Senior Experience Design Lead — Fixed-Term

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi; Palmerston North; On-site; NZD 134,000 - 148,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and benefits

5 weeks annual leave

Flexible working arrangements

Job summary

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) seeks a Principal Experience Designer on a fixed-term parental leave cover until end of April 2027. The role leads human-centred design across a large transformation programme, driving research through to detailed product design and ensuring accessible, customer-focused outcomes.

You will influence senior leaders, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and help elevate design capabilities across the organisation including the Design System and CoE.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading human-centred design for products and/or services.
• Demonstrated expertise in product strategy, helping shape roadmaps and deliver meaningful customer experiences.
• Strong communication skills to articulate design decisions confidently and influence senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor others, enhance internal capabilities, and foster a customer-focused culture.
• Proven experience in leading, influencing and building credibility with stakeholders, internal users and external customers.
• Proven experience of navigating ambiguous environments, including adapting to new challenges and working styles.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and pieces of work in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong experience working in agile environments, integrating research and design seamlessly within the product development lifecycle.
• Proven experience in leading design operations to enable efficiency (e.g. design systems, libraries and templates).
• Strong proficiency in research and design tools, such as Askable, Miro, Figma, and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Responsibilities

• Lead human-centred design across a range of connected initiatives from research and discovery through to concept ideation, validation and detailed digital product design.
• Influence at a high level, partnering with leaders, stakeholders and cross-functional teams to understand legislative changes and communicate insights.
• Provide design direction across delivery squads, helping teams make informed decisions while maintaining a connected view of the end-to-end customer experience.
• Lift design capability by coaching and mentoring others and championing human-centred design approaches across Waka Kotahi.
• Contribute to the evolution of the Design System, Human-Centred Design Centre of Excellence and Design Community of Practice.

Skills

Human-centred design

CX/UX

Stakeholder influence

Mentoring

Roadmapping

Communication

Leadership

Agile product development

Design operations

Research tools

Tools

Askable

Miro

Figma

Adobe Creative Cloud

Job description

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) seeks a Principal Experience Designer on a fixed-term parental leave cover until end of April 2027. The role leads human-centred design across a large transformation programme, driving research through to detailed product design and ensuring accessible, customer-focused outcomes.

You will influence senior leaders, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and help elevate design capabilities across the organisation including the Design System and CoE.