Manager, Product Design

Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. • Phoenix, AZ

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Cambridge Investment Research is seeking a Manager, Product Design to lead and mature Product Design as a critical enterprise capability within Cambridge’s Product Operating Model. This leader will manage the Product Design team, serve as a key member of the Product Strategy leadership team, and help shape exceptional digital experiences for financial professionals, associates, and clients. This is a true player-coach role. The Manager, Product Design will be responsible for people leadership, design strategy, and operating model maturity while also remaining hands-on in the work by producing design artifacts for strategic, ambiguous, and high-impact product initiatives. The role is expected to focus approximately 60-70% on hands-on design, discovery, research, journey mapping, prototyping, workshop facilitation, design reviews, UX artifact creation, DesignOps, governance, stakeholder partnership, and design strategy. The remaining 30-40% will focus on people leadership, product operating model maturity, and capability building.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, UX Design, Product Design, Human Factors, Psychology, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, or a related field. Equivalent practical experience may be considered.
• 10+ years of Product Design, UX Design, Service Design, Design Strategy, or related experience.
• 5+ years leading Product Design teams, including coaching, performance management, hiring, talent development, and organizational planning.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a player-coach by leading teams while remaining an active practitioner capable of producing high-quality UX artifacts.
• Strong portfolio or work samples demonstrating strategic UX leadership, product discovery, customer research, interaction design, service design, prototyping, and enterprise experience design.
• Experience building or maturing design capabilities in a product-led organization, including standards, governance, DesignOps, research operations, design systems, and design review practices.
• Strong executive communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, organizational influence, and change leadership skills.
• Must be located in or willing to work from Phoenix, AZ or Fairfield, IA with a minimum of three days per week in office.
• Current FINRA Series 99 and/or Series 7 license, or ability and expectation to successfully obtain required FINRA licensing within 12 months of employment.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in Financial Services, Wealth Management, Broker-Dealer, RIA, Custody, Advisory, Investment Management, FinTech, or another regulated industry.
• Experience with advisor workstations, onboarding, account opening, service requests, CRM, practice management, advisory operations, financial planning, portfolio management, compliance review, or client servicing workflows.
• Experience with enterprise SaaS, platform environments, digital transformation, complex workflows, product operating model transformation, DesignOps, research operations, AI-enabled products, automation, or data-rich enterprise experiences.
• Master’s degree, MBA, MS in HCI, Human Factors, Design Strategy, or related advanced degree preferred.
• Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification
• UXQB CPUX
• Human Factors International CUA
• IAAP CPACC or Web Accessibility Specialist
• IDEO Design Thinking, LUMA Institute, or Design Sprint Facilitation
• Product Discovery, Product Strategy, Product Operations, Pragmatic Institute, Product School, or Continuous Discovery training

Responsibilities

• Develop Product Design strategy aligned to Cambridge’s product taxonomy, portfolio priorities, product operating model, and enterprise product strategy.
• Establish standards for interaction design, visual design, information architecture, service design, usability, accessibility, research quality, and design governance.
• Strengthen Product-Design-Engineering partnerships and promote shared accountability for outcomes.
• Help shift teams from late-stage design handoffs to continuous discovery and evidence-based decision-making.
• Build DesignOps practices for intake, capacity planning, prioritization, design rituals, review processes, operational metrics, and governance.
• Produce design artifacts for strategic, complex, ambiguous, or high-priority product initiatives.
• Lead and contribute to discovery workshops, journey maps, service blueprints, workflow models, wireframes, prototypes, concepts, usability tests, and research synthesis.
• Model strong design practices through direct involvement in product discovery, customer validation, design critiques, and executive-ready experience storytelling.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, Operations, Compliance, and business stakeholders to translate customer insights into practical product direction.
• Lead, mentor, and develop Product Designers while setting expectations for design craft, collaboration, discovery, and product impact.
• Build career frameworks, competency models, coaching practices, growth paths, and future design leadership capability.
• Recruit, hire, onboard, retain, and develop high-performing design professionals.
• Foster a culture focused on quality, accountability, customer outcomes, learning, and cross-functional partnership.
• Establish scalable user research practices, templates, repositories, governance, and insight-sharing routines.
• Lead design system governance, reusable patterns, component standards, and experience guidelines in partnership with Engineering.
• Establish accessibility and inclusive design practices in a regulated financial services environment.
• Guide design strategy for AI-enabled experiences, intelligent workflows, recommendations, insights, automation, and responsible human-centered AI.

Benefits

• Premium benefit package including medical, vision, dental, life and long-term disability insurance
• Vacation/sick time
• 401K retirement plan with company matching program
• Eleven paid holidays

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager