Principal, Product Design – Search

Expedia•San Jose, CA

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

Expedia Group brands power global travel for everyone, everywhere. We design cutting-edge tech to make travel smoother and more memorable, and we create groundbreaking solutions for our partners. Our diverse, vibrant, and welcoming community is essential in driving our success. Why Join Us? To shape the future of travel, people must come first. Guided by our Values and Leadership Agreements, we foster an open culture where everyone belongs, differences are celebrated and know that when one of us wins, we all win. We provide a full benefits package, including exciting travel perks, generous time-off, parental leave, a flexible work model (with some pretty cool offices), and career development resources, all to fuel our employees' passion for travel and ensure a rewarding career journey. We’re building a more open world. Join us. Within Expedia Group, the Experience Design (XD) organization brings together product design, content design, and research to shape experiences that help travelers confidently discover and explore the world. We’re seeking a Principal, Product Design – Search, to own and advance the design direction for Expedia Group’s search experiences. This role is calibrated as a senior individual‑contributor leadership position, with scope expected to evolve as the Search domain and organization continue to mature. In this role, you’ll operate as a design and creative authority who leads through vision, judgment, and hands‑on craft—taking on the most complex experience challenges while setting standards others follow. You’ll lead the design of intelligent search as the foundation for travel discovery, planning, and shopping—using high‑fidelity design, systems thinking, and advanced prototyping at a global scale. Introduction to the team: We’re a multidisciplinary design team shaping the future of travel through human-centered, AI-powered experiences. Our mission is to help travelers imagine, plan, book, and manage every part of their journey across Expedia Group’s family of brands and platforms — with clarity, delight, and confidence. In this position, you’ll lead and inspire a team designing Expedia Group’s search experience end to end, set a bold design vision, establish systems that raise the bar for quality, and partner closely with product, engineering, and data science to deliver intelligent, intuitive experiences at global scale—helping define what AI-driven travel design looks like for the entire industry.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in product design with, at least, 4 years leading design teams at scale.
Expertise in search, discovery, or recommendation systems, with a deep understanding of how AI and ML shape relevance, ranking, and explainability.
A proven track record of designing experiences that simplify complex information and build trust with users.
Skilled in translating ambiguous technical opportunities into clear, inspiring product experiences.
Adept at building, scaling, and coaching design teams that deliver at both craft and strategic levels.
An exceptional communicator who can bring stakeholders along through strong storytelling and influence.
Energized by the challenge of creating travel experiences that feel intelligent, human, and memorable.
Deep understanding of AI and conversational design tools and methods, including prototyping with LLMs, prompt engineering, data-informed interaction design, and expert knowledge of modern design and prototyping platforms including but not limited to Figma, Cursor, etc.

Nice To Haves

Deep knowledge of semantic and natural language search, conversational interfaces, and AI explainability principles.
Experience working with data scientists and ML engineers to translate advanced models into user-facing experiences at scale.
Demonstrated strength in connecting design quality to measurable product outcomes through experimentation and data-driven metrics.
Track record of driving design excellence across multiple brands, platforms, and domains in a fast-moving, results-oriented environment.
Demonstrated experience taking products from concept to scaled adoption.

Responsibilities

Own and lead the design direction for Expedia Group’s AI‑powered Search experiences, driving outcomes from concept through execution while orchestrating the work across interconnected search initiatives.
Define how travelers express intent, explore options, and understand results—bringing clarity, transparency, and trust to complex search interactions.
Work hands‑on with high‑fidelity design, prototyping, and systems thinking, while helping shape how search work is sequenced, scoped, and delivered to tackle the most complex discovery challenges.
Partner closely with senior leaders in Product, Engineering, Research, and Data Science to coordinate priorities, align roadmaps, and ensure design effort is focused where it matters most.
Translate advanced AI and machine‑learning capabilities into intuitive, human‑centered experiences used by millions of travelers worldwide.
Establish and scale experience patterns, interaction models, and quality standards across brands and platforms, providing structure and cohesion across parallel search workstreams.
Influence and elevate design quality through critique, mentorship, and shared standards—leading by example and helping others deliver at a higher bar.
Collaborate across Expedia Group to align Search experiences with the company’s broader AI strategy, shared capabilities, and platform investments.
Represent the traveler in senior‑level and cross‑functional forums, influencing decisions that shape the future of travel discovery and intelligent search.