Head of Design

About The Role
We're looking for an inspiring Head of Design to lead our multi-disciplinary Design and User Research organization through its next chapter of growth and innovation. This is a pivotal role at Apartment List, with equal parts visionary, operator, and culture builder.

You'll define and drive the design vision for our renter and partner experiences, ensuring every interaction with Apartment List is intuitive, delightful, and grounded in empathy. You'll lead a talented team of product designers, and researchers, and you'll work closely with cross-functional leaders in Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Data to translate that vision into measurable impact.

As the design leader, you'll elevate craft quality, foster a culture of bold thinking and inclusion, and scale the systems that allow design to be both fast and exceptional.

You will report to the Head of Product. This role is 100% remote within Canada.

In This Role, You Will
Define the Vision and Strategy

• Lead the creation of a bold, inspiring design vision that ties together our product, brand, and personalization strategy.
• Ensure every renter and partner experience reflects clarity, confidence, and value which are core to our mission.
• Partner with the executive team to set strategic priorities and influence company-wide decisions through the lens of design and user empathy.

Elevate Craft and Quality

• Champion a high standard of design craft across UX, visual design, interaction, and brand.
• Oversee the continued evolution of our Design System and componentization architecture to support scalable, consistent experiences.
• Advocate for accessibility, usability, and quality across all touchpoints—from logged-out SEO experiences to AI-driven personalization.

Drive Impact and Innovation

• Connect design decisions directly to user and business outcomes—growth, retention, conversion, and satisfaction.
• Foster a culture of experimentation, creativity, and rapid iteration.
• Push the boundaries of what's possible with AI, data, and personalization in marketplace experiences.

Build and Lead a World-Class Team

• Grow and mentor a high-performing team of designers and researchers, empowering them to lead with clarity and craft.
• Develop future-ready leaders by identifying skill gaps early and investing in growth and succession.
• Create systems, rituals, and processes that boost velocity, collaboration, and accountability across the team.

Strengthen Cross-Functional Alignment

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to Product, Engineering, and Marketing leaders.
• Shape the product architecture and experience strategy that unites logged-in and logged-out experiences.
• Bring empathy and user insight into every conversation, ensuring design has a seat at the decision-making table.

Skills And Experience You'll Need To Be Successful

• Leadership experience: 8+ years leading design teams, including experience managing managers and scaling multi-disciplinary design and research organizations in fast-paced, high-growth environments.
• 15+ years of experience shipping products - You know what it means to release high quality products at each stage of development. You can share several shining examples of real work you've shipped, from web or native applications, and what you learned along the way.
• Strong interaction design chops - You can take broad, conceptual ideas and turn them into something useful and valuable. You also know how to take advantage of platform specific design patterns.
• Passionate about your end user - you advocate for the best user experience that will achieve both user and business goals.
• Systematic Thinker - Ability to think about designs holistically and how they impact the entirety of a product
• Business minded - understand how to manage business needs while meeting user needs.
• Bachelor's degree is preferred (bonus points for those who have a degrees in HCI, but not a requirement)

The Ideal Candidate Embodies The Following Core Principles

• User-centricity: You deeply understand user pain points and balance user needs with business goals. You stay up at night thinking about how to bring the most surprise and delight to your customers.
• Team unity: You align and motivate teams, fostering ownership and drive.
• Commitment to excellence: You thrive in an environment of continuous improvement and high standards.
• Fearless Innovation: You push boundaries with modern, innovative designs, leading by example.

What's In It For You

• Massive impact: You'll shape the experience that defines how millions of renters and partners find value.
• Meaningful mission: Help people find not just apartments, but homes—places of stability, safety, and joy.
• Career growth: As Apartment List scales, so will your scope and influence.
• Culture of excellence: Join a team that values creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Here's The Pay Range
At Apartment List, we carefully consider a variety of factors to determine compensation for each position, including the role, level, and work. The CAN Total Target Compensation (TTC) for this position is:

• $193,000 - $260,000 CAD TTC + equity

This reflects the compensation target for new hire salaries for the position across all Canadian locations. Please note, the compensation details provided do not include benefits and perks that we offer.

We also rely on market indicators along with considering your work location, job related skills, experience and relevant education and training, to determine compensation that is fair and competitive for you. Apartment List will consider paying compensation near the higher of the range in exceptional circumstances, where candidates have the experience, credentials or expertise that would warrant such consideration. It is always our goal to hire exceptional talent and we would be happy to share more about compensation during the hiring process.