Director of Product Design

Named #4 startup in Canada for 2024, Hiive is a fintech/marketplace startup connecting buyers and sellers of stock in venture-backed pre-IPO companies. Thanks to our industry-leading technology and best-in-class capital markets team, we are home to the fastest-growing marketplace for the stock of "unicorns" on the planet. As a profitable and rapidly growing business backed by US venture capital investors, we are seeking to scale our high-performing team.

We're looking for a Director of Product Design to lead our in-house design team and own the user experience across our platform. In this role, you'll drive innovation, shape the future of our product, and foster a culture of design excellence. This is a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact-crafting exceptional user experiences that fuel both customer success and business growth at a high-growth startup.

In this role, your responsibilities would include:

• Defining and championing the product design vision, ensuring alignment with business goals and user needs.
• Building and maintaining a cohesive, scalable design system process, ensuring consistency across products and platforms, maximizing re-use and development velocity.
• Mentoring, guiding, and inspiring a team of product designers, fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Working with other members of product leadership to design processes that integrate product management, design, and engineering as part of the SDLC.
• Facilitating workshops and design reviews with stakeholders, driving alignment across teams and departments.
• Leading the creation of intuitive, visually compelling, and functional designs for web and mobile platforms.
• Building scalable user research and usability testing processes to facilitate design decisions and iterate on solutions.
• Ensuring all designs meet accessibility, responsiveness, and scalability standards.
• Staying up-to-date on industry trends, tools, and best practices, incorporating new insights into the design process.
• Advocating for user-centered design and the value of design as a key driver of business success.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in product design, with a strong portfolio demonstrating innovative and impactful design solutions.
• Proven leadership experience managing and mentoring design teams.
• Expert level in working with an in-house created design system that was executed consistently across design files and code bases.
• History of designing scalable user research and usability processes.
• Considerable experience working with Figma.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to articulate design decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in SaaS, B2B, or marketplace product environments.
• Proficiency in working with data and product analytics tools to deliver design insights.
• Proficiency in UX writing and content strategy.

Compensation, Benefits & Perks:

• Highly competitive salary commensurate with experience and contribution.
• Opportunity to participate in ownership of a rapidly growing early-stage startup through our employee stock option plan.
• Comprehensive 100% employer-paid health and dental premiums, a health and personal spending account.
• A dedicated desk in our Vancouver, BC HQ, in the heart of downtown, with a fridge stocked with healthy snacks and drinks, an onsite gym, and a gorgeous rooftop amenity.
• Enjoy a $20-per-day commuter benefit for every day you work in our Vancouver HQ.
• An engaging social calendar, including bi-weekly catered lunches, bi-weekly "Friday bar," team workouts, annual summer party, and holiday party, two "onsite" all-team retreats each year, semi-annual team-building events, and Hiive Womens' Network events.
• Significant opportunities for growth into team leadership and management roles.
• Entrepreneurial culture and a small and dynamic team.
• Sponsorship, immigration, and relocation for exceptional candidates.

Hiive is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where all individuals have an opportunity to succeed.