Head of Design

About the Position

BrightLocal is the local SEO platform trusted by agencies and multi-location brands to track, manage, and grow their visibility. We're partway through a significant product modernization, re-platforming onto a modern stack, building AI-driven recommendations into the product, and reshaping the SaaS experience around what customers are trying to achieve, grounded in research and evidence.

Design is central to that shift, and we're hiring our first Head of Design to lead it.

Responsibilities

• Lead the redesign of the SaaS platform so it’s structured around user needs and jobs-to-be-done as well as business goals.
• Employ user research to identify pain points and opportunities.
• Set the design vision and standards for the platform, and establish the rituals, critique, and review processes that keep quality high and the team improving.
• Direct the team's approach to onboarding journeys, holding the bar on time-to-value.
• Lead the ongoing evolution of the Design System.
• Own the experience, end to end, in partnership with the Product and Engineering teams.
• Develop our design processes to make optimal use of AI, increasing velocity while protecting the integrity of the design system and vision.
• Build and lead a high-performing team through great 1-1s, honest feedback, and genuine investment in people's growth.

Requirements

• A deep background in product and UX design experience in SaaS, with a portfolio that spans multiple surfaces and demonstrates real commercial impact.
• A proven track record of building and leading design teams, setting the standard, coaching others, and creating the conditions for people to do the best work of their careers.
• Experience in and passion for AI in the design process, and a track record of shipping AI-powered product features.
• Strong information architecture instincts, with experience reorganizing complex products around what customers are actually trying to achieve.
• Evidence of design moving the needle, whether that's onboarding, conversion, retention, or operational efficiency.
• Hands-on experience with user research, both qualitative and quantitative, and the ability to turn insight into decisions.
• A history of strong cross-functional collaboration, particularly with Product, Engineering, and Marketing.

We Offer

• Salary: Dependent on experience
• Performance-based bonus: Up to 20% of base salary (10% company performance + 10% team performance).
• Hybrid Working: 2 days a week in our Brighton office
• Holiday: 25 days holiday + bank holidays + your birthday off
• Duvet days: 3 duvet days per year
• Healthcare: Vitality Healthcare
• Learning & Development: £1,000 annual personal learning budget
• Growth units: Global long-term incentive plan
• Environment: A friendly, supportive team with a strong, people-first culture

About the Company

We help local businesses thrive, because when they do, their communities thrive too, creating better places to live, work, and grow.

We bring that same care to our team, building a place where you can keep learning, feel valued, and make an impact every day.

Founded in 2009, we have over 300+ co-workers.

At BrightLocal, we believe the best ideas come from diverse perspectives. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and we are committed to building a team where everyone feels welcome, supported, and able to do their best work. We strongly encourage applications from women and underrepresented groups in our industry. If this role excites you, but you don’t meet every single requirement, we’d still love to hear from you. We are open to flexible working arrangements and are happy to make reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process.