Senior Manager, Product Design

Apollo is on a mission to make the world’s data more accessible by making APIs easier to build and scale. Our graph router powers some of the world’s most popular websites, and product designers here get to shape the tools that our customers use to manage their graphs. As a Senior Manager of Product Design at Apollo, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute strategically and make a meaningful impact across various aspects of the business, driving innovation and shaping the future of our products. From leading a strategic initiative on product feature placement, to manifesting large-scale changes to our information architecture, or bringing features like graph visualization to life, you’ll play a pivotal role in defining the future of our design ecosystem. We’re seeking a Product Design Leader with management experience who can embed strategic design thinking into our PDE (Product, Design, Engineering) culture. If you’re passionate about product design and excel at fostering growth within a close-knit team, you’ll find this role both rewarding and impactful, with plenty of opportunities to make a meaningful difference.  What You’ll Do

• You’ll lead our small but mighty design team, fostering an environment where innovation thrives and team members are empowered to grow and excel.
• You’ll develop a clear vision and strategy for design at Apollo, guiding the team through initiatives like redesigning our information architecture, launching new product lines, and designing cohesive user journeys across our various interfaces.
• You’ll foster a culture of design thinking, and find practical ways to apply design methodologies to our engineering-heavy organization.
• You’ll conduct studies and gather user research on key initiatives, maintaining a close connection with our customers to inform and drive design decisions.
• You’ll be a major contributor to our group strategy and a leader who inspires and motivates people across the company, building strong alliances with other managers to drive cross-team results.
• You’ll champion strategic initiatives and help shape the future of our design ecosystem.

Minimum Requirements

• You’ve managed designers, supported their career growth, and are skilled at leveraging your own expertise to mentor & develop emerging design leaders.  
• You have experience crafting visually strong, clear, and delightful experiences.
• You have a track record of leading complex initiatives, developing strong perspectives on your team’s product areas, and successfully advocating for them across the organization to deliver significant business impact.
• You’re proficient in Figma, Atomic Design, and have built or contributed to design systems. Your knowledge of HTML and CSS allows you to collaborate effectively with engineers on implementation.
• You have excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
• You’re skilled at finding the balance between business needs, strong design, and practical solutions, and can speak to this through the work in your portfolio.
• You’re excited to work in the dynamic environment of a startup.
• Experience with technical SaaS products, especially in dev tools or similar domains, is a plus.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with visual design and branding.
• Experience with UX writing.
• Basic coding experience would be helpful in understanding our product & users.

$195,500 – $250,000 a yearWhether you binge-watch a series on Netflix, plan faraway vacations from your phone, or read international news online, you’ve likely used Apollo’s technology this week. Apollo supports some of the largest GraphQL platforms in the world. We’re not looking to rest on our laurels though — we’re aiming to change how software is built. Apollo wants to empower every software team to build an amazing user experience across any number of clients, without dealing with a barrage of API endpoints. Equal to all of that, Apollo is intent on becoming the company where you can see your career grow through challenging work, collaborating with incredible teammates, and accomplishing the unattainable.At Apollo, we strive to provide competitive, market-informed compensation whilst ensuring consistency within the team in each country. We make hiring decisions based on your skills, experience, and our overall assessment of what we learned during the hiring process. In addition to the U.S. base salary range, we also provide equity and benefits. Apollo offers all U.S. employees a choice of 3 Anthem Blue Cross medical plans and California residents can also choose from an additional 2 Kaiser medical plans. Dental and Vision benefits are provided by Sun Life Financial.Equal Opportunity: Apollo is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a talented and diverse workforce.Privacy: California residents applying for positions at Apollo can see our privacy policy here.E-Verify: Apollo is an E-Verify employer and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. For more information please visit E-Verify.