Product Design Manager

Roo

3d•$115,000 - $235,000•Remote

About The Position

Roo is hiring a player-coach to lead its Product Design team, balancing hands-on design work with coaching and team development. The role sits within the product team, which supports cross-functional squads responsible for key marketplace business units. Designers work with one or more squads while contributing to a cohesive experience across the company. The Product Design Manager will own selected projects end-to-end, define and consistently apply design quality standards, strengthen design practices and systems, and grow the team’s craft and strategic influence. The position is remote, with occasional travel to Roo’s San Francisco co-working space for key meetings and team events. For employees based in San Francisco, the role is hybrid. Roo is a mission-driven veterinary staffing platform connecting veterinary professionals with animal hospitals. The company reports a network of more than 20,000 veterinary professionals and more than 9,000 animal hospitals, with over 3 million hours of healthcare provided.

Requirements

At least 8 years of product design experience.
At least 2 years of management experience.
Demonstrated ability to grow, coach, and support senior designers in developing their craft and expanding from strong execution toward strategic influence.
A strong portfolio demonstrating visual design, interaction design, systems thinking, product storytelling, and user-centered craft.
Experience building and scaling design systems.
Fluency in using AI in design practice, including real-world use and a considered understanding of where it is useful and where its output should not ship.
Ability to bring clarity to ambiguous spaces and turn loose ideas into compelling product concepts.
Strong cross-functional communication skills and experience working closely with cross-functional leadership.
Experience with a variety of user research methods and the ability to conduct research and help designers do so.
Experience leading design across multiple products or surfaces.
Excitement about designing experiences that support meaningful work.

Nice To Haves

Two-sided marketplace experience.

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and grow the five-person Product Design team, helping designers develop their craft, critical thinking, and strategic influence.
Make design competencies and quality standards explicit, understandable across the company, and consistently applied.
Support career growth through development conversations, performance reviews with business-unit leaders, and clear progression between levels.
Do hands-on design work across projects, including complex problems, quick wins, exploratory concepts, and work that unblocks the team.
Partner with leadership to align design direction with product strategy and company goals.
Build and strengthen design systems for consistency, quality, and scalability, including helping advance AI-supported, agentic-friendly workflows that enable prototypes to use real components.
Shape design practices across discovery, concept development, interaction design, prototyping, and delivery.
Encourage exploration and challenge assumptions while remaining grounded in user needs and market realities.
Advocate for customer experience across product surfaces and ensure design decisions reflect real customer needs.

Benefits

Home office setup stipend.
Continuing education stipend.
Monthly wellness stipend.
Comprehensive health benefits, with the base medical plan covered at 100% and optional premium buy-up plans.
401K.
Unlimited paid time off.
Paid maternity/paternity and reproductive care leave.
Birthday and anniversary gifts.
Opportunity for domestic travel, including regional team-building events.
Accelerated growth and learning potential.