Head of UI Design, Engineering & Accessibility

Guardian Life Insurance • New York, NY

20h • Hybrid

About The Position

Guardian is seeking a Head of UI Design, Engineering & Accessibility to lead the strategy, delivery, and governance of our enterprise design system and front‑end standards. This role owns UI as a platform capability—ensuring scalable, accessible, and high‑quality digital experiences across all web and mobile surfaces. You will lead multidisciplinary teams spanning UI design, UI engineering, and accessibility while partnering closely with Product, Engineering, and Mobile teams as Guardian evolves toward AI‑native digital experiences.

Requirements

• Extensive experience leading enterprise‑scale UI design systems and front-end engineering platforms in complex organizations.
• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams across design, engineering, and accessibility functions.
• Deep expertise in UI engineering standards, modern front-end frameworks, and performance optimization.
• Strong command of digital accessibility standards, including WCAG compliance and governance models.
• Experience partnering with product, engineering, and mobile teams to drive adoption and consistency at scale.
• Demonstrated success building centers of excellence and influencing enterprise‑wide digital practices.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to define metrics, measure impact, and communicate outcomes to senior leadership.
• Passion for emerging digital experience models, including AI‑driven and conversational interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Guardian’s enterprise design system as a platform product, including design tokens, component libraries, pattern standards, roadmaps, versioning, and adoption metrics.
• Lead and develop a high‑performing team of UI designers, UI engineers, and accessibility specialists, with clear operating distinctions between platform delivery and governance.
• Define and enforce enterprise UI engineering standards, including framework conventions, implementation quality, and performance benchmarks across all digital web experiences.
• Establish and govern accessibility standards across all digital surfaces, ensuring WCAG compliance through audits, release gates, and continuous improvement.
• Serve as the primary interface between the design system and product delivery teams, defining contribution models and governing adoption and usage.
• Partner with Mobile Engineering to ensure consistency across web and native platforms through shared token architectures and aligned interaction standards.
• Drive a UI Engineering Center of Excellence, uplifting capabilities across product engineering teams through standards, reviews, and embedded consultation.
• Recruit, develop, and retain pivotal talent across UI design, engineering, and accessibility, aligning staffing to critical enterprise needs.
• Define and track success metrics such as component adoption, system coverage, accessibility compliance, and team velocity, reporting these as enterprise capability indicators.
• Contribute to Guardian’s AI‑native digital experience strategy by shaping conversation design standards, agentic UI patterns, and multimodal accessibility approaches.

Benefits

• At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals.
• Through skill-building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.
• As part of Guardian’s Purpose – to inspire well-being – we are committed to offering contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources to our colleagues.
• Explore our company benefits at www.guardianlife.com/careers/corporate/benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees