Director, Product Design
About Strava
Strava is the app for active people. With over 200 million athletes in more than 185 countries, it’s more than tracking workouts-it’s where people make progress together, from new habits to new personal bests. No matter your sport or how you track it, Strava’s got you covered. Find your crew, crush your goals, and make every effort count. Start your journey with Strava today.
Our mission is simple: to motivate people to live their best active lives. We believe in the power of movement to connect and drive people forward.
About This Role
Strava's San Francisco office is home to some of the product teams driving the company's most critical growth areas. The SF design portfolio spans some of Strava's highest-priority product surfaces - from athlete engagement and growth, to commercial products and platform trust - areas that are central to Strava's commercial growth and long-term athlete retention.
As Director, Product Design, you'll lead design across these verticals, owning design direction, setting the craft standard, and developing a team of 5 designers. You'll work in close partnership with PM and Engineering leaders, hold a strong design perspective in product strategy conversations, and be a senior voice in Strava's global Design org, reporting directly to the Senior Director of Product Design.
We follow a flexible hybrid model that translates to more than half of your time on-site in our San Francisco office, three days per week.
What You'll Do
Own design direction and quality across a portfolio of SF-based product verticals spanning athlete engagement, growth, and platform integrity - driving design strategy and key decisions at the vertical and feature level
Stay actively in the work: give precise, substantive craft feedback, engage in design decisions at the detail level, and set the standard through your own taste and judgment - not just through oversight
Manage and develop a team of 5 Product Designers, with focus on craft growth, career development, and raising the quality of their output through consistent, high-quality coaching
Partner with PM and Engineering leadership to shape product strategy - contributing early, holding a point of view, and ensuring design is a meaningful input to decisions
Lead design reviews and establish what "good" looks like on this team - through feedback culture, explicit standards, and your own example
Contribute to Strava's design system, shared standards, and cross-functional design culture
Represent your teams' work and design perspective to the Senior Director of Product Design and the broader Design leadership org
What You'll Bring to the Team
Director-level (or equivalent) experience in Product Design, with a track record of owning design direction across multiple products and managing a team of designers
Ability to set and articulate a clear design vision - not just reacting to what's in front of you, but establishing a point of view on where the product should go and bringing others along with it
Hands-on maker: still in the work at a high level - able to give precise, substantive craft feedback, engage in design decisions at the detail level, and set the bar through your own taste and judgment, not just management
Demonstrated ability to raise craft and quality across a team - you develop others and build a culture where quality is expected, named, and consistently raised
Strong cross-functional partnership with PM and Engineering at a senior level; you've influenced major product decisions and know how to hold a perspective with senior stakeholders
Consumer product design experience at meaningful scale - you've worked on products that real people depend on, and that responsibility shows in how you work
A clear design philosophy and the ability to communicate it; you bring people along with your thinking, not just your output
Based in San Francisco
Experience with AI-powered product features, health and fitness products, Trust & Safety or policy-adjacent surfaces, growth or B2B product design, or scaling a design function within a growing company is a plus.
For information on benefits, please click here.
Why Join Us?
Movement brings us together. At Strava, we’re building the world’s largest community of active people, helping them stay motivated and achieve their goals.
Our global team is passionate about making movement fun, meaningful, and accessible to everyone. Whether you’re shaping the technology, growing our community, or driving innovation, your work at Strava makes an impact.
When you join Strava, you’re not just joining a company-you’re joining a movement. If you’re ready to bring your energy, ideas, and drive, let’s build something incredible together.
Strava builds software that makes the best part of our athletes’ days even better. Just as we’re deeply committed to unlocking their potential, we’re dedicated to providing a world-class, inclusive workplace where our employees can grow and thrive, too. We’re backed by Sequoia Capital, TCV, Madrone Partners and Jackson Square Ventures, and we’re expanding in order to exceed the needs of our growing community of global athletes. Our culture reflects our community. We are continuously striving to hire and engage teammates from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives because we know we are a stronger team together.
Strava is an equal opportunity employer. In keeping with the values of Strava, we make all employment decisions including hiring, evaluation, termination, promotional and training opportunities, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical handicap, mental disability, medical condition, disability, gender or identity or expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, marital status, height and/or weight.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.