Lead Product Designer

Changing the world of pet food for good

We’re Tails.com, a dog food subscription company with a big difference. We create truly tailored food for each and every dog we serve. We start by asking people a few simple questions about their dog. Then we use that information to create their dog’s unique Tails.com recipe – so their dog gets exactly the nutrition they need, in the taste they love, delivered to their door every month. It’s clever stuff.

We’ve got bold plans. Having created an entirely new category in pet food, we’re now scaling fast in the UK and Europe – backed by Purina, one of the world’s largest pet food companies. You’ll join a bunch of smart people working towards the same goals – and a bunch of smart-ish dogs, all working on their own thing.

Together, we’ll change the world of pet food for good.

Designed to delight our customers

Join Product Design at Tails.com, and you’ll be right in the midst of the action – designing product experiences that delight our customers. No one does what we do in the direct-to-consumer space, so it’s your chance to really make your mark.

We work in highly collaborative cross-functional squads, bringing together engineers and designers and researchers and data analysts and whoever else we need to get the work done. It’s a good mix of swift, tactical work – and taking time to tackle big, hairy problems.

Importantly, we’re a proper team of designers. (If you’ve ever worked as the sole designer in a company, you’ll know what a difference that makes).

Build our brand

We’re building an international brand, fast. We set ambitious goals. We challenge and support each other in equal measure. At the pace we’re moving, we prefer to test ideas and learn quickly rather than spend months building a business case. That means we celebrate when things go right, and we learn when things go wrong.

Sound like a team you want to join? Here’s how you’ll make a difference:

The role
We are seeking an experienced lead product designer with management experience. You will bring a passion for finding solutions that deliver usable and joyful experiences to our dog-loving customers in the UK and beyond. The ideal candidate will be skilled at each stage of the design process, but always focused on the needs of the customer.

You will work with other designers and cross-functional team members and will rely heavily on both qualitative and quantitative data to make informed decisions.

You will be responsible for:

• Line manages designers, supporting their career development.
  • Lead and mentor the Product Design team on good visual and interaction design
  • Lead the design team members to ensure consistent customer experiences end to end
  • Support, coach and mentor product designers in areas of their personal development
• You will form partnerships product managers, user researchers, engineers and key members of our cross-functional teams
• You will turn your insights into delightful products that are valuable and usable to our customers
• You can work with ease in a fast-paced environment where change is always on the menu and we as a team make each day count
• Use design as a tool to drive rapid learning to ensure we’re solving our customers most important problems
• Stay up to date on current industry trends and market conditions
• Present product design ideas to cross-functional teams and senior leadership
• Live the tails.com values and management competencies daily to set a good example for the team

The skills you’ll bring:

• Proven experience in all phases of the design process including user research, wireframing, prototyping, visual design, interaction design, and usability testing
• An intuitive eye for customer needs beyond the obvious
• Coordinate with other design team members to ensure consistent and accurate communication
• Experience in building user-centred products and services (with a portfolio to demonstrate your previous work)
• Ability to collect and interpret both qualitative and quantitative feedback
• You are highly proficient at using Sketch and Invision (or can clearly articulate why a different set of tools works better for you)
• Passion for design and have creative problem-solving skills; not satisfied with the status quo and always thinking of ways to improve
• Proven experience in managing a high-performing team
• You thrive in a fast-paced and rapidly growing agile environment

What's in it for you? 

• Competitive salary, reviewed annually
• Annual bonus, based on company performance
• Flexible core hours, giving you true work-life balance
• A hybrid role to ensure this role works for you
• 25 days of holiday (excluding bank holidays), which increases over time to a max of 27 days
• 9/10 day working week to enhance your wellbeing without a reduction in pay and leave allowance
• Optional 5 days unpaid leave and 1 paid volunteer day each year
• When you need a change of scenery, you can work from abroad 2 weeks every 6 months
• Health insurance for you, paid by Tails.com
• Extended maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption pay. 6 months at 70% pay
• Flexible paid care leave to support immediate dependants, people close to you and pets
• In-house L&D team, with access to year-round courses to help drive your development
• 50% discount on all Tails.com

What’s next?

If this sounds like it matches your experience and what you’d love to do, we can’t wait to hear from you! If you’re unsure whether you fit our criteria exactly, please get in touch anyway. And because we believe that diverse teams perform better, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.

Here’s a taster of how our recruitment process works:

1. Once you have applied your CV will be reviewed by the Hiring team.
2. If selected, you will then have a call with Talent Acquisition to understand more about your skills and experience (30 mins).
3. Should you be successful, the next stage will be a virtual portfolio case study.
4. If successful, you will be invited to a whiteboarding session.
5. A final stage interview.

Our Commitment

We’re proud to be an active equal opportunity employer. We want to give everyone a fair chance to join us in changing the world of pet food for good. We do this by conducting a structured recruitment process for all candidates, as well as actively promoting our roles to communities that are under-represented at Tails.com.

During your interview process you’ll meet some of our team with varying levels of responsibility and experience. We want to give every candidate a fair interview process and if you need any reasonable adjustments made, please let us know.