What is the type of contract for this position?

The contract for this position is a Fixed-term contract

What's the salary range for the Product Design Director position?

The suggested salary for this position is $84,645-$95,150*

Is telecommuting possible for this position?

No, telecommuting is not possible for this position

Product Design Director job at Xero

Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive.

At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.

About the team

We have some really awesome humans in our design practice, working across Xero’s products internationally across New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Canada and the UK. Our designers, design researchers are working on a global scale, so you’ll get to work on some really exciting projects. In many ways, we still have that start-up feel - customer-centric mentality, a culture of innovation, outside the box thinking and heaps of variety in our work. We’re a design-driven company and place a high value on making sure our products make a meaningful difference in the lives and businesses of more than a million people around the world - this is where you come in!

About the role

Responsible for the design direction of the Xero products you oversee as well as the operational excellence of your team you will lead a group of passionate product designers that craft experiences for our customers across multiple product interfaces. Mentoring our design team, providing feedback and coordinating designs that create a holistic user experience is key. The goal is not consistency, the goal is an experience people love.

Leading by example, contributing design solutions and deliverables, you will serve as the partner working with GMs of key product areas and the EGM of the portfolio you support to ensure quality of relationship and work product. You will support, contribute to and coordinate with the overall design direction of a global design team based in New Zealand, Australia and the USA. You are also the local leader for our product design organisation and have responsibility for all team members in your office location including events, rituals, culture and space. You’ll build strong relationships with all parts of the business to define viable approaches/methodologies in line with relevant industry standards and best practices.

What you’ll do

People leadership: Work with a GM Design and other Product Design Directors in your portfolio to help manage your product design team, programs and processes that support a world-class design team. Solve problems together and work as a team to influence and drive key strategic initiatives forward.

Product thinking: Define the UX strategy and contribute to the product strategy for your product area, in partnership with the product leadership team. Help define the why and how behind the product for your team. Guide the visual and interaction design quality and get teams working in a way that makes great products.

Stakeholder management: Influence, have difficult conversations, and help prioritise and focus the team on the most impactful work. Work closely with our Marketing, Product Management and Engineering teams to deliver stunning and effective product interfaces and processes. In partnership with product leaders, contribute to, evangelise and enable design-led processes for creating product vision and roadmap.

What you’ll bring

Significant experience leading multidisciplinary design teams working on complex software
Demonstrable success in creating, launching, scaling and maintaining digital products
Deep understanding of the design process and best practices and proven ability to define and improve a team’s design practices
A proven track record of hiring diverse teams, developing talent and leading with positivity and inspiration
Ability to navigate ambiguity, create clarity and drive design excellence throughout the organisation
Excellent collaboration skills and ability to create long-lasting trusted partnerships that enable teams to make better products and experiences
Strong presentation, verbal and written skills as well as proven ability to develop well-positioned and thoughtful documents and presentations
Ability to influence and speak the language of business and design simultaneously and to mixed audiences
A genuine eagerness to work with, mentor, encourage and learn from a diverse and talented team

What you can look forward to

Working at Xero will provide you with a diverse and inclusive environment alongside people who will respect, challenge, support and mentor you. Who says you can't have fun while you do the best work of your life?

We see the value in work-life balance, many of us take full advantage of our flexible working arrangements, so whether you like to get a surf in before work, like to head home in time to pick up the kids or you just like working from the comfort of your own home now and then, we want to support you.

We trust you to build your career to the best of your ability and we will support your hunger to learn with training and career mentorship, to help you flourish. Our facilities and PX teams work hard to give us great workspaces with all the tech company perks so join us and experience our awesome culture!

Our collaborative and inclusive culture is one we’re immensely proud of. We know that a diverse workforce is a strength that enables businesses, including ours, to better understand and serve customers, attract top talent and innovate successfully. At Xero we embrace diversity and inclusion and value a #challenge mindset.

Research has shown that women and underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single competency or experience . If you are excited about this role, but your past experience doesn't align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway. You could be just the right person for this role and Xero. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at time of application and throughout the interview process.

Xero is an NZ Immigration Accredited Employer and Rainbow Tick certified too.

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Product Design Director

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