Head of Product Design & UX Research (f/m/d) | 80-100% | Hybrid working model | Zurich Switzerland

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Head of Product Design & UX Research (f/m/d) | 80-100% | Hybrid working model | Zurich, Switzerland

Company: SMG Swiss Marketplace Group

Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design & UX Research Leadership

Date Posted: July 30, 2026

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5-10 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary team of Product Designers, UX Researchers, and UX Copywriters within the General Marketplaces division (Ricardo, tutti.ch, anibis.ch).

• Define and implement a cohesive and high-impact design and UX strategy across multiple product teams.

• Champion and drive the adoption of AI-first workflows to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of product discovery, research, prototyping, and design delivery.

• Elevate the overall quality of user experience, ensuring consistency, usability, and measurable business impact.

• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration with Product, Engineering, Data, and Business stakeholders to achieve key business objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a leadership role within the General Marketplaces division, emphasizing the strategic implementation of design and research practices at scale. The focus on AI-first workflows and measurable business impact (conversion, trust, monetization) indicates a need for a candidate who can blend creative leadership with a data-driven, outcome-oriented approach, typical of senior operations and GTM-adjacent roles.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a unified design and UX strategy and framework across the General Marketplaces portfolio, ensuring alignment with business goals and user needs.

• Lead, coach, and professionally develop a team of Product Designers, UX Researchers, and a UX Copywriter, fostering a culture of high performance, innovation, and continuous learning.

• Spearhead the integration of AI-first methodologies into the design and research lifecycle, from initial problem identification and user discovery to solution validation and prototyping.

• Optimize and streamline discovery and design processes to accelerate product development cycles while maintaining high standards of quality and user-centricity.

• Translate complex user insights and research findings into actionable product decisions and design solutions that directly contribute to improved customer satisfaction, trust, and conversion rates.

• Elevate the design quality, usability, consistency, and overall user experience across all digital products within the General Marketplaces domain.

• Collaborate effectively with Product Management, Engineering, Data Science, and Business Development teams to identify opportunities and drive initiatives that enhance key business metrics like conversion rates, user engagement, and monetization.

• Champion best practices in UX research, usability testing, and design thinking across the organization, ensuring a deep understanding of customer needs and market trends.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a blend of people management, strategic planning, process optimization, and cross-functional leadership. The explicit mention of "improving conversion, trust, user satisfaction, and monetization" highlights the business-critical nature of this role, aligning it with revenue-generating GTM functions. The focus on AI-first workflows is a key differentiator, requiring a forward-thinking approach to design and research operations.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• While no specific degree is mandated, a strong foundational understanding of User Experience Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, or a related field is expected.

• Continuous learning and professional development in design, research methodologies, AI applications in design, and leadership are highly valued. Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of leadership experience in Product Design, UX, or a closely related discipline, with a proven track record of managing and growing design and research teams.

• Demonstrated hands-on experience in designing and delivering high-quality, user-centered digital product experiences across various platforms.

• Experience in optimizing design and research processes for efficiency and effectiveness, ideally within a scaled environment. Required Skills:

• Product Design Leadership: Proven ability to lead design strategy, set quality standards, and guide teams in creating exceptional digital products.

• UX Research Expertise: Deep understanding of various qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, and the ability to translate insights into actionable product improvements.

• Team Management & Coaching: Experience in leading, mentoring, and developing multidisciplinary teams, fostering a collaborative and high-performing environment.

• AI-First Workflow Integration: Demonstrated experience or strong aptitude for leveraging AI tools and methodologies to accelerate design and research processes.

• Business Acumen & Outcome Orientation: Ability to connect design and research efforts directly to business metrics such as conversion rates, user satisfaction, trust, and monetization.

• Stakeholder Management: Strong communication and collaboration skills to effectively partner with Product, Engineering, Data, and Business stakeholders.

• Design Thinking & Problem Solving: A systematic approach to understanding user needs, identifying problems, and developing innovative solutions.

• Pragmatic Leadership: A hands-on, results-driven leadership style with a focus on ownership and delivery.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience working with online marketplaces or e-commerce platforms.

• Proficiency in German and/or French, while not mandatory, would be beneficial for cross-regional communication.

• Experience with design systems and their implementation at scale.

• Familiarity with agile development methodologies and a strong understanding of the product development lifecycle.

• Experience in driving significant improvements in user trust and conversion metrics.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience requirement is clearly stated as "at least 5 years of leadership experience," suggesting a role for seasoned professionals. The emphasis on business outcomes, AI integration, and stakeholder collaboration points towards a strategic role that requires not just design expertise but also strong operational and GTM understanding.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Leadership Case Studies: Showcase examples of leading design and research teams to achieve specific business outcomes, highlighting team growth, process improvements, and strategic impact.

• Process Optimization Examples: Demonstrate how you have identified inefficiencies in design or research workflows and implemented solutions, ideally using AI or automation, to improve speed, quality, or impact.

• AI Integration Showcase: Present specific instances where AI tools or methodologies were successfully integrated into the design or research process, detailing the tools used, the challenges overcome, and the measurable results achieved.

• Business Impact Demonstration: Provide concrete examples of how your team's design and research efforts have directly contributed to improvements in key business metrics such as conversion rates, user satisfaction, trust, or monetization.

Process Documentation:

• Design System Implementation: Evidence of establishing or significantly contributing to the development and adoption of a scalable design system to ensure consistency and efficiency across multiple products.

• Discovery & Research Frameworks: Documentation or case studies detailing frameworks for user research, problem discovery, and solution validation that have been implemented and refined over time.

• AI-Augmented Workflow Design: Examples of designed workflows that effectively leverage AI for tasks such as user persona generation, competitive analysis, content ideation, or design iteration.

• Performance Measurement & Reporting: Methods used to track and report on the impact of design and research initiatives, including key performance indicators (KPIs) and reporting dashboards.

📝 Enhancement Note: While not explicitly stated as a "portfolio requirement" in the original listing, the emphasis on "measurable business impact," "improving conversion, trust, user satisfaction, and monetization," and "accelerate