VP of Product Design

, CO, United States

Who is Optera? We build software to help the world’s largest companies stop climate change. Our market-leading products provide companies with the tools and insight they need to reduce the environmental impacts of their businesses, supply chains, and products. We are backed by some of the most respected US-based venture capital firms and have a robust client list, including leading Fortune 500 companies such as Dell, Cisco, HPE, Williams-Sonoma, and Target.

What problem are we solving? In short, Optera is the data solution to stop climate change. Major corporations are the largest source of carbon emissions. Across the globe, companies are responding to pressure to address climate change by setting goals to aggressively reduce emissions by 2050. Our software enables corporate teams to collect, manage, and analyze emissions data across their operations, supply chain, and products, all with the aim of achieving their goals and halting Climate Change.

Why work at Optera? Our team dedicates our skills, talents, and time to make the world a more sustainable place for future generations. We have a collaborative and dynamic culture where everyone plays a critical role and has room to learn and grow. Balance between work and life is key to our success, and we provide our teammates the flexibility, space, and support to thrive personally and professionally.

Why this opportunity? Optera is growing faster than ever and we are rapidly expanding our market leading product. We are looking for a VP of Product Design to help lead our efforts as we build new products and workflows to support our clients in building a more sustainable future. J oin us on our journey to deliver the best sustainability management software in the world.

The role and responsibilities Lead the Design Team

Lead a team of designers to deliver impactful products and user experiences, in collaboration with product and engineering teams, that help Optera achieve our missions and objectives.

Lead the design team to ensure designs are intuitive, polished, and scalable.

Inspire and lead a team of talented designers and researchers, providing mentorship and guidance to elevate their skills and impact.

Establish, maintain, and refine design effective and efficient practices and design systems across the entire team and all product lines that foster strong collaboration and high-quality user experiences.

Hire, train, and manage the design team in a way that promotes growth and innovation and allows everyone to do their best work.

Help to Inform Larger Strategy

Collaborate with leaders across product, engineering, sales, marketing, and services to ensure Optera’s UX reflects our overall customer experience principles and business strategy.

Develop and communicate a vision for the product design team aligned with the company’s mission and objectives.

Encourage early concept validation of new features and workflows by driving a UX research practice that improves the flow of knowledge and decision making process across teams.

Support the development, constant improvement, and execution of the Product Roadmap

Help the team build the right thing by identifying, translating, and socializing user needs and pain points through user research and testing.

Track UX related OKRs in relation to feature improvements and quarterly goals.

Make Space for the User

Work closely with product managers and engineers to integrate research, data and market intel into the design and development process, fostering a shared understanding of user needs and desires.

Utilize established design methodologies to inform a wide variety of problem spaces and processes; including information architecture, user testing, user journeys, user research, design systems, and accessibility.

Inspire and cultivate a culture of creative bravery, encouraging the team to think beyond boundaries and envision groundbreaking solutions.

Ship Excellent Product

Drive design strategy that favors holistic solutions — ones that reflect a thoughtful balance of enjoyability, usability, reliability, and functionality.

Drive the design team to create intuitive, navigable, and scalable interfaces based on direct user insights, particularly in the context of Scope 3 carbon accounting challenges.

Ensure the design team delivers on established product milestones.

Encourage designers to focus on quick iterate-and-test cycles so that we can integrate real user feedback into future iterations efficiently.

Qualifications: 10+ years experience in UX roles in startup environments, with a strong emphasis in 0->1 build environments.

Years of experience leading and managing in-house design teams

Extensive background in designing for complex applications or data-intensive platforms.

Exceptional collaboration skills with a track record of integrating research into the product development lifecycle.

Demonstrated success in shaping product strategy through a deep understanding of user behaviors.

Experience collaborating on business-level problems, particularly with sales, marketing, and services teams.

Ability to make intelligent, data-informed tradeoffs between known business constraints and in-product opportunities.

Compelling evidence that you’re able to inspire creative vision and expand the bounds of a team’s collective imagination.

Your qualities: Excellent communicator (written and verbal), with proven ability to tell compelling and clear stories about our users and find new ways to get people talking to one another.

Unafraid to have a public imagination, using quick sketches, design visualizations, or research synthesis to help drive solutions-oriented conversations at any level of the company.

Ability to manage direct reports in a way that motivates and inspires them to push beyond the obvious or widely accepted “way things are done” to help redefine the industry.

Intrinsic interest in simplifying large datasets and complex workflows so that they become usable and insightful for real people.

Committed to upholding strong values and principles in the workplace, and maintaining a supportive, collaborative, and fun work environment

Interest in sustainability and being part of the climate change solution

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion Optera is committed to creating a diverse environment that is safe and welcoming to all. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We take this very seriously and expect that you do too.

Benefits Unrestricted PTO and flexible work schedule

Recharge Fridays: Every other Friday off

Health insurance including dental and vision

Short and Long term Disability Insurance

16 weeks maternity/paternity leave (12 weeks paid)

Wellness budget

Monthly wifi stipend

Budget for home/office workstation

Professional development budget

401k with 4% company match and ESG investment options

Company-wide Bonus program

Colorado Eco-pass (regional bus pass)

Location: Remote (US and Canada) with optional office in Boulder, Colorado

Position: Full-time

Base Salary:$183, 000 – $212, 000 plus bonus and option of equity

How to Apply Please send a brief cover letter, resume, and portfolio or writing sample to [email protected] with the subject line “VP Product Design”

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