Design Director

About this role

What we’re looking for?

Our client in New York, US, is looking for a design leader with 5-8+ years of experience in product/UX design who has ledor mentored design teams and can operateas both a strategic leaderand hands-on IC. You should be comfortable working in a fast-paced startup environment with complex, visually rich products and have a track record of improving design systems and shippinghigh-quality user experiences. Bonus points if you have experience with EdTech, AI-powered products, or platforms with large visual surfaceareas.

What you’ll do:

• Define and drive the overall designvision and strategyfor clients AI-powered K–12 learning platform
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of designers whilejumping in hands-on to give detailed feedback and design in Figma yourself
• Own and improve Kira’s design system to ensure consistency and scalability across a complex, multi-surface product
• Partner closelywith co-founders, Product,and Engineering to shape solutionsand prioritize design work across the product roadmap
• Oversee designresearch and usability testing programs to inform data-driven product decisions

• Balance high-level strategic leadership with direct contribution to critical design projects — this is not a purely managerial role

• 5 - 10 years of experience in product/UX design with some leadership experience
• Designed visually complex products with large surface areas / net- new UI
• Has managed or mentored a design team
• Hands- on IC craft — comfortable designing directly in Figma, giving detailed feedback
• Startup or high- ownership / multi- priority team experience (nice- to- have; larger- company fine if the team carried a lot of ownership)

Hard skills

Figma

Strong portfolio showing end- to- end product design work

Required - Portfolio demonstrating end- to- end product design- Portfolio link

Able to work hybrid in New York office (4 days a week in person, Wednesday wfh)