Head of Product Design - Design Foundations
Barcelona, SpainOLX – Product /Full-time /RemoteWELCOME TO OLXWe're building marketplace sustainable ecosystems that millions of people depend on every month – to buy and sell cars, find homes, land jobs, and trade secondhand goods. It's commerce that matters: safe, smart, and environmentally responsible.We do this with courage to innovate, commitment to outcomes, collaboration across 50+ nationalities and 8+ markets, and a customer-led approach that puts real people first. Add a desire to win – and you get a culture that's ambitious, fast-moving, and built on trust. Our brands – including OLX, Otomoto, and Otodom – are loved by millions. And we're backed by Prosus, one of the world's largest tech investors.Join OLX and see how far you can go.The Design Foundations team brings together Nexus — our multi-brand design platform and system — alongside Content Design and GenAI Design to shape how design, engineering, and product scale across a complex, distributed organization. We are looking for an experienced design leader to guide this critical area and help define the future foundations that enable teams to move faster while delivering cohesive, high-quality experiences.This is not a traditional design system leadership role focused solely on components or visual consistency. Nexus is a strategic platform that accelerates product development, improves experience quality, and aligns multiple brands and teams around shared principles, tools, and standards. Combined with Content Design and GenAI design capabilities, the Foundations team plays a central role in defining how we build, communicate, and will operate at the intersection of design, engineering, and product leadership — shaping governance models, defining operating frameworks, and driving adoption strategies that empower teams while maintaining coherence across the ecosystem.Success in this role requires strong organizational leadership, a platform mindset, and the ability to align diverse stakeholders around a shared vision for scalable design foundations.Please note that this role is based in Spain. Remote work within Spain is possible; however, you must be based in and legally eligible to work in Spain. Remote work from outside Spain is not possible.What you will doLead Nexus as a strategic design platform- Define and evolve the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Nexus as shared UX infrastructure.- Treat the design system as an internal product with clear users, priorities, and measurable outcomes. -Balance consistency, flexibility, and scalability across multiple brands and product areas.Lead and grow a team of designers- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of designers focused on building and evolving Nexus.- Set a high bar for design quality, systems thinking, and collaboration with engineering.-Create clarity of roles, priorities, and ways of working within the team.- Foster a strong culture of ownership, experimentation, and continuous improvement.- Ensure the team operates with a platform mindset, focused on adoption, scalability, and impact.Establish governance and operating models- Define ownership models, contribution workflows, and decision-making frameworks.- Create predictable processes that enable distributed teams to contribute and adopt Nexus effectively.- Build governance structures that scale without slowing teams down.Drive deep partnership with engineering- Partner closely with engineering leadership to align on architecture, tooling, and delivery workflows.- Ensure Nexus integrates seamlessly into development pipelines and supports engineering velocity.- Advocate for platform thinking and shared infrastructure across design and engineering.Enable organizational alignment and adoption- Engage designers, engineers, and product teams as active participants in shaping Nexus.- Build strong internal communities and contribution models.- Drive adoption through clear value, usability, and collaboration rather than mandate.Accelerate product delivery and quality- Enable faster development through reusable foundations, tokens, components, and Improve design quality and consistency without creating rigidity.- Measure and demonstrate the impact of Nexus on speed, scalability, and user experience.Lead through influence- Align senior stakeholders across design, engineering, and product leadership.- Operate effectively in ambiguity, creating clarity and direction where needed.- Champion platform thinking and elevate design as a strategic partner.What we’re looking forProven experience building and scaling design platforms- Experience leading the creation and evolution of design systems or design platforms in complex Experience supporting multiple brands, products, or distributed teams.- Strong governance mindset — ownership models, contribution flows, and decision frameworks.Strong engineering partnership- Deep collaboration with engineering teams on platform Understanding of technical implementation (tokens, versioning, component architecture, release processes).- Ability to speak both design and engineering languages.Organizational leadership and influence- Proven ability to align diverse stakeholders without formal authority.- Experience driving adoption and organizational Comfort operating in ambiguity and defining structure where none exists.Pragmatic systems thinking- Balances consistency with flexibility.- Optimizes for adoption and velocity rather than perfection.- Understands trade-offs required to scale effectively.What can we offer you- The chance to shape a strategic area of OLX’s customer experience with a talented, ambitious team.- A strong international community of designers and design leaders to learn from and collaborate with.- Space to grow your strategic and leadership skills while staying close to the craft.- Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits (including health insurance, bonus scheme, and more).- Learning & Development budget and structured growth support.- Flexibility in how and where you work.