Director of Product Design
Swiftly, Inc., San Francisco, CA, United States
Company Overview
Swiftly is on a mission to help cities move more efficiently. We are the leading transit data platform for agencies to share real-time passenger information, manage day-to-day operations, and improve service performance. Today, over 200 transit agencies in 12 countries – including LA Metro, MARTA, SEPTA, and MBTA – rely on Swiftly to improve on-time performance and increase passenger information accuracy. The result is better service reliability, increased ridership, and more efficient transit operations.
Note: Swiftly’s HQ is in San Francisco, CA. We are open to candidates in most locations across the U.S. as well as Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. At this time we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.
What You’ll Do
Translate company, product, and team strategy into a clear design vision and bring teams along by showing them where it leads. Articulate and share this vision with leadership and the company at large to catalyze, align, and energize the company in making cities move more efficiently.
Work closely with Product Management and Engineering leadership to build a cross-functional product development engine that emphasizes product experience, lovability, and impact.
Lead design reviews that are genuinely excellent, refine and scale practices around them, including a maturing design system, systematized user research, and a design ops model that keeps pace with the craft’s evolution.
Set the standard for design experiences across native mobile, web platform, and agentic workflows. Balance refined design opinion with direct usage and anecdotal feedback to keep products intuitive and focused on real problems.
Realize a cadence of rapid iteration and execution, encourage early sharing, drive alignment across functions with living prototypes, and maintain dev-ready designs in lock step with development.
Champion AI-accelerated design iteration by embedding rapid AI prototyping into discovery, design, and development processes, shortening concept-to-dev-ready timelines and deepening real-time collaboration between PMs and Engineers.
Represent Product Design and the greater Product Org in company leadership meetings, bringing customer pains and insights to inform strategy.
Help build Swiftly’s culture of curiosity, feedback, and inclusion, supporting designers to stretch their craft and grow through collaboration.
What Will Set You Up For Success
10+ years of product design experience, with 5+ years in leadership roles. A strong designer who is an engaged and experienced manager who keeps their design skills sharp.
Proven success shaping design strategy for B2B or B2B2C products with consumer-grade usability standards.
Experience hiring and coaching junior and senior designers through the full lifecycle of design, from conception to completion, sharing the vision through explorations, documentation, and presentations.
Proven ability to scale design orgs and systems in a matrixed, cross-functional environment.
Experience creating and maintaining multi-platform design systems (mobile, desktop, APIs; hardware is a plus).
Deep expertise in making complex, data-heavy applications feel crafted and delightful for users.
Experience designing AI/ML-powered products that solve problems and build customer trust.
Strong communication that commands a room and distills complexity into a clear point of view. You’ll represent design in leadership meetings, with enterprise customers, and alongside the executive team.
Pay Range In accordance with pay transparency laws, please see the approximate salary ranges below. These ranges represent the anticipated low and high end of the salary and any on-target earnings. Actual salaries vary based on role leveling decisions, relevant experience/skills, and geographic location. Salary is one component of Swiftly’s total compensation package, which also includes stock options, benefits, and growth opportunities.
US Salary Range:
$160,000 - $265,000 OTE USD
Canadian Salary Range:
$175,000 - $220,000 OTE CAD
Beyond the Skills We are looking for candidates passionate about mobility, sustainability, or mission-oriented projects with real-world impact. Core values include:
Team
Impact
Diversity
Communication
Feedback
Growth
Benefits
Competitive salary
Equity compensation for every employee
Medical, Dental and Vision
Retirement with Employer Match
Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
Home office setup reimbursement
Monthly cell/internet reimbursement
Monthly "Be Well" stipend
Flexible PTO with a recommended minimum
Flexible work environment
16 paid holidays, including holidays in months without US national holidays
8 fully paid weeks of leave for childbirth/adoption
Travel Swiftly employees can generally expect to travel 1–2 times a year for in-person company or team offsites. Attending these in-person is encouraged, though exceptions can be requested. Customer-facing roles may travel more frequently.
We are a mission-driven culture focused on changing the world of transit. We are an equal opportunity employer and committed to a workplace that reflects the communities we serve. Because we work with public agencies, we participate in E-Verify.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Swiftly is on a mission to help cities move more efficiently. We are the leading transit data platform for agencies to share real-time passenger information, manage day-to-day operations, and improve service performance. Today, over 200 transit agencies in 12 countries – including LA Metro, MARTA, SEPTA, and MBTA – rely on Swiftly to improve on-time performance and increase passenger information accuracy. The result is better service reliability, increased ridership, and more efficient transit operations.
Note: Swiftly’s HQ is in San Francisco, CA. We are open to candidates in most locations across the U.S. as well as Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. At this time we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.
What You’ll Do
Translate company, product, and team strategy into a clear design vision and bring teams along by showing them where it leads. Articulate and share this vision with leadership and the company at large to catalyze, align, and energize the company in making cities move more efficiently.
Work closely with Product Management and Engineering leadership to build a cross-functional product development engine that emphasizes product experience, lovability, and impact.
Lead design reviews that are genuinely excellent, refine and scale practices around them, including a maturing design system, systematized user research, and a design ops model that keeps pace with the craft’s evolution.
Set the standard for design experiences across native mobile, web platform, and agentic workflows. Balance refined design opinion with direct usage and anecdotal feedback to keep products intuitive and focused on real problems.
Realize a cadence of rapid iteration and execution, encourage early sharing, drive alignment across functions with living prototypes, and maintain dev-ready designs in lock step with development.
Champion AI-accelerated design iteration by embedding rapid AI prototyping into discovery, design, and development processes, shortening concept-to-dev-ready timelines and deepening real-time collaboration between PMs and Engineers.
Represent Product Design and the greater Product Org in company leadership meetings, bringing customer pains and insights to inform strategy.
Help build Swiftly’s culture of curiosity, feedback, and inclusion, supporting designers to stretch their craft and grow through collaboration.
What Will Set You Up For Success
10+ years of product design experience, with 5+ years in leadership roles. A strong designer who is an engaged and experienced manager who keeps their design skills sharp.
Proven success shaping design strategy for B2B or B2B2C products with consumer-grade usability standards.
Experience hiring and coaching junior and senior designers through the full lifecycle of design, from conception to completion, sharing the vision through explorations, documentation, and presentations.
Proven ability to scale design orgs and systems in a matrixed, cross-functional environment.
Experience creating and maintaining multi-platform design systems (mobile, desktop, APIs; hardware is a plus).
Deep expertise in making complex, data-heavy applications feel crafted and delightful for users.
Experience designing AI/ML-powered products that solve problems and build customer trust.
Strong communication that commands a room and distills complexity into a clear point of view. You’ll represent design in leadership meetings, with enterprise customers, and alongside the executive team.
Pay Range In accordance with pay transparency laws, please see the approximate salary ranges below. These ranges represent the anticipated low and high end of the salary and any on-target earnings. Actual salaries vary based on role leveling decisions, relevant experience/skills, and geographic location. Salary is one component of Swiftly’s total compensation package, which also includes stock options, benefits, and growth opportunities.
US Salary Range:
$160,000 - $265,000 OTE USD
Canadian Salary Range:
$175,000 - $220,000 OTE CAD
Beyond the Skills We are looking for candidates passionate about mobility, sustainability, or mission-oriented projects with real-world impact. Core values include:
Team
Impact
Diversity
Communication
Feedback
Growth
Benefits
Competitive salary
Equity compensation for every employee
Medical, Dental and Vision
Retirement with Employer Match
Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
Home office setup reimbursement
Monthly cell/internet reimbursement
Monthly "Be Well" stipend
Flexible PTO with a recommended minimum
Flexible work environment
16 paid holidays, including holidays in months without US national holidays
8 fully paid weeks of leave for childbirth/adoption
Travel Swiftly employees can generally expect to travel 1–2 times a year for in-person company or team offsites. Attending these in-person is encouraged, though exceptions can be requested. Customer-facing roles may travel more frequently.
We are a mission-driven culture focused on changing the world of transit. We are an equal opportunity employer and committed to a workplace that reflects the communities we serve. Because we work with public agencies, we participate in E-Verify.
#J-18808-Ljbffr