The Opportunity

As AI agents increasingly search, synthesize & act on behalf of users – the traditional search interface becomes optional – or disappears entirely. That makes the interfaces that remain matter more, not less – the surfaces where humans direct, constrain, trust & supervise intelligent systems.

We're looking for a VP of Product Design to lead the organization that owns Algolia's Application Layer – the product surfaces where developers, merchandisers & business teams build, configure & optimize search & AI experiences – & Satellite, our design component library.

Three design challenges

• Automation with control: designing interfaces where business users set goals & constraints that guide AI behavior, with transparency & explainability built in.
• Simplicity as a moat: improving abstractions faster than complexity grows.
• Time-to-first-intelligence: enabling builders to go from signup to a working, intelligent experience in minutes.

What You’ll Own

• Product design vision & strategy for the entire application experience
• AI design standards for the company
• Satellite Design System run as a product
• A technical product design org including hiring, coaching & developing design leadership
• The quality bar for usability & performance
• Executive partnership with Product, Engineering & GTM

What You’ll Bring

• 15+ years in product design – 6+ leading design organizations at B2B SaaS or developer-platform companies
• Demonstrated AI-native design leadership
• Technical depth with front-end fundamentals and LLM-based systems
• Proven ownership of complex technical application experiences
• Hands-on experience building or scaling a design system
• An AI-augmented personal practice
• Executive presence and record of growing teams

Nice to Haves

• Experience in search – discovery, e-commerce, or data-intensive platforms
• Background as a design engineer
• Published thinking on AI design patterns or design systems

Compensation

Base Salary Pay Range £158,000—£197,000 GBP

Flexible Workplace Strategy

Algolia’s flexible workplace model emphasises impact over physical location. We have a global presence with offices in Paris, NYC, London, Sydney and Bucharest, and offer remote or hybrid-remote options within specified countries.