Is the Head of Product Design role remote?

It's hybrid — Kindred expects some on-site time in San Francisco, CA.

How much experience is required?

At least 12 years of relevant experience for this Head of Product Design role.

Where is the role based?

Kindred is hiring for this position in San Francisco, CA.

What seniority level is this role?

Kindred targets director candidates for this position.

Is this full-time or contract?

Full-time for this Head of Product Design role at Kindred.

Head of Product Design at Kindred

Joblaze summary

The Head of Product Design at Kindred is responsible for leading the design team and shaping the overall member experience across web and mobile platforms. This role requires expertise in product design, team management, and a strong understanding of design systems, with a focus on integrating AI into the design process. Ideal candidates will have over a decade of experience in product design, including significant leadership roles, and a background in community-driven products. Kindred's fast-growing environment offers a unique opportunity to influence a transformative approach to travel.

Joblaze insights

Listed 10 days ago on Joblaze — tracked directly from Kindred's career page.
Kindred has 6 other open roles including Director, Lifecycle Marketing, Full-Stack Engineer, Director, Partnerships (6-month fixed-term).

Quick facts

Is the Head of Product Design role remote?: It's hybrid — Kindred expects some on-site time in San Francisco, CA.
How much experience is required?: At least 12 years of relevant experience for this Head of Product Design role.
Where is the role based?: Kindred is hiring for this position in San Francisco, CA.
What seniority level is this role?: Kindred targets director candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Full-time for this Head of Product Design role at Kindred.

From the original posting

Kindred is a members-only home swapping platform that unlocks the ability to live a travel-rich lifestyle through the power of community. By exchanging primary residences with trusted peers, renters and owners alike can match with Kindred spirits and explore new destinations without breaking the bank.

Kindred is revolutionizing the “third option” of travel accommodation, compared to short-term rentals and hotels. Since launching in 2022, Kindred has grown to a global community of 300,000 members across 150+ cities and puts home swapping on the map as a radically more affordable, responsible, and connected way to travel.

To support that momentum, Kindred has raised over $150M in capital from some of the most credible investors in Silicon Valley, including Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners, Caffeinated Capital, Elad Gil, and founders of companies like Opendoor, Figma, ClassPass, and more.

Kindred’s co-founders are proven leaders from the early team at Opendoor ($15B+ exit), who have each built and scaled products that today generate $1B+ annual revenue combined.

We’re looking for the world’s top builders, executors, and believers to help us make travel more meaningful.

You can learn more about us in Forbes and The New York Times.

The Role

Kindred is looking for a Head of Product Design to lead our product design team through its next phase of growth. You'll own the end-to-end member experience across web and mobile, lead and grow the design and research team (currently a team of five), and work directly with cross-functional leaders to shape where the product goes next.

This is a hands-on design leadership role reporting to the Co-founder & President. You'll set the vision, direct the team, and raise the bar. We’re looking for an AI-native leader to spend time prototyping and building alongside your team on the projects that matter most.

What you’ll do

People & team leader

Lead, coach, and grow a cross-disciplinary design team spanning product design, research, and content/UX writing
Run the rituals, feedback culture, and career paths that make this a team people do their best work on

Strategy leader

Set the design vision and strategy for Kindred, and align it tightly with company strategy as a key thought partner to product, engineering, marketing and operations
Champion member-centric thinking across the company, grounding decisions in both qualitative insight and quantitative data
Lean into strategic growth design: activation, conversion, and the loops that turn members into evangelists

Craft bar raiser

Own the quality bar for the member experience, from big swings on new surfaces to the fit-and-finish details that make Kindred a design-forward and trusted platform
Build and scale the systems that let great design ship fast — design systems, tooling, rituals, and process that hold up as the team grows
Lead an AI-native design practice: set the standard for how the team uses AI across prototyping, research synthesis, and production, and evolve the workflow as the tools do

Brand & trust steward

Partner deeply with marketing and brand to ensure product and brand operate as one system, from acquisition through the in-product experience

You may be a right fit for this role if you

Have 12+ years in product design, including 5+ years leading and managing design teams
Have managed cross-functionally across product design, research, and content/writing, and know how to make those disciplines stronger together
Have a proven track record partnering with marketing and brand
Have deep experience with design systems: building them, scaling them, and using them to raise both quality and velocity
Have designed for trust between people (marketplaces, communities, or products where members take real-world leaps of faith)
Are AI-native and you have a point of view on how AI changes what a design team is and how it works
Are a strong operator: you run tight rituals, give sharp feedback, and build teams people want to stay on
Are a true player-coach, you still love the craft, and you ship work yourself when it counts

Bonus points if

Have been the most senior design leader at a company, owning the function end-to-end (Head of Design, Director+, or equivalent)
You have experience with marketplace or community-driven consumer products
You've built or led both consumer and brand/marketing design work
You've shipped production features or internal tools built primarily with AI (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, or similar)
You've taken products from 0→1 and from 1→10 and know how the playbooks differ

Our Benefits:

At Kindred, we know that good things happen when we look out for one another. We offer a thoughtful, human-first benefits package designed to support health, wellbeing, and connection.

Our openings may span more than one career level. The base salary offered depends on factors such as experience, transferable skills, business needs, impact, and market data.

Competitive cash compensation and equity
Comprehensive health benefits
Flexible time off, plus 12 paid holidays per year
21 credits per year to stay in Kindred homes
$4,000 annual travel stipend to help offset travel-related costs
Remote-first and remote-flexible work environment, with opportunities to work from anywhere and gather in person, including at Kindred HQ in San Francisco
Regular team and company offsites to connect, collaborate, and build together
A vibrant, inclusive, and highly skilled team that ferociously protects team chemistry
A culture of high standards, feedback, and continual growth

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. Kindred does not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic, including race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, creed, age, disability, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, medical condition, genetic information, family care or medical leave status, marital status, domestic partner status, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by US federal, state or local laws, or the laws of the country or jurisdiction where you work.