Director of Product Design

About the role

Hiive is redefining how private companies and their shareholders access liquidity through an institutional-grade platform that unites buyers, sellers, and issuers to facilitate secondary transactions in venture-backed, pre-IPO companies. This role owns the end-to-end user experience and interface design of the platform, driving innovation and design excellence within a high-growth environment. You will recruit and lead a team of in-house product designers to deliver impactful experiences that align with business goals and user needs. Your work will shape how the market interacts with private equity liquidity, introducing efficiency, transparency, and standardization to an opaque asset class. You will play a pivotal part in defining and championing the product design vision across all touchpoints. This is a unique opportunity to build design systems and processes that set the standard in the fintech and SaaS ecosystem.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Define and champion the product design vision for the platform, ensuring strict alignment with business objectives and user requirements.
• Manage the use, enhancement, and governance of a cohesive, scalable design system, enforcing consistent implementation across products and platforms.
• Mentor, guide, and inspire a team of product designers, cultivating a culture of creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with product leadership to integrate product management, design, and engineering workflows within the SDLC for seamless execution.
• Facilitate workshops and design reviews with stakeholders to drive alignment across teams and departments.
• Lead the creation of intuitive, visually compelling, and functional designs for both web and mobile platforms.
• Ensure all design outputs meet rigorous accessibility, responsiveness, and scalability standards.
• Stay current on industry trends, tools, and best practices, incorporating new insights to evolve the design process.
• Advocate for user-centered design principles and communicate the strategic value of design to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Develop and maintain strong roadmaps that translate business needs into actionable design deliverables.
• Conduct design critiques and usability testing to validate concepts and iterate based on feedback.
• Collaborate closely with product managers and engineers to translate requirements into high-fidelity prototypes and production-ready designs.
• Establish design standards and patterns that promote efficiency, clarity, and consistency across the product suite.
• Measure the impact of design decisions through qualitative and quantitative feedback, using data to inform future iterations.

Requirements

• Bring 10+ years of experience in product design, backed by a strong portfolio showcasing innovative and impactful design solutions.
• Demonstrate proven leadership experience in managing and mentoring design teams, fostering growth and performance.
• Show expert-level proficiency in working with an in-house created design system executed consistently across design files and code bases.
• Have a history of designing scalable user research and usability processes that improve product outcomes.
• Possess considerable experience working with Figma to deliver complex digital products.
• Exhibit strong communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate design decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Maintain a deep understanding of design principles, interaction patterns, and user experience best practices.
• Display commitment to inclusive design, ensuring solutions meet accessibility, responsiveness, and scalability requirements.

Nice to have

• Bring experience in SaaS, B2B, or marketplace product environments where complex workflows and data density are common.
• Demonstrate proficiency in using data and product analytics tools to derive design insights and measure impact.
• Show proficiency in UX writing and content strategy to create clear, consistent, and helpful product language.

Practical notes

• This is a full-time role based in Vancouver, BC, at our headquarters in the heart of downtown.
• Employees in Vancouver enjoy a dedicated desk, a fridge stocked with healthy snacks and drinks, an onsite gym, and a gorgeous rooftop amenity.
• A $20-per-day commuter benefit is provided for every day you work in the Vancouver HQ.
• The role involves significant in-person collaboration, and team gatherings include bi-weekly catered lunches, bi-weekly "Friday bar" events, team workouts, an annual summer party, and a holiday party.
• The company hosts two "onsite" all-team retreats each year, along with semi-annual team-building events and Hiive Women's Network activities.
• This role reports to the leadership team and offers clear paths for growth into broader team leadership and management positions.
• The environment is entrepreneurial, with a small, dynamic team moving at the speed of a high-growth company.
• Hiive provides sponsorship, immigration, and relocation support for exceptional candidates who require it.

As part of our recruitment and hiring process, Hiive may use automated tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to assist in screening applications, evaluating candidate qualifications, and supporting interview processes. These tools are designed to support and inform human decision-making and are not used as the sole basis for any employment decision. We may collect, use, and analyze personal information you provide in connection with your application, and we process personal information based on our legitimate interests and your consent where required.