Director, Product Design

Raptor was founded in 2002 with the mission to protect every child, every school, every day. Today, Raptor is a school safety partner for 60,000 schools in 55 countries, providing SaaS and mobile technology as well as comprehensive training and consultation solutions across the entire school safety life cycle, ranging from crisis prevention and preparation to emergency response and recovery. Raptor’s globally integrated product portfolio supports a school’s foundation of safety and wellbeing, including Emergency Management, Campus Movement, Student Wellbeing and Safety Training and Compliance. About the Role Reporting to the VP, Product & Design, the Director, Product Design is a critical member of the EPD organization accountable for the quality and strategic impact of design across Raptor's 9 product portfolio. This leader manages and develops a team of Product Designers, establishes how design works at Raptor — rituals, systems, standards, and best practices — and partners closely with Engineering and Product Management, while also engaging directly with customers, stakeholders, and industry experts to inform design direction and deliver cohesive, high-quality user experiences at a predictable cadence. This role is about leading a team to ship great design consistently, scaling and continuously improving the design system, and ensuring design is a trusted and respected partner across the organization — collaborating closely across disciplines and staying relentlessly focused on delivering value to school safety customers. Key Responsibilities Lead, coach, and develop a mid-sized team of Product Designers located across the US and UK; set clear expectations and manage performance through Raptor's High Performance Culture program, with a strong expectation of consistent, point-in-time feedback on a regular basis Establish "what good looks like" for design craft: UX quality, design systems contribution, cross-functional collaboration, and delivery discipline Build and maintain a high-performing team through hiring, onboarding, and capability development Own the design team's budget, headcount planning, and resource allocation; make informed investment decisions that balance team capacity, designer development, and product priorities — ensuring designers get meaningful breadth of opportunity across web, mobile, systems, and visual design. While allocation is informed by and aligned to Raptor's GTM and product suite structure, designers are resourced to own cohesive user experiences, which may intentionally span products or suites rather than mapping to org lines one-to-one Support designer growth through active investment in career development, personal development planning, and relevant training opportunities — ensuring designers have a clear path forward and the resources to get there Design Systems & Quality Own and evolve Raptor's design system, ensuring it scales to support both product and cross-functional use cases (including marketing) Drive consistency across Raptor's product suite — unified patterns, navigation, onboarding, and interaction standards Define how design quality and team impact are measured; establish and monitor relevant KPIs and metrics Ensure Raptor products meet high accessibility standards and compliance requirements Raise the bar for UX quality across the platform; flag and address incoherence, unnecessary complexity, or under-designed experiences Cross-Functional Leadership & External Engagement Partner with Engineering and Product Management leadership to drive alignment on scope, sequencing, design readiness, and delivery commitments Ensure design is embedded in the product process from problem framing through launch; designers are strategic product thinkers and creative problem solvers Collaborate closely with Engineering and Product teams across the full delivery cycle, ensuring design contributes to consistent, high-quality outcomes for school safety customers Surface and resolve cross-team dependency risks early; drive crisp decisions and appropriate escalation Partner with Product Marketing to align product positioning with user experience, and support go-to-market launches with the right design artifacts and storytelling Engage directly with customers and prospects to gather feedback, validate design decisions, and ensure Raptor's products reflect real user needs Build relationships with industry experts, design community leaders, and key stakeholders to stay current on best practices and bring outside perspective into the team AI-Powered Design Practice Champion the adoption of AI-based design tools, workflows, and processes across the design team, ensuring Raptor stays at the forefront of modern design practice Lead the design team's participation in Raptor's AI-PDLC (AI Product Development Lifecycle) — a framework for using AI natively throughout the entire project lifecycle, with tools and processes in place to optimize AI as an embedded partner from discovery through delivery Identify opportunities to integrate AI into the design team's day-to-day workflows to improve quality, consistency, and throughput Stay current on emerging AI design tools and bring relevant innovations into the team's practice Shape product strategy through a design lens — particularly cross-product UX, usability, and adoption Represent design in strategic planning and initiative reviews; ensure design is looped in early when changes impact end-user experience Advocate for foundational design investments (navigation, patterns, onboarding, platform unification) and make the case for prioritization when needed Align product areas on what "great UX" means for Raptor and hold that standard consistently Qualifications 10+ years of product/UX design experience, including demonstrated people leadership of a design team Proven track record of shipping high-quality product design at scale — not just discovery and process, but delivered outcomes Deep experience owning and evolving a design system in a multi-product environment Strong cross-functional leadership skills; a demonstrated ability to build trust and accelerate work with Engineering and Product partners Ability to balance design craft with delivery pragmatism — knows when to iterate and when to ship Strong communicator; able to give clear, direct feedback and create alignment across design, product, and engineering stakeholders Experience establishing design team operating rhythms, feedback loops, and quality standards Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG) and experience embedding compliance into design practice Experience leading distributed or international design teams, with the ability to build cohesion and culture across time zones and geographies Experience in B2B SaaS or enterprise software environments preferred What's in it for you? You join the gold standard in school safety software. You will join a company where innovation and customer collaboration are part of what drives new product development to help keep kids safe. You will work with diverse teams made up of some of the best minds in the industry. You will get exposure to strong mentorship and leadership that have supported a long history of career advancement opportunities for our employees. Benefits You will have access to a robust benefits package that includes: Remote-first philosophy Flexible paid time off Paid parental leave 11 Paid holidays per year Workplace flexibility Affordable health coverage (medical, dental, vision), paid 100% for employee only medical 401(k) employer contribution to help you plan for the future Company paid life insurance, STD, and LTD Equal Opportunity Employer Raptor Technologies is an Equal Opportunity Employer, providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, compensation, training, promotion, transfer, leaves of absence, and termination. #J-18808-Ljbffr Apto