Design at Handshake

At Handshake we create opportunities for all college students and recent graduates to have equal access to meaningful jobs and internships, and we believe design plays a crucial role in the pursuit of this mission. We work collaboratively as designers and user experience researchers to help students, employers, and career centers.

We take a student-first approach to how we design and build products, and we strive to deeply understand our users and their true goals. We believe that great products and experiences are made great by the combination of how they work and how they look. One without the other is not enough, and while we're not perfect, we strive to excel in both and are committed to going the extra mile.

Great products are built by teams — and teams are built by people who communicate and collaborate well. A culture of openness, honesty, and the ability to provide and receive constructive feedback is important to us.

We also believe that great teams are inclusive. Being surrounded by a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives brings out the best in everyone, and leads to higher quality products and experiences.

Your impact

Handshake is hiring a Director, Product Design to focus on the core employer experience and monetization. This individual will be critical to the strategy and execution of Handshake’s Employer product used by 900k companies, overseeing the design of the employer experience for both free and self-service products. More specifically, they will be a lynchpin in up-leveling and transforming the employer experience for small- and medium-size businesses to drive rapid business growth in a market segment with massive upside. 

This role is a unique opportunity to help accelerate Handshake’s growth in a way that drives Handshake’s mission and our business. Today, the biggest employers have access to the most powerful tools in the recruiting journey. This role will be critical to making those powerful tools more accessible to small- and medium-size businesses, and therefore expand access to opportunity for more students. And this role will help drive massive business value. Our initial venture into self-service doubled run-rate revenue in the past quarter—now, it’s time to scale.

The company will look to you to take the lead in developing these products into beautiful, well-crafted, and high performing experiences that users love and that perform well for the business.  You’ll work closely with senior R&D leadership to create and execute strategic plans and the tactical efforts required to achieve them—and you’ll work with your team to motivate and inspire them and the broader team of designers, writers, and ux researchers, while holding a high bar for performance and design quality. 

This position is open for candidates in the San Francisco Bay Area and will be onsite 3 days a week in our San Francisco office.

Your role

• Work from concept to delivery, informing product strategy and shaping how Employers can create authentic connections with students
• Develop the skills, talents, and careers of the designers and design managers on your team by finding the right opportunity at the right time and coaching them to success and impact
• Lead with user empathy for students but also employers and universities
• Set high-level and detailed product design direction in collaboration with other design leaders and cross-functional peers
• Partner with product, research, content, data science and engineering to ensure projects are well-defined, high impact, and successfully executed
• Partner with product and engineering peers in strategic planning and decision making for product development
• Develop and improve a shared product design language across all student surfaces reflective of our brand
• Hold a high quality bar for all work and help set the standard for our product experience
• Be a strong and influential advocate for design influence and design priorities

Your experience

• Leadership: 5+ years of experience as a people manager at a similar or later-stage tech company; proven ability to effectively manage people, including developing talent on your teams and recruiting a diverse team that reflect the audience of our products
• Team builder: Experience sourcing, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding for your team, and the ability to spot promising design talent;
• User-focused: You deeply understand and advocate for your users, grounding your approach in data and research.
• Craft leader: Your expertise in visual and interaction design transforms the products you touch, resulting in high-quality experiences that resonate with users; you have a portfolio of you and/or your teams’ work that demonstrates the ability to create work that is both beautiful, effective, and impactful
• Detail-oriented: You strive for perfection in every aspect, delivering a flawless and user-friendly product.
• Complex problem solver: You navigate, define, and drive complex design challenges, balancing user needs with business goals.
• Data-informed: Comfortable using quantitative and qualitative data for tactical and strategic decision-making, as well as rapid iteration.

Compensation range

• $255,000-$265,000

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Last updated on Aug 20, 2024