Head of Product Design (f/m/d)

JTL is one of the leading e-commerce platforms in the German-speaking market. Thousands of merchants run their business on our ERP, shop and fulfillment products every day. As we build our next generation of cloud products, we want product experience to become a real differentiator: design embedded in every product team, working as an equal partner with product management and engineering. As Head of Product Design, you own this ambition: the design vision, the quality bar, and the team.

You will build the design function of a profitable, growing company with a clear cloud strategy – with a direct line to the VP Product, senior leadership attention, and a real mandate over team and standards.

The position is remote-first within Germany, with occasional on-site days, mainly in our office in Hürth and Berlin, for workshops, team days and planning.

What you'll do

• You own the design vision and principles for JTL's design org and align them with product strategy: what great experience means at JTL, and how design contributes to our cloud ambition

• You build the design function (currently 7 designers) toward its target operating model: product-embedded designers working in a triad with PM and Engineering – not a central service or internal agency. You align this operating model with product and engineering leadership

• You plan design capacity across product teams and secure a dedicated slot for chapter work in quarterly planning; where external UX or design support is needed, you own sourcing, onboarding, and briefing freelancers and service providers

• You lead and develop the design team: you set clear expectations per level, give direct feedback, hire senior talent, and build the structure and responsibilities the org needs as it grows

• You set the quality bar for craft and research: you establish research standards, ops and tooling, build a real critique culture, and make design's business impact measurable and visible

• You shape the design system from the design side, in close partnership with Engineering, and drive its adoption so a growing org ships coherent experiences across a broad product portfolio

• You own cross-product experience coherence and arbitrate consistency conflicts between teams

• You scale AI-enabled ways of working across design – for the craft and for the product experience

• 8+ years in product design with 4+ years leading designers, ideally in B2B SaaS or complex product environments. You have led a design org (or a significant part of one) through a visible maturity leap – not just maintained a well-running one

• Proven org-building: you have leveled up a team through hiring, development and clear standards