Director, Design– Investment Services Company (ISCO) Digital and Design Team

USAA•San Antonio, TX

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

USAA is seeking a Director, Design to join the ISCO Digital and Design Team. This role involves partnering with Digital technical product managers and cross-functional team members for USAA’s investment advisory business to research, design, test, and finalize UI/UX solutions. The Director will manage a group of Designers, maintain their own portfolio of work, and be responsible for leveraging USAA’s Reveille design system to adhere to Digital and Design Governance standards, moving with speed towards execution. Additionally, the Director will coach and guide other design team members in USAA design principles, design research, translating member-experience-journeys into design elements, and Reveille standards. This role also serves as the primary touchpoint between the ISCO design team and the USAA Association, ensuring ISCO Design stays in sync with Association-level changes in design systems or processes. The role leads teams of Digital or Technology Product Managers responsible for the strategy, ideation, definition, development, and performance of digital and technology products and their experiences. The Director will oversee highly complex or strategic initiatives, collaborate with Business and Technology stakeholders, and focus on the operational effectiveness, goals, and performance of the team and their products. This director applies expert knowledge in human-centered design to direct high-performing teams through the design lifecycle, orchestrating cross-functional disciplines to deliver a unified design vision for complex Member and Employee experiences in a human-centered, data-informed, agile environment. They manage the performance of a multi-disciplinary team of design practitioners and producers, ensuring conceptual integrity and quality, and creating a healthy, collaborative environment. The role also involves helping direct reports grow in their careers and contributing to the strategy and culture of USAA's design organization, while ensuring key internal metrics are met.

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. (Total of 12 years of relevant experience without bachelor’s degree)
8 years of relevant on-the-job experience in 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

US military experience through military service or a military spouse/domestic partner
Direct hands-on design experience specifically in Investments design experiences.
Comprehensive Investment UX/UI experience.
Prior or current experience leading design teams.
Direct experience with Reveille system (RDS).
Areas of expertise to include UX/UI designing, User engagement and management, Prototyping, testing and research, visual interface, cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

Partner with Digital technical product managers and cross-functional team members for USAA’s investment advisory business to research, design, test, and firm up UI/UX solutions.
Manage a group of Designers while also having his/her own portfolio of work.
Leverage USAA’s Reveille design system to adhere to all the Digital and Design Governance standards and move with speed towards execution.
Work across the ISCO design portfolio of work to help coach and guide other design team members in areas of USAA design principles, design research, translating member-experience-journeys into design elements, Reveille standards etc.
Serve as the primary touchpoint of ISCO design team with the USAA Association, and responsible for bringing to the ISCO Design team any changes in Design systems or processes happening at the Association level.
Lead teams of Digital or Technology Product Managers responsible for the strategy, ideation, definition, development and performance of digital and technology products and their experiences.
Oversee highly complex or strategic initiatives typically requiring confidentiality and enterprise-level visibility.
Collaborate with Business and Technology stakeholders to lead a team responsible for tackling complex and challenging problems while maintaining situational awareness of the market in order to maximize the product portfolio.
Focus on the operational effectiveness, goals, and performance of the team and their products or product line (or set of product experiences), ensuring strategic alignment within a product portfolio.
Apply expert knowledge and experience in human-centered design to direct high-performing teams through the design lifecycle, orchestrating the work of cross-functional disciplines to deliver a unified design vision for complex to highly complex Member and Employee experiences in a human-centered, data-informed, agile environment.
Manage the performance of a multi-disciplinary team of design practitioners and producers, ensuring the conceptual integrity and quality of the work created by their team accomplishes strategic business goals and objectives.
Create a healthy, collaborative environment and remove barriers to efficiency, effectiveness, and well-being.
Work daily to 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 so that design efforts balance achieving end user goals with the goals of design's stakeholders.
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 across the company.
Oversee the facilitation of cross-organizational, cross-functional understanding of business problems and is accountable for delivering design solutions that achieve program and project objectives.
Direct a creative review process to ensure coherency with design principles and the design language system through contribution and collaboration with the team.
Actively participate in design leadership meetings and work efforts, helping set the vision for the design organization and helping the organization achieve its development goals.
Provide thought leadership to deconstruct complex problems into clear and achievable solutions that increase the value of member, employee, and business outcomes.
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 that motivates team members to perform to the best of their abilities, take pride in their work, be candid and direct in communication, and continually grow their skills.
Ensure risks associated with business activities are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled in accordance with risk and compliance policies and procedures.