Head of Product Design

About n8n

n8n is an innovative open workflow orchestration platform tailored for the new era of AI. It empowers technical teams by combining the flexibility of code with the speed and ease of no-code automation, enabling faster and smarter automation without limitations. Since its founding in 2019, n8n has expanded to a diverse team of over 260 employees across Europe and the US, and has gained over 650,000 active developers and builders in its community with more than 500 integrations. With prestigious backing and a valuation of $5.2 billion, n8n is revolutionizing system integration and idea scaling.

Role Overview

This pivotal role as Head of Product Design means owning the product design quality and strategic direction, partnering directly with executives, and leading a large design team. You will tackle the unique UX challenge of making a sophisticated platform accessible for both technical and wider user audiences. This is an opportunity to build and shape design practices, culture, research, and AI adoption in a fast-growing company.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and establish a high, consistent quality standard across the design team to ensure excellence is the norm.
• Create and maintain review processes and rituals that foster a shared understanding of quality and confidence across the team.
• Enhance the design system and QA practices, evolving them continuously as the team expands.
• Address the critical UX challenge of reducing the platform’s learning curve without compromising powerful capabilities favored by experienced users.
• Drive product strategy by integrating design thinking early in roadmap discussions, proactively surfacing user challenges.
• Lead n8n’s strategic shift to cater to a broader, less technical user base, asserting design’s leadership in this transformation.
• Foster strong partnerships with Product, Engineering, and leadership to establish design as a core strategic contributor.
• Manage and develop a design team of approximately 14 members, including design leads, individual contributors, design engineering, and UX research, with plans for expansion.
• Structure team organization, career frameworks, and progression to provide clarity and motivation.
• Promote a culture of high standards, genuine feedback, and supportive growth environments.
• Plan recruitment and personnel growth to maintain team quality during expansion.
• Build and implement a continuous, pragmatic UX research practice to inform product decisions with customer insights and data.
• Integrate product analytics, research findings, and community feedback into actionable product improvements affecting activation, adoption, retention, and onboarding.
• Advocate for the practical integration of AI tools within design workflows, including prototyping, research synthesis, QA, and efficiency improvements.
• Encourage curiosity and adaptability as AI tools and expectations rapidly evolve.
• Demonstrate a thoughtful, flexible working approach to inspire the team.

Essential Qualifications

• Proven leadership experience managing design teams and coaching senior designers with strong outcomes on craft and business results, including handling challenging performance issues.
• Expertise in designing for complex, developer-facing product systems requiring deep understanding of product intricacies.
• Exceptional craft standards with ability to identify, articulate, and uphold high-quality work consistently.
• Strong strategic influence in product development, enabling design to be a co-equal contributor in decision-making.
• Excellent problem-solving skills in ambiguous situations, proactively developing actionable plans.
• Solid knowledge of AI, automation, or related tools, capable of translating emerging trends into reliable product experiences.
• Competency in incorporating research insights seamlessly into product development for evidence-based decisions.
• Data-driven approach using analytics, research, and feedback to guide choices over subjective opinions.
• Ability to design organizational structures, define career paths, elevate performance expectations, and manage difficult conversations.

Desirable Experience

• Familiarity with open-source, community-led, or builder-focused products and the challenges in designing for passionate user communities.
• Experience in design engineering or front-end development to collaborate closely on design systems and implementation quality.
• Skilled in creating effective design collaboration and critique methods for distributed, remote teams working across multiple time zones.
• Background in growth-oriented product areas such as activation, onboarding, templates, or product-led growth initiatives.
• Potential candidates transitioning from strong design management roles into head-level positions are welcome if fundamentals excel.

Diversity and Inclusion

n8n is committed to equal opportunities without discrimination based on race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected statuses. Visa sponsorship is available for work in Germany; in other countries, applicants must have existing work authorization. English is the company’s working language. Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are core company values actively promoted.

Additional Information

Multiple postings for this role may exist to ensure broad visibility across regions. Applicants should choose the location closest to where they intend to work remotely.

Benefits

• Competitive and transparent salary with attractive equity ownership opportunities.
• Emphasis on empowerment and ownership within the team.
• Strong work-life balance with generous paid time off: 30 vacation days plus holidays in Europe, 20 vacation days plus sick leave and holidays in the US.
• Comprehensive health benefits aligned to local standards in Europe; robust medical, dental, and vision plans in the US including a no-cost HDHP option with health savings account.
• Retirement planning: pension contributions in Europe and 401(k) with employer match in the US.
• Company-paid short-term and long-term disability insurance plus life insurance for US employees.
• Professional development budget of approximately €1,000 annually for courses, books, events, or coaching.
• Dynamic, passionate team culture including regular hackathons to innovate with the product.
• Remote-first work culture with occasional team gatherings and hybrid options for some roles.
• Support for open source with a monthly stipend to contribute to relevant projects.
• Unlimited AI tool usage budget provided to enhance productivity and creativity.
• Company-wide transparency about projects and company status.