Head of Research and Design

Sana Commerce; Abu Dhabi; Hybrid; AED 420,000 - 720,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Global onboarding program

Hybrid work model

Work from anywhere up to 8 weeks

Collaboration with global leaders

Job summary

Sana Commerce in Abu Dhabi is seeking a Head of Research and Design to shape an AI-native agentic commerce experience. You will lead the research and design team, set direction, and work hands-on to craft the product.

You will own the end-to-end journey, design for trust, transparency, and conversation-driven interactions, and help extend a design system for AI generation. Hybrid role: 3 days in the office, 2 from home; global collaboration with leaders.

Qualifications

• Proven experience building AI-powered or agentic products and demonstrable shipped work.
• Strong portfolio of commercially shipped products used by real customers.
• Proven experience leading both product design and user research, owning end-to-end experience.
• Track record using user, market and industry research to shape product direction.
• Practical AI fluency across research and design, including AI-ready design systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead the research and design team to define an AI-native agentic commerce experience.
• Own the end-to-end product journey, focusing on trust, performance and coherence.
• Define how agents behave, surface interactions, and how transparency and fallback are designed.
• Develop a machine-readable design system for AI generation and scaling.
• Own the research agenda and steer future directions for agentic commerce.
• Maintain a high craft bar for fidelity and speed within a small team.

Skills

AI-powered products

Leading research and design

User research

Product design

Team leadership

Tools

Design systems

AI tooling

Prototyping tools

Job description

At Sana Commerce, we're committed to creating an inclusive environment because we know our diverse workforce is one of our greatest strengths.

Sana Commerce is building the future of B2B commerce for the agentic era, where buyers, sellers and agents interact and transact across every channel.

B2B commerce is going agentic. We are looking for a Head of Research and Design who already sees where this is heading, and who wants to take a team and a product there.

You lead this from the front. You own the point of view on how commerce products get built and experienced in an agentic world, you sharpen it through your own research, and you bring the frameworks, standards and ways of working the team needs before anyone thinks to ask for them. You lead the research and design team towards that vision. You set the direction, you stay in the work, and the team builds it with you.

What you'll get:

• The opportunity to make an impact at a fast-growing SaaS scale-up;
• A global and customized onboarding program (9,1/10 rated by previous hires);
• Working closely with global leaders on strategic initiatives;
• Up to 8 weeks work from anywhere per year;
• A hybrid working model - 3 days from the office, 2 days from home;

Job Description

What you'll be owning:

• The team and the direction. Lead the research and design team towards a clear picture of what we are building: an AI-native product and an agentic commerce experience that buyers and sellers will actually use. You set the bar by doing the work alongside them.
• The end-to-end experience. Designers here own the whole journey, not individual screens or isolated moments. You own how it holds together, where it earns trust, and how it performs, while the moments inside it are increasingly generated.
• Agentic experience design. How agents behave, when they surface, and how transparency, control and fallback get designed in. Buyers and sellers will increasingly transact through conversational and headless interactions, with no screen in between.
• An AI-native design system. A machine-readable, token-driven system that AI tooling consumes to generate consistent, high-fidelity design. Built to be picked up automatically, not maintained by hand.
• The research agenda. Where the industry is heading on agentic commerce and the future of B2B commerce, how buyer and seller behavior is shifting, and what trust and privacy have to look like when an agent transacts on someone's behalf. The team is already working on these questions. You own where they go next.
• The craft bar. A high standard for fidelity and quality, and the methods that let a small team hold it at speed.

Qualifications

What you'll bring:

• Proven experience building AI-powered or agentic products, with demonstrable examples of products, prototypes or agents you personally helped research, design or build
• A strong portfolio of commercially shipped products used by real customers, demonstrating your personal contribution and measurable user or business impact.
• Proven experience leading both product design and user research, owning the end-to-end product experience while remaining hands-on in research, prototyping and design.
• A track record of using user, market and industry research to shape product direction, translating insights into a clear product and experience vision.
• Practical AI fluency across the research and design process, including design systems built for AI generation: tokens, structure, and systems that scale without manual upkeep.
• Experience leading and developing designers and researchers, setting direction and standards while working closely with Product Management and other product and technology disciplines.
• Experience in e-commerce is strongly preferred, whether B2B or B2C. Experience with B2B commerce and complex buyer and seller journeys is particularly relevant.

Additional Information

Our values

At Sana Commerce, our values guide everything we do:

• Champions of Our League – We balance quick wins with long-term success.
• Supercharge Our Customers – We help our customers succeed by continuously improving their digital commerce experience.
• Determined to Grow – We embrace challenges and keep raising the bar.
• Bold Together – We achieve more by supporting one another.