Director, Product Design

Whatnot; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 310,000 - 365,000; Full time

Job summary

Whatnot is seeking a Director of Product Design to lead the Buyer Design team, shaping the end-to-end experience for millions of users on the platform. You will be a player-coach, mentoring designers and partnering with product, engineering, research, and business teams to translate vision into a concrete roadmap and high-impact design solutions.

From onboarding to post-purchase flows, you’ll drive strategy, craft, and collaboration in a fast-growing marketplace that values accessibility,

Qualifications

• 10+ years of product design experience, with at least 3+ years leading teams.
• Portfolio showcasing interaction and visual design skills with shipping experience.
• Proven success designing customer-facing experiences across a complex funnel (acquisition through retention).
• Deep expertise in interaction design, systems thinking, and user-centered design.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale a high-performing team of product designers across the buyer funnel.
• Define and drive the vision, strategy, and execution for the buyer experience with cross-functional partners.
• Partner with research, data, and product to develop deep customer empathy and inform design decisions.
• Shape intuitive, elegant systems across discovery, live shopping, and post-purchase experiences.
• Ensure accessible, inclusive, and delightful experiences.
• Champion design quality and consistency while enabling speed and iteration.
• Nurture a strong design culture through mentorship and high standards for craft.
• Represent design in executive conversations and influence company priorities.

Skills

Team leadership

Interaction design

Systems thinking

User-centered design

E-commerce design

Job description

Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot!

Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. Whether it's trading cards, fashion, electronics, or live plants, our sellers are building real businesses across hundreds of categories. We're building live commerce at a scale that's never been done in the West, and there's no playbook to copy. The people here are shaping how an entirely new industry develops.

As a remote co-located team, we're inspired by our values and anchored in hubs across the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Australia. We move fast, stay close to our users, and focus on the work that drives the most impact.

We're one of the fastest growing marketplaces and were recently named the #1 Best Startup Employer in America by Forbes. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our news and engineering blogs and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business and bring people together through commerce.

About The Role

We’re looking for a strategic and inspiring Director of Product Design to lead our Buyer Design team, the group responsible for shaping the end-to-end experience for millions of users navigating our platform.

As the design leader overseeing the entire buyer journey, you'll drive the strategy and execution for everything from customer acquisition, activation, to retention and re-engagement. This includes onboarding, discovery surfaces (browse, search, ranking, personalization, taxonomy), the live shopping experience, customer service, our games team, and customer service flows.

You’ll be a true player-coach, equally comfortable building and developing a high-performing design team as you are rolling up your sleeves and doing the work yourself. You’ll help shape the team, establish clear career paths, mentor designers, and create an environment where people can grow and do their best work.

As a leader, you’ll help define the design strategy and set a clear vision for what our experiences can become, partnering closely with product, engineering, research, and business teams to turn that vision into a roadmap for the team.

As a practitioner, you’ll stay close to the work. You’ll move fluidly from defining the long-term experience vision to tackling specific product and feature-level design challenges - exploring concepts, prototyping ideas, and helping bring the details to life. This role is for someone who can lead through both direction and craft, knowing when to empower the team and when to jump in and design alongside them.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and scale a high-performing team of product designers across the buyer funnel.
• Define and drive the vision, strategy, and execution for the buyer experience in collaboration with cross-functional partners.
• Partner with research, data, and product to develop deep customer empathy and inform high-impact design decisions.
• Shape intuitive, elegant systems across discovery, live shopping, and post-purchase experiences.
• Ensure our experiences are accessible, inclusive, and delightfully human.
• Champion design quality and consistency across surfaces while enabling speed and iteration.
• Nurture a strong design culture through mentorship, feedback, and high standards for craft and thinking.
• Represent design in executive conversations and influence company-wide priorities.

What We’re Looking For

• 10+ years of product design experience, with at least 3+ years leading teams.
• A player-coach mindset-excited to mentor, but equally passionate about designing and solving problems hands-on.
• Strong portfolio showcasing interaction and visual design skills, with a track record of shipping successful products.
• Proven success designing and scaling customer-facing experiences across a complex funnel (acquisition through retention).
• Deep expertise in interaction design, systems thinking, and user-centered design.
• Strong understanding of search, discovery, personalization, and taxonomy design principles.
• Experience in e-commerce, marketplaces, or live shopping platforms is a major plus.
• A strong collaborator who thrives at the intersection of product, business, and user needs.
• A portfolio that demonstrates thoughtful, elegant solutions to complex problems.

Why You’ll Love This Role

You’ll help define how the next generation of users discover, shop, and engage with sellers and communities they love. You’ll work alongside a passionate and ambitious team that values joy, experimentation, and deep customer empathy. And you’ll help build a design culture where creativity and performance go hand in hand.

If you’re an experienced design leader who loves craft, strategy, and collaboration, we’d love to hear from you!

Reporting Structure

Jon Malkemus - VP of Design

Please note: Whatnot will only contact you through official @whatnot.com email addresses. If you see an email impersonating a Whatnot recruiter, please disregard and report it as spam.

EOE

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law. We believe that our work is better and our company culture is improved when we encourage, support, and respect the different skills and experiences represented within our workforce.

Compensation Range: $310K - $365K