Director of Product Design

Baselane is a rapidly growing banking and financial management platform for individual landlords and real estate investors. We are backed by leading FinTech investors, including Matrix Partners, Activant Capital, Collaborative Fund, Conversion Capital, Diagram Ventures, ThomVest, and many FinTech leaders from PayPal, eBay, Google, and more.

We are building the future of financial services for the 12+ million individual landlords and real estate investors who own over 25 million homes in the United States. Our mission is to empower landlords with financial services, automated tools, and actionable insights to help them save time, increase their returns, and grow their investment portfolios.

We are a seasoned team with deep experience in financial services and technology. We have previously worked at companies including The Boston Consulting Group, Morgan Stanley, Plaid, Harry's, Better, WealthSimple, RBC Ventures, Affirm, Relay, Instawork, and more.

Learn more at baselane.com.

About the Role

We are seeking a Director of Product Design to lead and grow our product design organization at a pivotal moment in Baselane's journey. This is an AI-first role. We believe AI is fundamentally reshaping how product design gets done, from research and ideation through to high-fidelity execution and dev handoff, and we are looking for a leader who is not just curious about that shift but actively defining it. You will set the AI-first vision for how our design team works, what tools we adopt, and how we ship faster and better than teams operating with traditional workflows.

In this role, you will set the design vision, shape the team, and elevate the quality bar across every surface of our product. You will partner closely with our VP of Product, Engineering leadership, and the broader executive team to make design a defining strength of the company.

This is a true player-coach role. Alongside leading the team, you will personally own the design work for one of our product pods end-to-end, from research and concepting through final execution. We believe the best design leaders set the bar through their own craft, not just by directing others — and staying close to the customer and the product surface is what makes org-wide standards real rather than aspirational.

You will inherit a talented team of product designers, own the design system, and help drive cross-pod best practices. You will be responsible for translating company strategy into design priorities, defining what "great" looks like across the org, and building the structures, rituals, and processes that allow designers to do the best work of their careers.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will spend time in the work, in critique, and in 1:1s in equal measure. You will own headcount planning, recruiting, career paths, and the promotion framework, while also serving as the senior point of contact for design across marketing, sales, partnerships, and other cross-functional teams.

This role is based in Toronto. We expect you to come into the office (downtown Toronto) at least twice a week for meetings and working sessions, with the flexibility to work remotely on other days.

Responsibilities

AI-First Design Leadership

Define Baselane's AI-first approach to product design, from research through dev handoff

Reshape workflows and tooling so AI is woven into the day-to-day, not bolted on

Set quality standards for when to lean on AI and when human judgment leads

Partner with Engineering on design-to-code workflows

Strategy & Vision

Set and communicate the design vision and strategy

Translate company priorities into clear design roadmaps

Define what "great" looks like and uphold the quality bar

Own headcount planning and org design

Player-Coach: Own a Pod

Personally own the design work for one product pod end-to-end — from research and concepting through final visual design and handoff

Set the bar through your own craft, not just by directing others

Stay close to the customer and the product surface to inform org-wide standards

People Management

Lead, coach, and grow the product design team

Run 1:1s, feedback cycles, and team rituals that build a strong design culture

Own career paths, promotions, and end-to-end recruiting

Processes & Ways of Working

Evolve design processes and partner cross-functionally with PM, Eng, Marketing, and GTM

Own the design system, Figma structure, and stakeholder feedback loops

Must Have

8+ years of product design experience, with 3+ years leading and scaling design teams at high-growth technology startups
Comfort and proven experience operating as a player-coach, leading a team while personally owning hands-on design work
Hands-on experience leading the adoption of AI tools and AI-first workflows, with a clear point of view on where the field is going
Strong people management skills, including hiring, coaching, performance management, and career development
Excellent design craft across UX, visual, and interaction design, with the ability to provide substantive feedback in critique
Experience defining and evolving design processes, design systems, and ways of working across multiple pods or teams
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, able to influence at the executive level
Fluency with Figma and the modern AI design tooling landscape

Nice to Have

Experience designing for FinTech, banking, or financial services products
Experience working across both web and native mobile (iOS and Android) products
Experience partnering closely with founders or executive teams in a Series A to C environment

What's in it for You

Be part of a high-impact, high-growth business
Be part of a dynamic, driven team with flat hierarchies and a get-it-done collaborative culture
The opportunity to define design as a core strength of a category-defining FinTech company
Training and development budget to ensure professional growth
Regular team events, game nights, and other social activities

Practicals

Team: Product & Design
Reports to: VP of Product
Location: Toronto-based only, 2 days a week in the office. For this position, we will only look at applications from Toronto
Office: We have an office in downtown Toronto and expect you to be in the office at least twice a week
Start date: ASAP

Benefits & Perks

• Competitive compensation
• Equity, ownership in what we are building!
• High-quality Medical, Vision, and Dental Insurance
• Life Insurance and Disability Coverage
• Generous time off