Director of Product Design in City of London

Do you believe in the power of design to transform human experiences – from how users engage with a product to how teams collaborate effectively? Are you a champion of design as a strategic function that drives success at every level: individual, team, and company? Do you want to use your expertise to make a meaningful impact by bringing art to as many people as possible? If so, this might be the role for you!

We’re hiring for a Director of Product Design to lead the transformation of our design practice, unlocking the full potential of Design as a strategic, high-impact function. Your mission will be to help shift the org from being delivery-focused, to making it a true strategic driver of our product & business strategy. Design, along with Product Management, Data, and Engineering, form the Product organization at Artsy, known as the PDDE team. As a product-led company, Artsy looks to the PDDE team to be a true partner to our business teams: deeply understanding their goals, building empathy for the art world, and enabling our Marketplace to thrive by creating a value flywheel between supply and demand.

As our Director of Product Design, you’ll provide thought leadership across the company, creating a high-performing design team and serve as our chief advocate for our customers. As an integral part of the PDDE leadership team, you’ll be a major driving force in evolving our ways of working to significantly increase our impact, efficiency, and ability to reach our (very ambitious) goals.

What You’ll Do at Artsy:

• Set the vision and strategy for the Product Design organization as a whole, focusing on impact, agility, and speed to market.
• Be our Chief Customer Advocate–ensuring an unrelenting focus on the end-user experience for our Marketplace customers (B2C), both existing and new, as well as our Gallery Partners and other key B2B players.
• Be an active member of the PDDE Leadership team, building best practices, ways of working, and a truly collaborative culture.
• Be a champion of high-impact research, partnering with our CPO to create world-class research and design processes that shapes our product and drives high quality decision making.
• Be a thought leader for the PDDE, the Product Design team, and Artsy overall, using design thinking and practices to help us create new products and experiences.
• Understand and recommend ethical, appropriate uses of AI.
• Be responsible for creating a positive and productive working environment for employees from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences.
• Line-manage members of the team in their career growth; developing craft, design thinking and leadership skills.

This role is a fit for you if:

• You understand the power of design to positively impact people’s lives, from our partners to our users to our team members.
• You care deeply about design from high-level vision and strategy to the little details that make a big difference.
• You are an expert in the craft of design including UX, UI, Visual Design, and Design Systems.
• You have proven track record of leading people and teams; giving direction and developing your designers’ skills and careers.
• You understand the process of building products in a cross-functional environment and the integral role Product Design plays.
• You are product minded and customer obsessed.
• You are a skilled communicator and know how to inspire and influence stakeholders and teams.
• You are a strategic thinker able to balance quick wins and bigger more impactful pieces of work.
• You have a solid understanding of the relevant technologies and working practices in the industry with a preference for experience in eCommerce and luxury services.

This role will be based in London and requires 2-3 days in office.

It’s a plus if you…

• Bring familiarity with the art world, luxury marketplaces, or B2B2C platforms.
• Have experience scaling or transforming a Product Design team within a fast-paced and product-led organisation.

What success looks like in your first 3-6 months:

• 3 Months: Build strong relationships with your designers and the PDDE leadership team. Evaluate the current state of design processes, tools, and workflows, and identify key opportunities for improvement. Establish trust and strong partnerships with cross-functional peers by demonstrating strong product thinking and a collaborative mindset.
• 6 Months: Become the go-to expert on design practices and processes. Roll out a refined vision for the Product Design function, aligned with Artsy’s business goals and product strategy. Drive one or more impactful changes across the design organization e.g. improving velocity, raising quality, or strengthening customer focus.

We know no one is a perfect match on paper, so if you’re passionate about this role, we’re excited to learn how your skills, experiences, and insights could make a difference.

What We Offer:

• Opportunity to reimagine the art industry while working with a talented, diverse, international team.
• Competitive salary and equity.
• Flexible time off: our culture of trust and empowerment allows employees to take the time they need away from work while still excelling in their roles.
• We are a global hybrid team: most employees work from our NYC, London, or Berlin offices 2-3 days per week. (In-person expectations vary by role).
• Private healthcare & benefit options, including: medical, dental, enhanced parental leave, Pension Plan, life assurance, Employee Assistance Programme featuring free mental health support, physio, and more.
• Professional development, including: mentoring, lunch & learns, regular training, 1:1 management, and an open feedback culture.
• Engaging opportunities and internal programming globally, to foster new relationships and build upon our collaborative community. Including: happy hours, holiday parties, global "All Hands" meetings, "Artsy Salon" (a yearly exhibition of our team’s creativity), attendance to art world events, and more.

Artsy Values:

• For the Love of Art: We show relentless curiosity, empathy, and passion for collectors, artists, gallerists, and the art market. We take action to make the art world more fair and welcoming.
• Own Our Outcomes: We are all individual owners of Artsy’s shared success. We are resourceful and resilient, and to get the job done, we each take responsibility for our outcomes.
• Lead with Openness: We trust in our teammates. We seek diverse perspectives, communicate authentically, and act with integrity. A more open art world starts with us.
• Transform Together: Our mission asks us to challenge the status quo. We embrace feedback, learning, and change so that we can transform our industry, our company, and ourselves.
• Impact Over Perfection: Using both art and science, we debate and decide swiftly and iterate on our plans as we learn. To make the biggest impact, we prioritize speed and clarity of action over perfection.

Artsy is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, disability, and veteran status.