Uphold and advance accessibility standards across all products, ensuring compliance with ADA and WCAG guidelines
• Champion a culture of rapid prototyping and continuous user feedback, establishing lightweight research practices that validate design decisions early and reduce the risk of building the wrong thing
• Establish and lead cross-functional design standards in partnership with Engineering and Product
• Ensure Design is integrated throughout the SDLC, including contributing to the definition of Ready and definition of Done
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering leadership to align on roadmap priorities and delivery expectations
• Define and own design team processes, workflows, and tooling decisions
• Champion the use of AI in design, setting clear standards for how AI tools should and should not be leveraged by the design team
• Stay current on emerging design tools and methodologies and evaluate their applicability to KNOWiNK's workflows

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed