Position: Design Leader (UX Lead)

Location: Bangalore (Hybrid - 2 days/week in office) This role requires candidates to be based in Bangalore or willing to relocate.

Description:

Role Overview

As a Design Leader, you will be responsible for providing strategic design leadership, design management, and client management, setting the vision for design practice at Kickdrum.

This role is a blend of customer engagement, team mentorship, and design execution, while also shaping AI-enabled design processes across projects. You will work across multiple problem spaces and domains, ensuring that design solutions are user-centered, well-reasoned, and feasible to implement.

Responsibilities :

AI-Led Design & Acceleration :

- Establish and scale AI-assisted design processes using tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and v0 to accelerate research synthesis, ideation, rapid prototyping, and concept-to-validation cycles.

- Stay at the forefront of emerging AI tools and patterns, translating them into practical, repeatable workflows for the team.

- Guide the design team on applying AI effectively within project deliverables to improve speed and execution quality.

UX Strategy & Execution :

- Translate research insights into clear UX strategies, actionable design rationale, and customer-ready narratives.

- Develop and drive design strategy across journeys, wireframes, and mockups while remaining hands-on in execution.

- Elevate the standard for UX practice by proactively proposing solutions that balance user needs, technical feasibility, and delivery constraints.

Client Leadership & Communication :

- Lead client-facing engagements to uncover key insights and guide customers through necessary constraints, trade-offs, and prioritization decisions.

- Facilitate high-impact workshops and build trust with customers through transparency, clarity, and execution confidence.

- Serve as the primary UX contact for key engagements or projects requiring deep UX specialization.

Delivery, Scope & Risk Ownership :

- Own UX scope and risk management, including pushing back on unrealistic asks, prioritizing MVPs, and sequencing UX work to fit delivery constraints.

- Collaborate deeply with engineers and product managers to ensure design intent is preserved from discovery through implementation.

Team Enablement & Quality Bar :

- Provide actionable feedback on design deliverables across projects to ensure consistency and elevate execution quality.

- Guide and mentor designers by setting clear expectations for quality, decision-making, and delivery discipline.

Measurement & Impact :

Track and communicate UX impact using measurable outcomes in partnership with delivery and product teams.

Tools & Workflow Experience :

Candidates should bring experience with, or strong familiarity with, a range of AI-enabled design tools, such as :

- Figma (including AI features) design systems, high-fidelity UI, collaboration

- ChatGPT / Claude research synthesis, persona development, journey mapping, UX hypotheses

- Dovetail research synthesis, tagging, insights, reporting

- Miro workshops, synthesis, visual storytelling

- v0 / Lovable / Bolt prompt-to-UI, rapid prototyping, concept validation

- Maze or Useberry usability testing and UX validation

- Linear design-to-engineering alignment and execution tracking

- Loom (or similar) async walkthroughs, design reviews, and client communication

Qualifications & Experience :

- 10+ years of experience in product design.

- Demonstrated experience with AI-enabled design tools and processes.

- Proven success in client-facing environments, with the ability to defend design decisions and provide necessary guidance.

- Experience mentoring and leading designers and establishing structured feedback loops.

- Proficiency in modern design stacks, including Figma, Miro, and Linear, alongside emerging AI-enabled design tools.

- Ability to balance hands-on execution with high-level design leadership and strategy.