Overview

Udacity’s mission is to train the world’s workforce in the careers of the future. We partner with leading companies to learn how technology is transforming industries, then teach the critical tech skills that individuals need for new and better jobs, and companies are looking for in their workforce.  With Nanodegree programs ranging from AI and Azure to Data Science, Robotic Process Automation, and Cybersecurity, our online training platform helps even the busiest learners prepare themselves for the most in-demand tech roles.

Udacity’s unique learning model of real-world projects and experts and mentors available 24/7 enables an unprecedented degree of engagement with our students, and we are with them through every step of their learning journey—from the first moment a marketing team member might answer a question, to the penultimate moment when a career team member receives word that a graduate has gotten a new job. Always putting Students First guides us as we continue our mission to bring the highest quality learning possible, to as many learners as we can possibly reach.

Students First – Better Together – Entrepreneurial – Data Driven – Candid and Direct – Talent Obsessed

As the Director of Product Design, you will be the senior leader at Udacity for Product Design. You will work closely with leadership across Product, Content, Engineering, and partner teams to deliver complete user experiences for all of Udacity’s products in order to improve the lives of our learners and the outcomes of our Enterprise and Government customers. Additionally, you will lead and build a growing team of experienced product designers and define how product design operates at Udacity. You will own design for industry-leading experiences across a range of users including students, content creators, enterprises, and government customers.

The Director of Product Design will have a seat at the product leadership strategy table and will report to Udacity’s senior product leader. You will be responsible for mentoring and developing our Product Designers and their processes across a complex set of stakeholders, products, and shared experiences. You will also be expected to develop the vision and strategy for Product Design at Udacity, building upon existing design systems and brand guidelines.

Udacity makes data-driven decisions and you will use a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, as well as data analysis to help the team make decisions and evaluate the success of designs and experiences. You will collaborate with leadership and the marketing creative director to establish an industry-leading experience across the entire student and customer journey. You will also partner with the product leaders to develop the strategy for our new product research team.

Why lead the Product Design team at Udacity?

  • Get the resources you need to hire, grow, and retain top design talent
  • Develop a deep understanding of a dynamic, complex product ecosystem
  • Have a voice at the strategy table alongside product leaders
  • Own vision and strategy for design across established and new products
  • We’re committed to compassionate, empathetic leadership
  • We value inclusivity and trust, the foundations of a well-supported team

What you will do

  • Collaborate with Product leadership and contribute to product strategy and roadmaps to help us achieve our company vision and outcomes.
  • Define how product design operates at Udacity, including user research practices, ideation processes, strategy, interaction design, prototyping, success measurement & analytics, and visual design.
  • Work cross-functionally with leaders in  product management, engineering, marketing, services operations, customer success, and sales.
  • Recruit, hire, and lead an excellent team of product designers to execute our product vision and strategy.

Responsibilities

  • Manage and mentor our product designers, and potentially one marketing designer. Foster their growth through development planning, performance management, collaborative work, and real-time design feedback and coaching
  • Oversee the design team’s efforts across all product initiatives, partnering with product counterparts to ensure strong execution from concept through launch and beyond
  • Partner with Product Leadership to inform the product roadmap, strategy, and vision
  • Identify appropriate methods for measuring design team effectiveness, and drive continuous improvement in team performance and design quality
  • Manage our product design roadmap, project planning and task prioritization
  • Recruit and onboard new designers over time as the business grows

Experience

  • 4+ years of experience as a Design leader, and ideally several more years in a mentorship capacity
  • 10+ years of progressive experience in UX and product design, with a focus on web and/or mobile products
  • A mix of high-growth Consumer and high-touch Enterprise experience is preferred, since you will design for both audiences and more at Udacity
  • Experience applying user research methodologies and product data/analytics to inform design decisions, including partnering with Research for data-driven persona creation and quantitative research projects
  • An inspiring portfolio that demonstrates experience managing design processes, leading design projects, crafting design systems, working through complex user flows, and shipping products that are functional, intuitive and visually compelling
  • You can effectively partner with individuals from other parts of the company, such as Marketing Creative, Product Management, Engineering, Customer Success, Support, Sales, and Operations, leading major cross-functional initiatives
  • Proven ability to identify and execute on opportunities for team improvement over time
  • Meaningful experience working closely with executive teams in presenting design vision and strategy, systems, and recommending product or creative strategies
  • Knowledge of associated practices, including UX writing, User Research, Motion, UX, and accessibility standards

Bonus

  • Working knowledge of some industry design tools – e.g. Figma, Sketch, Illustrator, Photoshop, Principle, Framer, and any other tools needed to get the job done
  • Experience with motivation and habit-driving applications, since skills training is challenging and requires motivation, habits, and grit

Consider applying if your experience is close to what we described above. We look for people with exceptional potential, as we know highest performing teams include people of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences.

Udacity is committed to creating economic empowerment and a more diverse and equitable world. We have partnered with AT&T, Google, Lyft, Microsoft, Accenture and more to provide over 22,000 scholarships this year to those from communities under-represented in tech.

To ensure that our products and culture continue to incorporate everyone’s perspectives and experience we never discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition (including genetic information), age, veteran status or military status, denial of pregnancy disability leave or reasonable accommodation.