Head of Design

Who we are

Our 55+ global team is on a mission to revolutionise the way we bring ideas to life and fundamentally change the way 3D design is done today. We help creators to communicate 3D ideas in the quickest and most intuitive way possible. We've developed the first end-to-end 3D design platform that allows people to carry out work from the early concept phases of the design & creation process all the way through to hand-off for productionisation.

Today’s design process is broken: design teams use digital modeling software, developed for engineering, to bring their work into the digital 3D space. Numerous iterations involving stakeholders from different teams across various locations are needed in order to capture both the design intent and the engineering requirements; clear communication and effective collaboration are key. Gravity Sketch solves these collaboration and communication pain points: through a suite of powerful creation tools and our cloud-based collaboration platform.

The tools we are developing are changing the way companies across automotive, industrial design, and entertainment industries carry out their day-to-day work. With teams at companies as diverse as Ford Motor Company and Adidas depending on our platform to collaborate and deliver world-class physical and digital products, it’s no surprise that this extends into talent acquisition for these industry leaders (Adidas/Yeezy).

We’ve just closed a very successful Series-A fundraise with support from the VCs that backed companies like Slack & Stripe, and have plans to grow to around 120+ people in 12 months.

Who we’re looking for
We’re looking for a Head of Design who is passionate about building & nurturing teams and best practice - we are a solution for designers & creatives, so naturally we want our design efforts to be best-in-class. Reporting to the Head of Product, you will set the vision and strategy for the design team, fostering a data and research-driven design culture across the organisation. We need you to lead the way on championing design within our cross-functional product teams and within the wider business, as well as externally to our users and markets.

Some of what you can expect to be doing

With this role we expect to achieve the following objectives initially, and for you to own and develop these further:

• Building & nurturing a strong design team - thinking not just about what the business needs right now, but also what the team needs and what’s coming up for the future
• Improving community practice - work with the teams to create & implement solid design workflows and best practices, incorporating a robust user feedback system (with the help of the UX team) that will help inform the direction of critical business & product decisions.
• Developing & embedding a design vision & strategy - this isn’t a one-time act, but an ongoing process of refinement and evolution
• Facilitating & supporting major projects - such as the development of a design system for the entire Gravity Sketch ecosystem: web, mobile, VR and whatever comes next
• Continuing to elevate the value of design both internally and externally

Requirements

• 5+ years experience building, nurturing & leading design teams & all that entails from talent acquisition to progression planning - ideally in more than 1 role
• 5+ years experience of bringing digital products to market, ideally in the B2B or enterprise software space
• Start-up or scale-up (Series A to B+) experience a definite bonus
• Fluency in user-centred design, accessibility and usability principles & processes
• Effective advocacy of design strategy, principles and decisions to diverse audiences
• You need to be comfortable working in a complex design ecosystem
• Proficiency in current design software applications - we currently use Figma, Marvel, Whimsical, but we’re more interested in the right tool for the job

Benefits

• Private healthcare
• Role can be fully remote or if you’re London-based we have an office in Brixton, which you’re welcome to use if you prefer.
• Uncapped paid holidays: startup world is busy, we encourage taking time off to recharge and rest, and you’d work to your country’s public holidays
• We recognise not everyone works their best at the same time of day, so there’s no standard working hours, as long as you overlap with your team enough & are on-hand for meetings.
• Enhanced parental leave policy (maternity and paternity)
• £1,000/year (or equivalent) for personal professional development
• £50/month (or equivalent) personal wellbeing budget
• For UK employees we’re set up with Cyclescheme & Techscheme
• We’re building a great work culture & environment - we work hard but also know how to have fun
  • Team lunch Wednesdays: in-person or virtually with food delivery credit
  • Socials, ski or summer trips & a biannual global meet up: we are passionate about bringing everyone together whenever we can, this helps build tighter bonds and alignment

We are committed to equality of opportunity for all employees. Applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, background, and nationality