VP, Product Design

About the role

This role defines and delivers the end-to-end vision for CLEAR Travel and CLEAR1 experiences. The position aligns physical and digital journeys to scale identity platforms securely and efficiently. You own the holistic user experience across all touchpoints, ensuring design decisions directly support business objectives and customer trust. You will translate complex identity and security requirements into intuitive, scalable, and elegant solutions for both travelers and enterprise stakeholders. This position shapes the future of identity by integrating physical verification with digital interactions in high-stakes environments. You will establish design standards and operating models that ensure consistency across every channel and partner ecosystem. Success in this role is measured by your ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and drive measurable outcomes in usability, conversion, and satisfaction. You will mentor and elevate the capabilities of design teams to create a lasting design culture focused on clarity and performance.

Key facts

What you'll do

Establish operating models and design standards to create consistency across digital, physical, and partner channels.

Lead and mentor high-performing product design teams to strengthen leadership bench depth and amplify design impact across the organization.

Elevate design quality across the enterprise through close collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders and partners.

Define long-term design vision while balancing rapid execution and operational delivery to meet evolving business needs.

Conduct user research, field research, and usability testing to uncover traveler, enterprise, and operational user needs in consumer and B2B contexts.

Design complex consumer and enterprise experiences within fast-paced, operationally intensive environments that demand precision and clarity.

Create integrated solutions across physical and digital ecosystems, including kiosks, mobile, web, operational tools, and partner-integrated surfaces.

Lead multidisciplinary design organizations, including senior individual contributors, managers, design systems, research practices, and team operating rhythms.

Champion AI-enabled workflows to accelerate design and prototyping in identity and travel contexts without compromising security or usability.

Guide cross-functional leaders and align teams around a unified design vision through strong communication and executive stakeholder management.

Use data-driven experimentation to refine user flows and improve key metrics in high-stakes identity and security environments.

Champion inclusive and accessible design practices essential for identity products that serve diverse traveler and enterprise users.

Maintain and evolve a living design system that ensures brand and product consistency across all customer journeys.

Own the end-to-end design process from research and ideation through prototyping, validation, and implementation support.

Act as a strategic design partner to product, engineering, and operations to deliver secure, scalable, and delightful identity experiences.

Requirements

The posting states a bachelor's degree requirement. The posting states a pay range of $270000 to $335000.

The role requires 10+ years of experience leading product design and/or industrial design organizations.

A track record links design strategy to measurable business outcomes in conversion, retention, adoption, efficiency, and satisfaction.

Complex consumer and enterprise experiences have been designed in fast-paced, operationally intensive environments.

Experience spans physical and digital ecosystems, including kiosks, mobile, web, operational tools, and partner-integrated surfaces.

Communication, collaboration, and executive stakeholder management influence cross-functional leaders and align teams around a design vision.

Long-term vision-setting balances with rapid execution and operational delivery.

Traveler, enterprise, and operational user needs are understood through user research, field research, and usability testing across consumer and B2B contexts.

Multidisciplinary design organizations are led, including senior individual contributors and managers, design systems, research practices, team operating rhythms, AI-enabled workflows, and service design.

Practical notes

This role is based in New York, New York, United States.

The position requires U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the United States.

The total rewards package includes comprehensive healthcare, family-building benefits, wellness stipends, and retirement plans alongside the base salary range.

Typical interview steps

Design interviews usually include a portfolio review, a design exercise, and a team conversation. Candidates present past work and explain their process and decisions. Some loops include a live design challenge. Communication matters as much as the visual output. Portfolios are strongest when they show the problem, the constraints, and the iteration, not just the final screens. Interviewers also watch how you take feedback.

Good to know

Design roles in identity and security rely on structured research and clear systems thinking.

Cross-functional collaboration with product, engineering, and operations is central to delivering secure and usable experiences.

Data-driven experimentation helps refine user flows and improve key metrics in high-stakes environments.

Inclusive and accessible design practices are essential for identity products that serve diverse traveler and enterprise users.

AI-assisted workflows are increasingly used to accelerate design and prototyping in identity and travel contexts.

Questions to ask

Good questions to ask the employer in the interview: what does success look like in the first six months, how is the team structured, what is the current biggest challenge, and how are decisions made. Asking about growth paths and the review process is also well received. Employers expect questions, and good ones show preparation.

Career growth

Design careers grow from junior to senior, staff, and principal levels. Some designers move into design management or design operations. Specializations include UX research, interaction design, and brand design. Cross-functional influence grows with seniority. Senior designers are expected to influence product strategy, not just execute visuals. Building a habit of user research strengthens any design career.