Product Design Lead

Job description

ABOUT US Humaans is building the next generation of infrastructure for the workplace; software designed for companies that are scaling fast, operating globally, and pushing into new boundaries. What started as a system of record has evolved into a broader platform for operating people globally. With Athena, our agentic AI layer, Humaans moves beyond data management into intelligent orchestration, connecting workflows across HR, IT, Finance, and Operations so organisations can act faster and with greater confidence, redefining how work gets done. We work with ambitious teams across Europe and the US, from AI-native companies like Lovable, Poolside, Fyxer AI, and Tandem Health, to established, high-growth organisations scaling internationally and through acquisition, including Quantexa, Sellpy, Manychat, Gigs, Croud, and Threecolts. These teams don’t buy software for features,they buy leverage. The ability to run faster, cleaner, and with more control as complexity compounds. To date, we’ve raised $20m in venture funding from some of the most respected founders, operators, and funds in technology: Lachy Groom (Physical Intelligence), Stewart Butterfield (Slack), Tobias Lütke (Shopify), Dylan Field (Figma), Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn), Claire Johnson (Stripe), Oliver Jay (OpenAI), Jay Simmons (Bond) as well as Y Combinator, Moonfire, Frontline Ventures, Pathlight Ventures, and Exor. If you have massive ambition and want to work on a hard problem, with a small team that moves fast, at a moment when the category is genuinely up for grabs - this is it. THE ROLE We’re looking for a Product Design Lead to help shape the direction of Humaans and lead the design of some of our most important product areas. This is a hands-on design leadership role. You’ll remain close to the craft, owning work from early exploration through to launch, while making strategic decisions about how the product should evolve. You’ll define how experiences behave, establish the interaction patterns that connect them and shape the visual language that determines how Humaans is perceived and used. You’ll work closely with Engineering and the wider team to connect our business vision with real customer problems, turning complex requirements and technical capabilities into experiences that feel simple and intuitive. You’ll have significant autonomy, and we’ll expect you to use strong product and design judgement to help determine what we build and how we build it. WHAT YOU’LL DO - Lead and oversee multiple product areas from early exploration through to launch - Own strategic design decisions and help shape the direction of the product - Design end-to-end flows and experiences that make complex workflows feel simple and intuitive - Connect our business vision with customer needs, turning them into thoughtful and useful product experiences - Define how experiences behave and establish interaction patterns that create consistency across the product - Shape and evolve our visual language across typography, colour, layout, iconography and overall aesthetic - Work closely with Engineering to translate complex technical architectures into simple, intuitive user interactions - Set a high bar for design quality while balancing craft with the pace and changing priorities of a growing company - Articulate the thinking behind your decisions clearly and bring the broader team along through your work WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR - A strong individual contributor with the leadership skills and judgement to influence product direction - Experience leading the design of significant product areas and making strategic decisions about how products evolve - Excellent interaction design skills, with the ability to define behaviours, flows and patterns across a product - Exceptional visual design craft and strong judgement across typography, colour, layout, hierarchy, iconography and aesthetics - Strong product thinking and an ability to connect customer needs, business objectives and design decisions - The confidence to form a point of view, make decisions and explain the reasoning and trade-offs behind them - Experience working closely with engineers and navigating technical complexity to arrive at simple solutions - The ability to execute at speed without compromising the quality and thoughtfulness of the experience - Comfort operating with autonomy and navigating the changing priorities of a growing startup YOU MAY NOT BE A GREAT FIT IF - You prefer focusing on execution after product direction and requirements have already been decided - You want to move away from hands-on design into a primarily people management role - You prefer specialising exclusively in either interaction or visual design rather than taking responsibility for the complete experience - You’re uncomfortable forming a strong point of view and making strategic design decisions with incomplete information - You prefer working within an established design language rather than helping define and evolve one - You need lengthy design cycles before sharing work, testing ideas or moving towards implementation - You prefer handing finished designs to Engineering rather than working closely together through the details of how they are built This is an in-person role. Our team comes together in the office Monday through Thursday, while most of the team collaborates in person on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. PACKAGE & BENEFITS Early stage startups can be messy – we know that. We're putting effort in providing you with the best employee experience and a quality driven environment in exchange for trusting us. - Market-leading compensation that reflects your value - 25 days paid time off each year plus public holidays - Share Options with 5-year exercise window so you don’t feel pressure to exercise if you leave - Quarterly team events, and company offsites - Top tier private coverage for health, vision and dental care - A new MacBook and tools you need to do your best work - Enhanced parental leave with up to 16 weeks for primary and 4 weeks for secondary - Learning & development budget WHY JOIN HUMAANS TODAY? HR tech is having its AI moment and we’re positioned to own it. Humaans started as a next-gen HRIS taking on large incumbents in a massive market. We’ve since evolved into something even bigger: an AI platform that sits across workforce data and automates the operational layer of HR entirely; the natural progression of what we’ve been building toward. The product is highly differentiated. It’s built around a structured workforce data model that makes AI reliable in an HR context, something no one else has gotten right. Customers notice the difference immediately. We’re backed by Y Combinator, Lachy Groom, Moonfire, Frontline Ventures, and operators who’ve built some of the most consequential software companies of the last decade: the founders of Slack, Figma, and Shopify, and Asana’s former CRO and Head of OpenAI International. We’re a small team with an unapologetically high bar. It shows up in the product, in how we communicate, and in the standards we hold each other to. OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY At Humaans we’re looking for genuinely good people that are transparent and emphatic. We’re committed to providing equal opportunities, a diverse and inclusive work environment, and ensuring a fair interview process for everyone. You’re welcome to apply no matter your gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, civil or family status, age, disability, or race. PRIVACY NOTICE We care about your privacy. When you apply for a role at Humaans, we’ll collect and process your personal data as part of our recruitment process. This includes things like your CV, contact details, and any other information you choose to share. We may also contact you about future opportunities. You can ask us to delete your data at any time. For more details, see our Privacy Policy https://humaans.io/privacy#h.k3wp7f8qzl9x.