VP, Product Design

About this role

Algolia is the retrieval intelligence layer that turns intent into trusted, decision-grade outcomes. Powering more than 1.7 trillion queries a year for over 18,000 customers with millisecond latency and 99.999% reliability, we are the recognized leader for Search and Product Discovery by top industry analyst firms. The Algolia platform turns a company's products, content, and business rules into data that humans, applications and AI agents can act upon.

The result is trusted customer experiences with stronger conversions for measurable business impact. The Opportunity As AI agents increasingly search, synthesize & act on behalf of users – the traditional search interface becomes optional – or disappears entirely. That makes the interfaces that remain matter more, not less – the surfaces where humans direct, constrain, trust & supervise intelligent systems. We're looking for a VP of Product Design to lead the organization that owns Algolia's Application Layer – the product surfaces where developers, merchandisers & business teams build, configure & optimize search & AI experiences – & Satellite, our design component library, the system that powers consistency & velocity across every Algolia product.

This role sits at the center of our two foundational bets – becoming the retrieval & intelligence layer for agentic AI while deepening our hybrid AI search moat – executed in parallel, not sequentially. Three design challenges define the mandate: Automation with control. Our customers demand deterministic control – an AI system that can't explain why Product A outranks Product B creates immediate friction. You'll close the gap between the promise of AI ease-of-use & the lived experience of customers – designing interfaces where business users set goals & constraints that guide AI behavior, with transparency & explainability built in.

Simplicity as a moat. Algolia's developer advantage is only as strong as its relative simplicity. As platform capability grows – our abstractions must improve faster than our complexity. The application layer is where that battle is won or lost. Time-to-first-intelligence. Bottom-up adoption is non-negotiable. You'll own the product-led experience that lets a builder go from signup to a working, intelligent experience in minutes – re-earning developer affinity with each new generation of builders.