Head of Design

About Bark Bark is revolutionising the way people find professionals in over 1,000 unique categories. As the UK's largest and fastest-growing services marketplace, we're on a mission to make finding the right professional quick and easy. With a presence in eleven countries and plans for further expansion, joining us at this genuinely exciting time will be a journey like no other.

Our cutting-edge technology ensures that you can always find the best professional for any job. With a talented team of over 200 dedicated individuals, we're committed to providing exceptional service and ensuring that our customers are satisfied every step of the way. This is an exciting time to join our scaling business, we recently placed in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2024, and previously were 64th in the Sunday Times 100 fastest growing private tech companies in 2023. As a profitable scale-up, Bark is in a unique position to offer the best of both worlds; the excitement and agility of a start up combined with the financial security and backing of a renowned private equity firm, EMK Capital. You'll have ownership, agility, responsibility and stimulation without any of the worry. About the Role We are looking for an experienced, hands-on Product Design leader to join our team, and take design at Bark to the next level. Reporting to the CPO, you will own Bark’s Design vision and culture, setting a clear and aspirational view of our future and leading by example through human-centric design principles. You’ll develop and grow our Product Design and UX Research teams to inform and deliver on your vision. From research and ideation through to delivery and QA, you’ll ensure we excel at understanding our users and solving the right problems with the right solutions.

You’ll manage a growing team, coaching and mentoring 5 Product Designers and 2 UX Researchers, driving quality from within whilst collaborating with stakeholders from across the business, including Product, Engineering, Marketing, Content, Analytics, and Customer Support to deliver wider impact. When needed, you will also work hands-on, setting the standard for quality and collaboration across multiple squads.

There will also be significant opportunities to contribute to Bark’s vision and strategy, through partnership with the CPO and Product Director. We are at the beginning of an exciting transition from a seller-picks lead generation platform to a consumer-centric, fully-featured Services Marketplace, and the Head of Design will be at the core of this.

We want someone that is obsessed with understanding and solving users’ problems at scale, and that thrives on a challenge. You should be passionate about building high-performing teams and love thinking big but relish getting stuck into detail. We’re a data-rich business, and we want someone who will empower and educate Design to utilise that. We’d love to hire someone with a track record of design excellence, and success leading a Design team in a marketplace context.

Responsibilities Define the Design vision for Bark, and align and inspire the team to achieve it

Lead and mentor our Design team, promoting best practices and continuous improvement, and ensuring quality output at all times

Optimise team structure and resource allocation to achieve the best possible results

Iterate our Design process across Product Design and User Research to deliver maximum value for our users and the business

Work alongside Product leaders to deliver transformational change

Help the team plan, deliver, maintain and govern their design system, driving consistency across Bark’s entire ecosystem

Collaborate with stakeholders from across the business to ensure alignment and amplify the impact of your team

Stay updated on industry trends and competitor offerings to help us maintain a competitive edge

Required Skills and Experience Proven track record as a leader in Product Design working in a fast-paced and successful online business, ideally a Marketplace

Experience building and communicating an inspiring Design vision, and leading a high-performing Design team and design process to deliver it

Experience managing both Product Design and Research teams, experience in Content and Branding a plus (but by no means required)

Well-versed in lean approaches and agile methodologies to minimise waste and maximise impact

An expert in running Design teams that deliver value to both the user and the business

Able to lead by example in all aspects of Product Design and Research

Highly confident with data, qual and quant, able to help the team derive customer research insights whilst understanding its limitation

Collaborated and managed a diverse range of stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Insights, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Customer Support and HR

Excellent communicator - you’re able to clearly present your ideas, explain your thinking, and discuss detail confidently at all levels

Driven, ambitious, and keen to play a key role in a company that wants to make a huge difference to peoples’ lives

Perks and Benefits Share options in a rapidly growing company whose founders have a proven track record and are Private Equity backed

Flexible working policy with a central office in London

Private health insurance run by Bupa

Personal annual L&D Budgets to spend on your development

Enhanced Gympass membership for all employees with access to mental health courses and fitness classes

Fully stocked kitchen and monthly lunches

Cycle to work scheme

Regular wellness weeks with industry leading talks through to massages in the office

Being at the forefront of an industry with new and exciting problems to solve

Diversity Statement At Bark, we are a platform for people, revolutionising the way professionals and individuals connect since 2014. Our culture is defined by excitement, ambition, and a commitment to raising the bar. We value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) and are dedicated to embedding these principles into everything we do. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, and our focus is on hiring, retaining and developing a globally diverse workforce that is passionate about excelling our platform and supporting our customers succeed. Be part of our dynamic team, where bold ideas thrive, and create a future worth shouting about.

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