Design Director

EF Education First; London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

EF Education First is seeking a Design Director to lead a multi-disciplined team, focusing on user-centered design and collaboration. This role involves strategic decision-making, coaching, and project management, allowing you to significantly impact online education and work within a diverse, global environment.

Benefits

Central office with gym and café

Global, multicultural working environment

Opportunity to travel

Chance to impact millions of learners

Regular social events

Competitive salary

Qualifications

• 4+ years in design management or leadership.
• Portfolio demonstrating product shipped.
• Deep expertise in design systems and tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach Product Design team members.
• Partner with product and engineering teams.
• Guide designers toward intuitive solutions.

Skills

User-centered design

Design management

Leadership

Collaboration

Job description

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Efekta is powering the next generation of education.

We unleash the untapped potential in teachers, students, and organisations, through a connected, online learning ecosystem. Where AI empowers, not replaces. Where immersive environments redefine the classroom. And where precision planning and analytics drive progress.

We are seeking an experienced Design Director to lead a multi-disciplined team based between Europe and Shanghai.

As Design Director, you'll lead, develop, and support our Product Design team, contributing to EF Education First's global design direction across products, people, processes, and systems.

A typical day will see you switching between coaching your team both as a group, and on an individual level, running design critiques and reviews, as well supporting strategic decisions with your Product and Engineering peers.

• Starts with “Why?”
• Can lead, guide, and develop the design process for their team–from problem definition to all the way through to design implementation.
• Partners with design, product, and engineering peers to make sure projects are rooted in a tangible problem, are well-specified, and are successfully delivered with a high value for their users.
• Guides Product Designers towards solutions that are unquestionably simple, intuitive, and “just work.”
• Works alongside design leadership to ensure cohesive user experiences across all products and services.
• Manages and coaches Product Designers of all levels and specialties.
• Actively seeks to grow the design team by attracting and hiring new talent.
• Is not afraid of failure.
• Is a life-long learner.

Role requirements

• You have at least 4 years practical work experience in a design management or leadership role
• You have a portfolio of relevant design work, executed either by yourself or a team that you led; demonstrating your ability to ship product.
• You have user-centered approach to design, focused on designing software for humans.
• You have a deep expertise in design systems and tools and a finger on the pulse of industry trends, practices, and emerging tech.
• You have worked with product owners, engineers (and ideally academics) to drive strategy, vision, and execution.
• You are comfortable attracting and hiring design talent.
• You’re happy juggling a wide range of responsibilities at the same time.
• You have a collaborative, no-ego approach to working with your team.
• You have experience leading remote teams.

What we offer

• Central office with gym, cafe and regular social events calendar
• Working in a global, multicultural environment with an amazing team of designers, engineers, academics, data scientists and product people
• The opportunity to travel.
• A chance to impact millions of learners and help define the future of online education.
• Competitive salary.

At EF EdTech, we believe that diversity and inclusion are fundamental to driving innovation. We value the unique perspectives and contributions of individuals from all backgrounds. Together, we aim to create an inclusive environment where every team member feels valued and empowered.