Whatnot is seeking a strategic and inspiring Product Design Director, Buyer to lead the Buyer Design team. You will be responsible for shaping the end-to-end experience for millions of users navigating our marketplace. This player-coach role balances leading, mentoring, and hands-on design to drive the vision, strategy, and execution for the entire buyer journey.

What You'll Do

Lead and scale a high-performing team of product designers across the buyer funnel.
Define and drive the vision, strategy, and execution for the buyer experience in collaboration with cross-functional partners.
Partner with research, data, and product to develop deep customer empathy and inform high-impact design decisions.
Shape intuitive, elegant systems across discovery, live shopping, and post-purchase experiences.
Ensure our experiences are accessible, inclusive, and delightfully human.
Champion design quality and consistency across surfaces while enabling speed and iteration.
Nurture a strong design culture through mentorship, feedback, and high standards for craft and thinking.
Represent design in executive conversations and influence company-wide priorities.

What We're Looking For

10+ years of product design experience.
At least 3 years leading teams.
Player-coach mindset—excited to mentor, but equally passionate about designing and solving problems hands-on.
Strong portfolio showcasing interaction and visual design skills, with a track record of shipping successful products.
Proven success designing and scaling customer-facing experiences across a complex funnel (acquisition through retention).
Deep expertise in interaction design, systems thinking, and user-centered design.
Strong understanding of search, discovery, personalization, and taxonomy design principles.
A strong collaborator who thrives at the intersection of product, business, and user needs.
A portfolio that demonstrates thoughtful, elegant solutions to complex problems.

Nice to Have

Experience in e-commerce, marketplaces, or live shopping platforms is a major plus.

Team & Environment

You will lead the Buyer Design team within a remote co-located company culture defined by low ego, a growth mindset, and high-impact drive.

Benefits & Compensation

Flexible Time off Policy and Company-wide Holidays (including a spring and winter break).
Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision.
Work From Home Support.
Home office setup allowance.
Monthly allowance for cell phone and internet.
Care benefits.
Monthly allowance for wellness.
Annual allowance towards Childcare.
Lifetime benefit for family planning, such as adoption or fertility expenses.
Retirement; 401k offering for Traditional and Roth accounts in the US (employer match up to 4% of base salary) and Pension plans internationally.
Monthly allowance to dogfood the app.
Parental Leave: 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work.

Work Mode

This role is open to candidates in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, and Los Angeles, CA.

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law.