Product Design Lead

Manulife • Toronto, ON

1d • CA$92,900 - CA$142,900 • Hybrid

About The Position

This Product Manager role focuses on leading end-to-end digital product design for B2B web applications across desktop, tablet, and mobile. You will champion a user-centered, accessible experience strategy by driving design exploration, user testing, and research to shape the product roadmap and deliver measurable business outcomes. Partnering closely with cross-functional teams, you’ll apply and evolve design systems, create and coach others on key design artifacts, and synthesize user insights into actionable improvements. With deep experience in UX, human-centered design, and tools like Figma and Adobe Creative Suite, you’ll help elevate the overall quality and impact of digital products while continuously learning and contributing to innovative practices in a flexible, inclusive, and globally connected environment.

Requirements

• Minimum of 8+ years of product design experience.
• A bachelor's degree in design, visual communications, HCI-human-computer interaction, or a related field (or equivalent industry training/experience).
• Proficiency in design tools such as, Figma, and Adobe Creative Suite.
• Strong understanding of user experience (UX) principles.
• Familiarity with web standards (W3C and Section 508) and front-end development standard methodologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) is a plus.
• A strong portfolio highlighting a range of design projects that illustrates your process, your level of craft, and the results you have successfully launched are critical.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and mentoring for design projects and teams, including collaboration with cross-functional teams like engineering and product management.
• Demonstrated experience with accessibility guidelines and standards, including WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act).
• Proven history of delivering successful digital products and services.
• Experience working in a complex, cross-functional organization, preferably in an enterprise environment or digital agency.
• High proficiency in human-centered design principles, visual design theory, usability, and accessibility.
• Deep understanding of the end-to-end digital product design process, including user validation, user flows, content modeling, wireframing, prototyping, user testing, and high-fidelity visuals.
• Excellent critical thinking skills and the ability to design solutions that meet user and business goals.
• Persuasive communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to articulate design ideas to both designers and non-designers.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and prioritize multiple work streams in a time-sensitive environment.
• Experience with design systems and tools such as Figma, Mural, and UserTesting.com.
• Experience in Adobe Experience Manager or Adobe Platforms is an asset.
• Familiarity with technical constraints and limitations for designing across digital platforms such as desktop and mobile (Android and iOS).
• Must have familiarity with agile, iterative approaches focused on business and adoption outcomes to bring digital customer experiences to market quickly with the ability to release frequently and validate continuously.

Nice To Haves

• A strong portfolio highlighting a range of design projects that illustrates your process, your level of craft, and the results you have successfully launched are critical.
• Leverages research insights to inform and drive design decisions, whether creating visionary, forward-thinking concepts, or practical, immediately implementable solutions.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and mentoring for design projects and teams, including collaboration with cross-functional teams like engineering and product management.
• Demonstrated experience with accessibility guidelines and standards, including WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act).
• Proven history of delivering successful digital products and services.
• Experience working in a complex, cross-functional organization, preferably in an enterprise environment or digital agency.
• High proficiency in human-centered design principles, visual design theory, usability, and accessibility.
• Deep understanding of the end-to-end digital product design process, including user validation, user flows, content modeling, wireframing, prototyping, user testing, and high-fidelity visuals.
• Excellent critical thinking skills and the ability to design solutions that meet user and business goals.
• Persuasive communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to articulate design ideas to both designers and non-designers.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and prioritize multiple work streams in a time-sensitive environment.
• Experience with design systems and tools such as Figma, Mural, and UserTesting.com.
• Experience in Adobe Experience Manager or Adobe Platforms is an asset.
• Familiarity with technical constraints and limitations for designing across digital platforms such as desktop and mobile (Android and iOS).
• Must have familiarity with agile, iterative approaches focused on business and adoption outcomes to bring digital customer experiences to market quickly with the ability to release frequently and validate continuously.

Responsibilities

• Primarily designing B2B web applications that work across desktop, tablet, and mobile.
• Lead the execution of experience strategies, ensuring alignment with user needs and business goals along with ensuring the importance of integrating accessibility criteria into the design process.
• Be responsible for the use of design exploration, user testing, and research to inform and drive the product roadmap and experience improvements.
• Collaborate closely with product managers and collaborators to integrate experience strategies into product roadmaps.
• Synthesize findings from user tests to inform and refine design solutions, ensuring they are user-centric and aligned with business objectives.
• Apply a common design system to maintain consistency in visual and interactive elements across platforms, and the importance of conducting regular audits to ensure adherence.
• Deliver design artifacts, such as wireframes and flow diagrams, to ensure quality and consistency, and coach others on these artifacts.
• Conduct user research to inform experience strategies and create detailed user personas, journey maps, and service blueprints.
• Drive critical initiatives that elevate the quality and impact of product design, aligning with company goals.
• Guide the organization in using design exploration and research to inform the product roadmap and prioritization to achieve business outcomes.
• Continuously update your knowledge of next-generation user experiences and emerging technologies, chipping in to the development of innovative process practices.

Benefits

• health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, and employee/family assistance plans.
• various retirement savings plans (including pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources.
• holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.

What This Job Offers

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