Director Product Design in Saint Louis, Missouri at Know Ink, LLC

Director of Product Design

Location: St. Louis, MO (On-site)

About KNOWiNK

KNOWiNK builds technology that powers elections. Our products are trusted by election officials across the country to run accurate, efficient, and accessible elections, forming a foundation for democratic participation. We are an AI-forward company committed to continuous innovation, and we build software that serves a wide range of users: from poll workers managing a busy precinct on Election Day to county clerks who depend on our tools day in and day out. Designing for this mission demands rigor, empathy, and an unwavering commitment to clarity.

Role Overview

The Director of Product Design is a senior leadership role responsible for the strategy, quality, and execution of user experience across KNOWiNK's suite of election products. This role owns KNOWiNK's design vision, shaping the experiences that ultimately touch tens of millions of voters across the country. The Director leads a team of three UX designers and operates as a player/coach, contributing hands-on design work on cross-functional teams while setting the direction, standards, and processes that elevate the entire design function.

The Director of Product Design will report to the Director of Product and work closely with Engineering and Product leadership to define and continuously refine the processes, standards, and direction that enable the team to deliver great user experiences across KNOWiNK's product portfolio, spanning web and native iPadOS applications. A primary objective of this role is to unify a product portfolio that has historically felt fragmented, bringing consistency, coherence, and a shared design identity across all KNOWiNK products.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of three UX designers, ensuring work quality meetsKNOWiNK'sstandards and each designer is growing in their craft
• Make decisions about designer assignments to cross-functional (XFN) teams, ensuring effective design coverage across the product portfolio
• Foster a culture of feedback, craft, and continuous improvement within the design team

Design Strategy & Execution

• Own the end-to-end user experience strategy acrossKNOWiNK'sproduct suite, with a clear mandate to achieve consistency and coherence across historically fragmented products
• Lead and mature theKNOWiNKdesign system, driving adoption across all product teams and technology stacks
• Contribute directly as a designer on cross-functional teams, delivering high-quality UX work alongside your team
• Design for a diverse set of user personas, including poll workers who requirehighly accessible, self-explanatory interfaces, and county clerks who prioritize speed and efficiency
• Uphold and advance accessibility standards across all products, ensuring compliance with ADA and WCAG guidelines
• Champion a culture of rapid prototyping and continuous user feedback,establishinglightweight research practices thatvalidatedesign decisions early and reduce the risk of building the wrong thing

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Establish and lead cross-functional design standards in partnership with Engineering and Product
• Ensure Design is integrated throughout the SDLC, including contributing to the definition of Ready and definition of Done
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering leadership to align on roadmap priorities and delivery expectations

Process, Tooling & AI

• Define and own design team processes, workflows, and tooling decisions
• Champion the use of AI in design, setting clear standards for how AI tools should and should not beleveragedby the design team
• Stay current on emerging design tools and methodologies and evaluate their applicability toKNOWiNK'sworkflows

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of UX/product design experience, with at least 2 years in a people management role (design manager, design lead, or director)
• Demonstrated experience designing software products, with a strong portfolio showing end-to-end product design work
• Experience leading or contributing significantly to a design system in a multi-product environment
• Proven ability to drive design consistency across a portfolio of products
• Strong collaboration skills with Engineering and Product counterparts, including experience working within an agile SDLC
• Experience designing for diverse user personas with varying technical sophistication
• Solid foundation in accessibility standards and inclusive design principles
• Comfortable operating as a player/coach, both leading the team and contributing hands-on design work

Preferred

• Experience designing for native mobile or iPadOS applications
• Familiarity with AI-assisted design tools and a perspective on responsible AI use in design workflows
• Experience working across products at varying stages of maturity and go-to-market readiness

Location

This position is fully on-site at KNOWiNK's headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Remote and hybrid arrangements are not available for this role.