FMX builds and delivers software through small, embedded product trios: a PM, a designer, and two engineers, each owning a suite of products end-to-end. We're hiring a Director of Product Design to own design strategy across the company, lead our design team, and stay hands-on in delivery.
This is a player/coach role. On the player side, you'll own the design work for one product-suite trio, shaping and validating solutions with customers through AI-accelerated design and high-fidelity concept builds. On the coach side, you'll set the vision and quality bar for design across every product suite, grow and develop the team, steward the design system, and partner with Product and Engineering leadership to make design a driver of business outcomes. The balance leans toward leadership, but you stay hands-on. Protecting that split, and protecting your team's focus, is part of the job.
Team & Charter Context:
- Where you sit: Embedded as the designer in one product-suite trio (assignment finalized during onboarding), while leading the design function.
- Who you lead: Three Product Designers plus one User Researcher shared across all trios, with room to add designers and managers as the team grows. You allocate the shared researcher deliberately and level-load designers across suites that run on different cadences.
- How the org is structured: Suite-based trios, each owning products that serve similar customer outcomes across the full tier ladder.
- Where you fit: You report to the VP of Product and sit alongside Product and Engineering leadership. Design leadership has been missing from that picture until now, and you'll define what it looks like.
How We Work:
- We validate solutions early with customers using high-fidelity concept builds: interactive prototypes, coded prototypes, and hybrid approaches.
- Designers partner side-by-side with engineers ("concept builders") during concept creation. Ideation, interaction design, prompt-driven exploration, and iteration happen together, rather than through a handoff.
- Delivery runs as a continuous flow. Work gets pulled by capacity, discovery happens alongside delivery, and a designer and engineer can shape and validate a concept the same day it comes up.
- Cycles move fast: concept, test, learn, iterate.
Responsibilities:
As the Director of Product Design, you will:
Do the work (embedded designer)
- Own the design work for one product-suite trio: frame problems, map user flows, and design and validate solutions with customers.
- Use AI-powered design and prototyping tools to explore workflows and UI patterns quickly, and co-build coded prototypes with engineers to test with users.
- Run rapid, formative usability tests on concept builds and drive iteration before delivery.
Set design strategy
- Own the design vision across all product suites and align it with the company's product and business strategy.
- Define what good looks like for FMX design, and build the roadmap to raise design maturity from where it is today to a consistent, strategic function.
- Bring an outside-in point of view on where design and AI-accelerated workflows are heading, and decide how FMX should adopt them.
Lead and grow the team
- Manage, mentor, and develop the design team through regular 1:1s, constructive critique, and career development matched to each person's strengths and goals.
- Give the team air cover. Buffer designers from misalignment so they can focus on the work, and represent design's priorities with Product and Engineering.
- Own hiring, onboarding, and the design career and progression framework, and build the team structure that scales with the org.
Own craft, quality, and the design system
- Set and hold the quality bar across suites through critique and clear standards, so the experience stays coherent as trios go deeper into their own products.
- Own the design system, including the component library, design standards, and interaction patterns (for example, when to use a form versus a natural-language experience), and keep FMX's UX modern, coherent, and appropriate for our user roles.
- Set standards for the AI-accelerated workflow: decide what to speed up with AI and what still needs human research and judgment, so faster cycles don't come at the cost of quality, accessibility, or ethics.
Partner across the org
- Work with Product and Engineering leadership to fold design into how bets are shaped, scoped, and delivered.
- Advocate for the value of design and user research with executives and across departments, and make the case with evidence: usability findings, analytics (Userpilot), and outcome data.
Requirements
What are we looking for in this role?:
- 8+ years in product or UX design, including several years leading, managing, and growing designers.
- A track record of setting design strategy and raising the quality and maturity of a design function, not just shipping individual projects.
- A strong portfolio and design point of view: you can still read a screen, run a critique, and tell great work from good work.
- Demonstrated judgment about AI-assisted design and prototyping workflows: where they speed teams up, and what should not be delegated to AI.
- Experience owning a design system and a set of standards across multiple teams or product areas.
- Fluency in user-centered design, user research, and usability testing, and comfort using analytics and behavior data to inform and defend decisions.
- Excellent communication and executive presence, with the ability to influence peers in Product and Engineering and keep teams aligned async without relying on constant live meetings.
- Comfort operating in a remote, fast-moving environment.
- Expertise in Figma strongly preferred.
- A match with our core pillars: Teamwork, Excellence and Integrity
The hiring process for this role:
- Apply! Submit your resume and answers to the application questions below via the Workable portal
- Phone screen with PeopleOps: A 30-minute conversation to review your background and experiences, discuss the culture at FMX, and ensure that you understand the general expectations for the role. Also, a great time for you to ask questions about compensation, benefits, etc.
- Hiring manager conversation: A 60-minute conversation with the VP of Product covering your background, portfolio, leadership approach, and how you'd set design strategy at FMX.
- Final Interview: An onsite panel in Columbus, OH with Product, Design, and Engineering teammates, including a portfolio review and a discussion of how you'd lead and grow the design function.
- Offer & Onboarding: Candidates who receive an offer will be required to complete a background check prior to onboarding. New hires are also expected to work onsite at our Columbus, OH office during their first week to complete onboarding and connect with the team in person.
Benefits
FMX Benefits and Life at FMX:
- You’ll make a big impact: You’ll have significant influence over the direction of our product and the future of our company.
- Competitive benefits: 100% company-paid health, dental and vision insurance.
- Work from home: At FMX we are remote first, but you’re welcome to use our office as you need. We have one all-company event a year to ensure that you can put a face to that name and establish high-trust relationships with your teammates and co-workers. When you’re in the office, you can take advantage of our free snacks, beverages, and office kegerator.
- Home office stipend: We’ll give you everything necessary to do your job (company sponsored laptop, headset, etc.). We will also provide up to $500 to help with equipment, furniture and accessories. You will also get $60/month toward your home internet connection.
- Generous PTO and UTO (unplanned time off) policies: If you’re sick, why should that cut into your vacation time?
- Flexible Schedule: We offer a flexible schedule to help you manage personal appointments, such as doctor or dentist visits, as long as you're meeting performance expectations and project timelines.
- You can wear jeans and tees: Feel free to keep it casual, we do.
- You’ll enjoy a collaborative culture and a close-knit team: We're a team of hard-working, high-fiving, friendly folks. We take collaboration, transparency, continuous improvement, and work/life balance seriously.
Compensation:
- This position offers a base salary of $140,000 - $160,000, plus a company performance bonus.
- 401(k) and medical / dental / vision / short and long term disability / life insurance
Other considerations: The candidate for this position can be located anywhere in the US.
Company:
FMX is founded and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio and develops a cloud-based, software-as-a-service facility maintenance and management product. FMX serves education, property management, manufacturing, and other markets and is one of the fastest-growing companies in its space. Check us out at: https://www.gofmx.com/
Note: All other company requirements are documented in the FMX Teammate Handbook. FMX is an equal opportunity employer and a drug-free workplace.
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