Staff Product Designer, Mobile focus

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer, Mobile Focus

Company: KAYAK

Location: Berlin, Germany

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / UX/UI

Date Posted: 2026-07-27

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days in office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the overall design direction and UX/UI pattern system for KAYAK's mobile applications, ensuring a cohesive user experience across multiple product teams.

• Set and uphold the highest quality standards for design output across iOS and Android platforms, driving native craft and platform-specific considerations.

• Spearhead the planning and discovery phases for app design initiatives, translating complex, multi-team problems into actionable design strategies.

• Influence product strategy and roadmap prioritization by partnering closely with product leadership and providing strong design rationale.

• Drive the integration of mobile AI features, defining the user experience and navigation for these new capabilities.

• Champion brand differentiation within KAYAK's portfolio of travel brands, ensuring local market relevance and dominance.

• Elevate the skills and output of other designers through rigorous critique, establishing shared standards, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a senior individual contributor position with significant influence, akin to a management level in terms of scope and impact. The focus on "technical lead for apps design" without direct management suggests a strong emphasis on strategic design leadership, mentorship through craft, and setting a high bar for design excellence and velocity across multiple teams. The requirement to work from the Berlin office 3 days a week indicates a hybrid model focused on in-person collaboration.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the comprehensive design direction and UX/UI pattern system for KAYAK's mobile applications, ensuring consistency and intuitiveness across different product surfaces.

• Establish and maintain the design quality bar for all app design output, proactively identifying and addressing gaps across the Apps Meta, Apps Retention, and Mobile Design Systems teams.

• Lead strategic planning and discovery efforts for all three app design teams, effectively breaking down ambiguous, cross-team challenges into clear, executable design direction.

• Collaborate closely with the Director of Product for Apps and product managers to influence the product roadmap and prioritization decisions through compelling design rationale and user-centric insights.

• Drive excellence in native mobile craft for both iOS and Android, defining approaches for resizability, foldables, diverse screen sizes, and adapting to platform UI shifts like Liquid Glass and Material 3 Expressive.

• Define the design strategy and user experience for integrating mobile AI features into the KAYAK apps, ensuring seamless and native incorporation into the overall user journey.

• Lead the design approach for enhancing brand differentiation across KAYAK's portfolio of hero brands (e.g., momondo) to strengthen local market presence and user engagement.

• Foster the professional growth of other app designers by leading critique sessions, establishing and disseminating shared design standards, and building upon foundational patterns they develop.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly indicate a hybrid individual contributor and leadership role. The phrase "accountable for the quality and velocity of what the apps designers produce, without managing them directly" signifies a senior technical leadership track. The emphasis on "native craft" and adapting to specific platform UI directions (Liquid Glass, Material 3 Expressive) highlights the need for deep expertise in mobile operating system design nuances.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Formal education in design (BA, BFA, MFA) or equivalent practical experience is preferred.

Experience: 10+ years in product design, with a strong portfolio demonstrating shipped, high-impact mobile work at consumer scale.

Required Skills:

• Deep native expertise across iOS and Android platforms.

• Mastery of Apple Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) and Material Design principles, with the judgment to know when to converge and when to honor platform differences.

• Proven hands-on experience with resizability, foldables, and tablet (iPad) design considerations.

• A clear point of view on evolving platform UI directions such as Liquid Glass and Material 3 Expressive.

• Demonstrated track record of raising design quality across a discipline beyond personal projects, through established standards, critiques, or widely adopted systems.

• Experience driving design direction across multiple teams or product areas, effectively influencing without direct authority.

• Experience building or significantly evolving mobile design systems and scalable UI patterns.

• High proficiency with Figma.

• Fluency with AI-assisted design and prototyping tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor).

• Comfort and proficiency in leveraging data and user research to inform design direction and measure outcomes.

• Strong strategic planning and problem-solving abilities for complex, multi-team initiatives.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, particularly for articulating design rationale and influencing stakeholders. Preferred Skills:

• Experience managing or formally leading design teams.

• Proven ability to drive design vision across teams and demonstrably tie it to business outcomes, not just deliverables.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "10+ years" experience requirement, coupled with the expectation of influencing multiple teams and setting quality bars, positions this role at a very senior level, often referred to as Principal or Staff Designer. The emphasis on both platform-specific knowledge (iOS/Android) and design system thinking is crucial for a role spanning multiple teams. The explicit mention of AI design tools indicates a forward-looking approach to the design process.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A robust portfolio showcasing shipped, high-impact mobile products designed for consumer-scale audiences.

• Case studies demonstrating deep native expertise across iOS and Android, including specific examples of adapting to platform nuances and modern UI paradigms (e.g., resizability, Material 3 Expressive).

• Evidence of experience in building or evolving mobile design systems, illustrating how scalability and consistency were achieved.

• Examples of how data and user research were integrated into the design process to inform decisions and measure success.

• Projects that highlight the ability to drive design direction across multiple teams or product areas, showcasing influence and collaboration.

• Demonstrations of leading design critique sessions or establishing design standards that improved overall team output.

• Examples of designing for complex user flows and interactions within mobile applications. Process Documentation:

• Case studies should clearly articulate the problem statement, the design process undertaken (discovery, ideation, iteration), and the final solution.

• Details on how design decisions were made, referencing user research, data analysis, and platform best practices.

• Explanation of how the design system was leveraged or contributed to, and its impact on consistency and efficiency.

• Documentation of collaboration with engineering and product management teams throughout the design lifecycle.

• Metrics and outcomes achieved by the designed features, demonstrating measurable impact on user engagement, conversion, or other key performance indicators.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Staff-level Product Designer role, the portfolio is paramount. It needs to go beyond just showcasing beautiful UI. It must demonstrate strategic thinking, leadership in design quality, and the ability to scale design principles and systems across a complex product landscape. The inclusion of AI design tools in the requirements suggests portfolio pieces that might touch upon AI-augmented workflows or AI-powered features.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Staff Product Designer roles in major European tech hubs like Berlin, with 10+ years of experience, a competitive salary range is estimated to be between €100,000 and €140,000 gross per year. This estimate accounts for the senior individual contributor nature of the role, the required expertise in native mobile design, design system leadership, and the company's position within the travel tech industry.

Benefits:

• Flexible Work Location: Up to 20 days per year working from anywhere.

• Health & Well-being:

  • Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth.
  • Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace for mental wellness.
  • Company-wide week off per year for full team recharge.

• Work-Life Balance:

  • No meeting Fridays to allow for focused work and deep thinking.
  • 6 weeks paid vacation plus a day off for your birthday.
  • Paid parental leave.
  • Paid volunteer time.

• Career Growth & Development:

  • Development Dollars for professional learning.
  • Access to leadership development programs.
  • Thousands of on-demand e-learning courses.

• Additional Perks:

  • Travel Discounts.

  • Employee Resource Groups for community and support.

  • Free lunch provided 2 days per week in the office.

  • Pension plan contributions.

  • Public transportation subsidies.

  • Bike leasing program.

  • Monthly social events, Thursday happy hours, and sports teams. Working Hours: Standard full-time hours are expected, with flexibility and a focus on results. The "No meeting Fridays" policy indicates a structured approach to managing time effectively for deep work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The provided benefits package is extensive and points to a company culture that prioritizes employee well-being, work-life balance, and professional development. The salary estimate is based on typical compensation for senior design roles in Germany, adjusted for the specific responsibilities and experience level. Research sources include industry salary reports for UX/Product Design in Germany and compensation data for similar roles at international tech companies.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Travel Technology / Metasearch. KAYAK operates in a highly competitive global market, leveraging technology to aggregate travel options and provide users with efficient search and booking experiences. As part of Booking Holdings, it benefits from a large, established ecosystem while maintaining its innovative spirit.

Company Size: KAYAK is part of Booking Holdings, a large multinational corporation. KAYAK itself operates with a significant number of employees, fostering a dynamic environment that blends the agility of a focused product company with the resources of a major player. This size offers opportunities for broad impact and access to extensive resources.

Founded: KAYAK was founded in 2004. Its history is rooted in innovation in travel search, evolving from a startup to an industry leader. This background suggests a culture that values forward-thinking, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement to stay ahead in the travel tech landscape.

Team Structure:

• The Staff Product Designer will work within the Apps division, influencing three key teams: Apps Meta, Apps Retention, and Mobile Design Systems.

• This role acts as a technical lead for design within the apps domain, responsible for design quality and velocity, but without direct line management.

• Collaboration will be extensive with Product Managers, Engineering teams (iOS and Android), UX Researchers, and potentially other design disciplines across KAYAK and its portfolio brands.

• The reporting structure likely places this role under a Director or VP of Product/Design for Apps, working closely with product leadership to shape the strategic direction. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Emphasis on using data and user research to inform design decisions, measure outcomes, and validate hypotheses.

• Agile Development: Likely operating within agile frameworks, requiring designers to be adaptable and responsive to iterative development cycles.

• Systematic Approach: Focus on building and evolving design systems to ensure consistency, scalability, and efficiency across the product.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Strong emphasis on close partnerships between design, product, and engineering to ensure successful product development and launch.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's background as a leading travel search engine implies a focus on user experience optimization for high-volume, transactional tasks. The structure of influencing three distinct teams suggests a need for strong strategic alignment and the ability to manage competing priorities effectively. The hybrid work model points to a culture that values both focused individual work and collaborative in-person interaction.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Staff Product Designer. This is a senior individual contributor role, typically one or two levels below Principal/Distinguished Designer or VP of Design. It signifies deep expertise, significant influence across multiple product areas, and a responsibility for setting technical direction and quality standards for a domain. In this context, it's a leadership role focused on design craft, strategy, and team enablement rather than direct people management.

Reporting Structure: The Staff Product Designer will likely report to a Director or VP level individual within the Product or Design organization, specifically overseeing the Apps division. They will work closely with Product Managers and Engineering Leads for the Apps Meta, Apps Retention, and Mobile Design Systems teams, providing design leadership and guidance.

Operations Impact: The Staff Product Designer's impact is critical for KAYAK's mobile success. By owning the design direction and quality across key app teams, they directly influence user acquisition, retention, engagement, and ultimately, revenue generated through bookings. Their work shapes how millions of users interact with KAYAK and its sister brands, impacting brand perception and market competitiveness. The focus on mobile AI features also positions them at the forefront of innovation, potentially driving new user behaviors and revenue streams.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Leadership: Deepen expertise as a recognized authority in mobile design, native platform design, and design systems, potentially progressing to Principal/Distinguished Designer or a similar technical fellowship.

• Strategic Influence: Take on broader strategic responsibilities, influencing product vision and roadmap for larger segments of KAYAK's offerings or even across the Booking Holdings portfolio.

• Mentorship & Enablement: While not direct management, the role provides opportunities to mentor designers through critique, pattern development, and setting best practices, building leadership skills in a different capacity.

• Cross-Brand Exposure: Opportunities to influence design across KAYAK's portfolio of brands (momondo, Cheapflights, etc.), broadening experience and impact.

• Emerging Technologies: Lead initiatives in cutting-edge areas like mobile AI integration, gaining expertise in shaping future product experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" title denotes a significant level of responsibility and influence. The growth path here is primarily through deepening technical expertise and strategic impact, rather than moving into people management, unless the individual chooses that later. The role's influence on multiple teams and strategic initiatives provides ample room for career advancement within the technical design track.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: KAYAK operates a modern office environment designed to foster collaboration and innovation. The Berlin office is described as being in Friedrichshain, a vibrant district known for its tech and creative scene. The hybrid model (3 days in office) suggests a balance between focused individual work and in-person team interaction.

Office Location(s): The primary work location for this role is the KAYAK office in Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany. This location offers access to a major European tech hub with excellent public transportation links.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: The office likely features open-plan work areas, meeting rooms, and breakout spaces designed to encourage spontaneous discussions and team collaboration.

• Tools & Technology: Designers will have access to industry-standard hardware and software, including high-performance workstations and licenses for tools like Figma, and potentially AI design tools.

• Team Interaction: The hybrid model ensures regular opportunities for designers to connect with their immediate teams, product managers, and engineering counterparts, fostering a strong sense of team cohesion and shared purpose. The "No meeting Fridays" policy allows for dedicated focus time within the office or remotely.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, with a hybrid arrangement requiring 3 days per week in the Berlin office. While standard hours apply, the emphasis on results and the "No meeting Fridays" policy suggest a culture that values efficient work habits and provides flexibility in managing individual schedules for deep work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The mention of a "bike leasing program" and "public transportation subsidies" reinforces the company's commitment to sustainability and employee well-being, common in progressive European companies. The office location in Friedrichshain places the employee in a desirable urban setting with good connectivity.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screen: A brief call with a recruiter to assess overall fit, experience alignment, and salary expectations.

• Portfolio Presentation & Design Challenge: This is the core of the process. Candidates will present their portfolio, focusing on mobile design projects that demonstrate expertise in native iOS/Android, design systems, and strategic problem-solving. A take-home design challenge or an in-person whiteboard/design exercise may be used to assess practical skills, problem-solving approach, and ability to articulate design rationale under pressure.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and potentially other designers or Directors to assess collaboration style, technical understanding, and alignment with team dynamics.

• Hiring Manager/Director Interview: A final discussion with the hiring manager (likely the Director of Product for Apps or similar) to evaluate strategic thinking, leadership potential, and cultural fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-4 of your most impactful mobile design projects. Prioritize those that showcase native iOS and Android expertise, design system contributions, and experience influencing multiple teams.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the design process, your specific contributions, the challenges faced, and the measurable outcomes. Use data and user research to back up your decisions.

• Highlight Leadership: Emphasize instances where you set design quality standards, led critiques, influenced roadmaps, or built scalable patterns that benefited other designers.

• Showcase Native Craft: Be prepared to discuss specific native design patterns, HIG/Material Design nuances, and your approach to platform changes.

• Address AI Integration: If you have relevant experience with AI-assisted design tools or designing AI-powered features, be ready to discuss it.

• Be Concise and Clear: Practice your presentation to be engaging and efficient, respecting the time allocated.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Mobile Ecosystem: Be ready for tasks related to mobile UX flows, UI design, and platform-specific considerations.

• Think Systematically: If presented with a design system problem, focus on scalability, consistency, and maintainability.

• Articulate Trade-offs: Be prepared to discuss the pros and cons of different design decisions and justify your choices with rationale.

• Collaborate Effectively: If it's a collaborative exercise, demonstrate active listening and constructive contribution.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to deeply assess both individual craft and the ability to lead and influence at a senior level. The portfolio is the primary artifact for demonstrating this capability, so candidates must be prepared to present it with strategic depth and clarity. The emphasis on "influence without authority" means demonstrating how you can guide decisions and improve quality through expertise and persuasion.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: This is explicitly mentioned as a required skill, indicating it's the primary tool for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration within the design team.

• AI-Assisted Design & Prototyping Tools: Proficiency with tools like Claude Code or Cursor is required, suggesting an integration of AI into the design workflow for efficiency and enhanced capabilities.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not explicitly listed, a Staff Product Designer at KAYAK would be expected to be comfortable using and interpreting data from:
  • Product Analytics Platforms: Tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics for understanding user behavior, feature adoption, and conversion funnels.
  • A/B Testing Tools: Platforms that enable experimentation and data-driven validation of design changes.
  • User Feedback Tools: Systems for collecting and analyzing qualitative feedback from users.

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly relevant to the product designer role itself, but understanding how design impacts user journeys within CRM systems or marketing automation platforms might be beneficial for context.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma and AI-assisted design tools highlights KAYAK's commitment to modern design workflows. The expectation to use data and research implies familiarity with analytics platforms, even if they aren't primary design tools. This role requires a designer who is not only a craftsperson but also a strategic thinker who leverages technology and data to drive product success.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and serving the needs of travelers, ensuring intuitive and efficient experiences.

• Innovation: A culture that encourages exploring new technologies and approaches, such as AI integration, to enhance the travel search experience.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Reliance on data and user research to guide product strategy, design choices, and measure impact.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Open communication and strong partnerships between design, product, engineering, and other teams to achieve shared goals.

• Excellence & Quality: A drive to deliver high-quality, polished products that meet rigorous standards, with a focus on native platform excellence.

• Impact & Ownership: Employees are encouraged to take ownership of their work and demonstrate measurable impact on the product and business.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Design is integrated early and often with Product Management and Engineering to ensure feasibility and alignment from concept to launch.

• Critique-Oriented: A culture that embraces constructive critique as a mechanism for elevating design quality and fostering shared learning.

• Pattern-Based Development: Emphasis on building and utilizing design systems and scalable patterns to ensure consistency and efficiency across the product suite.

• Open Communication: Encouraging direct and honest communication, facilitated by tools and a hybrid work environment that balances focused work with interaction.

📝 Enhancement Note: KAYAK's values, as inferred from its industry position and benefit offerings, suggest a culture that is both ambitious and supportive. The emphasis on "no meeting Fridays" and extensive well-being benefits points to a culture that values sustainable productivity and employee health. The "Staff" level role is expected to embody and champion these values.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Vision and Execution: Maintaining a cohesive design direction across three distinct teams while ensuring individual designers can execute effectively and meet deadlines.

• Platform Evolution: Keeping pace with rapid changes in iOS and Android design paradigms (e.g., Liquid Glass, Material 3 Expressive) and integrating them seamlessly into the KAYAK experience.

• AI Integration Complexity: Defining intuitive and valuable user experiences for AI-powered features, ensuring they enhance rather than complicate the user journey.

• Brand Differentiation: Effectively distinguishing KAYAK's core app from its sister brands (momondo, Cheapflights) in local markets while maintaining a consistent underlying platform.

• Influencing Without Direct Authority: Guiding and elevating the design output and strategic thinking of multiple designers and teams without formal management oversight.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deepening Native Expertise: Continuous learning and application of the latest iOS and Android design best practices, including emerging hardware capabilities like foldables.

• AI in Design: Gaining hands-on experience and thought leadership in designing with and for AI technologies.

• Design System Maturity: Contributing to the evolution and strategic application of a mature mobile design system.

• Strategic Product Influence: Developing skills in influencing product roadmaps and long-term strategy through design rationale and user insights.

• Cross-Brand Design Strategy: Understanding and contributing to the design nuances required for portfolio-level brand differentiation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical for senior-level design roles that span multiple product areas. They require a blend of deep technical skill, strategic thinking, and strong interpersonal/influencing abilities. The growth opportunities are aligned with advancing technical leadership and strategic impact within the design field.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach setting a unified design direction and UX/UI pattern system across three distinct product teams (Apps Meta, Apps Retention, Mobile Design Systems) while not directly managing them?" (Focus on establishing shared principles, critique, and a common design language.)

• "Describe a time you significantly raised the design quality bar for a team or discipline beyond your immediate projects. What was your approach, and what were the results?" (Highlight experience with standards, critique, or system adoption.)

• "How do you balance adherence to native platform guidelines (Apple HIG, Material Design) with the need for a consistent cross-platform brand experience? Provide examples." (Showcase judgment and understanding of platform nuances.)

• "Walk us through your process for planning and discovering solutions for loosely defined, multi-team product problems." (Demonstrate strategic decomposition and user-centered problem-solving.)

• "What is your philosophy on integrating AI features into mobile applications? How would you ensure these features feel native and genuinely add value?" (Discuss user experience, ethical considerations, and discoverability.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of KAYAK and the travel metasearch industry, what do you see as the biggest design challenges or opportunities for our mobile apps?" (Show research and strategic thinking.)

• "How do you approach collaboration with product managers and engineers, especially when influencing roadmap decisions or technical priorities?" (Highlight partnership and communication skills.)

• "Describe your experience working with or evolving mobile design systems. What are the key principles of a successful system?" (Focus on scalability, consistency, and adoption.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Begin with a brief overview of your career and then dive into 2-3 key projects that best represent your capabilities for this specific role.

• Quantify Success: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your specific role and contributions, the design process, trade-offs made, and most importantly, the measurable business and user outcomes achieved. Use metrics wherever possible.

• Highlight Leadership: Explicitly point out instances where you influenced design quality, coordinated efforts across teams, or established standards.

• Demonstrate Native Craft: Be prepared to discuss the technical intricacies of your mobile designs, your understanding of iOS and Android specific patterns, and your approach to platform updates.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your design decisions, your use of data, and your collaboration process.

📝 Enhancement Note: The questions are designed to assess strategic thinking, leadership in craft, technical depth, and cultural fit. Candidates must be prepared to speak to their experience in a way that directly addresses the requirements of this Staff-level role, emphasizing influence, quality, and strategic impact on mobile products.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on jobs.ashbyhq.com.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight the 10+ years of experience, specific mobile design achievements (iOS/Android, consumer scale), experience with design systems, AI design tools, and any instances of influencing multiple teams. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate a selection of 2-3 high-impact mobile design case studies that demonstrate native craft, strategic problem-solving, and measurable outcomes. Ensure it aligns with the role's focus on leadership, quality, and cross-team influence.

• Practice Your Presentation: Rehearse your portfolio walkthrough, focusing on clear storytelling, articulating your strategic contributions, and quantifying impact. Be ready to discuss your approach to native design, design systems, and AI integration.

• Research KAYAK: Familiarize yourself with KAYAK's product, its competitors, and its brand portfolio. Understand their mission and values to articulate your alignment during interviews.

⚠️ 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.