Associate Director of Design

The Associate Director of Design leads the people, planning and day-to-day delivery of the product design team. The role builds a high-performing team, develops designers and ensures design work supports customer needs and Luxury Escapes’ business priorities across web and app experiences.
People management and design leadership are the primary focus. The role also contributes hands-on design on selected complex or high-priority initiatives, creating concepts, designs and prototypes where direct involvement helps the team make progress. Hands-on commitments are balanced with coaching, delegation and team delivery.
Leadership and Team Development
Lead, coach and develop the design team through regular one-to-ones, clear objectives, timely feedback and meaningful career development plans.
Support recruitment and onboarding, building the skills and capacity needed for the product roadmap.
Create a collaborative team culture where designers seek feedback, share learning and take ownership of outcomes.
Strategic Direction
Translate customer and business priorities into clear design goals, working with design, Product and Engineering leadership.
Bring customer insight into discovery and roadmap decisions, identifying opportunities to improve the end-to-end travel booking experience.
Communicate design priorities and trade-offs clearly so the team understands where to focus and why.
Delivery and Quality
Own design capacity planning and work allocation across the agreed scope; make priorities, dependencies and delivery risks visible and resolve blockers early.
Lead design critiques and reviews, setting a consistent standard for usability, accessibility, interaction design and visual quality.
Ensure customer research, analytics and testing inform design decisions, and use findings to improve work after release.
Partner with Engineering through implementation and design quality assurance to ensure the delivered experience meets the intent.
Support the evolution and adoption of the design system, reusable patterns and practical design processes that improve consistency and delivery speed.
Agree and review measures of team effectiveness and customer impact with Product and Engineering, including delivery predictability, usability and relevant conversion or engagement outcomes.
AI and Design Capability
Lead practical use of AI across exploration, prototyping, research synthesis, documentation and routine design tasks.
Coach designers through regular practical learning, shared examples and reusable guidance so effective AI workflows become part of everyday work.
Cross Functional Collaboration
Build trusted relationships with Product, Engineering, Analytics and business stakeholders to align scope, priorities and delivery expectations.
Work with design and creative leadership to maintain a coherent customer experience and brand expression across products.
Present recommendations with clear rationale, resolve competing feedback and keep stakeholders informed of progress and decisions.
Hands On Design
Take on selected design problems from discovery through to delivery, producing user flows, high-fidelity designs and interactive prototypes.
Use direct design work to clarify complex interactions, explore new approaches and demonstrate the quality expected of the team.
Scope hands-on work deliberately, delegate ongoing execution where appropriate and protect time for team leadership.
Proven experience managing product designers, with strong coaching, performance management, recruitment and team development skills.
A track record of leading digital product design across multiple initiatives and balancing customer needs, commercial goals and technical constraints.
Strong product design craft, demonstrated through a portfolio of shipped web or app experiences and clear explanations of decisions and outcomes.
Current hands-on proficiency in Figma, prototyping, responsive design and design systems.
Sound judgement in UX research, analytics, experimentation and accessible design.
Strong planning, prioritisation and stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to guide teams through ambiguity and changing priorities.
Demonstrated experience improving design operations across multiple Product teams, including intake, capacity planning, prioritisation and delivery workflows.
Practical experience using AI-assisted design and prototyping tools, coaching others and showing how adoption improved speed or quality while retaining sound design judgement.

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
No