Senior Director, Design & Research

📋 Description

• • Babylist is seeking a visionary and strategic Senior Director of Product Design and Research to lead and elevate the user experience across our entire platform. As the leading registry, e-commerce, and content hub for growing families, Babylist empowers millions of users annually to navigate one of life's most significant transitions with confidence and ease. This pivotal role will report directly to the Chief Product Officer, ensuring that deep user understanding, rigorous research, and insightful product judgment are at the forefront of Babylist's strategic planning, product development, and future vision.
• • You will be instrumental in shaping the long-term experience strategy, overseeing Product Design, User Research, UX Content Design, and the Design System. Your leadership will ensure that every touchpoint—from product discovery and registry building to managing health needs and making purchases—is intuitive, accessible, and delightful for parents and gift-givers alike.
• • A key aspect of this role involves defining Babylist's approach to integrating Artificial Intelligence into user workflows. You will guide the development of AI-powered experiences that are not only helpful and efficient but also trustworthy and seamlessly integrated into the user journey, enhancing how families connect with the products and information they need.
• • This is a strategic leadership position that requires you to foster a profound understanding of our users throughout the organization. You will identify the most critical problems to solve and bring clarity to complex product decisions. Furthermore, you will be responsible for developing the essential systems, operational rituals, and team structures that enable our talented designers, researchers, and content designers to perform at their highest level and deliver consistently exceptional experiences as Babylist continues its rapid growth and scaling.
• • Your impact will be felt across the organization as you set and champion a multi-year user experience direction for Babylist. This includes creating a clear, inspiring vision for how our registry, health, shopping, and content offerings will evolve, all grounded in deep user insight, robust research, and expert design judgment.
• • You will actively shape company-level planning by infusing executive decisions with user insights, evidence, and a clear understanding of user needs, ensuring we prioritize the problems that matter most to our audience.
• • You will lead Babylist’s strategic direction for AI-supported experiences, defining how AI can best assist user workflows and decision-making through simple, intuitive, and user-friendly interfaces.
• • Establishing clear, high standards for usability, accessibility, and overall quality will be a core responsibility. You will set expectations that drive improvements in clarity, consistency, and the overall quality of experiences across all our platforms and surfaces.
• • Developing a comprehensive strategic plan for Product Design and Research is crucial. This includes defining optimal team structures, ensuring adequate capacity, and setting long-term goals that are tightly aligned with overarching company priorities.
• • You will build and refine systems that empower effective planning and decision-making. This involves evolving current processes to support clear prioritization, consistent alignment across teams, and robust execution of our product roadmap.
• • Establishing mechanisms to rigorously measure experience quality is essential. You will track key metrics such as usability, user satisfaction, research insights, and design system adoption, creating clear visibility for leadership and development teams.
• • Guiding execution across multiple platforms and surfaces will require providing clear direction that helps teams navigate complexity and deliver cohesive, high-quality, and unified experiences.
• • Identifying and prioritizing high-impact user problems is paramount. You will partner closely with Product and Engineering teams to ensure our focus remains on the issues that most significantly affect parents and gift-givers.
• • You will play a key role in scaling the Heartbeat Design System across the organization, driving its adoption to enhance consistency and ensure long-term maintainability and efficiency.
• • Developing and growing our multidisciplinary design teams is a core leadership function. You will support designers, researchers, and content designers by providing clear expectations, constructive feedback, and defined development paths.
• • Increasing visibility into user experience work across Babylist is vital. You will improve how user needs, research findings, and experience updates are communicated effectively to Product, Engineering, and other partner teams.
• • You will represent Product Design and Research at the executive level, influencing company strategy and ensuring that user needs remain central to all critical decisions and long-term planning initiatives.
• • Ultimately, you will be a champion for the user, ensuring that Babylist continues to be the most trusted and beloved platform for growing families, helping them feel confident, connected, and cared for at every step.