Head of Design

Lead design globally at Xapo Bank

Xapo Bank is looking for a Head of Design to lead its design organization and own the quality of customer experiences across product, mobile, web, and other client-facing touchpoints.

Xapo is a fully distributed company with more than 160 team members working across 50+ countries. Although headquartered in Gibraltar, this position is 100% remote and can be performed from anywhere in the world.

This is a senior leadership role combining design strategy, organizational leadership, UX quality, research, design systems, and measurable business impact.

About the role

As Head of Design, you'll define and execute Xapo's long-term design vision while building a cohesive experience across the entire customer journey.

You'll work closely with Product, Engineering, and Marketing leadership to translate complex banking, financial, regulatory, and cryptocurrency experiences into products that feel clear, trustworthy, and refined.

The mandate extends beyond visual quality. Xapo wants Design to operate as an accountable business function, with measurable outcomes demonstrating its impact on customers and the company.

What you'll be responsible for

Design strategy & experience vision

You'll establish the long-term design direction across Xapo's mobile and web experiences, ensuring usability and customer outcomes are treated as seriously as aesthetics.

You'll help create a consistent experience from a customer's first interaction with the brand through everyday use of Xapo's financial products.

Design performance & business impact

You'll define and monitor metrics that demonstrate the impact of design, including areas such as:

• Task completion.
• Speed across important customer journeys.
• Conversion.
• Customer satisfaction and NPS.
• Design-system adoption.
• Overall experience quality.

You'll also communicate design performance and outcomes at executive level.

Design leadership & operations

You'll run Design as a multidisciplinary function, taking responsibility for planning, prioritization, hiring, delivery, and the way the team operates.

That includes recruiting, mentoring, and leading designers across Product Design, UX Research, and UX Writing while developing a strong remote culture centered around craft, critique, and continuous improvement.

UX architecture & research

You'll oversee research and journey mapping across complex experiences involving private banking, payments, cryptocurrency, security, and regulatory requirements.

Working alongside Product, you'll identify opportunities to reduce friction while maintaining the levels of security and trust expected from a financial platform.

You'll also establish regular usability testing and customer discovery as part of the product development process.

Design systems

You'll help scale and govern a unified design language and Figma system across product and web.

This includes partnering with Marketing where product design and brand expression intersect, creating consistency without blurring ownership between the two functions.

Cross-functional leadership

You'll work directly with senior Product and Engineering leaders to ensure Design is involved early in strategic product decisions rather than simply executing requirements later in the process.

You'll also represent Design when collaborating with Marketing, Compliance, Security, and other stakeholders across Xapo.

Responsible AI in design

AI is also part of the leadership mandate.

You'll partner with Xapo's AI engineering and security teams to establish a responsible framework for using AI across areas such as design asset creation and UX personalization.

The goal is to enable experimentation with emerging AI capabilities while maintaining appropriate standards around security, governance, and customer trust.

What they're looking for

Xapo is looking for an experienced design leader with 10+ years in digital design, including at least 4 years in executive-level design leadership positions such as Director or VP.

You'll need experience managing multidisciplinary teams, ideally within fintech, neobanking, banking, or digital assets.

Strong candidates will also bring:

• A portfolio demonstrating sophisticated interactive product design and strong visual craft.
• Experience building and scaling design organizations.
• Evidence of improving measurable product outcomes through design.
• Deep knowledge of iOS, Android, and modern web standards.
• Experience building and governing large-scale design systems.
• Strong understanding of the UX and trust challenges associated with financial products.
• Experience creating productive relationships between Design, Product, Engineering, and Marketing.
• Excellent executive communication and storytelling skills.
• The ability to communicate the business value behind design decisions to C-suite and board-level stakeholders.
• A direct, collaborative leadership style suited to globally distributed teams.

Working at Xapo

Xapo operates as a distributed organization, allowing employees to work from anywhere while collaborating with colleagues around the world.

The company emphasizes autonomy and flexible working, alongside opportunities for continued professional development.

Employees receive a yearly learning and development budget that can be used for resources such as books, training, and conferences.

Candidates need a dedicated workspace, reliable internet connection, and alignment with Xapo's company and leadership values.

Why this role stands out

This isn't simply a role managing a design team.

Xapo is giving its Head of Design responsibility for design quality, organizational performance, research, systems, measurable UX outcomes, and the evolution of design practices — including responsible AI adoption.

For an experienced Design Director or VP looking to lead a globally distributed design organization while remaining close to the customer experience, it's a substantial leadership opportunity.

Xapo Bank is committed to responsible financial services, consumer protection, and fair and transparent treatment of its customers.