Director, Product Design

Discovery Education • Full-time • Hybrid in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. • 1m ago

Fast Facts

Discovery Education is looking for a Director of Product Design to lead human-centered design strategies for their K-12 digital learning ecosystem, overseeing a multidisciplinary design team and ensuring the delivery of impactful user experiences.

Responsibilities: Define and drive design strategy, collaborate across functions, mentor design teams, and ensure operational excellence in design processes.

Skills: Expertise in UX/UI design, accessibility, design systems, and modern prototyping tools like Figma; strong communication and leadership skills required.

Qualifications: 10+ years in product design with 4–5+ years in leadership roles, experience in K–12 education preferred, and ability to influence senior executives.

Location: Charlotte, NC, USA with a hybrid work schedule.

Compensation: Not provided by employer. Typical compensation ranges for this position are between $140,000 - $210,000.

Discovery Education is seeking a visionary and highly skilled Director, Product Design to lead the human-centered design strategy across our K–12 digital learning ecosystem. This role oversees a multidisciplinary team of UX and visual designers responsible for crafting intuitive, elegant, and accessible experiences that support effective teaching and learning.

As a senior design leader, you will define the multi-year product design vision, scale our design operations, strengthen our design system, and cultivate a thriving design culture that embraces curiosity, inclusivity, data-informed decision-making, and innovation. You will work seamlessly across Product, Engineering, Curriculum, Research, and business stakeholders globally to ensure the design function delivers measurable impact on user experience, learning outcomes, and business growth.

This is a strategic role requiring excellence in leadership, systems thinking, cross-functional partnership, and the ability to translate complex problems into meaningful, scalable design solutions.

In This Role You Will:

Design Vision, Strategy & Innovation

Define and drive a global product design strategy aligned with DE’s long-term product, instructional, and business objectives.
Champion a user-centered, equitable, and inclusive design philosophy that prioritizes accessibility and universal design.
Lead the evolution and governance of DE’s design system to ensure consistency, quality, and scalability across products and subject areas.
Identify opportunities to incorporate emerging technologies—especially AI—to enhance creativity, accelerate workflows, and elevate design quality.
Partner with senior leaders to bring clarity, focus, and strategic alignment to design efforts across the DE portfolio.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Collaboration

Collaborate closely with Product Management, Curriculum, Engineering, and Research to align roadmaps, define problem spaces, and ensure feasibility and impact of design solutions.
Integrate qualitative and quantitative insights—working with UXR and Data teams—to inform design decisions and measure outcomes.
Facilitate cross-functional workshops, design sprints, and collaborative sessions to drive alignment, uncover opportunities, and accelerate innovation.
Serve as a trusted advisor to executive stakeholders, clearly communicating design intent, tradeoffs, and impact.

Team Leadership, Culture & Organizational Development

Lead, mentor, and inspire a high-performing design organization, creating a culture of curiosity, psychological safety, and continuous improvement.
Partner with Talent Acquisition to attract top-tier design talent, ensuring a diverse and inclusive pipeline.
Develop and implement career pathways, growth frameworks, and skill-development plans that support advancement and elevate team capabilities.
Conduct regular 1:1s, design critiques, and performance discussions that cultivate craftsmanship, autonomy, and clarity.
Foster alignment and shared purpose across global, cross-functional teams.

Operational Excellence & Execution

Ensure design processes, rituals, and operations are structured, efficient, and aligned with Agile/Lean product development practices.
Partner with Product and Data teams to evaluate feature performance, inform iterative improvements, and drive continuous learning.
Oversee resource management, prioritization, and team capacity planning across multiple product areas.
Maintain deep understanding of platform capabilities, technical constraints, and dependencies to ensure high-quality, practical solutions.
Establish and maintain documentation, workflow standards, and design governance to support consistency and scale.

Core Competencies for Success:

Strategic systems thinker who can navigate complex instructional, product, and technical considerations.
Deep expertise in UX, UI, accessibility, and design system frameworks for scalable digital platforms.
Exceptional communicator and storyteller able to influence across functions and levels.
Proven ability to recruit, coach, and lead high-performing design teams in fast-paced environments.
Skilled facilitator of collaboration, innovation, and cross-functional alignment.
Strong command of Figma and modern design/prototyping tools, with experience in Agile/Lean methodologies.
Highly adaptive, growth-oriented, and energized by solving meaningful problems in education.
Demonstrated commitment to inclusive design and equitable learning experiences.

Credentials and Experience:

10+ years of progressive product design experience, with 4–5+ years leading multidisciplinary design teams.
Demonstrated success defining and scaling design strategy, design systems, and design operations.
Proven ability to translate research, analytics, and user insights into actionable design decisions.
Experience collaborating with senior executives and influencing product direction at scale.
Background in K–12 education, ed-tech, or adjacent industries preferred.
Experience in global or multi-product SaaS environments strongly preferred.
Legal right to work in the United States.

This role will sit in our Charlotte, NC, HQ with a hybrid work schedule.