Sr. Director, Product Design Full Time NEW

Summary:

• Niche is the leader in school search, dedicated to making researching and enrolling in schools easy, transparent, and free.
• The platform offers in-depth profiles on every school and college in America, with 140 million reviews and ratings and powerful search tools.
• Niche helps millions of people find the right school and assists thousands of schools in recruiting the best-fit students.
• The company is committed to creating a place where people enjoy working and can thrive professionally, aligned with its mission of finding where you belong.

Responsibilities:

• Establish and maintain a compelling design vision for Niche’s marketplace and SaaS products, tailored for Gen Z and Gen Alpha users.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-impact team of Senior Designers and UX Researchers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Set ambitious goals for team members, creating an environment where designers are motivated to achieve their best work.
• Provide hands-on leadership by actively engaging in the design process, reviewing work, and ensuring high-quality output.
• Implement efficient, repeatable design processes to maximize productivity and minimize waste.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams across Product, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Legal, Operations, and Data.
• Drive product improvements with measurable impact, ensuring design initiatives align with business needs and outcomes.
• Lead the design of personalized user experiences that adapt to individual user behaviors, preferences, and demographics.
• Integrate SEO-driven design principles into the UX/UI strategy for optimal search engine visibility.
• Oversee and support UX research efforts, ensuring that user insights are continuously integrated into the design process.
• Confidently present design vision and updates to senior leadership, demonstrating both design expertise and business acumen.
• Manage the department’s budget, making strategic decisions on resource allocation across projects.

Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience in product design, with at least 5 years in a leadership role, ideally within a startup or fast-paced environment.
• Proven ability to drive a team to execute and iterate designs quickly, using a test-and-learn mindset.
• Expertise in designing for Gen Z and Gen Alpha demographics, with an understanding of simplicity as a core design principle.
• Strong mentorship and team-building skills, experienced in developing design talent and aligning performance goals with business objectives.
• Assertive, hands-on leader able to maintain high-quality design work while staying closely connected to day-to-day processes.
• Highly efficient and process-oriented, with the ability to develop streamlined workflows for a lean design team.
• Business-minded approach, with proficiency in numbers and the ability to engage meaningfully with cross-functional stakeholders.

Benefits:

• Fully flexible workforce, with the option to work remotely, in the Pittsburgh office, or a combination of both.
• Competitive full-time, salaried position in a fast-growing company.
• Best-in-class 100% paid employee health plan, including vision, dental, and supplemental coverage.
• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy.
• Stipend to build a personalized work-from-home office.
• Parental leave for all employees (12 weeks fully paid), in addition to short-term disability for birthing parents.
• Meaningful 401(k) with employer match.
• Opportunity to make an immediate impact on the company and millions of users.
• A team that cares about you, the mission, and celebrates wins together.
• Niche is an equal opportunity employer, fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with diverse employees.