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CoLab SoftwareCS

VP, Design

Reinventing the way engineering teams design collaboratively.

CoLab Software

Employee count: 51-200

Canada only

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About CoLab

At CoLab, we help mechanical engineering teams bring life-changing products to market years sooner.

CoLab is a cloud based platform purpose built for fast, effective design review. Using CoLab, multiple engineers, designers, and other stakeholders can review designs together and build off one another's feedback. Engineers at companies like Ford, Komatsu, and Johnson Controls use CoLab to review designs faster, prevent mistakes, and build the next generation of innovative products.

About the Role

As VP of Design, you’ll own how CoLab looks, feels, and works, across product, platform, and brand touchpoints. You’ll own all things product design and lead a team of passionate product designers,creating operational clarity, a strong team culture, and maintaining a high bar for quality. In this role, you’ll maintain a bold vision for the design of our product, and push that vision forward even when the path isn’t perfectly clear.

You’ll partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Marketing to ensure design decisions are grounded in user needs and business goals, and work with your team to translate that vision into world class, shippable designs.

If you’re energized by ambiguity, believe the best ideas come from deep collaboration, and care obsessively about how products actually feel to use, this role is for you.

What you’ll do:

  • Lead, coach, and grow a team of Product Designers embedded across CoLab’s product development teams, creating an environment of trust, ownership, and continuous improvement
  • Work with product to set a clear design vision that supports CoLab’s long-term product and go-to-market strategy
  • Build and evolve scalable design standards, systems, and processes that enable speed without sacrificing quality
  • Partner with Product and Engineering leadership on roadmap planning and execution
  • Hold a high bar for quality and usability as product velocity and technical complexity increase
  • Advocate for the user while balancing technical and commercial constraints
  • Model CoLab’s values by leaning into hard problems, giving and receiving candid feedback, and collaborating across disciplines to get to the best outcome
  • Stay hands-on when needed, reviewing work in Figma, unblocking execution, and jumping in where it matters most
  • Push CoLab’s leadership team to think differently about design by bringing ideas we haven’t asked for yet, and backing them up with data and conviction
  • Work hand-in-hand with the Brand Design Lead to unify product and brand, so CoLab is cohesive across marketing, platform, and customer touchpoints

Who you are:

  • 10+ years of experience in Product Design, with 5+ years in senior leadership roles with strong operational rigor
  • A design-first leader you care about design more than almost anyone in the room
  • Proven experience designing for B2B SaaS and/or complex technical products
  • A track record of building, scaling, and inspiring high-performing Product Design teams
  • Strong product thinking - you understand how design choices impact adoption and retention
  • Hands-on by nature you still design, still use Figma, and can get into the weeds when the work demands it
  • Highly detail-oriented, borderline obsessive about quality, and unwilling to ship things that don’t feel perfect
  • Fluency in modern design tools and systems (e.g., Figma, design systems)
  • Excited about applying AI to accelerate the design process

Frequently cited statistics show that people who identify with historically marginalized groups are likely to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. We encourage you to help us break that statistic and apply even if you don’t meet every single qualification - your potential is what matters most to us.

About the job

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Posted on

Job type

Full Time

Experience level

Executive

Location requirements

Hiring timezones

Canada +/- 0 hours

About CoLab Software

Learn more about CoLab Software and their company culture.

View company profile

Reinventing the way engineering teams design collaboratively. Our mission is to build the future — faster.

Our founders are mechanical engineers who've worked on innovative technology ranging from advanced medical devices and electric cars to breakthrough Hyperloop pod design and billion-dollar energy projects. But across the industry, no matter what tech they worked on, one thing was always the same: every team was stuck using archaic processes for working together—and it was slowing them down.

So, instead of wishing and waiting for a better way, Adam and Jeremy parked their design careers... and started building the tools engineers deserve.

Culture and values

Kindness and Respect Come First

  • We treat one another with respect.

  • We are kind to ourselves and others even when times are tough.

  • We seek to understand, and are transparent when we need help.

  • We have hard conversations and openly provide constructive feedback.

Ownership mentality

  • We take responsibility for outcomes and not just outputs: “It’s up to me to close the loop, not just check the box.”

  • We don’t give up the first time we hit a roadblock. We set clear goals and we stay focused on them until we succeed.

  • We take initiative, both within and outside our direct area of responsibility.

  • We operate with a healthy dose of paranoia: never panicked, but always trying to see around corners and anticipate challenges before they derail a product launch, customer onboarding, or sales opportunity

Better Everyday

  • We’re hungry, eager to solve tough problems, succeed in challenging roles, and work with people that push us to be our best

  • We make the best decisions we can, knowing no decision is still a decision and forward motion is better. We know that every step forward, big or small, builds momentum.

  • We strive for excellence in everything we do — we never settle.

  • We measure our progress — what’s visible can be improved.

One Team, One Mission

  • We always act in the best interest of our customers and CoLab.

  • We are the teammate we want to work with — we get what we give.

  • We are disciplined. We don’t get distracted by shiny objects.

What we look for in candidates

  • Grit: The average person would think that every job at CoLab is too hard. But if you love a challenge and seek excellence in everything you do, you will thrive here.

  • Business and technical acumen: CoLab is a complex product with lots of use cases. Our messaging is nuanced. We’re creating a new category of software, and nobody has a budget for it - yet. We’ll train you on how to overcome all of these obstacles, but you must come willing and able to learn.

  • Coachable team players: We’re looking for people that care about the success of the team as much or more than their individual success. Succeeding at CoLab requires a growth mindset and the ability to gracefully respond to constructive feedback.

  • Confidence, with low ego: You can hold your own in a conversation with a customer or a vendor. You can clearly communicate feedback to anyone at any level of the company – and you treat each of them with respect.

Employee benefits

Learn about the employee benefits and perks provided at CoLab Software.

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Healthcare benefits

Health and dental insurance (covered at 100% for the employee)

Retirement benefits

Generous 401(k) and RRSP matching to help you invest in your future.

Equity benefits

Competitive compensation package that includes a stock options package.

Unlimited time off

Take as much time off as you want as long as it doesn't interfere with your ability to do your work.

View CoLab Software's employee benefits
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