Head of Product Design
Head of Product Design
Location: Southern Germany || Commutable from Munich or surrounding areas
- €135,000 – €150,000 basic + 10% annual bonus
- 30 days annual leave + public holidays
- Relocation package available
- Full-time, permanent role (40 hours per week)
- Laptop and mobile provided
- Excellent pension and healthcare benefits
- Office-based with up to 2 days WFH
Umbilical Search is proud to be partnering with a global technology and engineering business at the forefront of advanced hardware innovation.
The company operates a European R&D and advanced engineering centre supporting international markets across high-technology, industrial, and connected systems sectors.
This is a key leadership opportunity for an experienced Head of Product Design to drive design excellence, shape product strategy, and build a high-performing design organisation. You will lead a talented team of Product Designers, engineering specialists, and design professionals responsible for creating innovative products and user experiences that support the company's next phase of growth.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary Product Design team (60+ FTEs), fostering a culture of innovation, creativity, and continuous improvement
- Define and implement the product design vision, strategy, processes, and best practices across the organisation
- Drive user-centred design methodologies, ensuring customer needs and market insights are embedded throughout the product development lifecycle
- Collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, Manufacturing, and Commercial teams to deliver exceptional products from concept through to launch
- Establish and maintain design systems, standards, and governance frameworks to ensure consistency and scalability
- Champion design thinking and advocate for the value of design at senior leadership level
- Oversee product design roadmaps, resource planning, and team performance metrics, providing regular updates to executive stakeholders
- Identify opportunities to improve product usability, customer satisfaction, and commercial performance through effective design leadership
- Act as a change agent, promoting collaboration, innovation, and customer-focused decision-making across the organisation
About You
- Role: Head of Product Design or leadership experience in hardware, systems design, product management, industrialisation, or operations
- Sectors: Ideal sector backgrounds include automotive electronics, radar, RF, semiconductors, telecoms, PCB manufacturing, industrial electronics, consumer electronics, antennas, test & measurement, satellite communications, high-performance materials or a related field
- Leadership: Strong people management and coaching skills, with a proven ability to develop high-performing design teams.
- Education: Degree in Product Design, Industrial Design, Human-Computer Interaction Design, Engineering, or a related discipline preferred.
- Languages: Fluent English required; German language skills an advantage.
- Strong understanding of user-centred design, design thinking, customer research, prototyping, and design systems.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, capable of influencing at executive level.
Why Apply?
This is a rare opportunity to lead and shape the Product Design function within a world-class technology organisation. You'll influence the future direction of innovative products, establish best-in-class design practices, and play a central role in driving customer experience, product differentiation, and business growth.
How to apply:
Please click "apply" or contact Ajay Bhella at Umbilical Limited for further information. Alternatively, please email me an up-to-date copy of your CV to ajay@umbilicaladvanced.com.
Umbilical Limited is committed to promoting Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace. We act as a neutral third party in the recruitment process, basing our candidate searches on skills and experience.
We do not discriminate based on age, gender, sex, relationship status, disability, race, religion/beliefs, or sexual orientation.
