Director of Product Design

Zendesk is looking for a Director of Product Design to lead design across our Omnichannel Contact Center and Workforce Management product areas—two critical pillars of our customer experience platform. You’ll drive the design vision, strategy, and execution for products like Omnichannel Routing and Reporting (Talk, Voice, Explore) and Workforce Management tools.

In this role, you’ll foster a high-performing, inclusive design culture, guiding a team of design managers and individual contributors. You’ll provide both strategic direction and day-to-day support to ensure we deliver customer-centric, scalable solutions that make a real business impact.

This is a unique opportunity for an experienced and strategic design leader to influence the evolution of our product experiences, collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, and Research partners, and contribute meaningfully to Zendesk’s broader vision of delivering exceptional service solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership:
• Develop and execute design strategies aligned with Zendesk's business goals and market demands.
• Identify opportunities for differentiation and competitive advantage through design.
• Collaborate with executive leadership to champion design thinking and influence strategic decision-making.
• Team Leadership & Development:
• Inspire and lead design teams, nurturing a culture of continuous learning and customer focus.
• Serve as a mentor and advisor, supporting managers and senior staff in their leadership roles.
• Drive initiatives to create a more equitable and inclusive work environment.
• Impact & Innovation:
• Drive design impact across the organization by embedding customer-centric and innovative practices.
• Evaluate design effectiveness through metrics and feedback, continuously enhancing impact and fostering innovation.
• Communication & Collaboration:
• Articulate vision, goals, and strategies effectively to teams and senior stakeholders.
• Foster collaboration across departments to facilitate productive partnerships and alignment.
• Promote and model inclusive communication practices, embedding diversity, equity and inclusion principles into all interactions.
• Operational Excellence:
• Collaborate with other Directors to establish strategic plans and objectives for short to mid-term (1-3 years).
• Ensure effective achievement of operational objectives through leadership and decision-making.

What You’ll Bring

• A demonstrated ability to define and execute design strategies that drive measurable business impact.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to influence and align with senior stakeholders across functions.
• Advanced strategic thinking and planning capabilities, with a focus on aligning design initiatives to broader organizational and product objectives.
• Proven experience leading teams at scale, including managing five or more direct reports and oversight of design organizations comprising 10–15+ individual contributors.
• A demonstrated commitment to inclusive design practices, with experience leading teams that create accessible, equitable products.
• Proficiency in leveraging user research and methods such as journey mapping, persona development, or service design to inform product strategy by understanding user cohorts, needs, pain points, and use cases.
• A proven ability to apply the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework to uncover customer needs and guide end-to-end journey mapping.
• Extensive experience designing enterprise software, with a focus on productivity tools that support daily business operations. Bonus points for experience designing solutions that enable the scaled implementation of Contact Center systems.