Director of Product Design

McAfee GmbH; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 246,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus Program

401k Retirement

Medical insurance

Parental leave

Unlimited PTO

Job summary

McAfee is seeking a Director of Product Design to lead the product design and systems team, elevating quality and impact across experiences with faster delivery. You will partner with Product, Engineering, Research, Content Design and executives to shape UX strategy and expand AI-driven workflows, advancing the design system and governance.

You will mentor managers and senior ICs, drive ownership culture, and ensure accessibility, privacy, and responsible AI practices across products.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in product design leadership roles.
• Experience translating strategy into design roadmaps.
• Strong knowledge of design systems and cross‑platform design.
• Fluent in applying AI to design workflows while maintaining craft.

Responsibilities

• Set UX strategy and direction across multiple teams.
• Advance AI-enabled design workflows from concept to handoff.
• Strengthen and govern the design system for scale.
• Raise quality of design deliverables and design-to-engineering handoff.
• Build operational excellence and cross-functional alignment.
• Mentor managers and senior ICs.
• Foster inclusive design and responsible AI practices.

Skills

Design leadership

Design systems

AI workflows

Executive communication

Cross-functional leadership

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in design

Tools

Figma

Job description

Role Summary

Leads teams delivering UI/UX design solutions by defining user experience strategy, visual design standards, and interaction guidelines. Oversees requirements analysis and manages reviews of wireframes, prototypes, and design systems. Allocates resources for user research, usability testing, and accessibility audits. Reviews design documentation, user feedback, and compliance reports. Manages budgets for design tools, user testing platforms, and training. Ensures adherence to accessibility, branding, and industry standards. Mentors designers in user-centered design practices and iterative improvement, and represents the team in technical reviews, stakeholder meetings, and client presentations.

Position Details

McAfee is seeking a Director of Product Design to lead our product design and systems team, raise the bar for design quality, and help the organization deliver better product experiences with greater speed, consistency, and business impact.

This leader will partner closely with Product, Engineering, Research, Content Design, and executive stakeholders to shape UX strategy, strengthen design operations, and integrate design earlier into planning and delivery. A key focus is advancing AI-driven product design workflows—improving how teams explore concepts, apply the design system, prototype, critique, QA, and hand off work to Engineering, including pushing beyond traditional Figma-based handoff toward more executable, implementation-ready outputs.

The role is also accountable for strengthening the design system as a foundation for scale, setting clear expectations through the levels and skills framework, and developing managers and senior ICs who can deliver high-quality, production-ready work.

What You'll Do

• Set UX strategy and direction across multiple teams, connecting customer needs, business goals, product strategy, and measurable outcomes.

• Advance AI-enabled product design workflows that improve concept exploration, prototyping, design system application, critique, QA, and handoff—pushing the organization beyond static files toward more executable, implementation-ready deliverables.

• Strengthen the design system as a platform for consistency, efficiency, accessibility, reusable patterns, implementation fidelity, and cross-platform quality.

• Raise the quality of design deliverables by defining what "excellent" looks like across flows, edge cases, interaction details, content, accessibility, specifications, and engineering handoff.

• Build operational excellence through stronger planning, prioritization, design reviews, decision-making, documentation, and cross-functional alignment.

• Lead and influence cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Research, Marketing, Data, and executive stakeholders to align strategy, scope, trade-offs, and delivery plans.

• Grow talent and design culture by coaching managers and senior ICs, applying the levels and skills framework, and building a culture of ownership, feedback, high craft, and measurable outcomes.

What You Bring

• 10+ years of product design experience, including leadership of managers, senior ICs, or multiple design teams.

• Proven ability to set strategy, translate ambiguity into clear priorities, and connect design work to customer and business outcomes.

• Strong experience with design systems, reusable patterns, cross-platform design, and design-to-engineering handoff.

• Practical fluency with AI-enabled product design workflows and strong judgment about where AI can improve speed, quality, system adoption, and implementation readiness versus where human craft must lead.

• Track record of raising design quality, delivery discipline, operational effectiveness, and implementation fidelity across teams.

• Experience using research, data, experimentation, and customer insight to guide product direction and validate decisions.

• Strong executive communication, storytelling, stakeholder management, and cross-functional influence.

• Experience mentoring and developing design managers, senior designers, and future design leaders against clear level expectations.

• Commitment to inclusive design, accessibility, privacy, trust, and responsible AI practices.

Success Looks Like

• Teams deliver higher-quality work with clearer expectations, stronger rituals, and better handoff.

• AI-enabled product design workflows improve concept exploration, prototyping, design system usage, critique, QA, and engineering handoff quality.

• The design system reduces inconsistency, rework, and implementation ambiguity.

• Design is engaged earlier in planning and contributes more directly to product strategy and business outcomes.

• Managers and designers understand what great looks like at their level and have clearer paths for growth.

Company Overview

McAfee is a leader in personal security for consumers. Focused on protecting people, not just devices, McAfee consumer solutions adapt to users' needs in an always online world, empowering them to live securely through integrated, intuitive solutions that protects their families and communities with the right security at the right moment.

Company Benefits and Perks

• Bonus Program
• 401k Retirement
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Basic Life, Short Term Disability and Long-Term Disability Coverage
• Paid Parental Leave
• Support and Community Involvement
• 14 Paid Company Holidays
• Unlimited Paid Time Off for Exempt Employees
• 96 Hours of Sick Time and 120 Hours of Vacation for Non-Exempt Employees Accrued Each Year

We're serious about our commitment to diversity which is why McAfee prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or any other legally protected status.

Pay Range

The anticipated compensation for this position is USD $149,610.00/Yr. - USD $245,790.00/Yr. depending on experience and qualifications.