Sr. Principal Designer

Gartner•Stamford, CT

5d•$136,000 - $189,000•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a distinguished Sr. Principal Designer to join our team as a high-level Individual Contributor. This role is the pinnacle of our design IC track, operating at the Senior Director level. You will not manage a team of direct reports; instead, you will manage complex problem spaces, drive holistic systems thinking, and elevate the craft of our design organization. You are a master of your craft, a visionary systems thinker, and a strategic partner to our stakeholders. You have been in the industry long enough to have seen trends come and go, allowing you to anchor your work in timeless design principles, deep behavioral research, and measurable business outcomes. You possess a strong, well-founded point of view and the strategic alignment skills to bring stakeholders along on the journey.

Requirements

15+ years of experience in UX, Product Design, or HCI, with a proven track record of operating at a Principal, Senior Principal, or Distinguished level.
A world-class portfolio demonstrating profound systems thinking, mastery of craft, and the ability to solve highly complex, multi-faceted systemic problems at an enterprise scale.
You command a room through expertise rather than title. You are exceptional at building consensus among C-suite leaders and translating complex, systems-level design thinking into clear business value.
You have a strong, defensible point of view, but you hold your opinions loosely. You are eager to be proven wrong by data or user feedback.
Expert ability to synthesize complex qualitative and quantitative data into clear design directives.
You thrive in ambiguity and have the grit to drive long-term, multi-year design transformations across a matrixed organization.

Responsibilities

Define and drive the overarching user experience vision across our most complex and critical product ecosystems.
Connect the dots across disparate product lines, ensuring a seamless, holistic, and unified user journey from end to end.
Architect scalable design systems and interaction paradigms that anticipate future business needs and technological advancements.
Act as the ultimate standard-bearer for design quality. You sweat the details and are obsessed with the micro-interactions as much as the macro-journeys.
Get your hands dirty. While you operate strategically, you still love the craft and will actively create high-fidelity prototypes, journey maps, and architectural frameworks to demonstrate your vision.
Push the boundaries of what is possible, bringing innovative, world-class design solutions to market that redefine industry standards.
Partner directly senior level stakeholders to align design strategy with core business objectives.
Navigate complex organizational dynamics with ease. You can effectively manage stakeholders, resolve conflicting priorities, and drive alignment without relying on hierarchical authority.
Present and defend design decisions with a compelling narrative, grounded heavily in qualitative research, quantitative data, and market strategy.
Champion a deeply research-driven approach. You don't just design based on intuition; you actively partner with (and sometimes lead) UX Research to uncover foundational human truths.
Translate ambiguous behavioral insights into concrete, actionable, and innovative design architectures.
Act as a multiplier for the design organization. While you have no direct reports, you will mentor Lead and Senior designers, elevating their strategic thinking and craft.
Foster a culture of rigorous design critique, continuous learning, and intellectual curiosity.