Senior Manager User Storytelling & Design

Zebra Technologies•Lincolnshire, IL

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

At Zebra, we are a community of innovators who come together to create new ways of working. United by curiosity and a culture of caring, we develop smart solutions that anticipate our customer’s and partner’s needs and solve their challenges. Being part of Zebra Nation means you are seen, heard, valued, and respected. Drawing from our unique perspectives, we collaborate to deliver on our purpose. Here you are part of a team pushing boundaries today to redefine the work of tomorrow for organizations, their employees, and those they serve. You’ll have opportunities to learn and lead in a forward-thinking environment, defining your path to a fulfilling career while channeling your skills toward causes you care about—locally and globally. Come make an impact every day at Zebra. What We're Looking For: The Senior Manager User Storytelling and Experience Design drives customer‑centric experience initiatives by leading the creation of high‑impact visual narratives, storyboards, personas, journey maps, and multimedia assets that support enterprise‑level product and solution strategies. Operating within the Chief Technology Office, this role partners closely with research, engineering, product, and business stakeholders to translate customer insights into compelling, actionable design artifacts. This role requires deep expertise in design, exceptional storytelling ability, and the capacity to influence cross‑functional teams. This role must be able to architect end‑to‑end experiences, synthesize qualitative insights, and communicate vision to senior leadership while maintaining a high bar for design quality across a complex portfolio of work. This role is a hybrid position and requires a minimum of three days per week in one of the Zebra office locations listed below: Zebra reserves the right to modify your work location based on business need. - Lincolnshire, IL - Holtsville, NY - Austin, TX - Kennesaw, GA

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or certificate in Human‑Computer Interaction (HCI), Design, Visual Communication, Human-Centered Design, Marketing, Psychology, or Communications or equivalent.
12+ years of professional experience as a user storytelling and experience design including senior‑level leadership through influence.
Strong problem‑solving and conceptual development ability, with experience guiding work from concept through production.
Proficiency with design and collaboration tools such as Balsmaiq, Figma, Miro, Airtable, Adobe Creative Suite, or similar platforms.
Demonstrated experience with qualitative research methods (e.g., interviews, contextual inquiry).
Ability to architect complex product ecosystems and customer experiences.
Exceptional visual communication and multimedia design skills (presentations, video, motion graphics).
Strong communication skills, including written, verbal, and executive‑level presentation abilities.
Ability to manage project schedules, roadmaps, and cross‑functional alignment.
Ability to influence without authority and drive outcomes across multiple teams.
Ability to make design tradeoffs in collaboration with product and engineering stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

MS preferred.

Responsibilities

Coordinate projects across multiple business units and ensure that designers are meeting deliverables.
Coordinate storytelling and design efforts across multiple business units, ensuring alignment and timely delivery.
Lead discussions and drive collaboration across engineering, product, marketing, and research teams.
Present customer narratives, and design strategy to internal stakeholders and customers; lead regular check‑ins to share progress.
Serve as a senior‑level design expert who guides teams through complex decisions and elevates design quality across the organization.
Attend customer interviews and research sessions to observe behaviors, capture detailed notes, and identify emerging themes.
Synthesize qualitative input into structured insights that inform product, marketing, and experience decisions.
Partner with research leads to validate findings and ensure accuracy, context, and alignment with strategic objectives.
Create high‑quality personas, customer journey maps, experience flows, and storyboards based on observed interviews and research findings.
Produce executive‑ready presentations, videos, motion graphics, and multimedia assets that communicate customer insights in compelling ways.
Develop visual narratives that simplify complex concepts and resonate with both technical and non‑technical audiences.
Maintain high standards of visual design quality across all deliverables and ensure alignment with brand guidelines.
Lead all stages of the design development process, from early conceptual exploration through research validation, prototyping, and final execution.
Work with engineering leadership to ensure designs are implemented using Agile best practices.
Make informed tradeoffs on design decisions in collaboration with product and engineering stakeholders.
Manage multiple design projects autonomously, setting deadlines, milestones, and expectations.
Support resource planning, capacity discussions, and workflow coordination across design and production teams.
Drive process optimization efforts, including workflow improvements, template creation, and design system alignment.
Collaborate on schedules and budgets to ensure on‑time delivery of projects.
Occasionally write user stories and support Agile ceremonies as needed.
Maintain a structured repository of personas, journey maps, storyboards, and multimedia artifacts for organizational reuse.
Ensure documentation, templates, and processes are up‑to‑date, accessible, and consistently applied across teams.
Support planning and scoping of research‑related deliverables, including timelines, expectations, and quality standards.
Present vision to internal stakeholders and customers and leads regular check-ins to share their team's work.
Leads all stages of design development process from early conceptual development, customer research and validation, prototyping and execution.