Director Product Design

Rapid7, Inc; Belfast; On-site; GBP 80,000 - GBP 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading cybersecurity firm is seeking a Director of Product Design to lead and scale high-performing design teams focused on creating impactful AI and data-driven experiences. This role involves collaborating with Product and Engineering leaders to shape design strategy while mentoring senior designers. The ideal candidate will possess strong leadership skills, a strategic mindset, and a deep understanding of user-centered problem-solving, all aimed at enhancing customer outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience in leading design teams and organizations.
• Ability to connect design work to business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of user-centered design principles.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop high-performing design teams.
• Drive design excellence and evolve design systems.
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering to shape strategy.

Skills

Strategic Product Thinking

People Leadership & Coaching

Cross-Functional Partnership

Decision-Making Under Ambiguity

Design Organization Leadership

Systems & Platform Design Expertise

Vision & Narrative Building

Design Quality & Craft Excellence

Operational & Capacity Planning

Customer-Centered Problem Solving

Organizational Awareness

Job description

Director, Product Design

As a Director of Product Design, you will lead and scale high-performing design teams responsible for delivering intuitive, impactful AI and data-driven experiences across our Command Platform. You will partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership, expert security practitioners, and customers to shape strategy, drive execution, and ensure design meaningfully accelerates customer and business outcomes.

About the Team:

The Product Design team partners with Design Leadership, Product Management, Engineering, and Executive Stakeholders to define and deliver experiences that help customers reduce risk, respond faster, and operate with confidence across the Command Platform. This team plays a critical role in identifying and translating complex security problems into clear, actionable solutions at scale.

About the Role:

As a Director of Product Design, your primary responsibility will be to lead design strategy and execution for our AI and data-driven experiences while building and maturing strong, resilient design teams.

Specifically, your focus will be to:

• Lead, coach, and develop senior designers, fostering a culture of trust, growth, and accountability
• Partner with Product and Engineering leaders to define the AI vision within our broader platform experience, prioritize work, and deliver high-impact outcomes aligned to company strategy
• Drive design excellence through clear standards, critiques, and evolve our scalable design systems and practices
• Identify and translate complex customer and business problems into cohesive, end-to-end product experiences across teams and surfaces

Core Skills:

• Strategic Product Thinking: Demonstrates the ability to connect design decisions to business goals, customer outcomes, and long-term platform strategy
• People Leadership & Coaching: Builds strong teams through mentorship, feedback, and intentional development of future leaders
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Creates alignment and trust with Product, Engineering, and Executive stakeholders to drive shared outcomes
• Decision-Making Under Ambiguity: Makes timely, thoughtful decisions with incomplete information while balancing risk, speed, and impact

Role-Specific Functional Skills

• Design Organization Leadership: Experience leading multi-team design organizations, across complex product areas
• Systems & Platform Design Expertise: Proven ability to deliver cohesive experiences across large-scale, data-rich enterprise platforms
• Vision & Narrative Building: Articulates a clear, compelling design vision that inspires teams and influences stakeholders
• Design Quality & Craft Excellence: Sets a high bar for interaction design, information architecture, and usability in complex domains
• Operational & Capacity Planning: Effectively plans resourcing, prioritization, and team health to sustain long-term performance
• Customer-Centered Problem Solving: Deep understanding of user needs, validated through research, data, and real-world feedback
• Organizational Awareness: Thinks holistically about impact across teams and functions, optimizing for company-wide success over local wins

Core Value Embodiment: Embody our core values to foster a culture of excellence that drives meaningful impact and collective success.

We know that the best ideas and solutions come from multi-dimensional teams. That’s because these teams reflect a variety of backgrounds and professional experiences. If you are excited about this role and feel your experience can make an impact, please don’t be shy - apply today.

About Rapid7

At Rapid7, our vision is to create a secure digital world for our customers, our industry, and our communities. We do this by harnessing our collective expertise and passion to challenge what’s possible and drive extraordinary impact. We’re building a dynamic and collaborative workplace where new ideas are welcome.

Protecting 11,000+ customers against bad actors and threats means we’re continuing to push the envelope just like we’ve been doing for the past 20 years. If you’re ready to solve some of the toughest challenges in cybersecurity, we’re ready to help you take command of your career. Join us.