VP of Design

The Zebra, named a Best Place to Work in Austin four years running, is a big-thinking, user-focused, and purpose-driven company that’s changing the way consumers engage with insurance. Reporting directly into the Chief Product Officer, we’re seeking a visionary leader to elevate our product and brand through a user-centric, data-driven approach. You will be responsible for leading the high-performing product and marketing design teams, inspiring them through your exceptional visual eye, breadth of experience, and deep user empathy to create a world-class holistic end-to-end user experience that drives impact aligned to our company goals. 

You coach the team to have a strong POV, balancing stakeholder feedback with human-centered design principles. Your comprehensive experience building products infuses the product design team with UX best practices to deliver experiences that delight users and drive them to action. Your extensive brand and creative experience enables the marketing design team to create eye-catching, effective campaigns. You practice active discussion, collaboration and proactive communication, instilling these characteristics in your team and leveraging them to establish and build upon strong partnerships with Product, Research, Engineering, Marketing and others across the company. You embody humble and growth-mindset qualities, constantly looking to improve your skills, infusing new design and leadership best practices into your day-to-day.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Establish a shared design vision and user-centered, data-driven design strategy in alignment with leadership to support company objectives. 
• Balance big-picture thinking with an iterative approach to continuously deliver improvements for our users.
• Measure and optimize the business value of design, using quantitative and qualitative data to influence strategy and tactical execution.
• Collaborate to establish the company’s personality and brand, ensuring consistency and bringing together product and marketing design teams through a shared strategy.
• Create structure and instill process that optimizes the teams performance and impact, creating transparency across projects and proactively communicating with stakeholders.
• Effectively develop and manage your team’s growth and performance, practicing radical candor and creating a career framework that sets clear and high expectations to empower your team to create brand-enhancing work everyday.
• Raise the bar on design quality (never satisfied with status quo), challenging your team to create innovative and impactful work.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, engineering, marketing, commercialization, and research through a partnership model, not a service or agency model.
• Engages and maintains strong visibility within the design community, staying on the pulse of latest design trends, principles, and techniques. 

REQUIREMENTS / QUALIFICATIONS:

• 7+ years in design leadership role such as Senior Director, VP, or comparable position; 10+ in strategic design
• Experience establishing and driving a strong creative vision across both product and marketing design aligned to company objectives
• Proven track record of building, developing, and scaling design teams that ship great experiences, understanding of best practices around recruiting, coaching, and motivating a team including inclusion and equity.
• Expert in creating end-user facing products, omnichannel experiences, including native applications.
• Exceptional portfolio demonstrating a strong design background.
• Experience in resolving organizational challenges and streamlining processes that scale teams in a high-growth environment.
• Possess a people-focused design mentality, a strong sense of product and brand continuity, a keen awareness of current and emerging design trends, and a passion for accessibility best practices
• Expertise with core concepts related to product design, including direct experience in both qualitative and quantitative analysis, A/B testing, wireframing, prototyping, developing user feedback loops, etc.
• Detail-oriented and self-sufficient, ability to find creative solutions and build something from scratch
• A strong understanding of brand development and multichannel marketing strategies concepts
• Thrives in a fast-paced, high growth and at times ambiguous environment

EXPERIENCE THAT WILL IMPRESS THE HECK OUT OF US:

• Experience designing for insurance or financial products.
• Experience with customer satisfaction metrics (NPS, CSAT, CES, etc.).
• Technical experience with software development/publishing code.
• Experience working in project management tools like Jira, Asana, etc.
• Experience in designing native applications.
• B2B design experience.
• Domain knowledge of interaction design for all devices as well as AR and VR.

BENEFITS + PERKS:

• Competitive Compensation & Stock Option Offering
• Health, Dental, Vision & Disability Coverages
• HSA offering + employer contribution
• Unlimited PTO + flexibility to enjoy it
• Paid Parental Leave Program
• Commuter Benefits (up to $100/month)
• Wellness perk ($100/month)
• Learning & Development Stipends
• Onsite Full Service Barista
• Wednesday Catered Lunch + Fully Stocked Fridges
• Opportunity to join Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or drive our diversity & inclusion stance by creating your own
• Join a team that truly lives their values, and values their lives (outside of the office. Cliche, we know… but we really mean it)

ABOUT THE ZEBRA

The Zebra is the nation's leading, independent insurance comparison site. With its dynamic, real-time quote comparison tool, consumers can identify insurance companies with the coverage, service level, and pricing to suit their unique needs. The Zebra compares multiple insurance companies and provides agent support and educational resources to ensure consumers are equipped to make the most informed decisions about their home and auto insurance. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, The Zebra has sought to bring transparency and simplicity to insurance shopping since 2012 — it's "insurance in black and white."

The Zebra has garnered the attention and investment of some of the nation’s top venture capitalists, and the company’s success has been profiled in publications like Inc., The New York Times, Forbes, and TechCrunch. Local and national publications have named The Zebra as a Best Place to Work, including Austin Business Journal in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, The Austin American-Statesman in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020 and Inc. Magazine on their nationally-recognized list from 2018-2020.

The Zebra is aiming to grow our fantastic team to add to our dynamic culture and continue building on our success. Working at The Zebra means never being bored, always being challenged, and supporting one another. We’re a happy, hardworking group, and we’re eager to add “new stripes” who share those values.

The Zebra is an equal opportunity employer and “at will” company.

As part of our dedication to maintaining an inclusive and diverse workforce, The Zebra provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, The Zebra complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

The Zebra expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of The Zebra's employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.

**No external recruiters or agents, please.**