Design Director at Kraken

Design Director

• REMOTE
• DESIGN
• FULL-TIME

About Kraken

Kraken is changing the world. Join the revolution!

Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency so that you and the rest of the world can achieve financial freedom and inclusion. Founded in 2011 and with over 4 million clients, Kraken is one of the world’s largest, most successful bitcoin exchanges and we’re growing faster than ever. Our range of successful products are playing an important role in the mainstream adoption of crypto assets. We attract people who constantly push themselves to think differently and chart exciting new paths in a rapidly growing industry. Kraken is a diverse group of dreamers and doers who see value in being radically transparent.

In less than a decade Kraken has risen to become one of the best and most respected crypto exchanges in the world. We are changing the way the world thinks about money and finance. The crypto industry is experiencing unprecedented growth and Kraken is leading the charge. We’ve grown from 70 Krakenites in January 2017 to over 1200 today and we have no intention of slowing down.

Kraken is seeking a new Design Director to join our growing Design team. The company is comprised of experienced and motivated veterans of the technology, design, and finance industries. We are building sophisticated crypto-trading products with design playing a critical role while having fun along the way. Come help us continue to define and lead this exciting industry.

We are looking for a creative and inspiring Design Director with an eye for beautiful, clean user experiences who can manage, coach, and support the design team across multiple projects. The successful candidate will be responsible for synthesizing blue sky ideas of new products and features, setting the Exploration design team out on a range of pursuits in light of tech feasibility, fleshing out a range of design architecture directions, reviewing high level wireframes, creating moodboards, ensuring polished high fidelity mockups and prototypes, and answering questions for development teams implementing designs into front-end components.

You consider the user experience first and are excited to lead design critiques where we are discussing Gestalt design principles, flow, composition, and typography, guided by best practices and data from usability tests and site metrics. You’ll collaborate closely with the very best engineers, designers, business leadership, partners and customers in the industry. You will take a leading role exploring design implications of new products within our entire product ecosystem, as well as new app features while applying best practices throughout the product. You’ll manage a team of designers and work with other Design Directors to create and test cross-platform design solutions to unique product challenges.

Amazing perks, remote teams, stock incentives, flexible hours and open PTO policy make Kraken a great place to work.

Responsibilities

• Coordinates the Exploration Design team – this team is the hub of the entire Design org – the team responsible for translating initial concepts created by teams across the company such as the Dreamers Design team and Product teams into real-world applications
• Leads translation of conceptual design ideas to real world implementation with Product Managers & Engineering team
• Strategize design thinking and standardize processes with Design Directors & Executive Creative Directors
• Be a role model for collaboration and design excellence
• Coach team members, support their professional development and interests including conducting quarterly performance reviews
• Conduct recurring design reviews with the Executive Design team and manage stakeholder expectations
• Work with the Engineering team to determine design feasibility for short and longer timelines (weeks & months)
• Develop and maintain smooth workflows with Marketing team
• Champion meticulousness and inclusion (ie accessibility & localization) in design thinking
• Sign off on finalized wireframes and UX visuals to handoff for implementation and high-fidelity design

Requirements

• At least 8-10 years of product design experience or relevant undergrad degree in Design or HCI
• At least 3 years experience managing and leading a design team
• Strong portfolio of latest relevant work
• Interest in creating efficient workflows within the design team and across other products (eg Cryptowatch, Futures)
• Deep understanding of Gestalt design principles with sensitivity for composition, negative space, and typography
• Prolific working knowledge of user-centered design & UX principles
• Experience with component-based design systems (Figma, Sketch)
• Ability to translate constructive criticism to direct reports and into improving design outcomes and user experience
• Interest of designing for finance, charting, trading, or data dense applications
• Understanding of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency movement
• Desire to make the best trading platform in the world

We’re powered by people from around the world with their own unique backgrounds and experiences. We value all Krakenites and their talents, contributions, and perspectives.