Manager, Product Design

Delta Defense LLC•West Bend, WI

8h•Hybrid

About The Position

Lead and shape a growing Product Design function at a pivotal time in our company’s evolution. This role is for a strategic design leader who thrives at the intersection of user experience, product strategy, and team development. As a player-coach, you will establish, lead, and mentor a team of Product Designers while staying hands-on in discovery, design, wireframing, prototyping, and experience strategy across member, potential member, partner, and internal employee platforms. You will champion discovery-led product development, ensuring every initiative starts with validated user insight and ends with intuitive, high-impact product experiences. You will partner closely with Product Managers, engineers, and business stakeholders to shape product direction, improve workflows, and elevate design quality across the organization. Your responsibilities will range from defining design standards and mentoring talent to influencing product strategy and driving usability outcomes, all to create experiences that support both business goals and the people who rely on us every day. The ideal candidate brings strong product design expertise, leadership experience, deep Figma knowledge, and a passion for building strong design practices in a collaborative product environment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Design, Human Factors, Psychology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
6+ years of experience in UX/UI design, information architecture & usability research.
2+ years of experience managing designers in a product environment.
Demonstrated work experience in product operating models or cross-functional product teams.
Strong expertise in Figma and modern product design workflows.
Proven ability to lead discovery and experience design including journey mapping, user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes.
Experience partnering with business stakeholders to shape product solutions.
Strong understanding of user-centered design principles, usability practices, and interaction design patterns.
Excellent communication and facilitation skills with the ability to present design concepts and influence stakeholders.
Ability to operate as a player-coach, balancing hands-on design contribution with team leadership responsibilities.
Portfolio demonstrating shipped product experiences and design problem-solving approaches.
Familiarity with Agile product development environments and cross-functional product team collaboration.
Demonstrates the Core Values of Delta Defense, LLC.
Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

Nice To Haves

Experience scaling or improving design practices, processes, or team collaboration is a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop the Product Design shared services team, including Product Designers and collaboration with the UX Strategist.
Establish and evolve product design practices that support the organization’s outcome-based product operating model.
Contribute to the product design strategy, ensuring design priorities align with product and organizational goals.
Mentor and coach product designers in discovery practices, interaction design, product thinking, and stakeholder collaboration.
Define design quality standards, review work, and provide guidance to ensure consistency and usability across product experiences.
Define and track experience quality metrics such as usability, task success, and customer feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of product design decisions.
Embed product designers within product teams to support initiatives across customer-facing, partner-facing, and internal employee platforms.
Partner with Product Managers to shape product discovery, problem framing, and feature definition.
Collaborate closely with engineers to ensure experience design aligns with technical feasibility and product architecture.
Support product teams in translating user needs and business goals into clear interaction models and user flows.
Lead and contribute to discovery activities such as user interviews, journey mapping, usability testing, and experience definition.
Create and guide development of wireframes, experience flows, prototypes, and interaction models.
Ensure product designs leverage the organization’s Figma design system and established UI standards.
When new experience patterns are required, collaborate with the Creative team to transition designs into high-fidelity UI before engineering handoff.
Partner with the Marketing Creative team to align product experiences with brand and design system standards.
Contribute to governance and adoption of the Figma design system across product teams.
Improve collaboration and handoff processes between Product Design, Creative, Product Management, and Engineering.
Help embed discovery-led product development practices into the organization’s product lifecycle.
Partner with Product Managers and the Product Delivery team to ensure product work begins with clear user insight and experience alignment.
Contribute to improving product team workflows, reducing experience rework, and increasing design clarity early in initiatives.