Head of Design

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Germany.

📋 Description

• Take ownership of the quality standards.

• Establish a clear and consistent quality benchmark for the team to align with, ensuring that exceptional work naturally emerges from our collaborative design efforts.

• Create review protocols and critique rituals that provide the team with a common language for quality and the assurance to make robust craft decisions collectively.

• Advance the design system and QA methodologies so that quality expectations increase as the team expands.

• Tackle one of the most intriguing UX challenges in the industry: n8n has historically posed a steep learning curve for new users. Your responsibility is to simplify this entry point without sacrificing the capabilities that seasoned users appreciate.

• Propel the strategic impact of design.

• Influence product strategy proactively rather than just responding to it. Integrate design thinking into roadmap discussions and help identify user challenges before they become formal requests.

• Assist in guiding n8n's outreach to a more extensive, less technical audience, a deliberate and exciting strategic transition that design should spearhead.

• Cultivate genuine partnerships with Product, Engineering, and leadership to ensure design plays a vital role at every project phase.

• Build and develop the design team.

• Lead a group of approximately 14 designers, including 2 Design Leads each managing about 6 individual contributors, along with Design Engineering and UX Research (with additional hires planned).

• Define the team structure, career framework, and advancement paths so individuals have clarity on their current status and future opportunities.

• Foster a culture of high standards and constructive feedback, ensuring team members feel supported in delivering their best work while having a lucid understanding of excellence.

• Manage hiring and headcount planning for the department, helping us expand without compromising the team's strengths.

• Integrate research into decision-making processes.

• Develop a practical, continuous research practice from the ground up. As we make our first dedicated UX research hires, there is significant potential to influence this area.

• Ensure customer insights, product data, and community feedback are actively integrated into product decisions, so teams are informed by evidence at every stage.

• Link research to critical decisions: activation, adoption, retention, and aiding new users in confidently navigating n8n.

• Encourage innovative work methods within the team.

• Advocate for the practical use of AI within the design organization, from prototyping and research synthesis to design QA and workflow effectiveness.

• Support the team in remaining curious and up-to-date as the tools, patterns, and expectations surrounding AI products rapidly evolve.

• Exemplify the working style you wish to see: thoughtful, adaptable, and genuinely enthusiastic about changes in the landscape.

⛳️ Requirements

• 🧭 **Leadership in product design:** You have experience managing managers, mentoring senior designers, and developing design teams that enhance both craft and business results, including making difficult performance decisions when necessary.

• 🧩 **Experience with complex product systems:** You have directed design efforts in complex or developer-oriented products where UX quality relies on a profound understanding of the product.

• 🎨 **Authority on craft:** You embody a quality standard, not merely someone who appreciates quality. You can identify exceptional work, articulate why it is outstanding, and uphold standards even in challenging situations.

• 📣 **Strategic influence beyond mere strategic thinking:** You have positioned design as an equal partner in product discussions rather than a downstream function. You know how to engage others, foster debate, and drive decision-making.

• 🔀 **Structured problem-solving amidst ambiguity:** You navigate unclear challenges and create actionable plans, not only posing good questions but also providing answers. You progress even when there is no clear direction.

• 🤖 **Judgment in the AI era:** You possess an understanding of the AI, automation, or related tooling landscape and can translate emerging trends into reliable, user-friendly product experiences.

• 🔍 **Research acumen:** You know how to weave research into product development so that insights become integral to decision-making rather than treated as separate deliverables.

• 📊 **Data-informed decision-making:** You leverage product analytics, research, and customer feedback to steer decisions instead of depending solely on personal taste or opinions.

• 🧱 **Organizational design and performance management:** You can create team structures, outline career paths, elevate expectations, and handle challenging performance discussions with transparency.

• 🌱 **Experience with open-source or community products:** You have worked on open-source, fair-code, community-driven, or builder-focused products and understand the nuances of designing for a community with strong perspectives.

• 💻 **Credibility in design engineering:** You possess sufficient front-end or design engineering knowledge to collaborate effectively on the adoption and quality of design systems.

• 🌍 **Remote-first operational experience:** You have established design rituals, critique sessions, QA, and collaboration practices that function well across distributed teams and varying time zones.

• 🚀 **Experience with growth surfaces:** You have contributed to activation, onboarding, templates, time-to-value, or product-led growth surfaces.

• ⬆️ **Emerging Design Manager profile:** We welcome applications from outstanding Design Managers ready for their first Head-level position, provided their foundational skills are exceptional.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive compensation 💸 – We provide fair and attractive remuneration.

• Ownership 💪 – Our core value is to “empower others,” and we mean it—you’ll receive equity in n8n.

• Work/life balance 🏖️ – We work diligently but ensure you have time to recharge:

• Europe: 30 days of vacation, plus public holidays according to your location.

• US: 20 vacation days, 8 sick days, plus public holidays as applicable.

• Health & wellness 🩺 –

• Europe: We offer benefits in line with local country standards.*

• US: A variety of low-premium, low-deductible medical plans with coverage for individuals and families—plus a no-cost premium HDHP option with a pre-funded HSA, alongside dental and vision coverage.

• Future planning 💰 –

• Europe: We provide pension contributions according to local country norms.*

• US: 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% employer match.

• Financial security 🛡️ –

• Europe: We offer benefits according to local country standards.*

• US: Company-funded short-term and long-term disability insurance, plus life insurance to support you and your family.

• Career growth 📈 – We recruit rising stars who grow alongside us! You’ll receive €1K (or equivalent) annually to invest in courses, books, events, or coaching to enhance your skills.

• A passionate team 🤩 – We take pride in our product, demonstrated by regular hackathons to see who can create the most impressive project with it!

• Remote-first 🌏 – Our team operates remotely throughout Europe, with regular off-site gatherings for team bonding. Some positions, such as sales in the US, are hybrid—please refer to the job description.

• Giving back 🤝 – We are strong advocates for open source, and you’ll receive $100 per month to support projects that matter to you.

• AI enablement 🤖 – We believe in working smarter—everyone has an unlimited budget for AI exploration and tools to enhance productivity and creativity.

• Transparency 🙏 – Everyone is aware of each other's projects and the overall performance of the company—the complete overview.