Manager of Product Design

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About Zello

Zello is a voice-first communication platform, powered by our industry-leading push-to-talk technology, to improve collaboration and productivity for desk-less workers. With over 175+ million users, we’re the #1 rated push-to-talk app in the world, delivering 9 billion (yes, with a B) messages a month. 

At Zello, our company values are at the heart of what we do everyday. We’re proud to serve the frontline, we’re privileged to connect people in times of crisis across the globe, and we’re honored to support first responders.

And this is where you come in.

Manager of Product Design – Austin, TX – Hybrid

At Zello, design leaders roll up their sleeves. As a Manager of Product Design, you'll guide and grow a team of talented designers while contributing to the work yourself. You’ll lead with empathy and clarity, ensuring our design practice remains thoughtful, inclusive, and rooted in research. You’ll help shape our design vision and operations, align cross-functional teams, and ensure we continue building thoughtful, usable, and beautiful experiences for our 175+ million users.

Our users span frontline workers, HAM radio enthusiasts, Latin American teens, and more—which means building for a wide range of needs and technical abilities. You'll help the team navigate this complexity through principled, iterative design.

After a successful first year, you will have:

• Built strong cross-functional partnerships, embedding design early in strategy and shaping product direction.

• Delivered impactful features across platforms that improved usability, accessibility, and delight for a global frontline audience.

• Raised design quality and consistency through clear critique, collaboration, and strong documentation practices.

• Championed inclusive, research-driven design to support Zello’s diverse and multilingual user base.

• Contributed hands-on to unblock teams, clarify direction, and drive progress in complex problem areas.

• Contributed meaningfully to Zello’s long-term product vision and strategy, ensuring design perspective shaped future direction and priorities.

What you will do

• Lead, mentor, and support a team of product designers—providing thoughtful feedback and guiding their growth.

• Own design work in key product areas, especially where stakes are high, ambiguity is present, or momentum is needed.

• Advocate for the role of design in shaping user experience across the company.

• Partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership to shape roadmaps, prioritize work, and ensure design is embedded throughout the development process.

• Ensure the design team delivers high-quality work across all phases—from research and exploration to development and refinement.

• Define and evolve design standards, systems, and processes that help us scale while maintaining craft and care.

• Facilitate critique and feedback sessions that are constructive and collaborative.

• Contribute to product design efforts when needed—especially in high-impact or ambiguous areas.

• Help recruit and onboard new design team members as we grow.

Who you are

• You have 7+ years of product design experience, with at least 2 years in a people management or lead role.

• You’ve designed complex digital products for diverse audiences and know how to navigate edge cases and conflicting needs.

• You’re a strong communicator and collaborator, comfortable aligning multiple stakeholders around a shared vision.

• You lead with curiosity, empathy, and a focus on outcomes—bringing both systems thinking and attention to detail.

• You have experience in design operations, team planning, and helping designers grow their skills.

• You’re confident in tools like Figma, Principle, and Origami, and understand the basics of HTML/CSS/JS.

• You’re excited about the opportunity to both manage and make, and you’re not afraid to get into the details when needed.

We hire for potential, passion for our mission, and a knack for solving difficult problems over checking every qualification box. We have competitive pay, equity with significant upside, and intentionally design our benefits to encourage healthy and well-balanced employees, from flexible work schedules to unlimited paid time off. We even offer a sabbatical after every five years of service so you’re able to pursue and enjoy what matters most to you. And of course, we wouldn’t be a technology company in Austin without a ping-pong table and free snacks in our break room. Join us!

Zello provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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