UX Lead (Product & Growth)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: UX Lead (Product & Growth)

Company: Ruby Labs

Location: Remote (European Union and surrounding countries)

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / UX / Growth Operations

Date Posted: May 26, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 years

🚀 Role Summary

• This is a high-impact, high-ownership remote role focused on leveraging UX as a core growth lever for a high-growth D2C product.

• The role requires a deep technical understanding, data fluency, and strong design skills to drive product and business performance.

• You will own UX strategy, design quality, and the research practice, directly influencing key business metrics like activation, retention, and conversion.

• This position is ideal for someone who wants to build systems, lead people, and is driven by measurable outcomes in a fast-paced environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a critical driver of business growth rather than a traditional support function. The emphasis on "growth lever" and "measurable growth" suggests a strong alignment with Revenue Operations and Sales Operations principles, focusing on optimizing user journeys to directly impact key business performance indicators. The "not a 9-5 role" and "high-ownership" descriptors indicate a demanding yet rewarding environment for ambitious operations professionals.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and execute comprehensive UX strategy: Define and own the end-to-end user journey, from acquisition through long-term retention, focusing on improving activation, retention, and conversion rates.

• Drive measurable growth through UX initiatives: Translate UX efforts into quantifiable improvements in key business metrics, acting as a core driver of product and business performance.

• Lead data-driven design and optimization: Analyze product analytics independently using tools like Mixpanel and GA4, identify friction points from session recordings and heatmaps, and define hypotheses for A/B testing.

• Establish and evolve a scalable design system: Define, enforce, and maintain a clear, consistent design system, with a focus on direct frontend implementation rather than a Figma-first approach.

• Build and structure the UX research practice: Establish priorities, conduct user interviews, surveys, and usability tests, and translate research findings into actionable product decisions.

• Collaborate closely with Product and Growth teams: Design and optimize critical user flows including onboarding, paywalls, and retention loops to enhance user engagement and monetization.

• Define and communicate analytics instrumentation needs: Work with the data team to ensure necessary tracking and reporting are in place to measure UX impact effectively.

• Validate UX changes through experimentation: Design, implement, and analyze A/B tests using platforms like GrowthBook to continuously improve user experience and business outcomes.

• Lead and mentor designers and frontend engineers: Set the definition of done for UI/UX work, uphold visual and interaction quality standards, and guide team members involved in design and implementation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities heavily emphasize a data-centric approach to UX, directly linking design decisions to business outcomes. This aligns with the core principles of Revenue Operations and Growth Operations, where understanding user behavior and optimizing conversion funnels are paramount. The expectation of independent data analysis and A/B testing experience is critical for success in this role.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating relevant experience and skills is paramount. A background in design, human-computer interaction, or a related field is beneficial.

Experience: 5-8+ years in UX, Product Design, or design leadership, ideally within D2C, SaaS, or consumer digital product environments.

Required Skills:

• Data & Analytics Proficiency:

  • Strong, hands-on ability to analyze product data independently (e.g., Mixpanel, GA4, Amplitude).
  • Ability to interpret cohort and retention data, identify patterns, and formulate hypotheses from raw numbers.
  • Proven experience designing and running end-to-end A/B tests (e.g., GrowthBook, Optimizely).
  • Experience utilizing session recordings (e.g., Clarity, FullStory, Hotjar) and heatmaps to identify user friction.

• Retention & Growth Expertise:

  • Demonstrated success in driving measurable improvements in retention, activation, or Lifetime Value (LTV).
  • Deep understanding of conversion funnels, retention loops, and user behavior at scale.
  • Background in Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) or growth-driven design principles.

• Design Leadership:

  • Strong design background with a portfolio showcasing conversion-oriented, data-validated work.
  • Experience leading or managing designers, including setting direction and reviewing work.
  • Ability to define, maintain, and enforce a consistent, high-quality design system.
  • Comfort working in environments where design is implemented directly in the frontend.

• UX Research Acumen:

  • Proven ability to collect both qualitative and quantitative user insights.
  • Experience designing and executing user interviews, surveys, and research frameworks.
  • Skill in translating research findings into clear, actionable product decisions.

• Mindset & Experience:

  • Experience in fast-paced, growth-oriented environments with frequent releases.

  • Systems thinker with the ability to design scalable patterns.

  • Clear communicator adept at explaining design decisions with data.

  • Strong ownership mindset, focusing on outcomes over output. Preferred Skills:

• Experience in LegalTech, document tools, or utility products.

• Familiarity with TailwindCSS, React/Next.js component implementations, and the ability to review frontend code.

• Experience working in engineering-led teams without a dedicated design organization.

• Exposure to PDF-based or form-heavy UX flows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "data analysis independently" and "product analytics tools" directly maps to the analytical rigor expected in operations roles. The requirement for experience in CRO and growth-driven design further solidifies the role's connection to growth operations and revenue optimization. The preference for frontend implementation familiarity indicates a need for a technically astute designer, bridging the gap between design and engineering.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Data-Driven Case Studies: Showcase projects where UX decisions were directly informed by product analytics, A/B testing results, and user behavior data, demonstrating measurable impact on key metrics (activation, retention, conversion).

• Growth Impact Examples: Present examples of optimizing conversion funnels, onboarding flows, retention loops, or paywalls, with clear articulation of the problem, solution, and quantified business outcomes.

• Design System Implementation: Include examples of design systems you've contributed to or led, emphasizing their application in a frontend-implemented environment and their role in ensuring consistency and scalability.

• UX Research Frameworks: Detail your approach to establishing and conducting UX research, showcasing how insights were gathered, synthesized, and translated into actionable product improvements.

• Technical Integration Understanding: Demonstrate an understanding of how your designs are implemented in code, potentially including examples of collaboration with frontend engineers or contributions to component libraries.

Process Documentation:

• User Journey Mapping & Optimization: Provide examples of detailed user journey maps, highlighting how you identified pain points and designed interventions to improve flow and engagement.

• A/B Testing Strategy & Execution: Document your process for defining hypotheses, setting up, running, and analyzing A/B tests, including metrics used for success and learnings.

• Design System Governance: Outline your approach to defining, documenting, and evolving a design system, including processes for contribution, maintenance, and quality assurance.

• Research Process Definition: Illustrate your methodology for structuring UX research initiatives, from planning and participant recruitment to data synthesis and reporting.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are heavily geared towards demonstrating impact and process, mirroring the expectations in operations roles. The emphasis on "data-validated work," "measurable improvements," and "quantified business outcomes" is crucial for operations professionals to highlight. The need to show understanding of "frontend implementation" suggests a practical, results-oriented approach to design, akin to how operations professionals bridge strategy and execution.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: As this role is remote and targets individuals across the European Union and surrounding countries, a competitive salary range will be offered based on experience, location, and local market conditions. For a lead role with 5-8+ years of experience in a high-growth tech company, a range of €70,000 - €110,000+ per year is a reasonable estimate, with potential for adjustment based on specific candidate qualifications and regional cost of living.

Benefits:

• Remote Work Environment: Flexibility to work from anywhere, promoting work-life balance.

• Unlimited PTO: Unlimited paid time off to support well-being.

• Paid National Holidays: Paid time off for national holidays.

• Company-provided MacBook: High-quality Apple MacBook for productivity.

• Flexible Independent Contractor Agreement: Offers autonomy, potential tax advantages, networking opportunities, and freedom to work globally. This agreement structure emphasizes a results-oriented work environment.

Working Hours: While the role is not strictly 9-5 and requires high ownership, it operates within approximately ±4 hours of CET (Central European Time) to ensure optimal collaboration. A standard full-time commitment is expected, likely around 40 hours per week, with flexibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on typical Lead UX/Product Design roles in European tech hubs, factoring in the remote nature and the company's focus on growth metrics. The "Flexible Independent Contractor Agreement" is a significant detail for operations professionals, often preferred for its autonomy and potential financial benefits, but requires careful consideration of local tax and employment regulations. The working hours reflect the "high-ownership, high-impact" nature of the role.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Consumer Technology, focused on D2C products across health, education, and entertainment. Ruby Labs aims to create innovative consumer-led products.

Company Size: Not explicitly stated, but the mention of "hundreds of thousands of customers globally," "high-growth," and "scaling" suggests a rapidly expanding organization, likely beyond the startup phase but still agile.

Founded: Information not provided, but the company's focus on innovation and growth implies a forward-thinking and dynamic operational environment.

Team Structure:

• The UX function is currently underdeveloped ("UX research lacks structure and direction," "design is mostly engineered directly in the frontend").

• This role will likely establish and lead the UX function, working closely with Product and Growth teams.

• Collaboration with frontend engineers is essential, as design is implemented directly in the codebase.

• The role may involve leading or mentoring an existing UX researcher. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Strong emphasis on analyzing product analytics (Mixpanel, GA4), session recordings, and A/B testing results to inform UX and product strategy.

• Growth-Focused Operations: UX is positioned as a "core growth lever," directly impacting business metrics.

• Iterative Development: The expectation of "daily or near-daily releases" points to an agile, iterative development process.

• Systems Thinking: Emphasis on designing scalable patterns and systems rather than one-off solutions.

Company Website: https://rubylabs.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is described as fast-paced, high-ownership, and results-oriented. The operations implication is that individuals must be proactive, comfortable with ambiguity, and driven by tangible business impact. The nascent state of the UX function presents an opportunity for foundational work and significant influence.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a "Lead" position, indicating a senior individual contributor or a potential first management role within the UX discipline. It requires strategic thinking, technical depth, and the ability to influence product direction.

Reporting Structure: While not explicitly stated, the lead will likely report to a Head of Product, VP of Product, or a similar senior leadership role, given the strategic importance of UX to growth. They will also work very closely with Product Managers and Growth Marketers.

Operations Impact: The UX Lead's impact is directly tied to improving core business metrics such as activation rates, customer retention, LTV, and conversion rates. Their work is fundamental to the product's success and revenue generation.

Growth Opportunities:

• Foundational Leadership: Opportunity to build and shape the UX practice from the ground up, establishing processes, frameworks, and potentially a team.

• Strategic Influence: Direct impact on product strategy and business decisions, influencing the direction of high-growth D2C products.

• Skill Deepening: Intensive focus on data analysis, A/B testing, and growth methodologies, enhancing expertise in product-led growth.

• Technical Acumen Development: Gaining deeper understanding of frontend implementation and its relationship with UX design.

• Potential for Team Growth: As the company scales, there's potential to grow into a formal management role, building and leading a larger UX team.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers significant opportunities for career advancement by allowing the candidate to build a function, directly influence business outcomes, and deepen their expertise in growth operations and data-driven product development. The "lead" title suggests a clear path for growth into management or principal-level individual contributor roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully remote, with a focus on collaboration within the Central European Time (CET) zone.

Office Location(s): Remote work is permitted across the European Union and surrounding countries (within approximately ±4 hours of CET). This broad geographic scope implies a distributed team culture.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Remote Setting: Emphasis on effective communication and collaboration across time zones, requiring strong asynchronous communication skills.

• Technology-Centric: Access to company-provided MacBooks and likely a suite of digital collaboration and design tools.

• Cross-Functional Interaction: Frequent interaction with Product Managers, Growth Marketers, Data Analysts, and Frontend Engineers.

Work Schedule: Flexible, but with a requirement to align approximately with CET working hours for effective collaboration. The role is described as "not a 9-5," indicating a focus on output and impact over strict adherence to hours, but demanding significant commitment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote, time-zone-aligned work environment necessitates strong self-discipline, effective communication strategies, and a proactive approach to collaboration. The "not a 9-5" expectation aligns with the demanding nature often found in growth-focused operations roles.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Application Review: Initial screening of applications and portfolios, typically 3-5 days.

• Recruiter Screening (40 minutes): An initial conversation to assess overall fit, motivation, and high-level experience.

• Technical Interview (90 minutes): In-depth discussion focused on UX strategy, data analysis capabilities, A/B testing experience, design leadership, and research methodologies. Expect scenario-based questions and deep dives into portfolio projects.

• Final Interview (60 minutes): Likely with senior leadership (e.g., Head of Product, CEO) to assess strategic thinking, cultural fit, ownership mindset, and long-term vision for the role and the UX function.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Quantify Everything: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the solution, and, most importantly, the measurable impact on business metrics (activation, retention, conversion, LTV). Use numbers and data points extensively.

• Showcase Data Fluency: Highlight projects where you independently analyzed data (Mixpanel, GA4, etc.) to drive design decisions. Explain your analytical process and how data informed your hypotheses and solutions.

• Demonstrate Growth Impact: Focus on case studies that directly address conversion funnels, onboarding optimization, retention loops, or A/B testing successes. Explain your CRO or growth-driven design approach.

• Highlight Leadership & Systems Thinking: Include examples of how you've influenced design direction, led initiatives, or contributed to design systems, especially in a frontend-implemented context.

• Structure for Clarity: Organize your portfolio logically, perhaps by impact area or project type. Use clear headings, concise descriptions, and compelling visuals. Be prepared to walk through 1-2 key projects in detail during interviews.

Challenge Preparation:

• Data Analysis Scenarios: Be ready to discuss how you would approach analyzing a specific user drop-off point in a funnel or identifying drivers of low retention, using hypothetical data or examples from your past.

• Hypothesis Generation: Practice formulating testable hypotheses for A/B tests related to common D2C product challenges (e.g., improving sign-up completion, increasing feature adoption, reducing churn).

• Design System Application: Prepare to discuss how you would establish or evolve a design system in an environment where design is implemented directly in code, focusing on practicality and scalability.

• Research Prioritization: Consider how you would prioritize research efforts given limited resources, focusing on the highest-impact areas for growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is rigorous, emphasizing technical and data skills alongside strategic thinking and leadership potential. The portfolio review is critical, requiring candidates to demonstrate tangible business impact and a data-driven approach, which are hallmarks of successful operations professionals.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Product Analytics: Mixpanel, Google Analytics (GA4), Amplitude (or similar).

• A/B Testing & Experimentation: GrowthBook, Optimizely (or similar platforms).

• User Behavior & Session Replay: Clarity, FullStory, Hotjar (or similar tools for qualitative insights).

• Design & Prototyping: While the emphasis is on direct frontend implementation, proficiency with design tools like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD for ideation and system definition is likely expected.

• Frontend Technologies (Familiarity): TailwindCSS, React, Next.js. The ability to review frontend code is a plus.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Experience defining requirements for new analytics instrumentation and reporting needs.

• Ability to interpret cohort analysis, retention curves, and funnel performance data. CRM & Automation:

• While not explicitly listed, understanding how UX impacts CRM data and user lifecycle automation (relevant to growth loops and retention) is beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The specified tools are standard in growth and product operations environments. Proficiency in product analytics and A/B testing platforms is non-negotiable. Familiarity with frontend technologies and the ability to review code indicate a need for a technically grounded UX Lead who can bridge the gap between design and engineering in a lean, iterative setup.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Impact-Driven: Focus on delivering measurable business results and demonstrating tangible ROI through UX initiatives.

• Data-Centric: Decisions are rooted in data analysis, experimentation, and user behavior insights.

• Ownership & Initiative: Taking full responsibility for outcomes and proactively identifying opportunities for improvement.

• Agility & Speed: Operating in a fast-paced environment with frequent releases, requiring adaptability and quick iteration.

• Collaboration: Working effectively across teams (Product, Growth, Engineering, Data) to achieve shared goals.

• Continuous Improvement: A mindset of constantly seeking ways to optimize user experience and business performance.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Close collaboration with Product and Growth teams is essential for aligning UX strategy with business objectives.

• Engineering Partnership: Working hand-in-hand with frontend engineers for direct implementation of design systems and UI/UX improvements.

• Data-Informed Dialogue: Engaging in data-backed discussions to justify design decisions and prioritize initiatives.

• Asynchronous Communication: Effective use of tools and practices for seamless communication in a remote, distributed team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture emphasizes a results-oriented, data-driven, and highly collaborative approach. This aligns perfectly with the ethos of Revenue Operations, Sales Operations, and Growth Operations, where success is measured by tangible business impact and efficient execution.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building from Scratch: Establishing a structured UX research practice and a scalable design system in an environment where these functions are currently underdeveloped.

• Data Interpretation Complexity: Synthesizing complex product analytics and behavioral data to derive actionable insights for growth.

• Balancing Design Quality with Speed: Maintaining high design standards while operating in a fast-paced, daily-release environment.

• Influencing Engineering-Led Teams: Effectively collaborating with and influencing engineering teams when design is implemented directly in code, potentially without a traditional design hierarchy.

• Remote Collaboration: Ensuring effective communication and alignment across distributed teams and time zones.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into Growth Metrics: Gaining extensive experience in optimizing activation, retention, and conversion for a high-growth D2C product.

• Mastery of Analytics & Experimentation Tools: Becoming highly proficient in tools like Mixpanel, GA4, and A/B testing platforms.

• Strategic Product Influence: Playing a key role in shaping product strategy and roadmap based on UX insights and growth potential.

• Leadership Development: Opportunity to build and potentially lead a UX function, developing management and strategic leadership skills.

• Technical Design Implementation: Gaining practical experience with modern frontend technologies and their direct application in design implementation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical of high-growth environments and roles focused on establishing or scaling critical functions. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering a chance to build significant expertise in product-led growth, data analysis, and strategic leadership, all highly valuable in the operations domain.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you used product analytics to identify a significant user friction point and how you designed a solution for it. What were the results?" (Focus on data analysis, problem-solving, and impact.)

• "How would you approach building a design system in an environment where design is implemented directly in frontend code? What are the key considerations for scalability and consistency?" (Assess systems thinking and technical understanding.)

• "Walk me through your process for establishing a structured UX research practice from the ground up. How would you prioritize research efforts for maximum growth impact?" (Evaluate research methodology and strategic prioritization.)

• "How do