Head of Design, Global Expansion

Nubank; Ohio; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Nu b an k, a leading fintech, seeks a Head of Design to oversee a global expansion initiative. You will balance hands-on design work with strategic leadership, raising the craft bar across the organization and shaping the design system.

You will collaborate with engineering, product, and global design teams to deliver delightful experiences in multiple markets, emphasizing simplicity, elegance, and user-centric design.

Qualifications

• Demonstrates world-class product design across fintech products.
• Leads teams while staying hands-on and crafting work.
• Experience in financial services, payments, or digital assets.
• Works within a mature design organization to influence the global system.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design function for Nubank's global expansion across 35+ markets.
• Set and uphold craft standards, benchmarking against top fintech products.
• Remain hands-on with design work, prototyping and shaping interfaces.
• Evolve the design system and contribute patterns back to the central system.
• Collaborate with engineering, product, and design teams across markets to ship delightful experiences.

Skills

World-class product design

Hands-on manager

Fintech-adjacent domain

System-level collaborator

Bar-raiser

Job description

About Nu

Nu serves more than 140 million customers, guided by a mission to fight complexity and empower people. The company has been leading an industry transformation through innovative products and human-centered services.

Proprietary technology and data at scale power Nu’s digital platform, built to promote financial access, advancement, and transparency. Its business model thrives on customer love and lower costs, feeding a flywheel of growth and profitability.

Visit our Institutional Page

Location: U.S./Canada East Coast, including New York City, or Brazil (Eastern timezone for Europe-compatibility)

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The Role

We're launching a brand-new global account into dozens of markets at once — multi-currency holdings, yield, diversification across digital assets, and a suite of debit cards, built for people whose work and family span borders. The infrastructure underneath is powered by stablecoins and open financial services, but that complexity is fully abstracted. What the customer feels is a delightful, magical consumer product — as simple and effortless as anything Apple makes.

This is the project where every new thing at Nu lands first: the Magic App, the next evolution of the design system, new components and patterns. You'd have unusual room to experiment, iterate, and push the system forward rather than just consume it. The benchmark isn't the domestic market — it's global leaders like Revolut and Wise, and we're building to raise the bar past them.

As Head of Design for this initiative, you'll own the design function for the entire project. This is a player-coach role: you'll manage a team, but you'll also stay deeply in the craft — prototyping, refining, and setting the standard by doing, not just by directing. We need someone whose work itself is the bar.

What You'll Do

• Lead the design function for Nubank's most ambitious global expansion — a multi-currency account allowing transfers to 35+ countries.
• Set and hold the craft bar at a global standard, benchmarking against the best fintech products in the world (Revolut, Wise, and beyond).
• Stay hands‑on. You manage people, but you're also in the work — shipping design, prototyping, and elevating every surface and interaction.
• Push the design system forward. This product is the proving ground for new components and patterns that flow back into Nu's global design system. You don't just use the system; you evolve it.
• Navigate the balance between creative freedom and organizational maturity — earning autonomy by influencing and persuading the central design organization, contributing patterns back to the system, and building bridges rather than working in isolation.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, product, and the broader design organization to ship experiences that feel magical and effortless to customers across China, Italy, Spain, and dozens of other markets.

What We're Looking For

• Craft first. Extreme attention to detail and a portfolio that demonstrates world‑class product design — the kind of work that stands out against Revolut, Wise, or Apple.
• A hands‑on manager. You've led teams, but you still design. You set the bar by doing, not just by directing.
• Fintech‑adjacent domain experience. You've worked in or around financial products — payments, cards, banking, digital assets, consumer finance. If you come from outside finance, you should have extraordinary craft and a track record of making complex products feel dead simple.
• A system‑level collaborator. You know how to operate within a mature design organization — influencing the global system, contributing patterns, and partnering with central teams rather than working around them.
• A bar‑raiser. You're not satisfied with "good enough." You push your team and yourself to the next level, especially when competing against the best in the world.

About the Product

A global account designed for people with cross-border lives — those who work across markets, have family in different countries, or need to move money internationally with ease. It offers multi‑currency holdings, yield, diversification across digital assets, and a set of debit cards. The underlying technology is powered by stablecoins and open financial services, but that's invisible to the user. What they experience is a consumer product that feels as simple and delightful as anything Apple makes.

The product is launching nonlinearly into 35+ countries simultaneously — customers in China, Italy, Spain, and beyond. This is Nubank's most ambitious global expansion to date, and the design bar must match the ambition.

Interview Process

1. Async portfolio review with Ethan Eismann (CDO).
2. Live portfolio presentation (1 hour) — walkthrough of your best work with the design leadership team.
3. Hiring manager interview (45 min) with Thomaz Fortes and Thais Burin.
4. Final conversation with Ethan if needed.

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Hiring managers: Thomaz Fortes & Thais Burin · CDO: Ethan Eismann

Our recruitment process may involve the use of artificial intelligence–enabled tools, such as automated interview transcription and analysis, to support the evaluation process. Artificial intelligence is not used to make final hiring decisions; all decisions are made by human reviewers.

To maintain a consistent and fair process for every candidate, Nu does not provide individualized technical feedback. See how our policy works here