Head of Design

Head of Design Sydney based, hybrid Pollen is looking for a Head of Design to lead our product and experience practice and help shape the next chapter of our studio.

Pollen is not your usual agency. We are an independent product and experience studio that designs AI enabled digital experiences for cultural institutions, government, health, sustainability and commercial organisations. We partner with teams who want to make meaningful change through thoughtful design and clever technology.

We are now ready to bring on a senior design leader who has already held a similar leadership role in a digital agency or consulting environment. This experience is essential. We need someone who can step in and guide the team, our clients, and the work from Day 1.

The Opportunity As our Head of Design, you will lead the full design function, covering UX, UI, product design, content design and research. You will shape the design vision for the studio, guide a growing team of designers, and work closely with our Strategy and Engineering leads to evolve Pollen’s offering.

This is a role for someone who enjoys both leading and doing. Someone who can set direction, mentor designers, steer complex programs of work and still get hands on in early discovery, framing and concept development when the team needs it.

You will be working across a wide mix of clients and sectors. Marketplace products, cultural sector experiences, government platforms, purpose led programs, health and wellbeing tools and more. No two weeks look the same here and we like it that way.

What you will lead

The design discipline at Pollen, across craft, culture, quality and ways of working

A senior team of UX and UI designers

Client relationships as the senior point of trust on all design related matters

Multi project accounts, shaping design direction and supporting delivery teams

The evolution of Pollen’s AI enabled design practices and capabilities

What you will shape

The future of design at Pollen, including our offering, frameworks and processes

How AI is woven into research, design and product development

Pitches, proposals and early shaping of scopes

Hiring, development and the ongoing growth of the design team

What you will do hands on Around 40 percent of your time will be applied directly to project work. This usually includes early discovery and framing, facilitation, insight synthesis, concept direction and sometimes rolling up your sleeves to support deeper product design. You will choose where your skills add the most value.

What you bring To be successful, you will need:

Experience leading design inside a digital agency or consulting studio

A proven track record guiding multidisciplinary product and experience teams

Confidence shaping complex programs of work from insight to direction to delivery

Strong facilitation skills and the ability to create clarity in messy problem spaces

Credibility with senior stakeholders and an ability to communicate clearly

Experience with AI informed design or AI enabled product experiences

Demonstrated ability to mentor and grow design teams

Ease moving between strategic leadership and hands on design contribution

Working at Pollen

Sydney based, hybrid role

A supportive senior team with strong engineering, strategy and research partners

A studio culture that values curiosity, rigour, inclusivity and meaningful outcomes

A focus on learning, mental health and flexibility

If this sounds like your next chapter, we would love to hear from you.

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