Senior Director Design & Research

Netherlands

At Catawiki, every day brings the extraordinary! Whether it’s Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 Car, a Woolly Mammoth’s Skeleton, Lady Gaga's Jumpsuit or Usain Bolt’s running shoe, we encounter exceptional objects every day.

We're a one-of-a-kind marketplace for buying and selling special objects! Each week we offer over 75,000 unique items in auction, carefully curated by our passionate in-house experts.

Having sold over 20 million unique objects to date, we’re on a mission to become the world’s most popular destination for special objects. As a growing, diverse and sustainable scale-up, we proudly live by our core values:

Taking ownership and driving impact
Being open to change and feedback
Being passionate about our mission and our customers.

If these values resonate with you, we’d love to explore how you can join us on this exciting journey!

The Role

As Senior Director, Design & Research, you will lead Catawiki’s design and research organizations at a pivotal moment where exceptional customer experience is a key growth lever. As the marketplace scales, reducing fulfillment friction, from bidding through delivery and post-purchase, iis critical to building trust, improving conversion, and driving repeat engagement.

At the same time, you will help shape the next evolution of Catawiki’s auction model, strengthening the thrill and emotional engagement that make auctions unique, while ensuring they remain intuitive across markets and devices.

You will be a senior partner to Product, Engineering, Marketing & C-level leadership, ensuring customer insights directly inform strategy and prioritization. This role balances long-term experience vision with hands-on execution, driving measurable improvements in marketplace performance & customer satisfaction.

Responsibilities:

Define and own the Design & Research vision and strategy aligned with Catawiki’s product and business goals.
Lead end-to-end experience design across buyer and seller journeys, including discovery, bidding, seller & expert flows, shipping and post-purchase experience.
Build a world-class user research and insights capability, spanning qualitative and quantitative methods.
Manage, direct, and grow designers to meet business needs and balance craft quality & commercial impact.
Scale the organization thoughtfully, with clear roles, career paths, and performance expectations.
Build strong cross-functional partnerships with Product, Engineering, Data, Marketing, and Commercial Operations.
Act as a thought partner to senior leadership, bringing customer insight into strategic decisions.
Champion customer-centricity, evidence-based decision making, and high design quality across the organization.
Constantly raise the bar on design quality & customer experience.
Own measurable improvements in key customer experience and marketplace metrics, including conversion, repeat bidding, trust, and fulfillment satisfaction.
Lead and develop design and research team members, building a strong craft within the functions, succession pipeline, and scalable org structure.
Act as the executive owner of end to end experience quality, identifying systemic friction across buyer and seller journeys and driving cross team resolution.

Background

10–12+ years in digital product design with at least 5–7 years leading teams and 2+ years at Director (or equivalent) level.
Has led both Product Design and UX Research.
Has proven impact in driving customer experience metrics (NPS/CSAT, CES) & moving business levers (buyer/seller cohorts performance & feature adoption).
Has built or scaled a multi-disciplinary design org: senior ICs, design system, service design, research practice.
Used to working as a peer to Product, Engineering & Commercial teams & C-level executives
Has experience leveraging AI and generative AI solutions throughout personal and design work flows

Why You'll Love Working with Us

Create a Visible Impact by working at scale in a global organisation that serves millions of customers across 80+ categories. In our flat structure, every role has a broad scope that directly impacts both our customers and the business.
Learn and Grow with Us through our Learning & Development initiatives, which include clear development plans and mentorship programmes designed to support your career progression.
A Culture of Connection defines us. We’re a passionate, diverse and collaborative team of 800+ Catawikains and 60+ nationalities, all coming together to build a one-of-a-kind marketplace. We foster an inclusive and queer-friendly work environment, committed to making every Catawikian feel welcomed and empowered. Whatever your story, we encourage you to bring your unique perspective to our team.
Celebrate Life’s Moments with us at Catawiki. When you join us, you’ll receive a €100 Catavoucher, and on each birthday, you'll get a €50 Catavoucher to celebrate. Enjoy an extra day off each year to "Pursue Your Passion". We also recognise significant work anniversaries (3, 5, 8, 10 years) with additional time off, plus extra leave for life’s big moments like marriage, engagements, or moving house.

Please note that benefits can vary by location. For specific information regarding what’s available in your country, please consult your recruiter.

Our Offices and Way of Working

Our vibrant offices in Amsterdam, Paris and Lisbon are designed to inspire and connect. Most Catawikians are within commuting distance of one of our offices and enjoy the flexibility of a hybrid work model. That said, some roles may be an exception: if the job description states that the position is fully remote or 100% office-based, that arrangement will apply instead.

Interested?

Apply directly with an English CV and cover letter by submitting your information at the bottom of this page. By submitting your application you agree to Catawiki’s Applicant Privacy Policy.

If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.