Senior Product Design Manager

About Upstart

About Upstart Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while delivering the digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload.

Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California;
Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas.

Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you!

The Team: Upstart’s Product Design team is shaping the future of lending experiences, where design, technology, and data come together to make financial progress more accessible for everyone. We are a group of senior and principal designers leading research, content strategy, visioning, and execution, partnering across product areas to craft experiences that are clear, trustworthy, and human.

As a Senior Product Design Manager reporting to the Director of Product Design, you’ll lead a group of talented product designers focused on delivering intuitive, impactful, and high-performing borrower experiences. You’ll guide design quality and team growth across a fast-evolving portfolio of products, helping Upstart move from a collection of experiences toward a cohesive, customer-centered ecosystem. Your leadership will elevate both design craft and design culture, mentoring designers, aligning strategy with product and engineering peers, and building the conditions where exceptional work can thrive.

Position location This role is available in the following locations:
Remote

Time zone requirements The team operates on the East/West coast time zones.

Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.

• Lead and grow a team of product designers, providing mentorship, feedback, and professional development while creating a culture of excellence, curiosity, and accountability.
• Drive the design vision and execution across key product areas, ensuring consistency, usability, and measurable business and customer impact.
• Partner closely with Product and Engineering leaders to shape product strategy and define priorities that balance user needs with business goals.
• Establish clear expectations and success metrics for design work, championing outcomes over outputs and ensuring design is an equal voice in product decisions.
• Guide cross-functional alignment on initiatives that span multiple products, unifying experiences through shared systems, standards, and principles.
• Foster collaboration across disciplines, encouraging experimentation, learning, and continuous improvement in how teams work and deliver.
• Collaborate with the Director of Product Design and peers to evolve our operating model, processes, and rituals to scale high-quality design across Upstart.
• Contribute to hiring and onboarding strategies that attract diverse, exceptional talent and reinforce an inclusive, mission-driven design culture.

• 10+ years of experience designing and launching digital products, with 3+ years leading design teams or managing designers in a product development environment.
• Proven track record guiding end-to-end product design, from strategy to execution, with measurable impact on business and user outcomes.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating design leadership, craft excellence, and systems thinking across multiple product surfaces or ecosystems.
• Ex…