Product Design Manager
[As of June 2020, Quora has become a “remote-first” company [1]. This position can be performed remotely from anywhere in the world, regardless of any location that might be specified above.]
About Quora:
The vast majority of human knowledge is still not on the internet. Most of it is trapped in the form of experience in people’s heads, or buried in books and papers that only experts can access. More than a billion people use the internet, yet only a tiny fraction contribute their knowledge to it. We want to democratize access to knowledge of all kinds — from politics to painting, cooking to coding, etymology to experiences — so if someone out there knows something, anyone else can learn it. Our mission is to share and grow the world’s knowledge, and we’re building a world-class team to help us achieve this mission.
About the Team:
Designing a global ecosystem for knowledge sharing, and the platform for businesses to reach our audience, requires a multidisciplinary approach. Product designers at Quora are thoughtful generalists who code. They are empowered to shape strategy while moving quickly and iterating based on learnings. Product design plays a significant role in product strategy and direction—our VP of Design reports directly to our CEO.
Our designers draw on psychological and social dynamics, communities and networks, and systems and policy design, in addition to typical design skills. Design decisions are validated through A/B testing and user studies alike, as we value rigor and empathy in equal measure.
About the Role:
As a Product Design Manager, you will lead a team of scrappy, talented, and driven product designers who own the entire design process from problem exploration to final implementation in code. Our ideal candidate’s balance of product design experience and knack for talent development will enable them to hit the ground running, leading by example on product projects, the design team, and cross-functionally.
As a manager, you will be responsible for representing the design team’s perspective to cross functional leads and partners in Engineering, Data Science and Product Management, and internally to the Design team. You drive alignment and help connect individuals’ workstreams to our greater mission and business goals. This is a hands-on leadership position; depending on your interests and skills, you may do some product design work as needed or desired.
Responsibilities:
- Foster a growth mindset as you manage and mentor Product Designers
- Contribute to hiring and retaining product designers; help shape team culture
- Translate strategic goals into actionable priorities, resource planning and execution
- Identify high-impact opportunities; present clear design decision rationale to gain consensus across teams and leadership
- Collaborate with Leads, Product Managers, and Product Designers for feedback and critique of product and processes
- Autonomously lead multiple team and product efforts
Minimum Qualifications:
- Ability to be available for meetings and impromptu communication during Quora’s “coordination hours” (Mon-Fri: 9am-3pm Pacific Time). Learn why here [2]
- 3+ years experience managing product designers working on complex UIs
- 2+ years experience representing product design work and designers to cross-functional partners and leadership
- 2+ years experience building effective systems to accomplish complex product or business goals
- Demonstrated experience in producing clear and holistic product results
- Leadership experience including a focus on building team culture
- Experience applying user research and data to inform design decisions
- At least one of the following:
- Experience shipping production-level code in front-end technologies: React, HTML, CSS, JS
- Experience defining product features and strategy
Preferred Qualifications:
- Deep knowledge about complex, social products
- Skilled mentor in the areas of visual, mobile, or interaction design
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.