Lead product designer & product experience owner
Shaka Guide · Ajit, India
FULL TIMEpermanent
Job Description
About Shaka Guide
Shaka Guide is a leading travel technology company helping travelers discover destinations through immersive GPS-guided audio tours and travel experiences.
As we continue to scale our products, we are looking for a highly experienced Lead Product Designer & Product Experience Owner who can take ownership of the complete customer experience across our platform.
This is not a traditional UI/UX Designer role.
We are looking for someone who combines product thinking, UX strategy, data analysis, customer empathy, design leadership, and creative direction to drive meaningful product improvements and elevate the overall quality of our user experience.
You will play a critical role in helping shape product strategy, improve customer satisfaction, increase engagement, and ensure every user interaction feels intuitive and delightful.
Why This Role Matters Today, many product experience decisions require significant involvement from Product Management and executive leadership to:
Identify UX issues
Define customer journeys
Review design decisions
Validate user flows
Analyze customer behavior
Improve product usability
Maintain design quality standards
We are looking for someone who can independently own these responsibilities and become the primary driver of product experience across the company.
This role is ideal for someone who wants to move beyond designing screens and become a strategic owner of customer experience.
You will have direct influence over product strategy, feature prioritization, customer satisfaction, retention, engagement, and business outcomes.
What You'll Own
Product Experience Ownership Own the end-to-end customer experience across our web and mobile products.
You will:
Define complete user journeys from discovery through retention.
Identify friction points across the customer experience.
Design intuitive workflows and interaction models.
Improve onboarding, engagement, conversion, retention, and customer satisfaction.
Ensure experiences are cohesive across products and platforms.
Proactively identify usability issues before they become customer complaints.
UX Strategy & Product Thinking You will be expected to think like a product owner, not simply a designer.
Responsibilities include:
Understanding customer needs, business goals, and technical constraints.
Framing problems and defining opportunities.
Conducting user journey mapping and experience design.
Creating information architecture and interaction models.
Proposing solutions independently.
Balancing user needs with business objectives.
Considering edge cases and long-term product implications.
You should be comfortable asking:
What problem are we solving?
Why are we solving it?
Is this the highest-impact opportunity?
How will we measure success?
What could go wrong?
How will this affect the overall customer journey?
Data-Driven Product Improvement We believe great product decisions should be informed by both qualitative and quantitative insights.
You will:
Analyze user behavior through product analytics.
Identify drop-off points and conversion bottlenecks.
Evaluate engagement and retention metrics.
Build hypotheses and validate improvements.
Use data to uncover opportunities before customers report them.
Define UX success metrics and monitor outcomes.
Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to implement and measure experiments.
Experience with the following is highly preferred:
Clevertap (Highly Preferred)
Mixpanel
Firebase Analytics
Google Analytics
Full Story
Hotjar
Amplitude
Looker
SQL (preferred)
Creative Direction & Design Excellence You will be responsible for maintaining a high bar for design quality across the company.
Responsibilities include:
Establishing UX and visual design standards.
Reviewing design work and identifying usability concerns.
Ensuring consistency across products.
Driving design system improvements.
Providing creative direction for product experiences.
Ensuring designs are implementation-ready.
Advocating for simplicity, clarity, consistency, and polish.
You will work closely with our existing UI/UX Designer and help elevate overall design quality through guidance, mentorship, and collaboration.
Cross-Functional Leadership You will serve as the central point of coordination for product experience initiatives.
Responsibilities include:
Collaborating with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Customer Success, Content, and Leadership teams.
Aligning stakeholders around product direction.
Facilitating discussions and decision-making.
Investigating customer issues and identifying root causes.
Driving clarity and execution across teams.
Helping prioritize initiatives based on impact and effort.
Ownership Mindset (Critical Requirement) This role is not for someone who waits for requirements, feedback, or direction before taking action.
We are looking for a product owner disguised as a designer.
You should be capable of:
Identifying opportunities independently.
Defining problems without being told where to look.
Proposing solutions backed by evidence.
Aligning stakeholders around a vision.
Driving projects from concept through launch.
Measuring success and iterating continuously.
Our goal is to significantly reduce the amount of product and UX direction required from Product Management and executive leadership by empowering this role to own those responsibilities.
Working Style & Global Collaboration Shaka Guide operates across multiple time zones and serves a global customer base.
This role requires strong collaboration with team members located in both India and North America.
Responsibilities include:
Participating in regular meetings with US-based team members and leadership.
Coordinating projects across distributed teams.
Managing communication across multiple time zones.
Balancing asynchronous work with live collaboration.
Driving alignment between Product, Engineering, Marketing, Customer Success, and Leadership teams.
Being available during important project milestones, launches, and planning sessions.
Schedule Expectations Primary working hours are based in India.
Regular overlap with US (Hawaii, West Coast, East Coast) teams is expected.
Evening collaboration hours (typically between 7 PM – 11 PM IST as needed) are a normal part of the role.
Flexibility is important; we focus on ownership, impact, and outcomes rather than strict working hours.
Required Qualifications Experience 8+ years of Consumer Apps Design experience.
5+ years owning end-to-end product experiences.
Proven success designing and improving consumer-facing digital products.
Strong portfolio demonstrating both UX strategy and high-quality execution.
Experience working closely with Product and Engineering teams.
Product Thinking Deep understanding of product strategy and user-centered design.
Strong systems thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Ability to connect user needs with business outcomes.
Comfortable making independent decisions and recommendations.
UX Expertise User Flows
Information Architecture
Interaction Design
Wireframing
Prototyping
Design Systems
Mobile App Design
Web Application Design
Usability Testing
Analytics & Research Funnel Analysis
Conversion Optimization
User Research
Customer Interviews
Behavioral Analytics
Experimentation & A/B Testing
Communication & Leadership Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
Strong presentation and facilitation skills.
Experience leading cross-functional initiatives.
Preferred Qualifications Graduates from IIT, BITS and top Design colleges like NID and similar
Experience in travel, marketplace, subscription, Saa S, or consumer mobile products.
Experience scaling products with large user bases.
Experience mentoring designers.
Experience creating and maintaining design systems.
Experience with growth and retention-focused product teams.
Experience working in startup or high-growth environments.
Who Will Thrive In This Role You are likely a great fit if:
You think about complete customer journeys, not individual screens.
You proactively identify problems before others notice them.
You enjoy turning ambiguous problems into clear solutions.
You are highly analytical and data-driven.
You care deeply about customer experience.
You are comfortable challenging assumptions.
You can balance strategy, UX, business goals, and execution.
You enjoy ownership and accountability.
You want to have a meaningful impact on both product and company growth.
Our Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is not simply a designer. They are a strategic product thinker, UX leader, creative director, analyst, collaborator, and customer advocate who can take ownership of product experience from idea to outcome.
If you are excited by the opportunity to shape products, influence strategy, work closely with leadership, and create experiences that delight travellers around the world, we'd love to hear from you.
Shaka Guide is a leading travel technology company helping travelers discover destinations through immersive GPS-guided audio tours and travel experiences.
As we continue to scale our products, we are looking for a highly experienced Lead Product Designer & Product Experience Owner who can take ownership of the complete customer experience across our platform.
This is not a traditional UI/UX Designer role.
We are looking for someone who combines product thinking, UX strategy, data analysis, customer empathy, design leadership, and creative direction to drive meaningful product improvements and elevate the overall quality of our user experience.
You will play a critical role in helping shape product strategy, improve customer satisfaction, increase engagement, and ensure every user interaction feels intuitive and delightful.
Why This Role Matters Today, many product experience decisions require significant involvement from Product Management and executive leadership to:
Identify UX issues
Define customer journeys
Review design decisions
Validate user flows
Analyze customer behavior
Improve product usability
Maintain design quality standards
We are looking for someone who can independently own these responsibilities and become the primary driver of product experience across the company.
This role is ideal for someone who wants to move beyond designing screens and become a strategic owner of customer experience.
You will have direct influence over product strategy, feature prioritization, customer satisfaction, retention, engagement, and business outcomes.
What You'll Own
Product Experience Ownership Own the end-to-end customer experience across our web and mobile products.
You will:
Define complete user journeys from discovery through retention.
Identify friction points across the customer experience.
Design intuitive workflows and interaction models.
Improve onboarding, engagement, conversion, retention, and customer satisfaction.
Ensure experiences are cohesive across products and platforms.
Proactively identify usability issues before they become customer complaints.
UX Strategy & Product Thinking You will be expected to think like a product owner, not simply a designer.
Responsibilities include:
Understanding customer needs, business goals, and technical constraints.
Framing problems and defining opportunities.
Conducting user journey mapping and experience design.
Creating information architecture and interaction models.
Proposing solutions independently.
Balancing user needs with business objectives.
Considering edge cases and long-term product implications.
You should be comfortable asking:
What problem are we solving?
Why are we solving it?
Is this the highest-impact opportunity?
How will we measure success?
What could go wrong?
How will this affect the overall customer journey?
Data-Driven Product Improvement We believe great product decisions should be informed by both qualitative and quantitative insights.
You will:
Analyze user behavior through product analytics.
Identify drop-off points and conversion bottlenecks.
Evaluate engagement and retention metrics.
Build hypotheses and validate improvements.
Use data to uncover opportunities before customers report them.
Define UX success metrics and monitor outcomes.
Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to implement and measure experiments.
Experience with the following is highly preferred:
Clevertap (Highly Preferred)
Mixpanel
Firebase Analytics
Google Analytics
Full Story
Hotjar
Amplitude
Looker
SQL (preferred)
Creative Direction & Design Excellence You will be responsible for maintaining a high bar for design quality across the company.
Responsibilities include:
Establishing UX and visual design standards.
Reviewing design work and identifying usability concerns.
Ensuring consistency across products.
Driving design system improvements.
Providing creative direction for product experiences.
Ensuring designs are implementation-ready.
Advocating for simplicity, clarity, consistency, and polish.
You will work closely with our existing UI/UX Designer and help elevate overall design quality through guidance, mentorship, and collaboration.
Cross-Functional Leadership You will serve as the central point of coordination for product experience initiatives.
Responsibilities include:
Collaborating with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Customer Success, Content, and Leadership teams.
Aligning stakeholders around product direction.
Facilitating discussions and decision-making.
Investigating customer issues and identifying root causes.
Driving clarity and execution across teams.
Helping prioritize initiatives based on impact and effort.
Ownership Mindset (Critical Requirement) This role is not for someone who waits for requirements, feedback, or direction before taking action.
We are looking for a product owner disguised as a designer.
You should be capable of:
Identifying opportunities independently.
Defining problems without being told where to look.
Proposing solutions backed by evidence.
Aligning stakeholders around a vision.
Driving projects from concept through launch.
Measuring success and iterating continuously.
Our goal is to significantly reduce the amount of product and UX direction required from Product Management and executive leadership by empowering this role to own those responsibilities.
Working Style & Global Collaboration Shaka Guide operates across multiple time zones and serves a global customer base.
This role requires strong collaboration with team members located in both India and North America.
Responsibilities include:
Participating in regular meetings with US-based team members and leadership.
Coordinating projects across distributed teams.
Managing communication across multiple time zones.
Balancing asynchronous work with live collaboration.
Driving alignment between Product, Engineering, Marketing, Customer Success, and Leadership teams.
Being available during important project milestones, launches, and planning sessions.
Schedule Expectations Primary working hours are based in India.
Regular overlap with US (Hawaii, West Coast, East Coast) teams is expected.
Evening collaboration hours (typically between 7 PM – 11 PM IST as needed) are a normal part of the role.
Flexibility is important; we focus on ownership, impact, and outcomes rather than strict working hours.
Required Qualifications Experience 8+ years of Consumer Apps Design experience.
5+ years owning end-to-end product experiences.
Proven success designing and improving consumer-facing digital products.
Strong portfolio demonstrating both UX strategy and high-quality execution.
Experience working closely with Product and Engineering teams.
Product Thinking Deep understanding of product strategy and user-centered design.
Strong systems thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Ability to connect user needs with business outcomes.
Comfortable making independent decisions and recommendations.
UX Expertise User Flows
Information Architecture
Interaction Design
Wireframing
Prototyping
Design Systems
Mobile App Design
Web Application Design
Usability Testing
Analytics & Research Funnel Analysis
Conversion Optimization
User Research
Customer Interviews
Behavioral Analytics
Experimentation & A/B Testing
Communication & Leadership Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
Strong presentation and facilitation skills.
Experience leading cross-functional initiatives.
Preferred Qualifications Graduates from IIT, BITS and top Design colleges like NID and similar
Experience in travel, marketplace, subscription, Saa S, or consumer mobile products.
Experience scaling products with large user bases.
Experience mentoring designers.
Experience creating and maintaining design systems.
Experience with growth and retention-focused product teams.
Experience working in startup or high-growth environments.
Who Will Thrive In This Role You are likely a great fit if:
You think about complete customer journeys, not individual screens.
You proactively identify problems before others notice them.
You enjoy turning ambiguous problems into clear solutions.
You are highly analytical and data-driven.
You care deeply about customer experience.
You are comfortable challenging assumptions.
You can balance strategy, UX, business goals, and execution.
You enjoy ownership and accountability.
You want to have a meaningful impact on both product and company growth.
Our Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is not simply a designer. They are a strategic product thinker, UX leader, creative director, analyst, collaborator, and customer advocate who can take ownership of product experience from idea to outcome.
If you are excited by the opportunity to shape products, influence strategy, work closely with leadership, and create experiences that delight travellers around the world, we'd love to hear from you.
Details
| Company | Shaka Guide |
| Location | Ajit, India |
| Type | FULL TIME |
| Niche | design |
| Experience | permanent |