Head of Design

🏢 Kikoff · 📍 San Francisco 💰 $235,000 - $235,000 / yr

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Position Summary & Responsibilities

Kikoff: The Fintech Powering Financial Security at Scale
Kikoff is a profitable, pre-IPO fintech company on a mission to empower everyone to achieve financial security. With record revenue growth in 2025 and a unicorn valuation, we've built a suite of products that help millions of people build credit, access liquidity, and save money.
We're scaling fast. Join us if you want to build something meaningful and help millions of people move forward financially.

Why Kikoff:

This is a consumer fintech startup, and you will be working with serial entrepreneurs who have built strong consumer brands and innovative products. We value extreme ownership, clear communication, a strong sense of craftsmanship, and the desire to create lasting work and work relationships. Yes, you can build an exciting business AND have real-life real-customer impact.

About the Role

As Head of Design, you will own the design vision, craft, and execution across the company. You will set the quality bar, rebuild the foundation our product is built on, and be a direct partner to senior leadership on the decisions that shape what Kikoff feels like to use.

This is not a hands-off role. You will be close to the pixels, close to the product, and close to the team. You will give real feedback on real work, and you will be expected to make the call when designers are stuck in ambiguity.

In This Role, You Will

Lead and Grow the Team

Manage, coach, and develop the product design team - including hands-on mentorship of junior designers, not just feedback in big meetings
Own hiring and talent strategy: bring in designers who raise the bar, and shape the org structure that lets them do their best work
Set a high bar for craft, ownership, and user obsession across the team
Invest in career growth: clear expectations, honest feedback, and a path forward for every designer on the team
Go beyond filling headcount. Understand each designer's strengths and place them where they'll do their best work and develop in the desired growth areas.

Own the Design Vision and Quality Bar

Set the overall design vision for Kikoff - what good looks like, how the team works, how designers grow
Make the call when there is ambiguity: a great design manager can resolve a desig

🎯 Candidate Preparation Guide For Kikoff Applicants

Key Role Competencies & Evaluation Highlights

Key Role Focus:

Evaluators heavily weigh financial inclusion impact metrics, credit-risk modeling intuition, and hyper-growth acquisition strategies for underserved segments.

📋 Preparation Priorities (Key Areas to Clarify):

1. Elitist or predatory attitudes toward low-income or building-credit consumers.
2. Inability to balance aggressive user acquisition with prudent credit risk management.
3. Lack of compliance awareness regarding fair lending laws and credit bureau reporting.

✨ Recommended Role Alignment Hook:

I build frictionless consumer fintech products that unlock genuine financial mobility for underserved populations while driving scalable unit economics.

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