Head of Design

Head Of DesignKikoff: The Fintech Powering Financial Security at Scale Kikoff is a profitable, pre-IPO fintech company on a mission to empower everyone to achieve financial security. With record revenue growth in 2025 and a unicorn valuation, we've built a suite of products that help millions of people build credit, access liquidity, and save money. We're scaling fast. Join us if you want to build something meaningful and help millions of people move forward financially.

Go beyond filling headcount. Understand each designer's strengths and place them where they'll do their best work and develop in the desired growth areas. Own the Design Vision and Quality BarSet the overall design vision for Kikoff - what good looks like, how the team works, how designers grow Make the call when there is ambiguity: a great design manager can resolve a design decision when the team is stuck, instead of leaving it open Give practical, down-to-earth feedback grounded in visual, UX, and craft fundamentals - not just product framing Champion the visual front and push the bar on what Kikoff can look and feel like Build the Design Foundation Build the design system from the ground up so it is something the whole company and our coding agents will want to use Define and enforce design patterns across the product to reduce design debt and bring consistency Drive the standards that make every screen feel like Kikoff, across product, marketing, and brand surfaces Drive Cross-Functional ImpactBe a strategic partner to Engineering, Product, and Marketing as a peer - not a downstream resource Bring product design and creative closer together: together ship brand-quality product and product-quality brand Take company-wide direction on design, brand, and creative - and translate it into work that benefits product, marketing, and creative at the same time Bring user insights into the work: run journey workshops, listen to the user's voice, and make sure the team is designing for real people, not just shipping screens Reinvent How Design Works in the Age of AIDefine how the Kikoff design team uses AI - with a clear, hands-on plan, not a slide Be hands-on yourself: try new tools, prototype, vibe-code small fixes, and bring back what works to the team to help them adopt itHelp the team figure out the new workflow together - what to use AI for, what to keep human, and how to keep craft from sliding You Have 10+ years of experience in product design, with substantial time in consumer-facing, mobile-first products 7+ years leading and managing design teams - you have grown designers into senior ICs and you have built a team that does great work without you in the room Demonstrated experience scaling a design team through a growth phase: you have hired strong designers and you know how to grow a team without losing the craft Deep design sense across visual, interaction, and UX - you can engage at the pixel level when it matters and you can give feedback that makes the work better A track record of building and rebuilding design systems that the team actually adopts and that hold up as the product grows A track record of partnering with product and engineering as a peer, and shipping work that moved the business Hands-on fluency with modern AI tooling for design - you have used it, formed real opinions, and have a clear point of view on how it changes the team The ability to make your team better every day: through clarity, honest feedback, and trust with strong practitioners A sharp eye for brand integrity. You ensure our brand values are deeply woven into the product's DNA. You can align cross-functional stakeholders on a unified brand vision and ensure that every pixel of the UI speaks our specific visual language. Compassion. You care about the people on your team, you listen to ICs, and you pay attention to what designers are saying so the work - and the team - can get better

Scrappy. We move fast and build what we need, not what sounds impressive. We don't cut corners when they matter, and we don't over-engineer when they don't. Risk-oriented. We make tradeoffs deliberately. A mature team knows the difference between a bet worth taking and one that isn't. User-obsessed. We talk to users, watch them use the product, and believe that understanding what they actually feel is the only way to design for them. You will be surrounded by people who think this way. Humble. We know this journey has required timing, circumstance, and the right people showing up. We are grateful, and we don't take it for granted. Base Range$235,000 - $374,000 USDEqual Employment Opportunity Statement Kikoff Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities and considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class. Please reference the following for more information.