Design Manager

Role & Responsibilities:

• Seeking a Design Manager to lead and scale our product design organization across core traveler experiences.

• This role combines hands-on design leadership with people management, mentorship, and cross-functional partnership to help shape the future of consumer experience across web, iOS, and Android.

• You will manage and mentor a team of designers while also driving high-impact strategic initiatives across discovery, booking, loyalty, post-booking, and traveler engagement experiences.

• You'll play a critical role in elevating design quality, strengthening design systems, improving team processes, and helping build a strong user-centered culture across the company.

• Design Leadership

• Manage, mentor, and grow a team of product designers across multiple product areas

• Provide regular design critiques, coaching, and career development support to elevate overall team quality and effectiveness

• Foster a strong culture of craft, collaboration, user empathy, and continuous improvement

• Help establish scalable design processes, rituals, and operating frameworks across the organization

• Product & Experience Design

• Lead mobile-first design initiatives crafting intuitive, high-quality experiences across iOS, Android, and web platforms that feel native, performant, and cohesive

• Drive end-to-end product design from concept through launch, influencing product strategy and business outcomes

• Translate complex user needs and business requirements into elegant, intuitive user experiences

• Ensure high-quality interaction design, visual design, motion, and UX consistency across the customer journey

• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Marketing and Operations teams to shape product direction and execution

• Design Systems & UX Excellence

• Help evolve and scale Vogo's design system, component libraries, tokens, documentation, and UX standards

• Establish consistent patterns and scalable frameworks across platforms and product surfaces

• Champion accessibility, responsive design principles, usability, and design quality across all experiences

• Drive alignment between brand expression, product usability, and business goals

• User Research & Customer Understanding

• Champion a user-centered design process and advocate for research-backed decision-making across the organization

• Guide and support UX research efforts including interviews, usability testing, surveys, and behavioral analysis

• Synthesize customer insights into actionable product and design opportunities

• Partner with analytics and product teams to incorporate qualitative and quantitative insights into decision-making

• Cross-Functional Leadership

• Collaborate closely with PMs and Engineering leaders to define product strategy, priorities, and roadmap direction

• Facilitate alignment across stakeholders while balancing customer needs, business goals, and technical constraints

• Present design strategy, rationale, and outcomes clearly to executive leadership and cross-functional teams

Minimum Qualifications:

• 7+ years of product design experience with a strong portfolio demonstrating strategic thinking and exceptional execution

• 2+ years of experience managing or mentoring product designers

• Proven experience leading complex, high-impact consumer product initiatives across mobile and web platforms

• Strong portfolio showcasing UX, visual design, interaction design, systems thinking, and product strategy

• Experience working on consumer-facing products with significant user impact

• Deep proficiency in Figma and modern product design workflows

• Strong understanding of design systems, accessibility, responsive design, and mobile UX best practices

• Demonstrated ability to balance multiple priorities and lead effectively in fast-moving environments

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and presentation skills

• Strong collaboration skills with Product, Engineering, and cross-functional partners

• Portfolio demonstrating strong design thinking and execution required

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing travel, marketplace, ecommerce, fintech, or subscription-based consumer products

• Strong eye for brand cohesion and understanding of balancing creative expression with product usability and brand integrity

• Prior startup experience working in high-growth, fast-paced environments

• Experience building and scaling design systems across teams and platforms

• Experience leading or contributing to user research programs and experimentation initiatives

• Comfort experimenting with emerging AI capabilities while maintaining a high bar for quality and craft

• Ability to move fluidly between ambiguity, strategy, and hands-on execution

• In-house product experience strongly preferred

• The ideal candidate is an experienced product design leader with exceptional craft, strong systems thinking, and a passion for mentoring designers and building high-performing teams.

• You are comfortable moving between strategic leadership and hands-on execution in a fast-paced environment.