Vice President, UX Designer – Equity Zen

Morgan Stanley • New York, NY

5d • $110,000 - $190,000

About The Position

Vice President, UX Designer – Equity Zen Wealth Management Platforms New York Plaza, NY About Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries. Morgan Stanley is committed to helping its employees build meaningful careers and we strive to be a place for people to learn, achieve and grow. Department Overview In the Wealth Management division, we help people, businesses and institutions build, preserve, and manage wealth so they can pursue their financial goals Wealth Management (WM) Platforms manages industry-leading platforms, across all WM channels and client segments, to provide a unified digital experience, unlock growth, and deliver efficiencies for Advisors, Clients, and Institutions. WM Platforms consists of ten sub-teams including: Field Experience & Platforms, Digital Client Experience & Platforms, Workplace Platforms, Automation & Workflow, Digital Trading & Investing, Generative AI, UX Design & Research, Strategy & Execution, WM Platforms Risk, and the Chief Operating Office. EquityZen, a part of Morgan Stanley, is a leading marketplace for pre-IPO investments, connecting shareholders of private companies with accredited investors. Through its category-leading technology and innovative approach, EquityZen delivers data-driven insights and tools that empower its 800,000 users to navigate the private markets with confidence. Having completed more than 51,000 private placements in nearly 500 private companies, EquityZen is on a mission to deliver “Private Markets for the Public.” EquityZen is looking for a highly technical and visually driven VP, UX Design (Platforms) to architect scalable, intuitive platforms and join our growing team. What you’ll do in the role: Take ultimate ownership of highly complex, mission-critical UX/UI workstreams and large-scale design initiatives that scale the EquityZen platform and drive tangible business results. Partner deeply and continuously with Technology and Product leadership to translate broad business objectives and intricate financial workflows into intuitive, scalable, and accessible user experiences. Lead, mentor, and align cross-functional design pods (including AVPs and Associates), ensuring rigorous execution, high-quality visual output, and timely delivery across parallel, high-priority workstreams. Drive complex project execution by optimizing design operations and lean/agile processes between Design, Product, and Technology, actively clearing bottlenecks and prioritizing design resources. Serve as the primary design bridge between business stakeholders (Sales, Operations, Compliance) and Technology, ensuring that strict regulatory requirements and complex business rules are seamlessly integrated into elegant user interfaces. Oversee the strategic development and governance of EquityZen's enterprise design system, ensuring consistency across comprehensive user flows, prototypes, and high-fidelity mockups. Synthesize large bodies of qualitative user research, usability testing data, and system performance metrics to iterate on complex workflows, ensuring platforms scale effectively with business growth.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive UX/UI or product design experience, with a significant portion dedicated to owning large-scale, technically complex design workstreams and managing design teams.
• Deep industry expertise in Fintech, Wealthtech, private markets, or heavily regulated financial services, with a strong grasp of how to design for operational and technical complexities.
• Undergraduate degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Technology, or a related field; a strong technical understanding of front-end capabilities is required.
• A world-class portfolio demonstrating a proven track record of successfully delivering massive, cross-functional design initiatives from inception to launch in a lean and agile organization.
• Mastery of Figma and the Adobe Creative Suite, with expert-level experience building, scaling, and governing enterprise design systems and delivering developer-ready assets.
• Exceptional technical aptitude and professional experience partnering intimately with Technology teams; must possess the ability to engage deeply in implementation discussions to ensure design fidelity and understand technical trade-offs.
• Elite oral, written, and visual communication skills necessary to write comprehensive design documentation, translate technical constraints to executive stakeholders, and align diverse teams around strict delivery goals.
• Entrepreneurial drive and resilience; a hands-on champion who thrives in executing through the uncertainty of complex platform overhauls and possesses a deep passion for teaching and elevating the design standards of the broader team

Responsibilities

• Take ultimate ownership of highly complex, mission-critical UX/UI workstreams and large-scale design initiatives that scale the EquityZen platform and drive tangible business results.
• Partner deeply and continuously with Technology and Product leadership to translate broad business objectives and intricate financial workflows into intuitive, scalable, and accessible user experiences.
• Lead, mentor, and align cross-functional design pods (including AVPs and Associates), ensuring rigorous execution, high-quality visual output, and timely delivery across parallel, high-priority workstreams.
• Drive complex project execution by optimizing design operations and lean/agile processes between Design, Product, and Technology, actively clearing bottlenecks and prioritizing design resources.
• Serve as the primary design bridge between business stakeholders (Sales, Operations, Compliance) and Technology, ensuring that strict regulatory requirements and complex business rules are seamlessly integrated into elegant user interfaces.
• Oversee the strategic development and governance of EquityZen's enterprise design system, ensuring consistency across comprehensive user flows, prototypes, and high-fidelity mockups.
• Synthesize large bodies of qualitative user research, usability testing data, and system performance metrics to iterate on complex workflows, ensuring platforms scale effectively with business growth.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees