Director, Design

USAA•San Antonio, NC

10h•Hybrid

About The Position

USAA is seeking a Director, Design to lead high-performing teams through the design lifecycle. This role involves applying expert knowledge in human-centered design to deliver a unified design vision for complex member and employee experiences in an agile environment. The Director will manage a multi-disciplinary team, foster a collaborative environment, and contribute to the strategy and culture of USAA's design organization. The role is remote eligible in the continental U.S. with occasional business travel, but individuals within a 60-mile radius of a USAA office are expected to work on-site four days per week.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree; OR 4 years of related experience (in addition to the minimum years of experience required) may be substituted in lieu of degree.
8 years of relevant, on-the-job experience in a Product Design, UX Design, Service Design or Design Research role delivering complex design systems for web and native applications.
3 years of direct team lead or management experience.
Expert knowledge and experience in human-centered design to direct high-performing cross-functional teams through all phases of the design lifecycle.
Mastery of product design, user interface and interaction design, visual design, storytelling, and prototyping.
Demonstrated knowledge of data analysis and research techniques.
Outstanding people management abilities; creates and sustains environment to succeed.
Proven leadership and ability to influence at all levels of management.
Demonstrated experience working in a distributive and agile work environment.
Subject matter expertise in facilitation, collaboration, and presenting to cross-functional teams and Senior/Executive leaders.
Expert ability to effectively communicate, both orally and in writing, to executive leadership, driving accountability and sense of urgency.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience leading design organizations of 7+ people across mixed composition (Leads, senior ICs, vendor partners).
Demonstrated examples of inheriting a team and improving its performance against named metrics.
3+ years in financial services, insurance, healthcare, government, or another industry with comparable compliance overhead.
Ability to articulate the difference between consumer-product and regulated-product velocity with examples.
US military experience through military service or a military spouse/domestic partner.

Responsibilities

Apply expert knowledge and experience in human-centered design to direct high-performing teams through the design lifecycle.
Orchestrate the work of cross-functional disciplines to deliver a unified design vision for complex to highly complex Member and Employee experiences.
Manage the performance of a multi-disciplinary team of design practitioners and producers, ensuring conceptual integrity and quality of work.
Create a healthy, collaborative environment and remove barriers to efficiency, effectiveness, and well-being.
Help direct reports grow in their careers and achieve their goals.
Actively contribute to shaping the strategy and culture of USAA's design organization.
Ensure key internal metrics are met and stay on track through each quarter.
Serve as a strategic partner by understanding business and technical models, processes, challenges, and performance metrics.
Champion the value of design and foster a culture of empathy within the enterprise by building and maintaining trust-based relationships with executive and partner groups.
Oversee the facilitation of cross-organizational, cross-functional understanding of business problems and deliver design solutions that achieve program and project objectives.
Direct a creative review process to ensure coherency with design principles and the design language system.
Actively participate in design leadership meetings and work efforts, helping set the vision for the design organization.
Provide thought leadership to deconstruct complex problems into clear and achievable solutions.
Build and lead a team dedicated to design through recruiting, developing, retaining, coaching, guiding, performance management and managerial activities.
Cultivate an environment and team culture aligned with the USAA mission and core values.
Ensure risks associated with business activities are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled.