Travel. It's one of life's simple pleasures. But, ooof, planning it can feel like hard work. For the last 20 years we've been on a mission to empower every traveller with innovative tools, insights and experiences that help people get to where they're going, so they can spend more time out exploring the world, and less time anxiously bouncing around 25 browser tabs and endless spreadsheets. Our traveller-first approach drives everything we do and it's never been more important than it is today.
When we launched as a flight comparison site back in 2003, we changed the game by helping travellers feel smart, like they were in on a secret, that promise hasn't changed. And today, while we're a world leader in travel, with millions of people using our products every single day we know there's so much more we can be doing.
Being part of Skyscanner means joining a team hell bent on building the world's most innovative, and helpful travel experiences possible. We're hugely ambitious and believe we have the chance to genuinely challenge and disrupt the industry.
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Product Design Director to lead our Audience (Awareness, Acquire, Retain) design team and drive the creation of innovative and user-centred products. This role will be pivotal in shaping the design strategy for one of our flagship features, driving world-class design outcomes for our App experiences and ensuring that our products meet user needs, brand goals and business objectives.
Key Responsibilities
- Vision and Strategy: Define and communicate the design vision and strategy for your area, aligning with overall business goals and high-level design strategies across the business.
- Innovation Culture: Promote a culture of innovation within the design team while balancing optimisation needs across business teams.
- Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 10 product designers, including 3-4 managers reporting to you, fostering a collaborative environment.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, engineers, and marketing teams to ensure cohesive user experiences across products with your area as well as joining the dots across the business for a seamless experience for our travellers.
- Design Execution: Oversee, with and through your team, the entire design process from ideation to implementation, ensuring high-quality output that align with brand standards.
- User-Centered Design: Advocate for user-centered design principles, facilitating strategic Design Thinking workshops, collaborating with the user research team and using test-to-learn approaches to inform design decisions.
- Performance: Establish metrics to measure the impact of design on business outcomes, iterating on processes as necessary.
Key Skills & Requirements
- 15+ years of experience in product design with strengths in design thinking, UX and UI design.
- At least 5 years experience leading diverse teams from the front, managing multiple projects simultaneously and making informed decisions quickly.
- Must have proven experience in driving high-quality app design.
- Must have experience both agency-side and client-side in a modern tech business.
- Bachelor's degree in Design, HCI, or related field; Master's degree preferred.
- Strong communication skills to articulate design concepts to stakeholders effectively.
- Proven record of applying, facilitating and running Design Thinking processes.
- Deep knowledge of UX, service design methodologies, design principles.
- High-level of visual and UI design craft and proven ability to lead others by example.
- Proficiency in design tools and prototyping tools (we use Figma and Framer).
- Data literacy and experience engaging research teams in generative user research.
- Strong systems thinker.
- Proven ability to create and drive clear and impactful programmes of design work.
- Familiarity with front-end technologies (HTML/CSS) is a plus.
You'll join a brilliantly diverse group from all corners of the world. After all, travel is about finding new perspectives and experiencing new people and cultures - and Skyscanner is strongest when our teams are both inclusive and diverse.
Skyscanner is an equal opportunities employer, and all qualified applicants will be considered for employment without discrimination based on protected characteristics such as age, ethnicity, race, religion or belief, political views, sexual orientation, sex, gender (whether identity, reassignment, or expression), pregnancy or maternity, marital status, disability or any other category protected by law.
We are committed to ensuring our application and recruitment processes are inclusive and accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments or accommodations, please let our recruitment team know.
