Senior Product Designer (Search)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer (Search)

Company: Vio

Location: Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands (Remote within CET +/-3 timezones)

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / GTM Operations (Search Domain Focus)

Date Posted: 2026-07-30

Experience Level: 5+ Years

Remote Status: Remote (with timezone restrictions)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead end-to-end product design for Vio's high-traffic Search domain, encompassing the entire traveler journey from initial search to confident booking.

• Drive strategic and psychological explorations of product and brand experiences, tackling complex user problems beyond simple screen optimization.

• Translate business objectives, traveler needs, and data insights into impactful design solutions that enhance clarity and trust in booking decisions.

• Continuously optimize and improve key surfaces like the Home, Search Results Page, and SEO Landing Pages, validating impact through A/B testing and data analysis.

📝 Enhancement Note: While this role is primarily Product Design, the emphasis on optimizing high-traffic conversion funnels, data-driven decision-making (A/B testing, metrics), and cross-functional collaboration with Product Managers and Analysts places it firmly within the broader GTM (Go-to-Market) and Revenue Operations ecosystem. The focus on "earning traveler trust" and "booking with confidence" directly impacts conversion rates and customer lifetime value.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own the complete product design lifecycle for the Search domain, from initial problem definition and user research through UX/UI design, prototyping, validation, and seamless developer handoff.

• Conduct deep strategic and psychological explorations to reframe challenging user problems and innovative product/brand experiences, pushing beyond incremental optimizations.

• Design and implement continuous improvements and optimizations across the Search experience, focusing on aspects like quality and trust signals, review clarity, price insights, and understanding the Vio ecosystem.

• Translate complex business goals, nuanced traveler needs, and quantitative/qualitative data into intuitive design solutions that enable users to make rapid, confident booking decisions.

• Lead and execute user research initiatives, employing the most efficient methods to answer critical questions, and closely collaborate with the dedicated UX Research function to translate insights into actionable design decisions and measurable metrics.

• Champion an experiment-driven design approach, leveraging A/B testing and performance metrics to validate design hypotheses and drive continuous improvement in conversion rates and user satisfaction.

• Contribute actively to and evolve Vio's design system (Atlas), focusing on creating reusable, tokenized, and multi-brand components to ensure consistency and scalability across the platform.

• Utilize AI as a strategic tool to accelerate ideation, research synthesis, prototyping, and the exploration of design variations, thereby increasing design velocity and quality.

• Foster strong, collaborative partnerships with Product Managers, Engineering Managers, Frontend Engineers, Product Analysts, UX Researchers, and Content Designers to ensure alignment on strategic direction, manage trade-offs, and ensure timely delivery within agile development cadences.

• Elevate the overall design craft and user-centricity within the Search squad, advocating for evidence-led design practices and influencing the team's approach to problem-solving and solution development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strong emphasis on data-driven optimization and conversion funnel improvement, which are core tenets of Revenue Operations and GTM strategy. The expectation to "prove their impact through A/B testing" and "turning insights into decisions and, where you can, into metrics" signifies a direct link to operational performance measurement.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong foundation in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Psychology, or a related field is implied by the role's strategic depth.

Experience: 5+ years of experience in designing large-scale, consumer-facing digital products, with a demonstrable portfolio showcasing shipped work and its impact.

Required Skills:

• End-to-end product design ownership, from discovery through delivery and iteration, with a focus on strategic problem-solving.

• Proficiency in user-centered design principles and methodologies.

• Expertise in UX/UI design, interaction design, and visual design for complex interfaces.

• Advanced skills in Figma and modern prototyping workflows.

• Experience in designing information-dense, fast-decision interfaces, such as those found in search, comparison, or e-commerce platforms.

• Demonstrated ability to drive and interpret A/B testing, with a strong understanding of user behavior measurement across the conversion funnel.

• Capability to conduct independent user research and synthesize insights into actionable design decisions.

• Experience contributing to and working with design systems (e.g., Atlas).

• Proficiency in using AI tools to enhance design processes, ideation, and execution.

• Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence Product Managers, Engineers, and senior leadership using evidence and data.

• Resilience and ability to navigate ambiguity, holding ground on design decisions while remaining adaptable. Preferred Skills:

• Experience within the travel/OTA industry or on high-traffic consumer platforms.

• Familiarity with two-sided marketplaces, understanding the dynamics between user needs and supply-side constraints.

• Experience with experimentation tools beyond A/B testing.

• Exposure to multi-brand or white-label design environments.

• Interest in designing AI-assisted or conversational user experiences.

• Familiarity with SEO best practices and their impact on user acquisition and experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: The extensive list of required skills, particularly those related to data analysis, A/B testing, and influencing stakeholders based on evidence, strongly aligns with the analytical and strategic demands of advanced Sales Operations and GTM roles. The emphasis on "proving impact through A/B testing" and "making sound calls when the metrics aren't there yet" points to a need for rigorous data interpretation and hypothesis-driven design.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing a minimum of 5+ years of professional product design experience, with a strong emphasis on shipped, consumer-facing digital products.

• Demonstrate end-to-end ownership of the design process, from initial problem definition and user research through to final delivery and post-launch iteration.

• Present case studies that clearly articulate user-centered problem-solving, business impact (quantified with data or metrics where possible), and high-quality UX, UI, interaction, and visual design execution.

• Highlight experience designing for information-dense, fast-decision environments, such as search, comparison engines, or e-commerce platforms, showcasing how complexity was managed effectively.

• Showcase your approach to experimentation and data-driven design, including examples of how you've used A/B testing or other metrics to validate hypotheses and improve user behavior or conversion rates.

• Provide examples of your collaboration with UX Researchers, demonstrating how user insights were integrated into the design process.

• Include examples of your work with design systems, illustrating your understanding of reusable components, tokenization, and multi-brand design principles.

• Showcase how you leverage AI tools within your design workflow to enhance efficiency and quality. Process Documentation:

• Case studies should detail the process of identifying and defining product problems within the Search domain or similar complex user journeys.

• Illustrate your methodology for conducting user research, synthesizing findings, and translating them into actionable design recommendations.

• Document your approach to prototyping, user validation, and iterative design, detailing how feedback was incorporated.

• Clearly outline your collaboration process with Product Managers, Engineers, and Analysts, demonstrating how you align on goals, trade-offs, and delivery within agile frameworks.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for a portfolio demonstrating data-driven impact, A/B testing, and conversion optimization is highly relevant for operations roles focused on driving GTM efficiency and revenue growth. This portfolio serves as a tangible demonstration of an applicant's ability to impact key business metrics.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: For a Senior Product Designer role in Amsterdam with 5+ years of experience, a competitive salary range is estimated between €70,000 and €100,000 annually, depending on experience, specific skill set, and the depth of impact demonstrated in the portfolio. This estimation is based on industry benchmarks for senior design roles in major European tech hubs and considering Vio's growth stage and the strategic importance of this role.

Benefits:

• Significant Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs) for all employees, aligning individual success with company growth.

• Flexible time off policy, allowing employees to take as many holidays as needed.

• Remote work options, with a requirement to be within CET +/-3 timezones for optimal team alignment.

• Catered lunches from diverse cuisines, high-quality coffee, and garden barbecues.

• A budget allocated for home office setup and maintenance.

• Access to free mental health support through OpenUp.

• Opportunities for continuous learning and growth within a transparent and collaborative culture.

• A great compensation package, including perks and benefits beyond base salary.

• Company events and celebrations in Amsterdam and abroad.

Working Hours: Approximately 40 hours per week, with flexibility offered through the remote work policy and flexible time off. The emphasis is on output and impact rather than strict adherence to hours.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimation based on typical Senior Product Designer compensation in Amsterdam, considering the company's stage and the role's seniority. The inclusion of Stock Appreciation Rights is a significant benefit that aligns with performance-driven environments often found in operations-focused companies.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Travel Tech / Online Travel Agency (OTA) Aggregator. Vio operates in a highly competitive market, focusing on transparency and traveler trust to differentiate itself from numerous booking sites and aggregators. The company leverages technology and data to provide competitive pricing and booking clarity.

Company Size: Vio is described as one of the world's fastest-growing travel tech platforms, with operations in over 100 markets. While an exact employee count isn't provided, this suggests a scale-up phase, likely in the range of 200-1000 employees, indicating a dynamic and evolving organizational structure.

Founded: The company's history (implied by "grown our bookings 30x between 2017 and 2025") and recent rebrand in 2026 suggest a company that has matured from a startup phase into a significant player, now focusing on brand building and strategic expansion.

Team Structure:

• The design function is led by a Head of Design and a Design Manager, indicating a structured approach to design leadership.

• This Senior Product Designer will be part of the "Search Squad," a cross-functional team comprising Product Managers, an Engineering Manager, Frontend Engineers, Product Analysts, UX Researchers, and Content Designers.

• Design operates as a strategic function, deeply integrated with product development and business goals, rather than a purely aesthetic service. Methodology:

• Emphasis on data-driven decision-making and A/B testing to validate design solutions and measure impact.

• Agile development methodologies with a two-week cadence for collaboration and delivery.

• User-centered design principles are paramount, with a focus on understanding and addressing traveler needs to build trust and confidence.

• Strategic exploration and problem reframing are encouraged, moving beyond incremental optimizations to tackle core user challenges.

• Active use of AI as a tool to enhance efficiency and quality across various design tasks.

Company Website: https://www.vio.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on growth, data-driven optimization, and strategic design integration aligns well with the operational mindset required in revenue and GTM operations. The collaborative, cross-functional team structure is also a common characteristic of effective operations teams.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a Senior Product Designer, indicating a mid-to-senior level within the design discipline. For someone with an operations mindset, this translates to a role with significant influence on product strategy and customer acquisition/conversion funnels. The scope includes owning high-traffic domains and driving measurable impact, often a key factor in career progression within operations.

Reporting Structure: The role reports into the central Design function (led by Head of Design and Design Manager) but works day-to-day within the dedicated "Search Squad," reporting functionally to product leadership within that squad. This matrixed approach allows for both specialized design mentorship and agile, product-focused execution.

Operations Impact: The primary impact of this role is on the traveler's booking journey, directly influencing conversion rates, user trust, and potentially repeat bookings and customer lifetime value. By optimizing search and discovery, the role contributes significantly to Vio's core business objective of facilitating smarter travel decisions and driving bookings. The focus on A/B testing and metrics means the impact is quantifiable and directly tied to business performance, a key aspect of operations roles.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization & Leadership: Potential to deepen expertise in search, conversion optimization, or travel tech UX, leading to more senior design roles or specialized product leadership positions within Vio.

• Cross-functional Mobility: Demonstrated success in a strategic, data-driven role can open doors to Product Management, GTM Strategy, or even high-level Operations roles within the company, especially given the focus on metrics and business impact.

• Skill Development: Opportunities to hone skills in AI-assisted design, advanced user research, design system development, and influencing senior stakeholders. The company also offers a budget for learning and development, potentially including conferences or certifications relevant to product strategy and operations.

• Company Growth: As a rapidly growing company, there will be opportunities to shape evolving processes, take on new responsibilities, and grow with the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth opportunities highlight a path that can extend beyond traditional design into areas that intersect heavily with GTM strategy and operations, particularly concerning customer acquisition, conversion optimization, and data-driven decision-making.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Vio offers a hybrid work environment with a primary office location in Amsterdam, described as "one of the best office locations." The company also supports remote work for candidates within specific timezones.

Office Location(s): Amsterdam, Netherlands. The office is noted for its excellent location and is equipped to foster collaboration.

Workspace Context:

• The design function, particularly within the Search Squad, emphasizes close collaboration with Product Managers, Engineers, Analysts, and UX Researchers, suggesting an open and communicative work atmosphere.

• Access to modern design tools (Figma), prototyping workflows, and a design system (Atlas) supports efficient and high-quality work.

• The company culture promotes knowledge sharing, trust, and transparency, creating an environment conducive to learning and collective problem-solving.

• The office environment includes amenities like catered lunches, great coffee, and social events, fostering team cohesion.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is implied, the emphasis on remote work and flexible time off suggests a results-oriented culture where employees have autonomy over their schedules, provided deadlines and team collaboration needs are met. This flexibility is beneficial for deep work sessions required for complex design and operational analysis.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid and remote-friendly environment, coupled with a focus on collaboration and results, is typical of many modern tech companies, including those with strong operational functions that value efficiency and employee well-being.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process: Vio's hiring process is detailed in their blog posts and generally involves:

• Initial Application & Screening: Review of resume and portfolio.

• Hiring Manager/Recruiter Call: Discussion about your background, motivations, and role fit.

• Design Exercise/Case Study: A practical assessment, likely involving a design challenge related to the Search domain or a similar problem, which may be presented live or as a take-home assignment. This is where your portfolio will be heavily referenced.

• Team Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers, Engineers, UX Researchers, and potentially other designers to assess collaboration skills, technical proficiency, and cultural fit.

• Stakeholder Interview: Potentially an interview with more senior leadership (Head of Design, Head of Product) to discuss strategic thinking and impact.

• Reference Checks. Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Clearly articulate the problem you solved, your role, the process you followed, and most importantly, the measurable impact of your design solutions. Quantify results with data and metrics wherever possible (e.g., conversion rate improvements, user satisfaction increases, task completion times).

• Showcase Strategic Thinking: Go beyond just UI mockups. Detail your strategic approach to understanding user needs, reframing problems, and aligning design decisions with business goals. Highlight instances where you led "deep strategic and psychological explorations."

• Demonstrate Full-Cycle Ownership: Present projects where you managed the entire design process from research to delivery and iteration. Show how you collaborated with engineering and product teams.

• Highlight Data-Driven Design: Include examples of how you used A/B testing, user research, and analytics to inform your design decisions and measure success.

• Design System Contribution: If applicable, showcase your experience with design systems, including contributions to component libraries and adherence to design tokens.

• AI Integration: Briefly explain how you've used AI tools to enhance your design workflow.

• Storytelling: Structure your case studies as compelling narratives that highlight challenges, your thought process, solutions, and outcomes.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Familiarize yourself with Vio's product, their mission, and the competitive landscape of online travel booking. Think about the unique challenges and opportunities within the search and discovery experience.

• Practice Problem Framing: Be ready to articulate how you would approach a complex problem like "improving traveler trust in search results" or "designing for rapid decision-making with dense information."

• Prepare Metrics: Think about relevant KPIs for a search product (e.g., search conversion rate, click-through rate on results, time to book, user satisfaction scores).

• Showcase Collaboration: Prepare examples of how you effectively partnered with Product Managers and Engineers, managed trade-offs, and communicated design rationale.

• Design System Thinking: Be ready to discuss how you would contribute to or utilize a design system in practice.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on portfolio review, data-driven results, and strategic problem-solving directly mirrors the evaluation criteria for high-impact operations roles. Applicants should prepare to discuss their quantitative impact and strategic contributions in detail.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UX/UI design, prototyping, and collaboration. Proficiency is a core requirement.

• Prototyping Tools: Modern workflows are expected, likely involving Figma's built-in capabilities or other associated tools for interactive prototypes.

• Design System (Atlas): Vio utilizes its own design system. Experience contributing to or working within established design systems is crucial.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Tools: While not explicitly named, proficiency in using data from tools like Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel, or similar platforms is implied for A/B testing analysis, user behavior tracking, and performance measurement.

• A/B Testing Platforms: Experience with tools like Optimizely, VWO, or in-house experimentation platforms is highly beneficial for validating design hypotheses.

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to the core design function, but understanding how design impacts user journeys that might involve CRM or automation workflows is a plus.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma and design systems is standard for design roles. The implied need for proficiency in analytics and A/B testing tools is where the overlap with operations becomes significant, as these are fundamental tools for driving GTM efficiency and measuring ROI.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Traveler Focus: A core value is prioritizing the traveler's needs and experience, aiming to build trust and provide effortless booking. This translates to a user-centric approach in all design and operational decisions.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Emphasis on using data, metrics, and A/B testing to inform strategy and validate outcomes, a cornerstone of effective operations.

• Transparency and Clarity: Vio aims to cut through complexity and provide clear, fair booking experiences. This value should be reflected in design and communication.

• Continuous Improvement: The role involves constantly optimizing and improving user experiences, reflecting an operational mindset focused on efficiency and effectiveness.

• Collaboration & Trust: Design is a strategic function that relies heavily on strong partnerships across product, engineering, and analytics.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Design is embedded within agile squads, working closely with Product Managers, Engineers, Analysts, and UX Researchers on a daily basis.

• Evidence-Based Influence: Design decisions are expected to be backed by user research, data, and strategic rationale, fostering a culture of constructive debate and alignment.

• Knowledge Sharing: The company culture promotes openness, trust, and transparency, encouraging the sharing of insights, best practices, and learnings across teams.

• Agile Cadence: Work is delivered within a two-week cycle, requiring effective communication and collaboration to meet sprint goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's values and collaboration style emphasize data, efficiency, and cross-functional teamwork, which are critical for successful operations teams. An applicant who can demonstrate alignment with these values will likely thrive.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Complexity: Optimizing a high-traffic, information-dense search experience with numerous options and variables requires sophisticated information architecture and UI design.

• Balancing User Needs with Business Goals: Ensuring that design solutions meet traveler needs for clarity and trust while also driving conversion and business objectives.

• Continuous Optimization: The role demands a mindset of ongoing improvement, requiring constant analysis, hypothesis generation, and iteration to stay ahead in a competitive market.

• Navigating Ambiguity: As a fast-growing company, processes and priorities may evolve, requiring adaptability and resilience.

• Influencing Diverse Stakeholders: Effectively advocating for design decisions with varying perspectives from Product, Engineering, and senior leadership.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Domain Expertise: Opportunity to become a subject matter expert in travel tech UX, search optimization, and conversion strategy.

• Advanced Data & Experimentation Skills: Continuous practice with A/B testing, user behavior analysis, and translating data into design strategy.

• Strategic Design Leadership: Developing skills in leading strategic explorations, influencing product roadmaps, and mentoring junior designers.

• Cross-functional Skill Enhancement: Gaining deeper insights into product management, engineering processes, and data analytics through close collaboration.

• Company Growth Exposure: Learning how to scale design and operational processes within a rapidly expanding organization.

• AI Integration Mastery: Becoming proficient in leveraging AI tools to enhance design productivity and creativity.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges and growth opportunities presented are highly relevant to operations professionals, emphasizing problem-solving, data-driven strategies, continuous improvement, and cross-functional influence – all key components of successful operations careers.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to design for an information-dense interface with rapid decision-making requirements. What were the key challenges, and how did you address them?" (Focus on information architecture, clarity, and efficiency.)

• "How would you approach improving traveler trust in search results on Vio? Walk us through your process from problem definition to potential solutions and how you'd measure success." (Demonstrate strategic thinking, user research, and data-driven validation.)

• "Tell me about a significant product or feature you designed that was heavily influenced by A/B testing. What was the hypothesis, how did you design for it, and what were the results?" (Highlight your experimental design approach and impact quantification.)

• "How do you balance user needs with business objectives, especially when they might conflict? Provide an example from your portfolio." (Showcase your ability to find win-win solutions and make trade-offs.)

• "Describe your experience contributing to or building a design system. How does it impact your design process and collaboration with engineering?" (Focus on reusability, consistency, and efficiency.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Vio's mission to make booking accommodation fair and effortless?" (Show genuine interest and alignment with company values.)

• "How do you see design as a strategic function within a company like Vio, and how does it contribute to revenue or GTM goals?" (Connect design impact to business outcomes.)

• "Describe your ideal collaboration style with Product Managers and Engineers. How do you handle disagreements or differing opinions?" (Highlight your teamwork and communication skills.)

• "How do you incorporate AI tools into your design workflow, and what benefits do you see for Vio's search experience?" (Demonstrate forward-thinking and practical application of new technologies.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Select High-Impact Projects: Choose 2-3 projects that best showcase your end-to-end ownership, strategic problem-solving, data-driven approach, and impact on conversion or user trust.

• Structure Each Case Study:

  1. Problem: Clearly define the user problem and business objective.
  2. Your Role: Specify your responsibilities and contributions.
  3. Process: Detail your research, ideation, design, and testing methodologies.
  4. Solution: Present key design artifacts (wireframes, prototypes, final UI) and explain design rationale.
  5. Impact: Quantify results with metrics (conversion lifts, engagement improvements, satisfaction scores) and discuss key learnings.

• Highlight Collaboration: Explicitly mention how you worked with PMs, engineers, and researchers.

• Discuss Data & Experimentation: Walk through your A/B testing process, data analysis, and how it informed your design decisions.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions about your rationale, trade-offs, and alternative approaches.

• Showcase AI Usage: Briefly mention how AI tools were used in the project.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation advice strongly emphasizes demonstrating impact, data literacy, strategic thinking, and cross-functional collaboration – all core competencies for operations professionals. Applicants should treat this as an opportunity to showcase their operational mindset.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight projects demonstrating end-to-end ownership, strategic problem-solving in complex interfaces (search/e-commerce), data-driven decision-making (A/B testing, metrics), and a strong understanding of user trust and conversion optimization.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 5+ years of experience and emphasizes achievements related to driving measurable impact, influencing stakeholders, and working in agile, cross-functional environments. Integrate keywords like "Product Design," "Search," "Conversion Optimization," "A/B Testing," "User Research," and "Design Systems."

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, strategic thinking, and quantifiable impact using the STAR method. Prepare to discuss specific case studies from your portfolio in detail, focusing on how your work contributed to business objectives and user satisfaction.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Vio's mission, values, product, and recent rebranding. Understand their competitive landscape and how your design skills can contribute to their growth and their goal of helping travelers book like insiders. Pay attention to their emphasis on trust and clarity.

⚠️ 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.

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