Head of Design

Department: Product development

Location: Remote/Hybrid, New York, NY

Employment Type: FullTime

About Luminary

Luminary is the AI-native system of action for wealth transfer services.

High net worth households controlling more than $90 trillion in assets are meaningfully underserved by technology that was built for the mass market. As private client investment and banking products have commoditized, these clients are looking for more tax and wealth transfer advice which has previously been impossible to deliver at scale.

Luminary solves this problem by transforming complex estate planning and ownership documents into a structured, proprietary data asset that powers verticalized, agent-driven workflows for tax and wealth transfer services. Our built-in multi-firm collaboration connects a clients full advisor ecosystem and is the core infrastructure that enables our customers to deliver a highly personalized, end-to-end wealth transfer service offering at scale.

Our 1,000+ customers are leaders across the private client services ecosystem — including wealth managers from exclusive multi-family offices through top private banks and trust companies, national tax advisory practices, and law firms among the AM Law 100. Our focus and proprietary data positions us to rapidly expand from a wedge in wealth transfer advice into large, adjacent TAMs including trust administration and estate distribution.

Founded and led by CEO David Barnard, former Head of Wealth Management at AllianceBernstein, Luminary is backed by 8VC, Fin Capital, Rockefeller Capital, Focus Financial Partners, and several family offices.

The Opportunity

At Luminary, we consider design to be a competitive advantage. As Head of Design, you will lead and evolve our design organization as we build the next generation of software for wealth advisors, trust companies, and the families they serve.

This is a highly hands-on leadership role. Youll oversee our design function, manage our two Principal Designers, build and execute a plan to grow the design organization, and partner closely with our Head of Product and Head of Engineering to shape both our product strategy and how design operates across the company, all while being a hands on product designer who gets to execute your craft daily.

We’re looking for someone who is deeply customer-centric, passionate about solving complex workflow problems, and believe that exceptional product design comes from a combination of thoughtful systems, close collaboration, and relentless attention to detail. You are an excellent user experience and visual designer and are energized by creating best-in-class products products that have a meaningful impact on peoples financial lives. You are motivated to foster a strong user-centric design culture and ensure were consistently delivering intuitive, elegant experiences across our platform.

You will

• Lead Luminary’s design function, including product and brand design (with a focus on product design)

• Manage our two principal designers and build the design team as we grow

• Set the vision and quality bar for design across the company, ensuring a cohesive, intuitive, and polished user experience

• Establish an AI-centric design culture, embedding emerging AI tools into the team’s day-to-day workflows to accelerate exploration, prototyping, iteration, and delivery

• Partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership to shape product strategy, roadmap priorities, and execution

• Develop a deep understanding of our customers, their workflows, and the unique challenges of wealth management to guide UX

• Drive end-to-end design for our most strategic initiatives—from research and product definition through high-fidelity design and launch

• Establish scalable design processes, critiques, and feedback loops that enable the team to move quickly without compromising quality

• Continue evolving our design system to improve consistency, speed, and usability across our products

• Champion a culture of customer empathy, experimentation, and continuous improvement throughout the organization

Qualities wed be excited to see in an applicant:

• 12+ years of product design experience, with experience leading and managing high-performing product design teams

• A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional product thinking, interaction design, and visual design across complex software products

• Experience partnering closely with product and engineering leaders to define product strategy and organizational priorities

• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to influence decisions across disciplines and organizational levels

• Bring contagious energy, curiosity, and optimism to the work, raising the ambition of the team and inspiring others through periods of growth and change

• Continuously experiment with new AI-enabled design capabilities and a passion for sharing these learnings with others

• Operate with a strong bias toward action, approaching challenges with enthusiasm and turning ideas into tangible progress quickly

• A track record of building, mentoring, and developing designers while creating an environment where great design work can thrive

• A systems-oriented mindset with experience building and maintaining scalable design systems and design operations

• Experience designing complex B2B SaaS products (financial technology or enterprise software experience is a plus)

• Familiarity with HTML/CSS or front-end technologies is a nice-to-have

Why you’ll love working here…

• You’ll work side by side with our CPO, CEO and CTO - industry and technology leaders with decades of experience who have built and run multiple billion dollar+ companies

• You’ll be a part of an extremely fast-moving company where we’re constantly shipping new product and learning from customers, and where your work has measurable impact to the business’ success

• Youre excited to assume a critical role in building foundational product that will define the future of wealth management

• You enjoy a fast-paced environment where

We earnestly believe that Luminary represents a one-of-a-kind opportunity to have massive impact at profitable scale —and to have a ton of fun along the way.

Benefits we offer

• 100% employee health insurance coverage (plus 50% dependent coverage)

• Monthly wellness stipend

• 20 days per year of PTO, plus holidays

• NYC office near Bryant Park

• 401(k) plan

• Parental leave policy