VP, Product Design

About Howl
Howl is a new marketplace designed for creators and brands who crave transparent collaboration.
In the last 10 years, the $20bn influencer ecommerce market has become a critical part of the retail industry. It has evolved into social commerce, a new $1.2 trillion market opportunity ( link ) requiring new tools, protocols, and technologies for the creator economy. Howl's tools are designed for humans who know that scale and growth come from working together with consistency and transparency. Howl makes it easy, reliable and motivating to earn even more. That's what makes Howl the home planet for creator-led growth.
Howl is a remote-first company with a diverse team that reflects our vision. Our private beta launched in mid-2022 and powers social commerce for creators and brands across beauty, gaming, home, fashion, and consumer electronics for both industry leaders like Best Buy, Samsung, Target and cult favorites like Cariuma, Kosas, and Youth to the People. We are a Series A company backed by investors including HighlandX and NEA.
For more information, visit.

About the Role
Inspired by the design practices of great technology platforms, our design principles are rooted in Howl's mission and values.
Our Mission: We are eliminating barriers for creators and brands in social commerce.
Our Values: Integrity. Excellence. Service. Exploration.
Design at Howl will unleash imagination, foster experimentation, and bring together diverse teams and diverse thinking. The opportunity for our VP of Design is to create a platform experience that redefines customer expectations and ultimately transforms the retail experience.
As VP of Product Design at Howl, you will build the discovery, onboarding, and engagement experiences that power creators and brands throughout their entire lifecycle on Howl. You will incorporate automation into design systems that surface the best products and recommendations to our customers at the right times with moments that "wow." You will find ways to integrate support channels throughout the customer journey and provide internal tools for our employees to better serve our customers. You will lead and build a design organization that excels at building human-focused, beautiful, and intuitive design experiences for our customers across our product ecosystem. This team of talented designers will influence company strategy, execute our product roadmap, and ensure design excellence throughout Howl. You will act as a champion for a strong and consistent design practice, and work in cross-functional partnership with leaders from Product, Marketing, Sales, and Brand Partnerships.
As the leader of the design organization, you will establish thoughtful and disciplined operations. You will provide mentorship, direction, and guidance for your team's craft by modeling design processes and standards. You will architect the career development of the design org, creating a space where great designers can accomplish their best work. 


You're Excited About This Opportunity Because You Will:

 
Build a design org and shape the end-to-end user experience of Howl


 
Set the bar for strong design practice, influence through partnership with our leadership team, and create the spaces and structures for designers to do their best work.
 
Build relationships with cross functional team members and executives across organizations, and effectively speak to process, design goals and team vision as a strong representative of the design team.
 
Create processes and deliverables to improve design processes, operations, and tools throughout the business
 
Grow, lead, and mentor a team to meet and exceed targets as we 10x the number of creators on our platform this year
 
Translate company objectives and KRs to team vision, strategies, and tactics in order to meet our goals
 
Contribute to and execute our product roadmap as we build the Howl ecosystem
 
Uphold our Howl core values as a member of the leadership team 



We're Excited About You Because:

 
You have 10-15 years of design leadership experience, with half this time as a people manager
 
You have experience leading and managing teams that drive high visibility, high impact design projects
 
You have a diverse portfolio of work that illustrates your ability to have impact and lead at the project level, product level, organization level, and company level.
 
You have a demonstrated ability to hire, manage, and develop UI/UX, graphic, and product designers at the department level
 
You have strong verbal and written communication skills
 
You have experience developing and executing on strategic plans, OKRs, and KPIs
 
You have an ability to operate in a highly ambiguous and fast-paced startup environment
 
You are customer centric and product obsessed, just like our customers 



The base salary range for this role is $230,000/yr - $270,000/yr USD 
At Howl, we offer a competitive compensation package inclusive of base salary, incentive pay and stock options. Incentive awards are allocated based on individual performance. Certain roles also have the opportunity to earn sales incentives based on revenue, depending on the terms of the plan and the employee's role.
 Howl is a fully remote organization! 
 Howl is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or veteran status.