Product Design Director

Job Description

How do you make investing feel as effortless as sending money? How do you take something as intimidating as risk appetite, currency diversification and tax reporting, and make it feel genuinely simple? How do you build a world-class investment experience for millions of people, across dozens of currencies and markets, and make it feel like it was made just for them? How do you lead a team of talented designers to do all of this, and ship work they're truly proud of?

These are just a few of the challenges a Design Director will get to work on as part of Wise's global mission to build an open, fair, and human financial system. Right now, we move over £12 billion every month for over 16 million people — but we're only 2% done. Because more people without borders deserve money without borders.

Your mission: 

You'll lead designers of all crafts working across the cross-functional teams that make up the Grow squad at Wise. We're rethinking how people can earn a return on all of their money — no matter the currency, goal or risk appetite. In this role, you'll own the vision and strategy for design in Grow, and direct your team to deliver a world-class investment experience for consumer and business customers around the world. You'll make complex processes — choosing an investment product, understanding gains, paying tax — feel easy and effortless. And you'll build the design systems and leadership structures that help the squad scale across new markets without losing what makes the experience great.
 

Here’s how you’ll be contributing:

• Partnering with your Product and Engineering leadership partners to provide unified leadership for the Grow squad — setting the vision, defining strategy and coaching your teams to deliver it

• Owning the design strategy for the Grow Squad — shaping the design agenda across consumer and business investment experiences, and defining what Great looks like across every surface

• Staying hands-on in the most important design challenges — leading through the work itself, shaping the highest-stakes experiences directly and setting the creative standard by example

• Leading, mentoring and helping to develop all Designers in the squad, across product design, content design and research — accountable for their performance, growth and the quality of their work

• Proactively integrating AI into the team's design workflow and operational practices — identifying where it accelerates craft, reduces friction, and creates new possibilities, and driving adoption across the squad

• Creating compelling, empirically supported narratives that influence the Grow roadmap and shape perspectives at the most senior levels of the business

• Building systems and frameworks that help the squad scale intelligently — across markets, currencies, regulatory environments and customer types, balancing a global vision with local nuance

• Working with Design Directors from other squads to create a single, seamless experience for customers across the Wise product

• Evangelising Grow's design strategy across the tribe and wider business — connecting great design decisions to business outcomes and company mission

This role will give you the opportunity to: 

• Build and lead a talented, multi-disciplinary design team — and be the best, most hands-on leader they've ever had

• Stay deep in the craft on a genuinely hard and important design challenge: making complex financial concepts feel simple and human for millions of people

• Define what 'great' looks like for investment experience design, and elevate your team to deliver it

• Shape how AI changes the way a world-class design team works — not as an experiment, but as a core part of how the squad operates

• Set the standard for quality, creativity and accountability in one of Wise's highest-impact squads

• Be part of a positive change in the world. We're fixing a broken, greedy system, and putting people and businesses in control of their money.

About you: 

• You're an accomplished Design Leader with deep experience leading multi-disciplinary teams to ship world-class consumer products — ideally with experience in fintech or other complex, regulated domains

• You're still hands-on. You lead through the work, not above it — and your team knows the difference

• You have a strong track record of owning and delivering design strategy — not just contributing to it — and can point to clear evidence of design having driven measurable business outcomes

• You're already using AI tools in your design practice, and you have a genuine point of view on how they change the way design teams should operate

• You create compelling, evidence-backed narratives that build conviction at senior levels of a business, without losing the nuance that matters to customers

• You have a sharp eye for quality across all design crafts, and the leadership skills to coach others to achieve it

• You're influential and inspiring — able to lead effectively in a culture that values autonomy and empowerment

• You're highly empathetic, both to customers and the people you work with

• You're a trusted partner, building strong, collaborative relationships with Product, Engineering and other business functions

• Your work, presence and thought leadership attracts top design talent

Additional Information

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders  — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.

If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.

Keep up to date with life at Wise by following us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Company Description

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.

Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.

As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.
For everyone, everywhere.

More about our mission and what we offer.