Head of Design

Almanac is building an operating system for distributed collaboration to help remote teams get work done without needless meetings and distracting messages.

Almanac's collaborative doc editor helps distributed and hybrid teams cut Slack, email, and meetings by 80%—so you can reclaim a full day each week to focus on what matters.

Hundreds of teams from 2 to 2000 are already using Almanac to collaborate on docs, organize documentation, and streamline processes as they scale.

That's where you come in: we're looking for a one-of-a-kind Head of Design who wants to make Almanac's product the benchmark of our space and our team our secret weapon and the envy of our industry.

About the role

Design is at the heart of Almanac, and we're building out a multidisciplinary team that includes product designers, brand designers, researchers, UX writers, and producers.

We’re looking for an experienced design leader who will have the chance to help build, coach, and mentor an exceptionally skilled group of designers. We go to extraordinary lengths to produce a market-defining product, and you'll have opportunities to lead the work and team in the highest-leverage area of our company.

Almanac's Design Team Values:

• Simplicity above all
• Build tooling to support how humans get work done
• Be pulled by customers
• Focus on the details
• Become the benchmark

Specifically you'll:

• Help set the strategy for our product design and team as part of our Executive team 
• Create a healthy, safe, and energetic working environment, and inspire and motivate our talented designers to do their best work of their careers
• Manage design systems that ensure cohesion and alignment across brand and product
• Grow the design team in size to meet business demands, and increase individual designer performance in alignment with their professional development goals
• Build, manage, and improve core processes to help the design team create amazing user experiences, including scoping, reviews, research, and handoffs
• Cultivate a healthy cross-functional working experience across the product development team, including engineers, product managers, and growth managers
• Lead monthly and quarterly planning and reporting on design KPIs, collaborating with Almanac's management team to balance priorities and maximize team resources
• Define and update documentation around how the design team works to help onboard new team members as Almanac scales
• Evaluate and implement new tools to help us collaborate asynchronously and remotely

About you

Experiences that make you stand out:

• 5-10 years as an IC designer and 3+ years directly managing other designers
• Success methodically developing other designers' skills and careers
• Time spent recruiting and building a world-class product design team
• Experience developing design processes or systems in an ambiguous, high-paced environment 
• Tenure at an early or growth-stage startup that sold first to individual consumers
• Experience designing brand identity systems, marketing websites and other branded materials is a big plus

Skills that make you extraordinary:

• You're a designer at heart. You continue to design in your spare time and have a portfolio of which you're proud. 
• You're an energy center: You spike at motivating and inspiring people to do their best work. People love working with you and want to be part of projects you're leading. 
• A people person: You love spending your days recruiting, managing, and mentoring. You have a unique ability to "get through" to achieve great performance and good vibes.
• A natural systems thinker: You naturally gravitate to IA-oriented products. You love analyzing problems through multiple lenses.
• A humanist. You are relentlessly focused on users and solving for their needs and wants.You understand the role of human behavior and culture in achieving outcomes. 
• An orientation towards data and metrics. You're comfortable managing with metrics. Yo know how to quantitatively identify gaps in performance and solve for them. 
• An ownership bias. You naturally take responsibility for problems, even if not asked. You move quickly to solve problems you identify. 
• Hunger for impact. You want to be part of a growth-stage company where your work can affect millions. You're ready to bet on yourself to make big things happen.

Our Team

At Almanac, we’re looking for structured thinkers full of passion, ambition, and kindness. We’d love for you apply even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. Your experience, skills, and interests will help you stand out—especially if your career has taken some extraordinary twists and turns. At Almanac, we welcome people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. Join us.

At Almanac, we:

• Are fundamental optimists who believe we're still only at the start of the digital age.
• Go to extraordinary lengths to distinguish ourselves through world-class work.
• Prioritize quality over speed, and speed over scope.
• Desire working with deeply kind, mission-driven people.
• Strive to make the complex simple.
• Use first principles to debate ideas, test assumptions, and make decisions.
• Seek the truth by putting data above opinions.
• Assume good intent and give tactical feedback to help each other get better.
• Hold no ego—when our customers win, we all win.

As a company, we are seriously committed to your professional development and growth:

• You will set your own monthly goals aligned with our ambitious strategy
• You will have our collective support in achieving major wins—and personal coaching from your manager
• You will be able to request and manage your own budget
• You will be encouraged to take risks, try new things, and be creative with your work
• You will have many opportunities to exchange and engage in feedback
• You will be offered continual chances to stretch yourself and raise your own bar
• Helping a small company grow 30%+ month-over-month
• You will be rewarded for achieving excellence and mastery

Interviewing at Almanac

It’s our goal to provide an efficient, transparent interview experience that respects you and your time. Our roles typically have a four stage process (sometimes more) and we like to move through those as quickly as calendars allow. After submitting your application you will hear from us whether you are a strong fit for the role or not! From here you can expect:

1. An initial screen with our recruiter
2. The opportunity to meet the hiring manager, our CEO, Adam
3. More conversations with the rest of our Executive team, including Alice, our Head of Brand, and Eddie, our Head of Product and Growth
4. A portfolio review and short, 1-2 design exercise appropriate to the Head of Design role
5. As a last step, meet-and-greet chats with the designers you'd be managing and PMs with whom you'd be collaborating

Your time is valuable, so we try to give you as much information as possible throughout our process to make the best decision for you. To start, here's our open source company handbook, which contains docs about our vision, our virtues, our compensation philosophy, and our approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion.