Manager, Product Design

Clubessential Holdings

3d•Remote

About The Position

Join our Recreation Vertical as a Manager, Product Design to make a real impact every day. We say that because we know that every conversation we have, every interface we design, and every new feature we ship is another opportunity for us to elevate everyday life experiences for our customers and the people and communities they serve. Xplor Recreation is building a centralized Vertical Design Team to scale design resources, unify standards, and improve outcomes across our portfolio of brands. The Manager, Product Design is a key contributor to that initiative. This is a people manager role with an active design workload. You will formally manage a small team of product designers as direct reports, own the design output for nextRec, and help establish craft, process, and AI-assisted execution across the Recreation Design Team. You will report directly to the VP of Product and serve as the design voice in day-to-day cross-functional collaboration with Product Management and Engineering. This role is well-suited for an experienced designer stepping into or growing within a formal management track — someone who is equally energized by hands-on craft and by developing their team, not just executing tickets.

Requirements

5+ years of product design experience or equivalent, including experience in a lead, senior, or supervisory design role — formal people management experience is a plus but not required for strong candidates.
Proven ability to maintain high-quality individual design output while providing direction and feedback to others — a genuine player-coach mindset.
Comfortable conducting design reviews, providing actionable feedback, and helping less experienced designers grow their skills.
Strong portfolio showing end-to-end UX/UI design: research, wireframes, high-fidelity UI, and shipped product.
Experience working directly with Product Management and Engineering in an Agile or sprint-based environment.
Able to communicate and explain design rationale clearly to Product and Engineering peers in cross-functional settings.
Proficiency in Figma (or equivalent) and comfort with design system methodologies.

Nice To Haves

SaaS product design experience, particularly with B2B or vertical SaaS products serving SMB or enterprise customers.
Practical, hands-on experience using AI tools in a design workflow — not theoretical familiarity, but actual usage in planning and execution.
Experience contributing to or building a design system from partial foundations.
Exposure to recreation, fitness, education, or similar vertical SaaS markets.
Experience working in a distributed or multi-brand organization

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end UX/UI design for nextRec: discovery, wireframing, prototyping, and delivery-ready specs.
Partner with Product Managers and Engineering leads to translate roadmap priorities into high-quality design output on defined timelines.
Maintain design velocity and quality commitments.
Contribute to design system standards and component libraries in collaboration with the broader Recreation Design Team with a stated goal of moving towards consistency across brands and platforms.
Leverage AI tools as a standard part of your design workflow and help direct reports adopt similar practices.
Formally manage a small team of product designers as direct reports — responsible for day-to-day direction, workload allocation, performance, and professional development.
Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and development conversations, maintaining schedules and workflow across the team and monitoring progress at frequent intervals.
Conduct design reviews and provide structured, actionable feedback that elevates team output and builds individual capability.
Model and codify AI-augmented design practices, helping direct reports and teammates build fluency and confidence with AI tools in their work.
Participate in cross-functional forums including sprint planning and roadmap reviews — communicating design rationale clearly to Product and Engineering peers.
Lead hiring and onboarding for the Recreation Design Team, contributing to candidate evaluation and team culture.
Celebrate team and individual successes, create time for recognition, and foster an environment where all designers have equal opportunity to contribute and grow.
Establish and evolve design processes for the Recreation Design Team — lightweight where possible, rigorous where it matters.
Own design QA for your team’s output, ensuring that what ships matches what was designed.
Maintain design documentation and handoff standards that reduce back-and-forth with engineering.
Participate in retrospectives and team reviews, contributing feedback on process improvements and team workflows.