Six things to know about design at Gem
As Head of Design at Gem my job entails not only managing design, but also producing tangible outputs and defining processes for product design in the company. However, my most important and valuable responsibility is building the design team itself.
My goal is to build a team of designers who can not only contribute high-quality designs and creative, scalable ideas, but also who want to learn and grow in ways that accelerate them further in their careers.
To accomplish both these objectives I wanted to share a few thoughts around some of the more interesting aspects of a startup like Gem, and what it’s like for designers who will join the design team here.
Expectations for designers
1. An appetite to help shape the design team.
Gem is growing rapidly. We recently raised a historic Series B and are continuing to scale the company as our customer list continues to grow. For the design org that means scaling the team immediately then working to double it by this time next year.
Initially the design team will consist of experienced generalists — or T-shaped product designers — who can take on both minute, detail-level as well as large, platform-level problems. Ideally these early designers will be experts in tackling product strategy and thinking systematically about the work they do, but we’re also looking for proven visual and interaction design skills and designers who are hungry to help develop and shape the team too.
I’ll work closely with the early designers to define how the design team will work, as well as what it means to represent design both inside and outside the company, and working to identify what roles we need most later on (content strategy or user experience researchers, for example). These early designers won’t be merely product designers, but close collaborators in shaping the design team and contributing to its scale and success. A strong appetite and willingness to explore every detail of design, as well as the processes we use as a team, will be expected of early designers.
2. A willingness to own end-to-end processes and outcomes.
Unlike most larger companies, designers at Gem will be responsible for independently running end-to-end design processes (from discovery and research all the way to implementation and polish) for a broad range of projects.
We’re looking for experienced designers who are comfortable working closely with product managers, engineers, customer success managers, and customers themselves to identify problems and iterate quickly on solutions throughout the design process. Designers will not only own the process from beginning to end for projects of varying sizes, but they’ll also be responsible for the outcomes of those efforts.
Good outcomes are obviously great, but bad outcomes can be valuable too. What we do with less-than-stellar outcomes will be up to the designer to consider, will these instances be learning opportunities or something more? How do we ensure we’re designing and building quickly without sacrificing quality user experience? What happens when things don’t go as expected? It’s up to the designer to determine answers (though the rest of the team will be here to help).
3. The ability to prioritize across exciting and impactful areas.
Even though early engineers and product team members at Gem have built a successful product, there’s a lot of work to be done from the design side. This is a tremendous opportunity for whoever joins the team early, as it means we can take something that’s already working and make it even better.
From working hand-in-hand with engineers to build out our design system, to scoping new user experience and onboarding with product managers, even working with internal operations team members to design our presentation deck template, there’s ample opportunities for design at Gem. With ample opportunities comes the importance of prioritization. We’re a small and nimble team, we can only do so much, designers will be expected to prioritize their time and efforts accordingly in order to create scalable impact.
Of course, this also means no matter what areas of growth a designers want to move into: they’ll have a chance to do so here. What we expect is an ability to prioritize not only areas of personal interest, but areas for scalable business impact as well.
What designers can expect
4. We work transparently.
One of our four core values at Gem is “transparency.” We believe being open and transparent in our work gives everyone an opportunity to make the best decisions and do their best work.
For design that means working in a way that might be uncomfortable for some: sharing work and ideas in-process in order to get feedback and garner additional perspectives before the work has solidified. Because we’ll be working transparently as a design team it also means the entire organization benefits from our openness: by learning more about product design and how anyone, anywhere in the company, can use design thinking to make decisions.
In practice this transparency might look like sharing ad-hoc Dropbox Paper docs with a brain-dump of ideas, working in visible Figma files so anyone in the company can leave comments and feedback, and openly participating in company-wide “design reviews” where we share our work and ask for feedback from the company (though the expectation is clear: the design team owns all design decisions).
5. We work closely and collaboratively.
In addition to working transparently, we’ll work closely as a team on almost everything we do. Not because we need group buy-in of ideas or because we don’t trust each other, but rather: by working collaboratively on projects we can create a shared understanding of the problems we’re solving, processes, and the product we’re building together.
By working closely and collaboratively as a small team we strengthen our thinking, processes, and outputs. Close collaboration is a chance to become more knowledgable and glean perspectives and insights we might otherwise not get individually.
Collaboration in practice might look like: regular brainstorms between the design team and product partners, throwing design concepts back-and-forth for ideation and iteration, and weekly design critiques.
6. We invest in one another personally.
To work as a team means we will not only collaborate on the product and processes at Gem, but also invest in each other personally. Learning from one another and investing time into each other and our careers will be a fundamental part of the role as a designer at Gem.
Because when one of us grows and improves, we all do. And when our team gets better, the product and company do too. It’s a win-win-win situation for everyone, so we take it very seriously here.
What does investing in each other look like? We have monthly Wellness Days that are paid time off days to do whatever the team wants to do and things like regular lunch and learn lessons. But more than that, designers can expect to come into Gem and get things like coaching and mentorship on anything they might want or need to learn, and they’ll have a chance to flex important muscles that are perpendicular to their role as a product designer.
It’s truly an exciting time to be part of Gem and I believe what’s on the horizon for the company is only going to get better and better.
If you’re looking to make a career change and think you’d be a good match for our design team here at Gem, take a look at our open job postings and apply!
