The role of a Design Director at Canonical

Our Design Director will play a key role making open source software available to the world. Our Design function ensures the experience of using software is true to our intentions, and the Design Director makes this possible through leadership within, and beyond, our teams.

As a Design Director, you bring experience managing delivery teams and have expertise in visual and UX design. This enables you to coach designers cross-context to move towards tangible outcomes and lift the quality of their work. You will manage expectations and ensure deadlines are met in a timely manner against your roadmap. You will be able to communicate clearly and actively listen to product and engineering stakeholders, and your team, to drive sustainable quality improvements and guide individuals towards meaningful growth.

Leading the a design team, you will take responsibility for how we express the Canonical and Ubuntu brands and product content operations, especially on our web touchpoints.

Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region

What your day will look like

• Reviewing the work of your design team for quality
• Working with individual designers to support their professional growth
• Continuously improving operational workflows, including production outsourcing and collaboration with Web Engineering
• Working with stakeholders, especially Marketing and our Head of Brand, to clearly define and validate outcomes
• Evolving design systems and guidelines to drive consistent quality and improve efficiency
• Coordinating with the rest of design leadership to mature our collective practice
• Bringing your team and others together to share their work and strengthen culture
• Engaging the open source community to learn and make the value of our work legible

What we are looking for in you

• A portfolio demonstrating quality in UI design, especially visually
• Exceptional educational achievements in design or related behavioral science discipline
• Full lifecycle experience from user needs discovery through validation and implementation guidance
• Commitment to transparent project delivery and owning team deadlines
• Experience of managing a team that interacts with technical stakeholders
• Familiarity with quantitative optimisation approaches
• A passion for balancing consistency and innovation
• Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events

What we offer you

Your base pay will depend on various factors including your geographical location, level of experience, knowledge and skills. In addition to the benefits below, certain roles are also eligible for additional benefits and rewards including annual bonuses and sales incentives based on revenue or utilisation. Our compensation philosophy is to ensure equity right across our global workforce.  

In addition to a competitive base pay, we provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. Please note that additional benefits may apply depending on the work location and, for more information on these, you can ask in the later stages of the recruitment process.

• Fully remote working environment - we’ve been working remotely since 2004!
• Personal learning and development budget of 2,000USD per annum
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual holiday leave
• Parental Leave
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues at ‘sprints’
• Priority Pass for travel and travel upgrades for long haul company events

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm that is at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open source projects and the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud, we are changing the world on a daily basis. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence - in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do.

Canonical has been a remote-first company since its inception in 2004.​ Work at Canonical is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game. Canonical provides a unique window into the world of 21st-century digital business.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer

We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.

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