Head of Product Design
Stellic
Location
San Mateo, CA - Hybrid
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
Hybrid
Department
Product
About Stellic
We’re building a future where every student can move through their education with clarity, confidence, and purpose. Our platform transforms the student experience, giving them then tools they need to make the right decisions about their degree plans, track their journey, and build an education and career path that’s truly their own.
Stellic is a fast-growing startup backed by leading social impact investors, partnering with top institutions like Cornell, Columbia, UVA, and Ohio State to support over 1 million students across 7 countries. As we scale to serve more universities worldwide, we remain deeply committed to this mission, driven by our values, and committed to building a high-performance team that’s here to make a lasting difference on both students’ lives and higher education.
The Role
Are you a design leader who can float easily between vision and hands-on design work? Are you passionate about crafting elegant human-centered experiences that meet the bar of a great consumer product even in the complexity of enterprise Saas? The Head of Product Design role at Stellic is an opportunity to shape the future of the student experience in higher ed. As leader of our product design team, you’ll be a core thought partner and work closely with the founders and feature squads. You are someone who can shift quickly between high level strategy and rolling up your sleeves to execute great design with the team. You’ll do this at a fast pace, high-growth, mission-driven series A startup in enterprise SaaS. We have found true product/market fit and we are now taking it to the next level.
What You'll Do
Lead, manage and mentor a small team of talented, passionate designers, providing guidance on projects, career development, and fostering a culture of design excellence.
Own significant product design initiatives end to end while balancing individual contribution with team leadership responsibilities.
Drive clarity in ambiguous problem spaces shaping the long term of design at Stellic
Drive the evolution of our design system, processes, and best practices across the organization.
Work closely with Product and Engineering leads as a thought partner to align design strategy with business goals and technical capabilities.
Guide the team in tackling complex product design challenges by synthesizing business, technology, and user needs into simple, holistic solutions.
Build and maintain strong partnerships across departments to elevate design's impact throughout the organization.
Manage resource allocation and project prioritization across the design team while maintaining high quality standards.
Who You Are
8+ years of product design experience, with at least 3 years of design team management experience.
Strong portfolio demonstrating end-to-end design leadership for complex enterprise products.
Ability to execute on end-to-end complex design projects in collaboration with engineering and product.
Experience building and mentoring high-performing design teams while remaining hands-on with design work.
Track record of establishing design processes, systems, and standards that scale.
Proven ability to lead user research initiatives and translate insights into strategic design directions.
Excellence in visual design with the ability to guide others in creating cohesive, delightful experiences.
Strong communication skills and experience presenting to executive stakeholders.
Why Join Stellic?
Shape the future of an impact-driven company at the forefront of higher education transformation
Work closely with an ambitious, mission driven leadership team
Own and scale the recruiting engine of a high growth company
Competitive salary, equity, and a culture of excellence, speed, and ownership.
Work and learn from some of the most prominent thought leaders in higher education and SaaS
Generous stock options in a Series A stage startup
Flexible, outcome-based culture
Comprehensive health insurance, with Stellic covering 99% of your premium and 75% for dependents on our base plan
401K and commuter benefits
Annual international retreats in some of the most beautiful cities & towns
Compensation
$175,000 - $250,000 base salary, plus equity
Work location
Candidates must be willing to collaborate in-office in San Mateo 3 days per week as part of our hybrid work culture.
Stellic is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Our company values diversity and believes diverse teams make innovation possible. We encourage all qualified applicants from any race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or other characteristics to apply.