Consultant III, User Experience Design and Research Lead

TruStage

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

At TruStage, we’re on a mission to make a brighter financial future accessible to everyone. We put people first, and work hand in hand with employees and customers to create a diverse and inclusive environment. Passionate about building insurance and financial services solutions, we push the boundaries of what’s possible. We need you to help us shape what’s next. You’ll be encouraged to share your experiences, ideas and skills to help others take control of their financial future. Join a team that has received numerous awards for being a top place to work: TruStage awards and recognition Job Summary As a leader on the TruStage Enterprise UX team, this position is accountable for delivering user experiences that delight users, advance business goals, and increase tech wealth for applications, platforms, and digital sales/service channels. This position will lead teams of designers (and may operate as a solo practitioner) being the primary point of contact on a cross-functional team of empowered decision makers. This position serves a wide variety of insurance and financial services experiences that support our core B2B2C and D2C business models and partners with senior UX and digital design leadership to establish and evolve design operations within their vertical(s) and inform a common enterprise-wide UX design practice. As a UX practitioner, this position is responsible for not only crafting state-of-the-art experiences, but measuring their effectiveness, and continuously optimizing them (leveraging research and analytics). As a design leader, this position supports the team through backlog management, stakeholder engagement, and coaching. This position is accountable for the velocity and quality of design delivery in their assigned value stream(s). The Research-specific role, in addition to Design Lead duties, is responsible for evolving the UX Research practice. This position is in-person, hybrid, or remote.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in digital art, computer science, graphic design, human-computer interaction, UI design, or related field, or equivalent combination of education and/or related professional work experience.
7+ years’ experience designing world class user interfaces and experiences, with 2+ years in a lead role.
A strong portfolio to back up your resume.
Outstanding visual design skills with sensitivity to user-system interaction and accessibility.
Deep experience with visual design tools such as Figma, Sketch, XD, Illustrator.
Experience creating wireframes, prototypes, storyboards, user flows, and process flows.
Experience applying design patterns across multiple product lines and features.
Experience facilitating cross functional groups and leading presentations.
Practical experience working on Agile / Scrum teams.
Proven ability to solve problems creatively and effectively.
Experience leading qualitative user research, introducing new methods and practices to stakeholder, and has a clear command and proven track record of incorporating research insights into design strategies and solutions.
Knowledge of human factors, human-centered design, and design thinking – we walk the talk.
Knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Java Script frameworks.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in a variety of organizations (start-up, corporate, agency/consultancy).
Academic, professional, or life experience from outside the design field that enriches your perspective as a designer.

Responsibilities

Delivers UX design enterprise-wide in arenas including application/software development, sales, and service
Leads by example, applying a personal design practice that includes all aspects of UX/UI including IxD (Interaction Design), VD (Visual Design), and UX Research.
Provides coaching support to designers to aid in design delivery, professional development, and stakeholder management.
Champions the latest accessibility standards as set forth by the Enterprise Accessibility Council and is accountable for accessibility in delivered designs (and mitigation where necessary).
Advances our UX approach to accessibility through self-education and collaboration with design leadership and engineering.
Partners with the Design System Lead to evolve our accessibility adherence through evolution and proper use of the Design System(s).
Able to balance specialization with flexibility (business)
Specialization: accountable for understanding business objectives/requirements and translating them into UX strategies and solutions. Able to quickly learn the business acumen and domain expertise of their focus area(s) with minimal guidance from the guidance from the Senior Manager, UX and the Director, UX.
Flexibility: Able to quickly ramp-up in new domains to deliver value centered on business outcomes
Responsible for establishing and documenting business goals/requirements and deliver design options that advance business strategies.
The Design Lead is accountable for writing shovel-ready design stories that reduce noise, align stakeholders, and empower designers to do their best work.
Partners with stakeholders to establish technical constraints and considerations to promote tech wealth and reduce tech debt in our systems and platforms.
Leads partnership development with technical stakeholders to improve quality and speed of delivery of digital experiences.
Is a key partner to the Design System Lead, utilizing and evolving the enterprise design systems Neo (white labeled SaaS) and Ascend (TruStage DS) to promote code reuse, rapid development, and accessibility.
Accountable for Design Ops (Design Operations) for their assigned value stream(s), and partners with design leadership to inform the enterprise-wide design ops practice through retrospectives and continuous improvement
Prioritizes the professional development of the team through the UX team coaching practice. Is accountable to individuals assigned to them to assist in their growth and effectiveness.
Takes active ownership and accountability in their own professional development as a design leader improving their effectiveness delivering solutions that are desirable, viable, and feasible all while honing their ability to raise the UX maturity of the enterprise at large
Plays an active role in helping the Enterprise UX Design Team build a strong, diverse, brave culture by contributing (and being open to) unique experiences and perspectives. Is accountable for establishing a culture of objectives-based critique within their value stream(s) helping designers and partners stay centered on how design best achieve business goals.
Collaborates with fellow designers and cross-functional stakeholders/partners using active listening, objectives-based feedback, and positivity. Seeks to understand. Debates, then supports. Helps individual contributors resolve issues with cross-functional stakeholders through coaching and intervention/escalation.
Passionately stays up to date on UX, tech, and business trends contributing thought-leadership to an ongoing dialogue within the team and enterprise. Able to establish and lead design ops for cross-functional teams at varied points in their Agile practice journey/maturity
Establishes and leads a culture that values Design Thinking and other similar frameworks and philosophies (e.g. Human Centered Design, Lean Startup, etc.)
Helps contributors understand when to build to learn
Helps contributors understand when to learn to build
Ensures and is accountable for the delivery of solutions at the intersection of desirability, viability, and feasibility
Establishes and leads a team that develops hypotheses and designs into iterative test and learn cycles
Partners with design leadership, product management, and analytics to establish and evolve our UX analytics practice.
The above statement of duties is not intended to be all inclusive and other duties will be assigned from time to time.