Head of Design (AI Startup)

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Head of Design (AI Startup) based in India.

This is a senior design leadership opportunity focused on shaping the end-to-end user experience for a high-growth AI-powered consumer product.

You will own the complete customer journey, from acquisition and onboarding through engagement, retention, and monetization.

The role combines product design leadership with a strong focus on measurable business outcomes such as conversion, retention, and lifetime value.

You will establish a unified design direction spanning UX, UI, visual identity, generated content, animation, and UX writing.

You will lead a multidisciplinary design team while building effective processes and close collaboration with Product, Analytics, Marketing, and Engineering.

User research, experimentation, and behavioral insights will inform product priorities and continuous experience improvements.

This role is ideal for an experienced design leader with strong product instincts, analytical thinking, visual craft, and a proven record of driving growth through design.

Accountabilities

• Own the end-to-end product experience, covering acquisition creatives, landing pages, onboarding, avatar selection, chat, media generation, engagement, and retention experiences.
• Ensure consistency and quality across the complete user journey rather than focusing solely on individual screens or features.
• Use design to drive measurable business outcomes, including conversion to purchase, retention, and lifetime value.
• Develop product hypotheses, prioritize opportunities, validate concepts through A/B testing, and follow initiatives through to production.
• Establish and maintain a cohesive design direction covering UI, UX patterns, character and visual styles, generated content, animation, and UX copy.
• Evolve and maintain scalable design systems, patterns, and standards across the product.
• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary design team comprising product designers, UX writing, and user research capabilities.
• Establish efficient design processes and strengthen collaboration across Product, Analytics, Marketing, and Engineering.
• Translate user research, interviews, behavioral data, and customer support insights into concrete product and roadmap initiatives.
• Partner closely with product and analytics stakeholders to prioritize opportunities and make data-informed design decisions.
• Promote a culture of experimentation, continuous improvement, customer empathy, and accountability within the design function.

Requirements

• At least 3 years of experience leading a design team of 3 or more professionals.
• Proven experience designing for high-frequency B2C products such as AI companions, social platforms, dating products, health and fitness applications, edtech, or messaging products.
• Experience with products reaching at least 2 million monthly active users or generating $50 million or more in revenue.
• Demonstrated ability to show measurable business impact through design, including clear examples of improvements in conversion rates, retention, lifetime value, or other key product metrics.
• Strong product design expertise across UX, UI, user flows, information architecture, prototyping, and interaction design.
• Advanced proficiency with Figma and hands-on experience creating, implementing, and maintaining design systems.
• Strong understanding of experimentation, including A/B testing, hypothesis development, prioritization frameworks such as RICE, and data-driven product decision-making.
• Proven ability to work effectively with Product and Analytics teams and integrate design into broader product strategy.
• Excellent visual judgment, design taste, and attention to detail combined with strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Strong leadership, communication, mentoring, and stakeholder management skills.
• C1-level English proficiency or above.

Benefits

• Full-time opportunity within a flexible, internationally distributed working environment.
• Annual vacation allowance of 28 calendar days.
• 7 wellness days per year for personal recovery, household matters, or other wellbeing needs.
• Referral bonuses of up to $5,000 for successful candidate recommendations.
• 50% reimbursement for professional training, international conferences, and industry events.
• Corporate discounts for English-language lessons.
• Health support of up to $1,000 gross per year per employee where corporate medical insurance is not applicable, which may be used toward health insurance or eligible healthcare expenses for the employee and close relatives.
• Workplace setup support, including equipment and workspace resources, with reimbursement of eligible home-office or coworking expenses of up to $1,000 gross once every three years, subject to applicable conditions.
• Internal recognition and rewards program where colleagues can exchange earned bonuses for merchandise, team-building activities, massage certificates, and other benefits.
• Opportunity to lead a multidisciplinary design function and influence product strategy at a global scale.
• Exposure to AI-driven consumer products, experimentation, growth design, and data-informed product development.