We’re looking for a Director of Product Design to join our Travel Design team in Tel Aviv. In this role, you’ll lead a talented design team and strengthen our Tel Aviv Design Studio by fostering collaboration among designers who support distributed teams. Success in this position hinges on your ability to influence cross-functional decisions within complex environments, beyond your direct reports. This role requires a seasoned expert who can balance short-term wins with long-term strategic thinking, adapting to the various styles and cadences of matrixed teams. If you’re known in your organization as a power connector and go-to person for design feedback, this might be the role for you.
What You'll Do:
- Drive Design Standards: Set and champion design standards across a matrixed organization. Your expertise will guide design decisions, earning you the reputation as a trusted source of feedback across teams.
- Team Leadership: Directly manage a small team of designers focused on enterprise product design, fostering a collaborative and innovative environment. Additionally, you will mentor and influence other designers based in EMEA.
- Product Expertise: Develop a deep understanding of our products, including their underlying systems and complexities. This expertise will allow you to make informed design decisions and clearly communicate context to cross-functional teams.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration:Work closely with a diverse range of teams across different styles and operating cadences. Use your understanding of these variations to facilitate productive partnerships that accelerate development while ensuring long-term scalability.
- Strategic Decision-Making:Maintain a balance between short-term project needs and long-term design goals, avoiding compromises that could hinder future progress.
What We're Looking For:
- 10+ years experience in a senior design leadership role, ideally within a matrixed or highly cross-functional organization.
- Cross-functional aptitude–you are skilled in working with varied teams and adjusting to their unique styles, with a track record of guiding diverse groups toward shared design goals, ideally in the context of a consumer, e-commerce, or B2C product.
- A portfolio of work that demonstrates strong strategic thinking as well as a deep commitment to details, excellence, and craft.
- Strong people management skills, with a history of developing and leading high-performing design teams.
- A belief that fast cycles of soliciting feedback is the way to continually raise the quality of your work and that excellence is found in the details. You’re excited to drive impact by balancing short term wins with long-term strategy, preventing immediate projects from compromising future success.
- Strong communication skills. You know that behind every design decision is a story to be told. Yes, we use Slack, but we also Zoom often–including with our colleagues in San Francisco.
- Enthusiasm and a growth mindset! Our team is composed of smart, curious, fun individuals who dive headfirst into the problems at hand and share a genuine enthusiasm for building the next generation travel platform.
- An added background in travel–or a deep interest in travel–is a significant plus!