Director, Product Design

Coast • New York, NY

10d • $215,000 - $240,000 • Onsite

About The Position

As our first Director of Product Design you will be responsible for defining and scaling design at Coast. This role is ideal for a design leader who thrives in builder mode; someone excited to set direction, establish standards, and grow a team, while still being close to the work. This is a true player-coach role. You will lead a small but talented team while also acting as the primary product designer on one of our product teams. As the design organization matures and scales, your hands-on IC responsibilities will naturally decrease over time.
You’ll inherit a small, but talented team of individual contributor product designers and have the mandate to evolve design into a mature, scalable function.
Reporting to the SVP of Product, you’ll be a key partner to Product Management and Engineering leadership, shaping how design influences strategy, execution, and outcomes. Over time, this role has the potential to grow into leading the entire design organization, including areas like UX research, design systems, and UX writing, as those functions are introduced.
If you’re motivated by impact, ownership, and the chance to leave a lasting imprint on a company’s product and culture, this role is for you.
Please note that this role will require you to be comfortable with working in-person at our NYC office at least 3.5 days/week on average.

Requirements

• At least 9 years of experience building and shipping high-quality and impactful products
• At least 3 years of design leadership experience growing and managing multidisciplinary design teams at high-growth, product-led organizations
• Experience shipping both 0-to-1 and 0-n-1 products in ambiguous environments
• A strong product mindset; you think in terms of outcomes, not just outputs
• Exceptional cross-functional leadership skills with the ability to influence and partner at the executive level
• Relentless attention to detail and a passion for exceptional design craft with the ability to raise the bar across a team
• Comfort operating as both a design leader and an individual contributor in an early-stage, evolving organization

Nice To Haves

• Experience building AI products
• Experience building in financial, enterprise, or other domains requiring complex systems thinking

Responsibilities

• Set the vision and bar for product design at Coast, ensuring exceptional user experiences across our product portfolio
• Lead and develop the design team - starting with 2 IC designers - and grow the team thoughtfully as the company scales
• Partner closely with Product Management and Engineering to influence product strategy, roadmap prioritization, and execution.
• Establish foundational design practices, including: design principles, critique, feedback loops, and quality standards
• Drive the creation of a design system that improves consistency, velocity, and product coherence over time
• Advocate for user-centered decision-making through research, testing, and data-informed design
• Balance hands-on IC design work with coaching, mentorship, and organizational leadership as the team scales
• Help develop future design capabilities, including UX research and UX writing, as the organization grows
• Act as hands-on product designer on a product team, owning discovery, interaction design, and delivery.

Benefits

• Company-sponsored 401(k)
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Flexible paid time off (vacation, personal well being, paid holidays)
• Paid parental leave
• $400 accessories allowance (a keyboard, mouse, headphones, etc.)
• Education stipend
• Tools to help manage your financial wellness, including webinar, and access to an equity tax advisory service
• Free lunch on Fridays

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees