Associate Director of Design

Luxury Escapes; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

20% discount on Luxury Holidays

Breakfast and lunch provided 5 days a‑

Health and Well-being programs

Annual Hackathons

Half-day birthday leave

Collaborative team

Job summary

Luxury Escapes in Sydney is seeking an Associate Director of Design to lead the product design team, shaping strategy and delivery across web and app experiences. You will coach designers, own capacity planning, and partner with Product and Engineering to deliver customer-centred work.

The role blends hands-on design on priority initiatives with strong leadership, design system evolution, and measurement of impact.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading product designers with coaching and growth focus.
• Track record of leading digital product design across initiatives balancing user needs and business goals.
• Strong craft with shipped web/app experiences and clear design decisions.
• Hands-on proficiency in Figma, prototyping, responsive design and design systems.
• Sound judgement in UX research, analytics, experimentation and accessible design.
• Excellent planning and stakeholder communication during ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the design team with coaching, feedback and career plans.
• Drive strategic direction translating customer needs into design goals with leadership.
• Own design capacity planning, priorities and delivery risks.
• Lead critiques, ensure usability, accessibility and visual quality.
• Collaborate with Engineering to ensure design intent is realized.
• Evolve the design system and reusable patterns for speed and consistency.
• Measure team impact with Product and Engineering on metrics like usability and engagement.
• Champion AI-assisted design practices across discovery, prototyping and documentation.
• Maintain strong cross-functional relationships with Product, Analytics and stakeholders.

Skills

People management

Design leadership

Coaching

Figma

Prototyping

Stakeholder comms

Tools

Figma

Design systems

Job description

Be part of the team protecting the experiences our customers love

Luxury Escapes is a fast-growing travel platform with more than 8 million members. Recently winning the award for Most Outstanding Employee Engagement and Recruitment Program at the National Travel Industry Awards 2026!

Working at Luxury Escapes

Our mission is to delight our customers with incredible deals for the world's best holidays. We are a collective of forward-thinking people, driven to challenge the travel industry and ourselves to bring outstanding travel experiences to our customer community.

Our award winning employee experience is king here having been recognised as "One of the Best Places to Work"by the AFR with weekly events, monthly recognition programs and significant professional development opportunities.

We do what we can to make you look forward to waking up every day!

Our Sydney office is located on Kent Street, just a short stroll from Wynyard station and surrounded by great cafés in Barangaroo.

Luxury Escapes is an in-person company. We collaborate face-to-face in our Sydney office, 5 days a week, because we believe the best ideas happen when we’re together.

Job Description

The Associate Director of Design leads the people, planning and day-to-day delivery of the product design team. The role builds a high-performing team, develops designers and ensures design work supports customer needs and Luxury Escapes’ business priorities across web and app experiences.

People management and design leadership are the primary focus. The role also contributes hands-on design on selected complex or high-priority initiatives, creating concepts, designs and prototypes where direct involvement helps the team make progress. Hands-on commitments are balanced with coaching, delegation and team delivery.

Leadership and Team Development

• Lead, coach and develop the design team through regular one-to-ones, clear objectives, timely feedback and meaningful career development plans.
• Support recruitment and onboarding, building the skills and capacity needed for the product roadmap.
• Create a collaborative team culture where designers seek feedback, share learning and take ownership of outcomes.

Strategic Direction

• Translate customer and business priorities into clear design goals, working with design, Product and Engineering leadership.
• Bring customer insight into discovery and roadmap decisions, identifying opportunities to improve the end-to-end travel booking experience.
• Communicate design priorities and trade-offs clearly so the team understands where to focus and why.

Delivery and Quality

• Own design capacity planning and work allocation across the agreed scope; make priorities, dependencies and delivery risks visible and resolve blockers early.
• Lead design critiques and reviews, setting a consistent standard for usability, accessibility, interaction design and visual quality.
• Ensure customer research, analytics and testing inform design decisions, and use findings to improve work after release.
• Partner with Engineering through implementation and design quality assurance to ensure the delivered experience meets the intent.
• Support the evolution and adoption of the design system, reusable patterns and practical design processes that improve consistency and delivery speed.
• Agree and review measures of team effectiveness and customer impact with Product and Engineering, including delivery predictability, usability and relevant conversion or engagement outcomes.

AI and Design Capability

• Lead practical use of AI across exploration, prototyping, research synthesis, documentation and routine design tasks.
• Coach designers through regular practical learning, shared examples and reusable guidance so effective AI workflows become part of everyday work.

Cross Functional Collaboration

• Build trusted relationships with Product, Engineering, Analytics and business stakeholders to align scope, priorities and delivery expectations.
• Work with design and creative leadership to maintain a coherent customer experience and brand expression across products.
• Present recommendations with clear rationale, resolve competing feedback and keep stakeholders informed of progress and decisions.

Hands On Design

• Take on selected design problems from discovery through to delivery, producing user flows, high-fidelity designs and interactive prototypes.
• Use direct design work to clarify complex interactions, explore new approaches and demonstrate the quality expected of the team.
• Scope hands-on work deliberately, delegate ongoing execution where appropriate and protect time for team leadership.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing product designers, with strong coaching, performance management, recruitment and team development skills.
• A track record of leading digital product design across multiple initiatives and balancing customer needs, commercial goals and technical constraints.
• Strong product design craft, demonstrated through a portfolio of shipped web or app experiences and clear explanations of decisions and outcomes.
• Current hands-on proficiency in Figma, prototyping, responsive design and design systems.
• Sound judgement in UX research, analytics, experimentation and accessible design.
• Strong planning, prioritisation and stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to guide teams through ambiguity and changing priorities.
• Demonstrated experience improving design operations across multiple Product teams, including intake, capacity planning, prioritisation and delivery workflows.
• Practical experience using AI-assisted design and prototyping tools, coaching others and showing how adoption improved speed or quality while retaining sound design judgement.

Additional Information

What's in it for you?

We consider our people one of our most important assets, and we want our team to love their working lives! When you work for Luxury Escapes, you can look forward to:

• 20% discount on Luxury Holidays
• Breakfast and lunch are provided 5-days a week
• Health and Well-being programs
• Annual Hackathons!
• 1/2 day birthday bonus leave
• A super collaborative team that enjoys creating great platforms

As a 2026 Circle Back Initiative employer, we're committed to responding to every applicant.

We embrace diversity in our people and make hiring decisions based on your experiences and skills. We do not discriminate based on gender identity, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status. You'll find a collaborative, inclusive, and respectful workplace here at Luxury Escapes, and we are proud to celebrate who you are. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments during the interview.