Product Design Manager

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Design Manager - Growth Company: monday.com Location: London, United Kingdom Job Type: Full-time Category: Product Design Management / Growth Operations Date Posted: September 15, 2025 Experience Level: Senior / Manager (10+ years implied) Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days/week in London office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and scale multiple product design teams focused on user activation and retention, driving a high-impact growth design vision.
• Champion a data-driven and experimentation-led design process to identify and capitalize on user growth opportunities.
• Foster a culture of design excellence, ownership, and creative problem-solving within the product design function.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, and Data teams to translate company strategy into user-centric experiences that boost key business metrics.
• Implement and refine design systems and frameworks to ensure scalability, quality, and efficient collaboration across design teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Product Design Manager," the emphasis on "Growth," "user activation, retention, and long-term value," and "driving key metrics" strongly indicates this role operates within a Growth Operations framework. The manager will be instrumental in optimizing the user journey for acquisition, onboarding, and continued engagement, a core tenet of effective Growth Operations. The requirement to "shape experiments" and "leverage data" further solidifies this connection to operations-driven growth strategies.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Mentor and develop multiple product design teams, cultivating an environment that encourages ownership, innovation, and high-quality design output.
• Define and execute a compelling growth design strategy that aligns with overarching company objectives, translating strategic goals into actionable team-level initiatives.
• Partner with Product Managers, Engineers, Data Analysts, and User Researchers to identify key growth levers, prioritize opportunities, and design effective experiments.
• Utilize a combination of user research, data analysis, and creative exploration to inform design decisions and optimize user journeys for activation, engagement, and retention.
• Drive the design and execution of seamless, scalable user experiences that highlight product value, reduce friction points, and foster long-term user loyalty and product adoption.
• Establish and maintain high standards for design quality, craft, and consistency across all product touchpoints, while implementing processes that enable teams to iterate quickly and confidently.
• Clearly articulate and advocate for the design teams’ vision, progress, and outcomes to stakeholders across the organization, influencing product strategy and fostering cross-functional alignment.
• Integrate AI capabilities into product experiences and design processes to enhance user value and operational efficiency, staying ahead of emerging technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a blend of people management, strategic vision setting, cross-functional collaboration, and a deep focus on measurable outcomes (activation, retention, key metrics). This is characteristic of senior operations leadership roles that bridge product strategy and execution, with a strong emphasis on optimizing the user lifecycle through iterative design and experimentation.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Science, or a related field is typically expected, though equivalent practical experience will be highly valued.

Experience: Minimum of 8 years of experience in product design, with a proven track record of delivering impactful user experiences. A minimum of 2 years of direct management experience, leading and growing product design teams within a high-growth, product-led organization is essential.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Expertise: Deep understanding of user-centered design principles, interaction design, visual design, and information architecture.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop design teams, fostering a collaborative and high-performing environment.
• Growth Mindset & Experimentation: Strong experience in designing for growth, leveraging A/B testing, user feedback, and data analysis to drive key metrics like activation, retention, and conversion.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Excellent ability to partner effectively with Product Management, Engineering, Data Science, Marketing, and other stakeholders.
• Strategic Thinking: Capacity to define a clear design vision, set strategic goals, and translate them into actionable plans for design teams.
• Communication & Influence: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to present ideas persuasively and influence product direction.
• Process & Systems Thinking: Experience in developing and implementing design systems, frameworks, and processes that enhance efficiency and quality.
• Problem Solving: Aptitude for navigating complex challenges with clarity, identifying root causes, and devising effective design solutions.
• AI Integration Awareness: Understanding of how AI can be leveraged to enhance product experiences and design workflows.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in SaaS product environments.
• Familiarity with agile development methodologies.
• Expertise in specific growth hacking techniques and user onboarding optimization.
• Experience with qualitative and quantitative user research methodologies.
• Proficiency in design analytics tools and understanding of product analytics platforms.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "8+ years of experience" and "at least 2 years managing designers" points to a senior leadership role. The emphasis on "experimentation," "data," and "moving key metrics" aligns with the operational focus of growth roles. The inclusion of "AI integration" as a requirement suggests a forward-thinking approach to product development and design operations.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a minimum of 5-7 distinct projects demonstrating end-to-end product design ownership, with a clear emphasis on growth-related outcomes.
• For each project, clearly articulate the problem statement, your specific role and contributions, the design process followed, and the measurable impact on key growth metrics (e.g., user activation rates, retention improvements, conversion uplift).
• Include case studies that highlight your experience in leading design teams, driving strategic initiatives, and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Demonstrate proficiency in defining and executing design experiments, showcasing your hypothesis generation, design iteration, and analysis of results.
• Present examples of how you have contributed to or developed design systems, style guides, or component libraries to ensure consistency and scalability.

Process Documentation:

• Provide documentation or case studies illustrating your approach to defining and refining design workflows within a team setting.
• Detail your methods for integrating user research, data analysis, and A/B testing into the design process to inform iterative improvements.
• Show examples of how you have implemented or optimized processes for design critiques, feedback loops, and quality assurance within a design team.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a management role focused on growth, the portfolio must go beyond visual design to demonstrate strategic impact and operational effectiveness. The emphasis on metrics, experimentation, and process optimization is crucial for showcasing an understanding of how design drives business outcomes, which is a key expectation for operations-focused roles.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Product Design Manager with 10+ years of experience in London, a competitive salary range would typically fall between £90,000 and £130,000 per annum. This estimate considers the seniority of the role, the company's standing in the tech industry, and the cost of living in London.

Benefits:

• Competitive Salary & Equity: Including a bonus and equity incentive program, reflecting the company's growth and employee contribution.
• Private Healthcare Insurance: Comprehensive coverage with Vitality, ensuring employee well-being.
• ClassPass Membership: Promoting an active and healthy lifestyle.
• On-site Meals: Provided buffet breakfast and lunch on office days (Monday-Thursday), fostering a connected and convenient work environment.
• Learning & Development: Access to a dedicated team and resources for continuous skill enhancement and professional growth.
• Team Events & Socials: Regular opportunities for team bonding and networking, contributing to a positive and engaging company culture.
• Employee Recognition: Acknowledgment of a "Best Place to Work" status in the UK highlights a strong focus on employee satisfaction and a positive work environment.

Working Hours: Standard full-time working hours are expected, likely around 40 hours per week. The hybrid model offers flexibility, with 3 days required in the London office and the remaining 2 days potentially remote, allowing for a better work-life balance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The provided benefits are comprehensive and align with typical offerings for senior roles in reputable tech companies. The inclusion of equity and a strong L&D focus are particularly attractive for individuals looking for long-term career growth. The salary estimate is based on market research for similar roles in London.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software as a Service (SaaS), specifically a Work Operating System (Work OS) platform. monday.com operates in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving technology market, focusing on business process automation, collaboration, and project management. The company's success hinges on innovation, user adoption, and continuous improvement of its platform.

Company Size: With over 2,500 employees globally, monday.com is a large, established tech company. This size implies structured processes, dedicated departments, and opportunities for specialization, but also requires strong leadership to maintain agility and a cohesive culture.

Founded: monday.com was founded in 2012. Its history of growth and expansion demonstrates a proven business model and a capacity for scaling operations effectively.

Team Structure:

• The Product Design Manager will lead multiple product design teams, likely organized around specific product domains or growth initiatives.
• These teams will typically comprise Product Designers, UI/UX Designers, and potentially UX Researchers.
• The manager will report into a higher-level design leadership role (e.g., Head of Product Design, VP of Design) and will work closely with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and Data Analysts within their respective product areas.
• Cross-functional collaboration is a cornerstone of monday.com's culture, meaning the design manager and their teams will be deeply integrated with product and engineering.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Emphasizes the use of data and analytics to inform product strategy and design decisions, a core aspect of operations.
• Experimentation & Iteration: A strong focus on A/B testing and rapid iteration to optimize user experiences and drive growth.
• Agile Development: Likely follows agile methodologies, promoting flexibility, collaboration, and continuous delivery of value.
• User-Centricity: Placing the user at the heart of all design and product development efforts.

Company Website: https://monday.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's description highlights a culture of transparency, collaboration, and impact. For a Product Design Manager in Growth, this means operating in a fast-paced environment where data informs decisions and cross-functional partnerships are key to achieving ambitious growth targets. The "Work OS" nature of monday.com also suggests a focus on process optimization and efficiency for its users, which the design team will aim to mirror internally.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a senior leadership position within the product design function, specifically focused on driving business outcomes through user experience. It is a manager-level role with significant strategic responsibility, bridging product vision and execution. It requires not only design craft but also strong leadership, operational thinking, and an understanding of business metrics.

Reporting Structure: The Product Design Manager will likely report to a Director or VP of Design. They will manage multiple teams of designers and will have direct collaboration with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and Data Scientists who are also working on growth initiatives. This structure necessitates strong communication and influencing skills to align diverse functions toward common goals.

Operations Impact: The role has a direct and measurable impact on the company's growth trajectory by optimizing user activation, retention, and engagement. Success in this role directly contributes to increased customer lifetime value, reduced churn, and accelerated revenue growth, making it a critical operational function within the product organization.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Advancement: Potential to move into Director-level or VP-level design roles, overseeing larger teams or broader product areas.
• Specialization: Opportunity to deepen expertise in growth design, product strategy, or AI-driven user experiences.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Development of skills in leading complex, cross-functional initiatives that have significant business impact.
• Mentorship & Team Building: Continued opportunity to build and develop high-performing design teams, a key skill for long-term career growth in management.
• Industry Influence: Contributing to the design and growth strategies of a leading SaaS company, with potential to influence industry best practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a significant step up from an individual contributor Product Designer. The emphasis on managing teams and driving business metrics positions it within a strategic operational cadre, where leadership in process optimization and measurable impact is paramount. The growth opportunities are clearly aligned with career progression in design leadership and operations management.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: monday.com offices are designed to foster collaboration, innovation, and a positive work environment. Expect modern, open-plan spaces with dedicated areas for focused work, team collaboration, and social interaction. The London office is located in Fitzrovia, a central and accessible location.

Office Location(s): The primary office location for this role is London, UK (Fitzrovia). The company also has a global presence, indicating a potentially diverse and international user base and team.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The hybrid model (3 days in office) means the workspace is designed for effective collaboration, team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and cross-functional alignment.
• Tech-Enabled: Expect access to modern design tools, high-speed internet, and collaborative software essential for design work and team communication.
• Team Interaction: Opportunities to engage directly with designers, product managers, engineers, and data teams on a daily basis, facilitating real-time problem-solving and knowledge sharing.
• Culture Integration: The office environment will reflect monday.com's values of transparency, collaboration, and fun, with spaces designed to encourage these interactions.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, with the hybrid arrangement allowing for 3 days in the London office. This structure supports a balance between in-person collaboration and remote flexibility, allowing for focused work and personal time management.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature of the role implies a need for structured in-office collaboration, which is common in operations roles where team alignment and rapid problem-solving are critical. The emphasis on a positive and collaborative workspace suggests an environment where efficient teamwork is prioritized.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will review your application and resume, looking for alignment with the core requirements, especially experience in managing design teams and driving growth.
• Portfolio Review & Presentation: You will likely be asked to present your portfolio, focusing on 2-3 key projects that demonstrate your leadership, growth design expertise, and impact on key metrics. Be prepared to discuss your process, decision-making, and the results achieved.
• Hiring Manager Interview: A deeper dive into your management style, leadership philosophy, approach to team development, and strategic thinking regarding growth design.
• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with key partners from Product Management, Engineering, and Data to assess your collaboration skills, ability to influence, and understanding of their respective domains.
• Team Meet-and-Greet: An opportunity to meet potential team members, assessing cultural fit and your ability to mentor and inspire designers.
• Final Round: Potentially a conversation with senior leadership to confirm strategic alignment and overall fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Quantify Impact: Clearly articulate the business impact of your design work using specific metrics and data. Focus on growth metrics like activation, retention, conversion, and user engagement.
• Showcase Leadership: Highlight projects where you led a team, mentored designers, or influenced product strategy. Demonstrate your ability to foster a positive and productive team culture.
• Explain Your Process: Be prepared to walk through your design process, explaining your rationale for key decisions, your approach to problem-solving, and how you collaborated with others.
• Highlight Experimentation: Showcase instances where you used experimentation (A/B testing, user interviews, data analysis) to validate hypotheses and drive improvements.
• Tailor to Growth: Emphasize projects that directly relate to user acquisition, onboarding, engagement, and retention.

Challenge Preparation:

• Growth Scenario: Be prepared for a hypothetical scenario where you are asked to identify growth opportunities for a specific product feature or user journey and outline a design strategy to address it.
• Team Management Discussion: Anticipate questions about how you handle underperforming team members, resolve design disagreements, and foster a collaborative environment.
• Stakeholder Management: Prepare examples of how you have managed expectations, communicated complex design concepts, and influenced stakeholders from different departments.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a management role, especially in a growth-focused area, will heavily scrutinize leadership capabilities, strategic thinking, and the ability to demonstrate measurable impact. A strong portfolio that quantifies results and showcases leadership is paramount. The operations aspect is highlighted by the focus on metrics, process, and cross-functional collaboration.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), InVision, Principle.
• Collaboration & Project Management: monday.com (native use), Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello.
• User Research & Testing: UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze, Hotjar, Amplitude, Mixpanel.
• Data Analysis & Visualization: Tableau, Looker, Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel, SQL (for data querying).
• Communication: Slack, Zoom, Google Meet.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Platforms: Amplitude, Mixpanel, Google Analytics for tracking user behavior, conversion funnels, and retention metrics.
• A/B Testing Tools: Optimizely, VWO (Visual Website Optimizer), Google Optimize for running and analyzing experiments.
• Data Warehousing/BI Tools: Tableau, Looker, Power BI for creating dashboards and reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs).

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managed by Product Design, understanding CRM (e.g., Salesforce) and marketing automation platforms is beneficial for context on the customer journey.
• Familiarity with tools that integrate with CRM and automate workflows can be advantageous.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency with design tools is expected, but for this role, strong familiarity with product analytics, A/B testing platforms, and data visualization tools is critical. This reflects the operational requirement for data-driven decision-making and impact measurement in growth initiatives.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Impact-Driven: A core value is delivering measurable results and contributing directly to business growth and user success.
• Data-Informed: Decisions are guided by data, analytics, and rigorous experimentation, ensuring a scientific approach to problem-solving.
• User-Centricity: Deep empathy for users, with a commitment to understanding their needs and pain points to create exceptional experiences.
• Collaboration & Transparency: Open communication, shared ownership, and a willingness to work closely with diverse teams to achieve common goals.
• Continuous Improvement: A mindset focused on learning, iterating, and constantly optimizing processes, products, and team performance.
• Ownership & Initiative: Encouraging individuals to take responsibility for their work, proactively identify opportunities, and drive solutions forward.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Design teams are expected to be deeply integrated with Product Management, Engineering, and Data teams from ideation through execution.
• Data-Driven Partnership: Collaborating with data analysts and scientists to define metrics, analyze experiment results, and identify new growth opportunities.
• Agile & Iterative: Embracing agile methodologies that promote frequent communication, feedback loops, and iterative development cycles.
• Open Critique & Feedback: Fostering an environment where constructive feedback is welcomed and used to improve designs and processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values described are highly aligned with operational excellence. The emphasis on data, impact, continuous improvement, and collaboration is central to effective operations management, particularly in a growth context.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Driving Growth at Scale: Continuing to find new avenues for user growth and engagement on a mature, widely adopted platform requires innovative thinking and rigorous experimentation.
• Balancing User Needs with Business Goals: Effectively navigating the complexities of serving diverse user segments while meeting ambitious business objectives.
• Managing Multiple Teams: Leading and aligning multiple design teams with potentially different focus areas requires strong organizational and communication skills.
• Staying Ahead of AI Trends: Integrating AI effectively into product experiences and design workflows demands continuous learning and strategic adaptation.
• Cross-functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent vision and execution across Product, Engineering, and Data teams can be challenging in a fast-paced environment.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Specialized Growth Training: Access to resources and training focused on growth methodologies, experimentation frameworks, and user psychology.
• Leadership Development Programs: Opportunities to hone management skills, strategic planning, and executive communication.
• Industry Conferences & Workshops: Participation in events focusing on product design, growth strategies, and AI in product development.
• Mentorship: Guidance from senior design leadership and experienced product leaders within monday.com.
• Exposure to AI Innovation: Working with cutting-edge AI technologies and understanding their application in product design and user experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges highlight the dynamic and complex nature of growth operations. The learning opportunities are geared towards developing both design leadership and operational expertise, preparing individuals for advanced roles within the company and the industry.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Growth Strategy: "How would you approach identifying and prioritizing growth opportunities for a new feature on the monday.com platform? What metrics would you track, and what experimental designs would you propose?" (Focus on data, hypothesis, experimentation, and user impact.)
• Team Leadership: "Describe a time you had to mentor a designer who was struggling with a particular skill or project. What was your approach, and what was the outcome?" (Demonstrate mentorship, feedback, and team development skills.)
• Cross-functional Collaboration: "How do you ensure alignment between design, product, and engineering teams when working on complex growth initiatives? Provide an example of a time you successfully navigated a disagreement." (Highlight communication, influence, and partnership.)
• Process Improvement: "Tell me about a time you identified an inefficiency in a design process and implemented a change. What was the impact?" (Showcase operational thinking and process optimization.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• Understanding monday.com: "What excites you about monday.com's product and mission? How do you see your role contributing to our growth?" (Research the product, its use cases, and recent company news.)
• Team Dynamics: "Describe your ideal team culture. How do you foster collaboration and empower your team members?" (Align your values with the company's stated culture.)
• AI Integration: "How do you envision AI impacting product design and user experiences in the next 3-5 years, and how would you prepare your team for these changes?" (Show forward-thinking and adaptability.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Storytelling Arc: Structure your portfolio presentation like a story: problem, your role/process, solution, and measurable impact.
• Quantify Everything: Use numbers and data to illustrate the success of your projects. For growth roles, this is non-negotiable.
• Focus on Leadership: For management presentations, emphasize projects where you led teams, mentored designers, and influenced strategy, not just individual contributions.
• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your process, decision-making rationale, and how you handled challenges within each project.
• Showcase Experimentation: Explicitly detail any A/B tests or experiments you conducted, your hypotheses, and the learnings.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation for this role should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, leadership, a deep understanding of growth metrics, and a data-driven approach. The ability to articulate how design operations contribute to business outcomes is key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Design Manager - Growth position:

• Submit your application through the provided application link on monday.com's careers page.
• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your most impactful projects that showcase leadership in product design, a focus on growth metrics (activation, retention, engagement), and experience with experimentation. Quantify your achievements with data.
• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your experience in managing design teams, your strategic contributions to growth initiatives, and your proficiency with relevant design and analytics tools. Use keywords from the job description.
• Prepare Your Presentation: Rehearse your portfolio presentation, focusing on clear storytelling, quantifiable results, and demonstrating your leadership and operational approach to design challenges. Practice articulating your process and impact.
• Research monday.com: Understand their product, target audience, recent company news, and their stated values. Prepare to discuss how your leadership style and growth design philosophy align with the company's culture and objectives.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.