Principal Designer

Northern Trust•Chicago, IL

10d•$137,400 - $233,600•Hybrid

About The Position

Northern Trust is seeking a Principal Product Designer to lead strategic design efforts on its flagship client-facing wealth management platform. The role contributes to transforming how wealth management clients engage with the firm’s advice and financial services, collaborating with cross-functional product teams and applying human-centered design methods to deliver high-quality financial service solutions and seamless experiences for high-net-worth clients and their advisors. The designer’s primary responsibility is to lead the design experience and maturity of the product design system, Storybook components, and Figma Library that support design and agile teams. The role aims to improve client trust and perceptions of the firm’s digital sophistication through a cohesive, polished, premium user experience, while evolving design assets, components, and experience standards as digital products and services change. A Principal Designer is a subject matter expert who leads and collaborates on differentiating experiences aligned with Northern Trust’s capabilities and business objectives, as well as client and partner needs and behaviors. The role works with leadership to craft, refine, implement, and communicate design vision and strategy across teams, business units, and the wider organization. It takes ownership of complex design initiatives, supports less experienced colleagues, and leads specific design activities. The Principal Designer is expected to be a strong storyteller and systems thinker with influence across business and technology teams. This is a full-time, hybrid role based in Chicago, Illinois. The successful candidate will work between the office and home.

Requirements

12 or more years of demonstrated work experience delivering digital experiences.
Education in design or a related field, either formally or through comparable training.
Demonstrated design thinking and UI/UX best practices in a portfolio of professional work.
Experience working with a cross-functional team or within a large-scale software development lifecycle, preferably in an agile environment.
Ability to apply human-centered design and UI/UX best practices in a professional setting.
Ability to recognize, predict, and incorporate use cases and user interactions into design.
Expertise in relevant design methods and concepts, potentially including low-fidelity sketching, information architecture, wireframe development, usability testing, research planning, and competitive analysis.
Exceptional presentation and storytelling skills, including the ability to lead teams toward a common vision.
Flexibility, adaptability to change, and comfort with ambiguity.
Effective use of collaborative and communication tools, and ability to present work and decisions within the EDR team.
A growth mindset, with motivation to learn and proactively approach challenges.
Must be authorized to work in the United States without employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Responsibilities

Lead the design experience and maturity of the product design system, Storybook components, and Figma Library.
Increase availability of reusable, production-ready components, templates, patterns, and page frameworks to accelerate product delivery.
Improve consistency across advisor, client, prospect, and operational experiences through standardized interaction and visual patterns.
Align future-state experience vision, product roadmaps, and implementation through continuous Storybook enhancement.
Reduce long-term technical and design debt arising from delivery-driven compromises.
Increase operational efficiency by reducing duplicate component development and fragmented experience patterns across domains.
Create extensible component architectures that support future products, channels, and business capabilities.
Improve development efficiency through component documentation, implementation guidance, governance, and code reuse.
Expand enterprise design system integration across platforms, business domains, and delivery teams.
Systematically remediate accessibility gaps and align digital experiences with evolving accessibility standards and best practices.
Help establish a culture of optimism, experimentation, curiosity, and rapid prototyping.
Lead multidisciplinary teams toward shared goals and design solutions that address user needs.
Use and lead prototyping at different levels of fidelity, learning through trial and experimentation.
Synthesize multiple and sometimes conflicting inputs into a common point of view.
Design and specify user interfaces and information architecture using human-centered techniques, including observational studies, client and partner interviews, and usability testing.
Develop others, help identify talent, and build teams with complementary personalities and capabilities.
Seek inspiration from external approaches and tools, and build connections with corporate innovation initiatives and the broader design community.
Work with leadership to craft, refine, implement, and communicate design vision and strategy across teams, business units, and the organization.
Take ownership of complex design initiatives and serve as a resource for colleagues with less experience.

Benefits

Retirement benefits, including a 401(k) and pension.
Medical, dental, and vision benefits.
Spending accounts.
Disability benefits.
Paid time off.
Parental and caregiver leave.
Life and accident insurance.
Other voluntary and well-being benefits.
Discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.
Flexible and collaborative work culture.
Movement within the organization is encouraged, and senior leaders are accessible.