Director, Product Design

Strava; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Strava is seeking a Director of Product Design in San Francisco to lead design for critical product areas. You will own design direction, manage a team of 5 designers, and collaborate closely with PM and Engineering leaders to influence product strategy.

This role demands significant experience in product design with a focus on crafting a clear design vision and raising design standards. The position follows a hybrid work model.

Qualifications

• Director-level experience in Product Design managing a team.
• Ability to set and articulate a clear design vision.
• Hands-on in product design with high-level craft feedback.

Responsibilities

• Own design direction across product verticals.
• Manage and develop a team of Product Designers.
• Shape product strategy in partnership with PM and Engineering.

Skills

Leadership in Product Design

Cross-functional collaboration

Craft feedback and standards

Design vision development

Consumer product design experience

Job description

About This Role

Strava's San Francisco office is home to some of the product teams driving the company's most critical growth areas. The SF design portfolio spans some of Strava's highest-priority product surfaces — from athlete engagement and growth, to commercial products and platform trust — areas that are central to Strava's commercial growth and long-term athlete retention.

As Director, Product Design, you'll lead design across these verticals, owning design direction, setting the craft standard, and developing a team of 5 designers. You'll work in close partnership with PM and Engineering leaders, hold a strong design perspective in product strategy conversations, and be a senior voice in Strava's global Design org, reporting directly to the Senior Director of Product Design.

We follow a flexible hybrid model that translates to more than half of your time on-site in our San Francisco office, three days per week.

What You'll Do

• Own design direction and quality across a portfolio of SF-based product verticals spanning athlete engagement, growth, and platform integrity — driving design strategy and key decisions at the vertical and feature level
• Stay actively in the work: give precise, substantive craft feedback, engage in design decisions at the detail level, and set the standard through your own taste and judgment — not just through oversight
• Manage and develop a team of 5 Product Designers, with focus on craft growth, career development, and raising the quality of their output through consistent, high-quality coaching
• Partner with PM and Engineering leadership to shape product strategy — contributing early, holding a point of view, and ensuring design is a meaningful input to decisions
• Lead design reviews and establish what "good" looks like on this team — through feedback culture, explicit standards, and your own example
• Contribute to Strava's design system, shared standards, and cross-functional design culture
• Represent your teams' work and design perspective to the Senior Director of Product Design and the broader Design leadership org

What You'll Bring to the Team

• Director-level (or equivalent) experience in Product Design, with a track record of owning design direction across multiple products and managing a team of designers
• Ability to set and articulate a clear design vision — not just reacting to what’s in front of you, but establishing a point of view on where the product should go and bringing others along with it
• Hands‑on maker: still in the work at a high level — able to give precise, substantive craft feedback, engage in design decisions at the detail level, and set the bar through your own taste and judgment, not just management
• Demonstrated ability to raise craft and quality across a team — you develop others and build a culture where quality is expected, named, and consistently raised
• Strong cross-functional partnership with PM and Engineering at a senior level; you’ve influenced major product decisions and know how to hold a perspective with senior stakeholders
• Consumer product design experience at meaningful scale — you’ve worked on products that real people depend on, and that responsibility shows in how you work
• A clear design philosophy and the ability to communicate it; you bring people along with your thinking, not just your output
• Based in San Francisco

Experience with AI-powered product features, health and fitness products, Trust & Safety or policy-adjacent surfaces, growth or B2B product design, or scaling a design function within a growing company is a plus.

For information on benefits, please refer to our benefits page.

Strava is an equal opportunity employer. In keeping with the values of Strava, we make all employment decisions including hiring, evaluation, termination, promotional and training opportunities, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical handicap, mental disability, medical condition, disability, gender or identity or expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, marital status, height and/or weight.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

California Consumer Protection Act Applicant Notice.