Product Design Director

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Design Director

Company: الشركة الوطنية لخدمات الإسكان (National Housing Company)

Location: Riyadh, Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia

Job Type: Full time

Category: Product Design Leadership / UX/UI Operations

Date Posted: 2026-08-06

Experience Level: 10+ years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Oversees and manages the entire product design lifecycle, from initial research to final handover, ensuring the delivery of validated user experiences that align with strategic objectives and portfolio goals within the Balady platform.

• Structures and governs design workflows, methodologies, and tool usage to uphold Digital Excellence & Innovation standards, ensuring consistent application of best practices across all product design activities.

• Leads user research initiatives, synthesizing behavioral insights into actionable journey maps to identify friction points, unmet needs, and opportunities for product enhancement.

• Drives the translation of approved requirements into comprehensive design plans, including information architecture, navigation flows, and prioritized user journeys, within defined product scopes and constraints.

• Reviews and validates low-fidelity wireframes, mid-fidelity designs, and high-fidelity interactive prototypes, ensuring alignment with usability, accessibility, and design standards.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the job title is "Product Design Director," the responsibilities heavily lean into the operational aspects of design governance, process management, and system development (design system), placing it within a strong "UX/UI Operations" or "Design Operations" context, particularly for a large-scale platform like Balady. The emphasis on "governance," "standards," "workflows," and "design systems" highlights an operational focus beyond pure creative direction.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Manage product design activities by structuring design workflows, methods, and tool usage expectations in alignment with approved product design governance and Digital Excellence & Innovation standards.

• Manage user research planning and synthesis by consolidating behavioral insights into journey maps that highlight friction points, unmet needs, and improvement opportunities for prioritized products.

• Facilitate translation of approved requirements into structured design plans, organizing information architecture, navigation flows, and prioritized user journeys aligned with product scope and constraints.

• Review and validate low-fidelity wireframes that define layouts, components, and interaction flows, ensuring alignment with usability and design standards set by Digital Excellence & Innovation.

• Supervise progression from wireframes to mid- and high-fidelity interactive prototypes, coordinating walkthroughs to validate layout logic, interaction patterns, and usability considerations with stakeholders.

• Review interface styling choices by consolidating typography, color, iconography, and asset guidelines into maintainable style guides that promote consistency and accessibility across products.

• Conduct usability tests, A/B tests, and cognitive walkthroughs, applying agreed metrics to evaluate user experience and inform design refinements and backlog updates.

• Facilitate stakeholder alignment sessions with product managers and developers, confirming design feasibility, dependencies, and development considerations before locking design baselines.

• Manage delivery of high-fidelity prototypes for design quality and user experience validation, and of Proofs of Concept to confirm technical feasibility and security compliance before build.

• Review design specifications and structured handover packages, and validate them to support downstream development and go-to-market execution.

• Review design outputs against design and UX/UI standards, and consolidate reports for Digital Excellence & Innovation review and endorsement with recommended actions.

• Develop and maintain a design system that includes a style guide for visual and content standards, a component library of reusable UI elements with specifications and code snippets, and a pattern library that organizes these elements into scalable layouts, structures, and templates.

• Consolidate testing results, UX insights, and performance indicators into structured dashboards, and present prioritized design improvements for governance forums and decision meetings.

• Contribute to continuous improvement by reviewing lessons learned and market practices and proposing updates to methods, tools, and templates within approved frameworks.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a strong operational and governance focus: "structuring design workflows," "managing user research planning and synthesis," "facilitating translation of requirements into structured design plans," "reviewing and validating outputs," "developing and maintaining a design system," and "consolidating testing results into structured dashboards." This indicates a need for someone adept at process optimization and system implementation within a design context.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Human–Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, Visual Communication Design, or any related field is required.

Experience: A minimum of 11 years of relevant experience with at least 4 years of experience in a leadership role.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Leadership: Proven ability to lead design teams and manage complex design projects from conception to launch.

• User Research & Synthesis: Expertise in planning, conducting, and synthesizing user research (qualitative and quantitative) to inform design decisions and create journey maps.

• Information Architecture & UX Design: Strong understanding of organizing content, defining navigation, and creating intuitive user flows and wireframes.

• Prototyping & Validation: Proficiency in creating interactive prototypes (low- to high-fidelity) and conducting usability and A/B testing.

• Design Systems Development: Experience in building and maintaining comprehensive design systems, including style guides, component libraries, and pattern libraries.

• Stakeholder Management: Ability to effectively communicate and align with product managers, developers, and other stakeholders.

• Design Governance & Standards: Experience in establishing and enforcing design and UX/UI standards and governance frameworks.

• Data Analysis & Reporting: Skill in consolidating testing results and UX insights into structured dashboards and reports for decision-making.

• Accessibility Standards: Knowledge of and commitment to designing accessible user experiences.

• Team Management & Mentorship: Experience in leading, mentoring, and developing a design team.

Preferred Skills:

• Certifications in Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification, UXQB CPUX, HFI Certified Usability Analyst, or Google UX Design Professional Certificate.

• Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies in a product development environment.

• Familiarity with design tools and collaboration platforms relevant to large-scale digital product development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The extensive experience requirement (11+ years with 4+ in leadership) combined with the specific technical and operational responsibilities (design systems, governance, structured handover) suggests a senior role focused on establishing and optimizing design operations within a large organization. The optional certifications, while not mandatory, indicate a preference for formally recognized UX expertise.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design Process Showcase: Demonstrate a clear, structured design process from problem definition through to validated solution delivery, highlighting how you manage each stage operationally.

• Design System Case Study: Present a case study detailing the development, implementation, and impact of a design system you’ve led or significantly contributed to, including its components, style guide, and pattern library.

• User Research & Insights Integration: Provide examples of how user research findings were systematically translated into design decisions and tangible product improvements.

• Workflow Optimization Examples: Showcase instances where you improved design workflows, introduced new methodologies, or enhanced tool usage for greater efficiency and quality.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Illustrate your ability to collaborate effectively with product management and development teams, including structured handover processes and feedback loops.

• Metrics & Validation: Present how you've used metrics (usability testing, A/B testing, performance indicators) to validate design decisions and measure UX impact.

Process Documentation:

• Design Governance Frameworks: Examples of documented design governance processes, standards, and best practices you have implemented or managed.

• User Journey Mapping & Analysis: Samples of detailed user journey maps and the associated analysis used to identify pain points and opportunities.

• Design Specification Handover Packages: Templates or examples of structured design specification documents and handover packages provided to development teams.

• Design System Documentation: Examples of comprehensive documentation for design system elements, including specifications, usage guidelines, and code snippets.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the operational and governance focus of this role, a portfolio demonstrating the ability to build, manage, and optimize design processes and systems is crucial. Candidates should highlight their experience in creating standardized, scalable, and repeatable design operations.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Product Design Director role with 11+ years of experience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the estimated annual salary range is SAR 300,000 - SAR 500,000. This estimate accounts for the leadership responsibilities, extensive experience, and the strategic importance of the role within a large national organization.

Benefits:

• Competitive annual salary as per industry standards.

• Comprehensive health insurance coverage for employees and dependents.

• Generous paid time off (annual leave, public holidays).

• Professional development opportunities, including training, workshops, and potential for certifications.

• Opportunities for career advancement within a leading national housing services company.

• Potential for performance-based bonuses.

• Retirement savings plan contributions.

• Relocation assistance (if applicable).

Working Hours: 40 hours per week, typically Sunday to Thursday, with potential for some flexibility depending on project needs and team collaboration requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary estimation is based on research of senior design leadership roles in Riyadh and Saudi Arabia, considering the company's likely scale and the seniority of the position. Benefits are standard for full-time, senior-level positions in the region.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Real Estate Development & Housing Services. The company plays a critical role in the Saudi Arabian housing sector, likely involving large-scale government initiatives and partnerships. This context implies a focus on structured processes, regulatory compliance, and delivering services to a broad public.

Company Size: The scale of "الشركة الوطنية لخدمات الإسكان" (National Housing Company) suggests a large enterprise, likely with hundreds or thousands of employees, operating across multiple departments and projects. This size necessitates robust operational frameworks and clear governance.

Founded: While not explicitly stated, a national housing company is likely a government-backed or established entity, implying a structured, potentially hierarchical organization with a long-term vision for national development.

Team Structure:

• The Product Design Director will likely lead a dedicated Product Design team, potentially comprising UX Designers, UI Designers, UX Researchers, and Design System Specialists.

• This team will operate within a broader Digital Excellence & Innovation department, collaborating closely with Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and potentially Strategy and Operations teams.

• The reporting structure will likely be to a Head of Digital or Chief Digital Officer, with close alignment to product leadership. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Emphasis on leveraging user research, analytics, and testing to inform all design decisions.

• Agile & Iterative Development: Likely adoption of agile principles for product development, requiring efficient design cycles and rapid iteration.

• Standardized Processes: Due to the scale and nature of the organization, standardized design workflows, governance, and documentation are paramount.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: A strong emphasis on seamless collaboration between design, product, and engineering teams to ensure alignment and successful product delivery.

Company Website: https://nhci.sa/ (Inferred from domain_derived)

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on national housing services suggests a culture that values stability, strategic impact, adherence to standards, and serving a large user base. For a design leader, this means balancing innovation with process, scalability, and compliance.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a senior leadership position within the design function. It's not just about individual contribution but about establishing and scaling design operations, processes, and systems that impact multiple product teams and the entire digital portfolio. The Director is responsible for the strategic direction and operational excellence of product design.

Reporting Structure: The Product Design Director will report to a senior executive, likely a VP of Product, Chief Product Officer, or Chief Digital Officer. They will manage a team of designers and specialists and will need to collaborate extensively with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and other department heads.

Operations Impact: The Director's operations will directly influence the user experience of national housing services, impacting citizen satisfaction, service adoption rates, operational efficiency, and the overall digital transformation of the organization. Their work in establishing robust design systems and governance will create significant long-term value and scalability.

Growth Opportunities:

• Strategic Leadership: Opportunity to shape the future of digital product design and user experience across the national housing sector.

• Organizational Impact: Influence the development of critical national infrastructure and services through user-centric design.

• Team Building & Development: Build and mentor a high-performing design team, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.

• Broader Digital Transformation: Contribute to the overall digital strategy and transformation of the organization.

• Industry Influence: Potentially become a thought leader in UX and design operations within government-backed entities or the broader Saudi Arabian tech landscape.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a significant opportunity for impact and career advancement by building and scaling design operations within a critical national initiative. The focus is on strategic leadership and organizational influence.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is on-site in Riyadh, indicating a traditional office-based work environment within the company's headquarters or a dedicated office space. This setting fosters in-person collaboration, team cohesion, and direct mentorship.

Office Location(s): Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The specific address is King Abdulaziz Rd, Al Yasmeen Dist, 13326, a well-established area in Riyadh.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The office environment will likely be designed to encourage collaboration, with meeting rooms, breakout spaces, and open-plan areas for team interaction.

• Tools & Technology: Access to industry-standard design software, prototyping tools, collaboration platforms, and potentially dedicated hardware for design work.

• Team Interaction: Regular opportunities for face-to-face interaction with the design team, product managers, developers, and other key stakeholders, facilitating efficient communication and problem-solving.

• Professional Setting: A professional corporate environment expected of a national organization, emphasizing structure and productivity.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time hours (approx. 40 hours/week), with a typical Sunday-to-Thursday work week. While the role is on-site, there may be some flexibility for critical deadlines or team needs, but the primary expectation is consistent office presence.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement suggests a preference for direct team oversight, collaborative brainstorming, and a strong company culture built on in-person interaction, which is common in large, established organizations.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or Talent Acquisition will review applications to ensure basic qualifications and experience are met.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A discussion with the hiring manager (likely a senior digital leader) to assess leadership style, strategic thinking, and alignment with the role's operational demands.

• Portfolio Review & Presentation: A dedicated session where candidates present their portfolio, focusing on design process, leadership experience, design system development, and operational improvements. Expect to walk through specific case studies.

• Team/Stakeholder Interviews: Meetings with key team members (designers, product managers, engineering leads) to evaluate collaboration skills, technical depth, and cultural fit.

• Final Interview: Potentially with an executive leader to discuss strategic vision and final alignment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Operational Leadership: Emphasize your experience in building and managing design processes, workflows, and governance. Showcase how you've operationalized design at scale.

• Showcase Design Systems: Dedicate significant time to presenting a design system you've developed or managed. Detail its structure, components, governance, and impact on efficiency and consistency.

• Demonstrate Problem-Solving: Use case studies to illustrate how you've tackled design challenges, improved user experiences, and driven measurable results through your strategic and operational approach.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your initiatives – e.g., improvements in user satisfaction, task completion rates, design cycle time, or adoption of design system components.

• Structure for Clarity: Organize your portfolio logically, perhaps by project type or by demonstrating different facets of your operational expertise (e.g., research operations, system operations, process optimization).

Challenge Preparation:

• Process Design Exercise: Be prepared for a hypothetical scenario where you might be asked to outline a process for a new product feature launch, design system update, or user research initiative.

• Strategic Thinking: Anticipate questions about how you would approach scaling design operations, improving team collaboration, or driving adoption of design standards within a large organization.

• Leadership Scenarios: Prepare for questions about managing design teams, resolving conflicts, and fostering a productive and innovative design culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "governance," "standards," "design systems," and "structured handover" suggests that the interview process will heavily scrutinize the candidate's ability to manage design as a robust operational function, not just a creative one.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), InVision, Axure RP. Proficiency in at least one leading tool like Figma is expected for collaborative design and prototyping.

• Design System Management: Tools for creating, documenting, and maintaining design systems (e.g., Storybook, Zeroheight, InVision DSM).

• User Research & Testing: Tools for surveys (SurveyMonkey, Typeform), user testing platforms (UserTesting.com, Lookback), and session recording (Hotjar, FullStory).

• Collaboration & Project Management: Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello, Slack, Microsoft Teams. Essential for workflow management, documentation, and cross-functional communication.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Web Analytics: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics for understanding user behavior on digital platforms.

• Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI, or similar tools for creating dashboards and presenting UX insights and performance metrics.

• A/B Testing Platforms: Optimizely, Google Optimize, or internal A/B testing frameworks.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managed by the design team, an understanding of CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and marketing automation tools can be beneficial for understanding user journeys and data flow.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role demands proficiency not only in core design tools but also in platforms and systems that support design operations, governance, and data-driven decision-making. A strong understanding of how design integrates with development and analytics tools is crucial.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Excellence & Quality: A commitment to delivering high-quality, user-centric designs that meet rigorous standards.

• Collaboration & Partnership: Strong emphasis on working effectively with cross-functional teams to achieve shared goals.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Relying on research, analytics, and testing to inform design strategies and validate solutions.

• Efficiency & Scalability: Focus on creating repeatable processes and reusable components (via design systems) to ensure efficient and scalable design output.

• Continuous Improvement: An open mindset to learn from feedback, market trends, and lessons learned to refine methods and tools.

• User-Centricity: A deep understanding of and commitment to solving user problems and meeting user needs.

Collaboration Style:

• Proactive Communication: Regularly engaging with stakeholders to ensure alignment, gather feedback, and manage expectations.

• Transparent Processes: Maintaining clear and accessible documentation of design processes, decisions, and system guidelines.

• Constructive Feedback Culture: Encouraging open and honest feedback within the design team and with cross-functional partners to foster growth and improve outcomes.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively sharing insights, best practices, and learnings across teams to elevate the collective understanding and capability.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's nature as a national service provider suggests a culture that values responsibility, meticulousness, and a collective approach to achieving large-scale objectives. For design operations, this translates to a need for structured collaboration and a commitment to robust processes.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Design Operations: Establishing and maintaining consistent design quality, processes, and a design system across a large and potentially growing portfolio of digital products.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring buy-in and consistent adoption of design standards and processes across diverse product teams and stakeholders with varying priorities.

• Balancing Innovation with Governance: Fostering creativity and user-centric innovation while adhering to established governance, standards, and technical constraints.

• Measuring Design Impact: Effectively quantifying the business value and user experience improvements driven by design initiatives and design operations.

• Adoption of Design Systems: Driving the adoption and consistent use of the design system by development and design teams.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Strategic Design Leadership: Developing expertise in shaping organizational design strategy and influencing digital transformation at a national level.

• Advanced Design Operations: Deepening knowledge in scaling design systems, optimizing design workflows, and implementing design tooling for large enterprises.

• Mentorship & Team Building: Gaining experience in building, leading, and mentoring high-performing design teams.

• Industry Best Practices: Staying abreast of emerging trends in UX, design systems, and design operations through conferences, research, and professional networks.

• Cross-Domain Expertise: Gaining a deeper understanding of the housing services sector and its operational complexities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to leading design operations in a large, complex organization. The growth opportunities are significant for a leader looking to make a substantial impact and advance their career in strategic design leadership and operations.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach establishing or scaling a design system for a large organization like ours, focusing on adoption and governance?"

• "Describe a time you had to manage conflicting priorities between design quality, development timelines, and business objectives. How did you resolve it?"

• "Outline your strategy for ensuring user research insights are consistently translated into actionable design improvements across multiple product teams."

• "How do you foster a culture of design excellence and continuous improvement within a design team and across the organization?"

• "What metrics would you prioritize to measure the success of your product design operations and the overall user experience?" Company & Culture Questions:

• "What do you know about the National Housing Company and its mission? How do you see design contributing to that mission?"

• "How would you integrate user-centric design principles into a national service delivery framework?"

• "Describe your experience working within structured organizational environments or government-related projects."

• "How do you ensure accessibility and inclusivity are core components of the design process?" Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Start with Vision & Impact: Begin by articulating your design philosophy and how your operational approach drives significant business and user impact.

• Structure by Process/System: Organize your presentation around key operational areas: Research Operations, Design Process Management, Design Systems, and Collaboration/Governance.

• Deep Dive into a Design System: Dedicate a significant portion to a design system case study, detailing its creation, components, guidelines, adoption strategy, and measured success.

• Showcase Problem-Solving: Use specific project examples to illustrate how you've overcome design or operational challenges, emphasizing your strategic thinking and execution.

• Quantify Results: Present clear data and metrics that demonstrate the effectiveness of your design solutions and operational improvements.

• Prepare for Q&A: Be ready to elaborate on any aspect of your portfolio, especially regarding process, decision-making, and team management.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, operational rigor, leadership capability, and a deep understanding of how design operations contribute to organizational goals, particularly within a large, national context.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Design Director position:

• Submit your application through the provided Oracle Cloud HCM portal link.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your leadership experience, experience in establishing design systems, managing design operations, and driving process improvements. Use keywords from the job description such as "Product Design," "User Research," "Design Systems," "Governance," and "Stakeholder Management."

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select case studies that best showcase your ability to manage end-to-end design processes, build scalable design systems, conduct rigorous user research, and collaborate effectively across teams. Focus on demonstrating operational excellence and measurable impact.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice presenting your portfolio, focusing on clarity, conciseness, and highlighting your leadership and operational contributions. Be ready to discuss your strategic approach to design leadership and operations.

• Research the Company: Familiarize yourself with the National Housing Company's mission, its role in Saudi Arabia's housing sector, and any recent digital initiatives. Understand the importance of its services to citizens.

⚠️ 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.