Head of Design and Research

About the role

You are joining during Phase II, when usage is rapidly expanding toward millions of users and thousands of store locations. Design & Research owns the mandate to elevate consistency and polish across consumer and payments experiences. The goal is to shift the product from functional to flawless while embedding design deeply into discovery. This role is hands-on and craft-focused, aimed at scaling a small team, not building an organization or chasing abstract concepts. You will set and safeguard the quality and consistency bar for consumer journeys and payment flows. You will lead a small, embedded design and research team within delivery pods, mentoring them on craft and operational rhythm. You will design coherent systems and frameworks that span fragmented touchpoints, balancing design integrity against rapid delivery. You will partner with Product, Engineering, and Marketing to integrate design into discovery and prove outcomes across onboarding, exploration, redemption, and retention.

Key facts

What you'll do

Define and drive the quality and consistency bar for end-to-end consumer journeys and payment flows.

Lead and mentor a small, embedded design and research team inside delivery pods, elevating craft and establishing operational rhythms.

Architect coherent systems and frameworks that connect fragmented touchpoints, balancing design integrity against the need for rapid delivery.

Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, and Marketing to embed design within discovery and demonstrate measurable impact across onboarding, exploration, redemption, and retention.

Deepen research capabilities and institutionalize insights so they actively guide product decisions and tradeoffs.

Explore and pilot AI-native methods to accelerate and scale the impact of design and research work.

Operate with urgency in ambiguous contexts, pushing for action while maintaining clarity and polish under pressure.

Own the design narrative for the brand in critical growth moments, aligning stakeholders around a shared vision.

Champion accessibility and inclusive design principles so that experiences serve a wide spectrum of users effectively.

Translate business objectives into design outcomes, ensuring that experiments validate hypotheses and de-risk major initiatives.

Establish design standards and documentation that enable teams to move quickly with a shared language.

Partner with analytics to define success metrics and run studies that prove the impact of design changes on retention and conversion.

Guide the team in building a sustainable creative process that balances craftsmanship with speed.

Act as the external and internal voice of the user, ensuring that empathy remains central in high-velocity decisions.

Requirements

You have built consumer products where trust, onboarding psychology, and credibility drive retention and conversion.

You have designed habit-forming systems that grow frequency, retention, and cross-category usage at scale.

You have personally contributed to scaling a consumer app from approximately three million to ten million or more active users.

You think in systems, knowing when consistency is essential and when speed is paramount.

You are comfortable in analytical environments and use data to demonstrate and improve user experience impact.

You have led a small design and research team, raising the craft level of five to ten people.

You approach design and research through an AI-native lens, leveraging new toolsets to scale your work.

You favor action over perfection, delivering results even when requirements are incomplete or constraints are tight.

You are eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship now or within 30 days of hire.

You are authorized to work in the United States for any employer at this time.

You are not currently sponsored for H-1B or any other visa classification by another employer.

You can commit to the required in-office schedule of Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in the assigned location.

You are willing to relocate to the assigned location if necessary and authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or within 30 days of hire.

You can start within 30 days of offer acceptance.

Practical notes

This role requires in-office presence on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

You must be eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship within 30 days of hire.

You must be able to start within 30 days of offer acceptance.

Relocation to the assigned location may be required.