Remote Product Design Manager

Our Product team obsesses over delivering great SaaS to serve the 6,000+ businesses that choose Close to help them grow. We are data-driven, learn the why behind problems, focus on use cases, and talk to our customers on every occasion. We share on The Making of Close, our behind-the-scenes Product & Engineering blog.

We are looking for a seasoned Product Design Manager to guide and shape our growing team. In this role, you will oversee the design of our web, desktop, and mobile apps, and play a key role in the design and development of new features. This role reports to our Senior Director of Product.

This role is ideal for someone who likes taking a hands-on approach to leadership, enjoys the challenge of managing a dynamic team, and is passionate about solving complex problems with simple and elegant solutions.

Leadership with Purpose: You will have the opportunity to lead and nurture a team of talented designers, fostering a culture
of innovation and excellence. Your leadership will directly influence our design direction and the evolution of our product.

Impact at Scale: You will get to oversee design work that has a direct and significant impact on the daily experiences of our customers and their teams. Your work will be an integral part of their success as we build a world-class CRM.

Deep Work: Our product development process is inspired byShape Up. We work in six-week cycles, thinking deeply about the right problems and shipping impactful product on time. Product, Design, and Engineering work collaboratively on the best solution. We believe in sustainable progress and success over the long run. 

Design-Driven Work: You’ll take charge of initiatives where design leads the way, setting the standard for how innovative solutions can emerge from a design-centric approach.

About the Role
Team Management
Lead a distributed team of 5+ designers (mostly Senior-level)
Host 1:1s and team meetings, and provide ongoing performance feedback
Set and execute quarterly team goals
Build strong team culture and continue to raise the bar for design qualityIdentify professional development opportunities for the team
Grow the team, as needed
Build and improve team processes
Research
Drive user research efforts to uncover pain points, opportunities, and insights
Foster a culture within the design team of regularly doing qualitative and quantitative research (e.g., user interviews, surveys, usability testing, etc.)
Ensure the design team integrates user research findings into design decisions
Design & BuildProvide design review/critique on a regular basis (written feedback, video calls)
Oversee design planning and assignments for each Cycle
Help shape projects and ideas, especially early in the process
Work closely with Product Management and Engineering teams at every stage
Collaborate with Engineering on building out and organizing our design system
Ensure consistency with Close’s overall brand
Take on limited individual contributor work
Vision
Define and communicate a compelling design vision that aligns with the product strategy and Close brand
Contribute to longer-term roadmap planning
Identify, plan, champion, and execute “Design-driven” projects (e.g., redesigns, etc.)

About You
Experience & Location
Have 8+ years experience in product design (4+ years in management)
Experience in all aspects of design: User research, interaction design, visual design, etc.
Experience in establishing and improving processes for how a design team works
Track record of working closely with Product and Engineering teams on successful projects 
Have helped build and maintain design systems
Able to work roughly US east coast time zone hours (with a few exceptions, most of the product, engineering, and design teams are on the US east coast or in Europe)

Design & UX Sense
Strong portfolio of elegant and simple solutions for complex desktop/mobile SaaS products
Strong understanding of information hierarchy, progressive disclosure, typography, spacing, color theory, etc.
Very knowledgeable about modern UX/UI patterns on desktop and mobile
Exceptional taste in software design

Skills & Knowledge
Enjoy helping product designers thrive and grow in their roles
Comfortable working remotely with a high level of autonomy
Customer and problem-focused
Strong soft skills, especially around communication and collaboration
Champion for design, but also know how to work within constraints and make trade-offs (we are big believers in having a fixed timeline, with flexible scope)
Very knowledgeable about CSS, accessibility, etc.
Proficient with Figma (you know how to work with components, variants, variables, etc.)

Bonus Points
Experience or familiarity with Shape Up 
Experience in sales or with sales tools
Experience in the B2B space
Familiarity with GitHub Issues & Projects

🌏 Why Close?
Watch our most recent culture video featuring our annual team retreat in Italy
100% remote company
5 weeks PTO + Winter Holiday Break with 2 additional PTO days for every year with the company
Choose between working 5 days/wk (standard full-time) or 4 days/wk @ 80% pay
1 month paid sabbatical every 5 years
Paid parental leave
Medical, Dental, Vision with HSA option (US residents)
401k matching at 6% (US residents)
Dependent care FSA (US residents)
Our story and team 🚀

💚 Our Values

Build a house you want to live in – Examine long-term thinking and action
No BS – Practice transparency and honesty, especially when it’s hard
Invest in each other – Build successful relationships with your coworkers and customers 
Discipline equals freedom – Keep your word to yourself and others
Strive for greatness – Constantly challenge yourself and others 

💻 How We Work Together

Productivity, Quality & Impact – We don’t track hours. We trust you’re an adult and know best how to prioritize, meet your goals and contribute at a high level. 
Asynchronous communication & collaboration – We have team members all over the world. We don’t expect anyone to work untraditional hours, that means our default is async. Most teams have 2-5 hours of internal meetings weekly. 
Appreciation for Deep Work – During your normal work day, not after a day a meetings!
Autonomy & Freedom – Create a work environment that is sustainable for you. We place a high amount of trust and responsibility with our team members from the start.