Senior Director, Design & Research

Who We Are

Babylist is the leading registry, e-commerce, and content platform for growing families. More than 9 million people shop with Babylist every year, making it the go-to destination for seamless purchasing, trusted guidance, and expert product recommendations for new parents and the people who love them. What began as a universal registry has grown into a full ecosystem for new parents, including the Babylist Shop, Babylist Health, and a flagship showroom in Los Angeles. Hundreds of brands in baby and beyond partner with Babylist to engage meaningfully with families during one of life’s most important transitions. With over $1 billion in annual GMV, and more than $500 million in 2024 revenue, Babylist is reshaping the $320 billion baby product industry. We’re helping parents feel confident, connected, and cared for at every step. As we build the generational brand in baby, our mission remains simple: to connect growing families with everything they need to thrive.To learn more, visit www.babylist.com.

Our Ways of Working

Babylist thrives as a remote-first company, with HQ team members located across the U.S. and Canada. We meet in person twice a year—once as a company and once by department to strengthen the relationships that power our work. We show up consistently, stay purpose-driven, leverage AI to amplify our impact, and achieve results—together, from anywhere.

What the Role Is

Babylist is hiring a Senior Director of Product Design and Research to shape the long-term experience strategy across Product Design, User Research, UX Content Design, and Design System. These functions are central to how Babylist supports parents and gift givers as they discover products, build a registry, manage health needs, and shop with confidence.

This role reports to the Chief Product Officer to ensure that user insight, research, and product judgment meaningfully influence how Babylist sets priorities, builds products, and plans for the future. The Senior Director guides the vision for usability, accessibility, clarity, and experience quality across platforms and surfaces. The role sets direction for how Babylist integrates AI into user workflows in ways that are intuitive, helpful, and trustworthy.

This is a strategic leadership role that shapes how the organization understands users, identifies the problems that matter most, and brings clarity to product decisions. It also develops the systems, rituals, and team structures that help designers, researchers, and content designers work at a high level and deliver consistent experiences as Babylist scales.

Who You Are

• Experienced design leader with 12+ years in product design and 5+ years managing and developing design teams in a user-centered, product-driven environment.
• Strong product and user experience thinker applying clear judgment grounded in usability, accessibility, research, and real user insight.
• Broad design generalist with exposure to research, content design, or design systems as an added strength.
• Strategic problem solver comfortable shaping direction across complex product areas and multiple platforms.
• Clear communicator who collaborates effectively with Product, Engineering, and Marketing.
• Practical AI partner with a working understanding of how AI can support workflows and user-facing experiences.
• User-centered leader motivated by supporting parents, gift givers, and growing families.
• Systems-minded operator focused on clarity, outcomes, and building structures that help teams work effectively.
• Executive-ready partner able to influence decisions with evidence, research, and product insight.

How You Will Make An Impact

• Set and champion a multi-year user experience direction for Babylist, create a clear, inspiring vision for how registry, health, shopping, and content should evolve, grounded in user insight, research, and design judgment.
• Shape company-level planning with user insight and evidence bringing research, data, and clear user needs into executive decisions to prioritize the problems that matter most.
• Lead Babylist’s approach to AI-supported experiences setting the direction for how AI supports user workflows and decision-making through simple and intuitive interfaces.
• Set clear standards for usability, accessibility, and quality establishing expectations that improve clarity, consistency, and experience quality across platforms.
• Develop the strategic plan for Product Design and Research defining team structure, capacity, and long-term goals that align with company priorities.
• Build systems that support effective planning and decision making evolving current processes to support clear priorities, consistent alignment, and strong execution across teams.
• Establish mechanisms that measure experience quality tracking usability, user satisfaction, research insights, and design system adoption to create clear visibility for leaders and teams.
• Guide execution across multiple platforms and surfaces providing direction that helps teams navigate complexity and deliver cohesive, high-quality experiences.
• Identify and prioritize high-impact user problems partnering with Product and Engineering to focus on the issues that most affect parents and gift givers.
• Scale the Heartbeat Design System across the organization expanding adoption to improve consistency and long-term sustainability.
• Develop and grow multidisciplinary design teams supporting designers, researchers, and content designers with clear expectations, feedback, and development paths.
• Increase visibility into user experience work across Babylist improving how user needs, research findings, and experience updates are communicated across Product, Engineering, and partner teams.
• Represent Product Design and Research at the executive level influencing company strategy and ensuring user needs stay central to decisions and long-term planning.

Why You Will Love Working At Babylist

Our Culture

• We work with focus and intention, then step away to recharge
• We believe in exceptional management and invest in tools and opportunities to connect with colleagues
• We build products that positively impact millions of people's lives
• AI is intentionally embedded in how we work, create, and scale—supporting innovation and impact

Growth & Development

• Competitive pay and meaningful opportunities for career advancement
• We believe technology and data can solve hard problems
• We're committed to career progression and performance-based advancement

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive salary with equity and bonus opportunities
• Company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Retirement savings plan with company matching and flexible spending accounts
• Generous paid parental leave and PTO
• Remote work stipend to set up your office
• Perks for physical, mental, and emotional health, parenting, childcare, and financial planning

About Compensation

We use a market-based approach to compensation. The starting salary range for this role is:

US: $261,450 to $313,740 USD

Canada: $260,500 to $325,750 CAD

Your starting salary will be based on your location, experience, and qualifications, with increases over time tied to performance, role growth, and internal pay equity.

Interview Process & Consent
Babylist uses AI to record and transcribe all interviews for evaluation purposes in accordance with CCPA and GDPR. By participating in an interview, you consent to this recording and transcription.

Interview Integrity
During the interview process, we're evaluating your individual problem-solving skills, creativity, and approach to challenges. While AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor are part of your daily toolkit once you join Babylist, all interviews, assessments, and take-home assignments must be completed independently. 

You may not use AI tools, third-party services, coaching platforms, or content-farming services during any part of the interview process unless we explicitly permit it. We will clearly communicate when AI tools are allowed for specific assessments.

Any indication of third-party assistance or AI-generated responses will result in immediate disqualification. We may also verify educational credentials through third-party sources—providing false or misleading information will result in removal from consideration.

Official Communication
All communication will come only from the Babylist Talent Team via an @babylist.com email address. We will never request payment, bank information, or personal financial details. Be cautious of fraudulent outreach via non-company email addresses, messaging platforms (e.g., WhatsApp, Telegram), or unsolicited phone calls. Verify legitimate opportunities on our careers page.

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