8+ years in product design, UX/UI design, or design systems with leadership experience in complex client engagements.
Portfolio showcasing systems thinking, visual craft, and AI-enabled projects.
Experience leading design systems across multiple products and platforms, with knowledge of Figma libraries and engineering integration.
Background in regulated environments, emphasizing accessibility as a core requirement.
Proven ability to facilitate senior client discussions and navigate ambiguity with a collaborative approach.
Active use of generative and agentic AI in design practice, demonstrating practical workflows.
Fluent in English, comfortable collaborating with US and European teams.
Based in Southern California, willing to travel for client engagements, and authorized to work in the US.
Responsibilities
Lead client engagements from design direction to delivery and continuous improvement.
Translate user needs and business goals into clear product and system direction.
Ensure high design quality, balancing strategic clarity with visual and interaction design.
Direct the creation of scalable design systems and documentation in Figma.
Collaborate with product and engineering teams to align design with production processes.
Establish governance models to support distributed teams effectively.
Facilitate workshops and decision-making with senior stakeholders across various disciplines.
Coach multidisciplinary teams and set high standards for design craft.
Integrate AI into daily design practices for research, prototyping, and exploration.
Prototype AI-enabled product experiences and test their value for users.
Experiment with new tools and share successful workflows to build repeatable AI processes.
Critically evaluate AI outputs and set quality guardrails for design work.
Contribute to shaping the company's AI-enabled product and design-systems practice.
Benefits
Permanent, full-time, remote-first role within the US design team.
Defined contribution toward medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus access to a healthcare FSA.
401(k) plan with a 2% company match and eligibility for a discretionary year-end bonus.
Flexible PTO policy with eleven paid holidays and a year-end office closure.
Monthly internet and wellness stipends, along with professional development support.
Opportunity to lead significant product and AI-enabled transformation projects.
International collaboration with colleagues across Europe and the US.
Access to a high-craft, low-ego team with autonomy and constructive feedback.
Full Job Description
Description
We are looking for a hands-on Design Director to join our US team in a permanent, remote-first role based in Southern California. You will work primarily from home and be available to travel to client sites across the United States as engagements require. You will lead complex digital-product and design-system engagements across our portfolio, including work in regulated industries and global medical technology. AI will be a core part of how you explore, prototype, make decisions, and help teams deliver better work. This is a senior client-facing role for someone who is excited by how AI is changing design and product development. You will set direction, stay close to the work, and help clients move from isolated experiments to useful AI-enabled products, workflows, and operating models. You will combine curiosity and speed with strong judgment about where human craft, review, and accountability matter.
Your Tasks
Lead client engagements end-to-end, from initial framing and design direction through delivery, adoption, and continuous improvement.
Translate user needs, business goals, brand intent, accessibility, engineering, content, and compliance requirements into clear product and system direction.
Own the design quality of the work, balancing strategic clarity with strong visual, interaction, and systems-design craft.
Direct the creation and evolution of scalable Figma libraries, component architectures, variables, tokens, themes, patterns, prototypes, and documentation.
Work closely with product and engineering leaders to connect design decisions with production code, release processes, and measurable product outcomes.
Establish practical governance and contribution models that support distributed teams without overloading a small central group.
Facilitate workshops and decision-making with senior stakeholders across design, product, engineering, research, content, and compliance.
Guide multidisciplinary teams, coach designers, set a high bar for craft, and give clear, constructive direction.
Make AI part of the design practice every day, using it for research synthesis, ideation, content, prototyping, design-system work, and design-to-code exploration.
Prototype AI-enabled product experiences, including conversational, adaptive, generative, and agentic interactions, then test whether they create meaningful value for people.
Experiment quickly with new tools and models, share what works, and help the team build repeatable AI workflows instead of one-off demos.
Evaluate AI output critically and establish practical guardrails for quality, accessibility, privacy, approved source material, human review, and accountability.
Help shape Edenspiekermann's AI-enabled product and design-systems practice, contributing to how we pitch, deliver, and talk about the work.
Your profile
You have at least 8 years of experience in product design, UX/UI design, or design systems, including several years leading complex client or enterprise engagements.
Your portfolio demonstrates systems thinking, refined visual craft, shipped digital products, and credible AI-enabled work.
You have led design systems across multiple products, platforms, brands, or teams and understand how they connect to Figma libraries, production code, documentation, versioning, and engineering adoption.
You have experience in a regulated or high-accountability environment and treat accessibility as a system requirement.
You can lead senior client conversations, facilitate difficult decisions, and turn ambiguity into a practical path forward with curiosity, judgment, and a collaborative, low-ego attitude.
You actively use generative and agentic AI in your own practice, can demonstrate workflows beyond surface-level prompting, and can separate useful applications from hype.
You communicate fluently in English and are comfortable collaborating across US and European teams.
You are based in Southern California, willing and able to travel to client sites across the United States as engagements require, and legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship.
We Offer
A permanent, full-time, remote-first role with a central place in our US design team.
The annual salary range for this position is $120,000 to $150,000, depending on experience and qualifications.
A defined contribution toward medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus access to a healthcare FSA.
A 401(k) plan with a 2% company match and eligibility for a discretionary year-end bonus based on company performance.
A flexible PTO policy, with time off coordinated around client and team commitments, plus eleven paid holidays, a year-end office closure, monthly internet and wellness stipends, and professional-development support.
The opportunity to lead visible, strategically important product, design-system, and AI-enabled transformation engagements.
An international portfolio and regular collaboration with colleagues across Europe and the United States.
A high-craft, low-ego team with direct access to partners and senior leadership, real autonomy, constructive feedback, and space to shape how we work.
A multidisciplinary team that is actively building AI into design, strategy, research, engineering, and delivery.
We are pleased to meet you!
If you are interested, please provide us with the following documents and information:
Current CV
Portfolio with at least one substantial product or design-system case and a credible AI-enabled product or workflow example
A short explanation of your role, decisions, measurable contribution, and how AI changed the work or outcome
Earliest possible start date
One more thing, never fear to apply initiative. We understand: a lack of confidence can sometimes keep us from applying for a job. But guess what?! There is no such thing as the perfect applicant. That's why we encourage you to apply to us.
