As our Director of Design, you'll own the vision, strategy, and execution of Kira's design organization. You'll partner closely with our co-founders and executive leadership to define the design direction across product, UX, and research. You'll work across product, engineering, and design teams to ensure our AI-powered learning experiences are intuitive, impactful, and scalable. This role is perfect for someone who thrives at the intersection of design leadership, strategic thinking, and hands-on excellence, and who is passionate about creating meaningful educational outcomes for students.
What You'll Do- Define and drive the overall design vision and strategy for Kira's products.
- Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing design team across product, UX, and research.
- Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to set priorities, shape solutions, and ensure user-centered design across the product roadmap.
- Establish design systems, standards, and best practices to ensure consistency, scalability, and efficiency.
- Oversee and guide design research and usability testing programs to inform data-driven decisions.
- Present design strategy, concepts, and outcomes to executive leadership and stakeholders, effectively advocating for user needs.
- Balance high-level strategic leadership with the ability to contribute directly to critical design projects when needed.
- Drive a culture of collaboration, experimentation, and continuous improvement within the design team and across the company.
What We're Looking For- 8+ years of experience in product/UX design, including significant leadership experience in EdTech, SaaS, or consumer-facing products.
- Proven track record of leading design teams and delivering measurable impact on product outcomes.
- Strong portfolio demonstrating end-to-end product design, strategic thinking, and team leadership.
- Expertise in design systems, prototyping, and user-centered design methodologies.
- Excellent communication and storytelling skills, capable of influencing cross-functional teams and executives.
- Deep understanding of user research, usability testing, and applying insights to inform design strategy.
- Low-ego, collaborative mindset, with the ability to inspire, align, and grow a design organization.
- Comfort operating in a fast-paced, resource-constrained Series A startup environment.
Compensation & Benefits- $150,000-$220,000 salary + meaningful equity
- Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, including 100% coverage of employee premiums
- DoorDash credit for lunch daily
- Dog-friendly office
