Director, Product Design - Accelerator

Capital One•McLean, VA

About The Position

At Capital One, we’re building a leading information-based technology company. Still founder-led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairbank, Capital One is on a mission to help our customers succeed by bringing ingenuity, simplicity, and humanity to banking. We measure our efforts by the success our customers enjoy and the advocacy they exhibit. We’re succeeding because they’re succeeding. The Team and Role We’re currently seeking a Product Design Director to lead an internal consultancy team with a focus on integrations and 0-1 businesses. The Accelerator is a small, internal team of problem solvers across Risk, Technology, Product and Design, that works to alleviate the knottiest spaces in the company. As engagements come to us, we focus on easing pathways for innovation across the enterprise for both new acquisitions and seasoned teams on the cutting edge of change. This role also oversees design within the Global Enterprise Affairs team with a focus on products that enable our community engagement investments. We require not just a people leader who can tactically execute work, but rather, a strategic design leader. In this Director role, you will be expected to deliver on the following critical areas: Strategic Ownership: Beyond managing day-to-day operations and team outputs, independently help define the vision for integration experiences, build the Design roadmap, and proactively identify priorities without heavy oversight. Cross-Functional Influence and Executive Presence: As the work streams heavily interfaces with multiple functional areas and senior leaders, this role must effectively influence priorities and drive high-stakes initiatives across the functional areas. Navigating Ambiguity and Context Shifting: Given the evolving nature of our work it’s critical to work in ways that preserve optionality, make decisions with incomplete data, and pivot seamlessly without losing momentum. Building a Design Org of the Future: In addition to managing current designers in the space, we look to this leader to help scale the function, design the future organizational structure, and develop current designers as the team grows. This includes leveraging technology to broaden the reach of design within the organization. The Experience Design team at Capital One is at the forefront of enriching our customers’ digital and physical experiences and we are passionate about creating memorable, meaningful product experiences that build the Capital One brand with humanity and drive business advantage and innovation. We champion a thriving environment of collaboration, authenticity and healthy critique, in which we honor diversity of thought, create a culture of belonging, and elevate one another. If you’re a creative innovator who embraces an environment where you can experiment, learn, and change banking for good, we’d love to hear from you. Role Expectations As a Director of Product Design for the Accelerator, you’ll lead a talented, cross-disciplinary team of designers and collaborate deeply with our research teams and Product and Tech leadership. You’ll be responsible for leading high-impact, highly complex projects and defining and driving design strategy that informs the higher-level vision of the organization and aligns to business objectives. Here are some of the expected competencies for this role: Product Design Expertise: Leverage established expertise and leadership in product design to elevate the quality and maturity of the design practice at Capital One. Leveraging a variety of skills across interaction, visual and service design; in collaboration with cross-functional partners, help to oversee and optimize the use of appropriate tools, platforms, frameworks and design systems and enable your team to develop artifacts that may include vision stories, journey maps, blueprints, high-fidelity designs and prototypes Leadership: Create conditions for a positive and inclusive team environment and set a vision for an inclusive, collaborative culture that makes your team feel valued and heard Human-Centered: Champion voices of both customers and partners, modeling the mindset that business and customer outcomes are not distinct but complementary, ultimately resulting in experiences that exceed baseline customer needs and expectations Business-Focused: Demonstrate expert knowledge of products, processes, our customers, competitors and industry market trends, applying relevant insights to shape how Design should engage and solve business challenges Problem-Solving: Share insights around technical advances and data capabilities that could influence outcomes, while helping larger teams navigate technical limitations and boundaries in service of bold technological solutions, data destinations and efficiency Collaboration: Connect the dots across teams, portfolios, platforms and LOBs, bringing together partners and processes in ways that drive more coherent experiences, accelerate delivery and elevate the value of design Communication: Present work across levels and job functions, modeling a strategic human-centered approach that integrates design frameworks, data and research insights to make the complex accessible, influence senior stakeholders and achieve impactful results The ideal candidate has a strong portfolio demonstrating your leadership, process, results and impact.

Requirements

At least 8 years of experience in product design role
At least 3 years of experience leading design teams

Nice To Haves

At least 10 years of experience in product design role
At least 5 years of experience leading design teams
Experience in a design toolkit that spans product design, service design, design strategy and content design
Experience leading product design teams operating across UX and UI, strategy, content and research from strategy through delivery to market
Experience partnering with product managers, engineers, marketing and analytics leaders across multiple business lines to shape strategy, OKRs, roadmaps and operating models
Experience working within a design system
Proficiency with web and mobile technologies and platforms, navigating technology considerations and constraints to drive sound product and experience decisions
Expertise with design and prototyping tools such as Figma
Experience managing an interdisciplinary design team
Experience working in heavily regulated, data heavy problem spaces
Proficiency in business case development, grounding product and user experience decisions to business value
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
Exceptional interpersonal skills and relationship building across complex organizations
Exceptional people management and development skills

Responsibilities

Independently help define the vision for integration experiences, build the Design roadmap, and proactively identify priorities without heavy oversight.
Effectively influence priorities and drive high-stakes initiatives across functional areas.
Work in ways that preserve optionality, make decisions with incomplete data, and pivot seamlessly without losing momentum.
Help scale the design function, design the future organizational structure, and develop current designers as the team grows.
Lead a talented, cross-disciplinary team of designers and collaborate deeply with research teams and Product and Tech leadership.
Define and drive design strategy that informs the higher-level vision of the organization and aligns to business objectives.
Create conditions for a positive and inclusive team environment and set a vision for an inclusive, collaborative culture that makes your team feel valued and heard.
Champion voices of both customers and partners, modeling the mindset that business and customer outcomes are not distinct but complementary, ultimately resulting in experiences that exceed baseline customer needs and expectations.
Demonstrate expert knowledge of products, processes, our customers, competitors and industry market trends, applying relevant insights to shape how Design should engage and solve business challenges.
Share insights around technical advances and data capabilities that could influence outcomes, while helping larger teams navigate technical limitations and boundaries in service of bold technological solutions, data destinations and efficiency.
Connect the dots across teams, portfolios, platforms and LOBs, bringing together partners and processes in ways that drive more coherent experiences, accelerate delivery and elevate the value of design.
Present work across levels and job functions, modeling a strategic human-centered approach that integrates design frameworks, data and research insights to make the complex accessible, influence senior stakeholders and achieve impactful results.