Director, Product Design - Connectivity

Deel

Canada

On-site

CAD 167,000 - 250,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Stock grants

Remote work flexibility

WeWork access

Job summary

Deel is seeking a senior design leader to build and run a global design org across Developer Experience, Partners, App Ecosystem, Internal Tooling, and AI-powered surfaces. You will set craft standards, shape the org, and align design with product and engineering leadership.

You’ll drive connectivity strategy from API to end-user experience, own the design thesis for the platform, and lead multi-disciplinary teams through rapid iteration in a fast-growing SaaS environment.

Qualifications

10+ years in Product Design with senior IC experience (Lead/Manager).
3+ years in leadership roles managing designers (up to 5 direct reports).
Experience at scale-ups, tech companies or developer platforms.
Experience with API/developer products, integrations, or platform ecosystems.
Strong craft across interaction and visual design for B2B/enterprise surfaces.

Responsibilities

Lead and build a design organization across multiple domains (Developer Experience, Partners, App Ecosystem, Internal Tooling, AI surfaces).
Set org-wide craft standards, headcount, and org design; decide where to invest design capacity.
Collaborate with Product and Engineering leadership to shape connectivity strategy from API to end-user experience.
Own the design thesis for the platform and ensure alignment across multiple teams and leaders.

Skills

Design leadership

Developer platform

API products

AI in design

Enterprise design

Tools

API design tools

Job description

Who We Are Is What We Do

Deel is the all-in-one payroll and HR platform for global teams. Our vision is to unlock global opportunity for every person, team, and business. Built for the way the world works today, Deel combines HRIS, payroll, compliance, benefits, performance, and equipment management into one seamless platform. With AI-powered tools and a fully owned payroll infrastructure, Deel supports every worker type in 150+ countries—helping businesses scale smarter, faster, and more compliantly. Among the largest globally distributed companies in the world, our team of 7,000 spans more than 100 countries, speaks 74 languages, and brings a connected and dynamic culture that drives continuous learning and innovation for our customers.

Why should you be part of our success story?

As the fastest-growing Software as a Service (SaaS) company in history, Deel is transforming how global talent connects with world-class companies – breaking down borders that have traditionally limited both hiring and career opportunities. We're not just building software; we're creating the infrastructure for the future of work, enabling a more diverse and inclusive global economy. In 2024 alone, we paid $11.2 billion to workers in nearly 100 currencies and provided healthcare and benefits to workers in 109 countries—ensuring people get paid and protected, no matter where they are.

Our momentum is reflected in our achievements and customer satisfaction: CNBC Disruptor 50, Forbes Cloud 100, Deloitte Fast 500, and repeated recognition on Y Combinator's top companies list – all while maintaining a 4.83 average rating from 15,000 reviews across G2, Trustpilot, Captera, Apple and Google.

Your experience at Deel will be a career accelerator. At the forefront of the global work revolution, you'll tackle complex challenges that impact millions of people's working lives. With our momentum—backed by a $17.3 billion valuation and $1 B in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in just over five years—you'll drive meaningful impact while building expertise that makes you a sought-after leader in the transformation of global work.

The role

Deel started as a product. It's becoming a platform. Connectivity is where that shift gets built — and this is the role that owns how it feels, structurally and strategically, across the company.

You’ll set the design agenda for every surface that turns Deel from "a global HR system you log into" into "the operating system the rest of the world plugs into." That spans the APIs and developer experience external builders use to integrate with Deel, the Partners Portal that brings third-party developers and global enterprises into our ecosystem, the App Store where customers discover and adopt integrations, the internal admin tools our ops teams depend on, and Ops Connect — our AI-native customer surface where conversations become wikis, wikis become tickets, and tickets become resolved problems in real time.

This role is the epicenter of how the deel platform operates. From directing the platform to create and optimise our internal tooling and efficiency, impacting the vast majority of deel employees.

This role doesn't have a "main product." It has a thesis, and the mandate to make that thesis company policy: every great platform is the sum of its connections, and the design quality of those connections determines whether a platform compounds or stalls. You'll be the executive owner of that thesis, accountable for it in front of Product, Engineering, and company leadership.

What You'll Own

You’ll build and run a design organization — hiring, developing, designers across Developer Experience, Partners and App Ecosystem, Internal Tooling, and AI-powered customer surfaces (Ops Connect, Inbox, and what comes next). You'll set org-wide craft standards and operating rhythms, own headcount and org design for the group, and decide where to invest design capacity as the platform surface area grows. You stay close enough to the work to unblock a launch or reset a review and function as a domain lead.

You’ll sit with Product and Engineering leadership as a peer in shaping connectivity strategy — not just design's execution of it. Designing from the API into the end of the experience, where AI takes over and where humans stay in the loop, what an "app" inside Deel looks like a year and three years out: you co‑own these calls at the strategy table, and you're accountable for the design point of view holding up under scrutiny from the exec team and the board.

You’ll build the systems thinking — and the org structure — that ties this layer together. Today, a developer using our APIs, a partner publishing to the App Store, an ops agent inside an internal tool, and a customer talking to Ops Connect all experience different Deels. Closing that gap requires design leadership with the authority and the mandate to align multiple teams, multiple roadmaps, and multiple leaders around one coherent platform experience.

What We're Looking For

10+ years in Product Design, 3+ years operating at a very senior IC level (Lead / Manager)
No less than 1.5 years of experience managing designers (up to 5 direct reports)
Experience at scale-ups, tech companies or developer platform companies
Experience with API/developer products, integrations, or platform ecosystems — this is a strong plus and central to this role
Strong craft across interaction and visual design; comfortable across B2B, developer, and enterprise surfaces
Experience designing for documentation, onboarding flows, and developer-facing UX
Comfortable with complex system architecture and technical constraints
AI: Curiosity about AI and emerging technologies; experience designing AI‑assisted or AI-powered product experiences, or using AI tools as part of your design workflow. A portfolio that includes examples of work related to AI-powered features, AI-assisted workflows, or experiments with AI tools.
Experienced in multi-sided platform design (developers, partners, end-users)
Data‑savvy; comfortable measuring success through adoption and integration metrics
Solid understanding of both enterprise and startup needs

You Should Be Someone Who

Thrives in velocity and doesn't wait for perfect clarity
Makes good decisions under pressure
Puts the team first and holds a high bar for yourself and others
Leads by example through strong IC contribution
Can facilitate execution while raising — not lowering — the quality bar
Cares about details and outcomes
Integrates research into product decisions naturally

Design & AI at Deel

AI is changing how products are designed and built. At Deel, we’re excited about designers who are exploring how AI can enhance both the design process and the product experience. We’re looking for designers who are curious about emerging technologies and who actively experiment with AI in their work. This could include improving design workflows, prototyping faster, exploring new interaction patterns, or helping shape AI‑powered product experiences. If you’ve worked on AI‑related features or used AI tools as part of your design process, we’d love to see examples of that work in your portfolio.

Total Rewards

Our workforce deserves fair and competitive pay that meets them where they are. With scalable benefits, rewards, and perks, our total rewards programs reflect our commitment to inclusivity and access for all.

Some things you’ll enjoy

Stock grant opportunities dependent on your role, employment status and location
Additional perks and benefits based on your employment status and country
The flexibility of remote work, including optional WeWork access

At Deel, we’re an equal‑opportunity employer that values diversity and positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of race, religion, sex, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy or maternity or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

Deel will provide accommodations on request throughout the recruitment, selection and assessment process for applicants with disabilities. If you require accommodations, please inform our Talent Acquisition Team via this link and a team member will be in touch to ensure your equal participation. If you have difficulty accessing the form, please email at recruiting@deel.com.

As part of our hiring process, we primarily rely on interviews and role‑related assessments. In limited cases, we may also consider informal background information relevant to the role, in line with our privacy and fairness obligations.

This application process does utilise Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT) and AI systems to assist in evaluating candidates based on experience level, technical skills and qualifications. As a fully remote company, we also utilise AI‑powered deepfake and fraud detection technologies to verify the authenticity of candidate identities and interactions during assessments and interviews. This processing is conducted in compliance with applicable Data Protection, AI Governance and Labour Laws. We ensure human oversight is maintained in all final hiring decisions. Your personal data is not used to train AI models. For more information on how we process your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.

For NYC Residents: In accordance with NYC Local Law 144, an independent bias audit has been conducted on AEDT; results are available at Ashby, Covey.

Total Rewards

Our salary range reflects gross base salary. For commercial roles with commission eligibility, this figure represents On‑Target Earnings (OTE), inclusive of base salary and target commission.
Salary ranges are quoted in USD as a consistent global reference. Your offer will be localized to your country's currency using a market‑aligned conversion.
Final pay is based on objective, job‑related criteria including experience, skills, and location.
We don't ask about salary history. Offers are based on the role and what you bring to it.

Some things you'll enjoy

Stock grant opportunities dependent on your role, employment status and location
Additional perks and benefits based on your employment status and country
Optional flexible working office membership, with IWG

Unless otherwise agreed, we will communicate with job applicants using Deel‑specific emails, which include @deel.com and other acquired company emails like @payspace.com and @paygroup.com. You can view the most up‑to‑date job listings at Deel by visiting our careers page. Deel welcomes persons with disabilities to apply to any of our open roles. We will provide application and/or interview accommodations on request throughout the recruitment, selection and assessment process for applicants with disabilities or other needs. If you require application and/or interview accommodations, please inform our Talent Acquisition Team via email (recruiting@deel.com) and a team member will be in touch to ensure your equal participation.

This application process may utilise Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT) and AI systems to assist in evaluating candidates based on experience level, technical skills and qualifications. This processing is conducted in compliance with applicable Data Protection, AI Governance and Labour Laws. We ensure human oversight is maintained in all final hiring decisions. Your personal data is not used to train AI models. For more information on how we process your personal data, please see our Recruitment Privacy Policy.