Lead User Experience (UX) Designer - Digital Assets

Early Warning Services • San Francisco, CA

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses. Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment. Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship. Overall Purpose Zelle® moves over $1 trillion a year across more than 150 million enrolled accounts. In October 2025, Early Warning Services announced the next chapter: expanding the Zelle® network to enable cross-border money movement - bringing the same speed, trust, and simplicity Americans rely on domestically to international transfers. As Lead UX Designer on this initiative, you will define design direction for a product that does not yet fully exist. This is not a role for someone who wants to refine what already exists - it is for a designer energized by first-principles thinking, who can hold strategic ambiguity and still produce clear, considered work. In a network business, the quality of your guidelines and frameworks matters as much as the quality of your screens. You will work as an individual contributor while playing a leading role across the workstream : partnering with product, engineering, strategy, compliance, and partner financial institutions. Please either link to your online portfolio in your resume or upload a portfolio document as part of your application. The portfolio should showcase relevant design work, including wireframes, and end-to-end UX case studies.

Requirements

• 8+ years of UX/product design experience, with a portfolio showing leadership-level craft and strategic thinking across complex products
• Deep domain expertise in payments or fintech - direct experience with cross-border, international, or multi-currency flows strongly preferred
• Fluency in payment systems: rails, cross-border mechanics, the role of intermediaries, and how compliance constraints shape user experience
• Experience operating in a platform or network model - designing for ecosystems where you influence but do not directly control the end-user surface
• Strong visual design sensibility; proficiency in Figma and prototyping tools
• Exceptional written and verbal communication — clear, precise, and persuasive with non-design audiences
• Experience authoring UX guidelines or design standards for external or partner consumption

Nice To Haves

• Experience at a payments network, money transfer operator, or global digital wallet (e.g., Wise, PayPal, Remitly, Western Union, Visa, Mastercard, or equivalent)
• Exposure to stablecoin or blockchain-based payment infrastructure and its UX implications
• Experience designing for remittance or cross-border money movement, understanding the human and cultural dimensions of sending money internationally
• Familiarity with compliance UX patterns: KYC/AML flows, sanctions screening, disclosure requirements
• Prior design leadership experience: guiding designers, running critiques, or setting workstream direction
• Webflow or front-end familiarity (HTML/CSS) as a strong bonus

Responsibilities

• Lead UX design direction for the cross-border payments initiative - from research and concept exploration through detailed interaction design and published UX standards
• Translate complex payment mechanics: cross-border rails, currency conversion, stablecoin infrastructure, compliance flows, into experiences that feel simple and trustworthy
• Develop UX guidelines and frameworks that partner financial institutions implement consistently across the Zelle® network
• Commission, participate in, and synthesize user research and usability testing to ground decisions in real behavior
• Proactively identify design risks, edge cases, and systemic issues - and drive resolution across teams

Benefits

• Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed