Director of Product Design

About the Role

As Clutch's Design Leader, you will scale and elevate the design function to align with our ambitious growth goals. This role is crucial as we move from startup to scale-up, making design central to our business outcomes. This is a director-level opportunity ideal for someone with not only deep expertise in design but also a passion for driving transformation within a complex, B2B2C ecosystem.

Reporting directly to the Head of Product, you'll lead and grow a talented design team across the U.S. and Brazil, quickly hiring and nurturing top talent. You'll work closely with product management, engineering, and leadership to build innovative, user-centered products that push the boundaries in credit union fintech. Your mission is to establish design as a strategic, high-impact function within the company.

About the Team

Our design team is at the heart of driving innovation, with the product, design, and engineering team organized as a trifecta. Based across the U.S. and Brazil, we are a diverse and distributed group that thrives on collaboration across time zones and cultures.

Designers work closely with product management, engineering, and leadership, ensuring design is a strategic partner in shaping the future of fintech for credit unions.

What You’ll Do

Within 3 months, you will:

• Establish design processes that ensure consistency, efficiency, and high-quality outputs across all products.

• Hire and onboard top-tier design talent to double the team’s size, integrating them seamlessly into Clutch’s culture.

• Develop and operationalize a design strategy that aligns with Clutch’s business objectives.

Within 6 months, you will:

• Accelerate the creation of a robust design system that supports scalable, cohesive, and delightful user experiences across Clutch’s product suite.

• Deepen collaboration with product and engineering teams, ensuring design is a strategic partner in the development process.

• Strengthen the foundation of customer and user research to bring design closer to customer insights.

Within 9 months, you will:

• Transform Clutch’s design function into a central, strategic force within the company, driving continuous innovation and improvement.

• Elevate the overall user experience to align with Clutch’s growth ambitions, ensuring our products are not only functional but also engaging and delightful.

• Foster a design culture that champions collaboration, creativity, and a relentless focus on user- and customer-centered design.

• Potentially take on a small set of strategic projects beyond product design

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years of experience in software product design, with at least 3 years managing design teams of 5 or more.

• Proven track record of building and scaling design teams in fast-paced environments, preferably within SaaS or fintech.

• A reputation as a skilled craftsperson with the ability to mentor others and earn the respect of the team.

• Expertise in the full design spectrum, from strategy to detailed execution, with skills ranging from high-level conceptual flows to intricate interactions.

• Strong strategic thinking skills, with the ability to effectively communicate design solutions to all audiences, including executive leadership.

• Mastery in solving complex, unstructured problems, with the ability to set and drive a strategic design vision that aligns with business goals.

• A collaborative mindset, with experience working closely with product managers, engineers, and cross-functional teams to deliver cohesive, well-rounded products.

• Passion for storytelling and advocating for design ideas internally and externally, ensuring alignment between design decisions and business objectives.

• A deep understanding of customer needs, leveraging data analytics, user testing, and research to inform and validate design decisions.

Please note that this role may evolve as our business needs change, so we appreciate your flexibility and adaptability.

What’s In It For You?

• Remote Flexibility: Enjoy the freedom of remote work from anywhere, balancing life and career seamlessly.

• Unforgettable Off-Sites: Twice a year, bond with colleagues in exciting destinations, fostering teamwork and fresh ideas.

• Paid Time Off: Enjoy flexible PTO days yearly for relaxation and rejuvenation.

• Stock Options: Joining us means having a stake in our success, so you'll receive stock options as part of your compensation package.

• Home Office Setup: Create your ideal workspace with a dedicated budget for home office essentials.

• Work Trip Budget: Grow personally and professionally with a budget for work-related trips and co-working.

• Health Coverage: Prioritize your well-being with comprehensive health and dental insurance plans.

About Us

Clutch is a revolutionary vertical SaaS company, proudly backed by Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), aimed at revolutionizing the way Credit Unions engage and change the lives of their members. As a champion of financial well-being, we address the urgent need for affordable lending solutions in an era where the average American grapples with over $155,000 in household debt.  Unlike traditional financial institutions, Clutch develops software to turn Credit Unions into FinTech lenders and leverage their balance sheets to responsibly lend to over 130M Americans. Our mission extends beyond mere financial transactions; we strive to fundamentally enhance the way credit unions interact with their members. By integrating cutting-edge technologies and user-centric designs, we help credit unions provide seamless digital experiences that are on par with leading tech companies. This approach not only preserves but revitalizes the longstanding tradition of community and member-focused service inherent to credit unions.