Design Lead

Modern Life; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Modern Life is seeking a senior product designer to drive design across our product and brand. This individual contributor role offers leadership scope and can grow into a design leader as the team scales.

Based in NYC with an open to SoHo office, this in-person hybrid role emphasizes collaboration with cross-functional teams from concept to delivery, and mentorship of external designers when needed. You will shape user experiences for life insurance advisors, translating complex processes into

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in digital product design; in-house experience preferred.
• Portfolio demonstrating ability to define, execute and iterate design solutions.
• Curiosity and experimentation mindset; exploring how new tools can help the work.
• Leadership experience or aptitude; able to direct other designers and freelancers.
• Systems thinking; evolve and apply a design system.
• Experience with a refined brand; execute with visual finesse and guidelines.

Responsibilities

• Drive design and user experience across Modern Life’s product and brand presence.
• Define, launch and iterate clear, usable, and elegant solutions.
• Translate complexity into clarity from research to pixels.
• Push the bleeding edge of design tools as AI capabilities evolve.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams from concept to execution.
• Direct and manage work from other designers and freelancers as needed.

Skills

Digital product design

Leadership

Brand guidelines

Collaboration

User research

Systems thinking

Job description

Join our team and accelerate your career.

Life insurance is a complex and consequential purchase that impacts hundreds of millions of Americans. With our powerful and integrated digital tools, expert support, and leading insurance products, we empower advisors to better serve their clients, grow their businesses, and bring the future of the industry to life.

We are a high-growth, AI-driven brokerage backed by $35M from top-tier investors, including Thrive Capital(major investors in OpenAI, SpaceX, Stripe, Instagram, Spotify, and Slack), New York Life, and Northwestern Mutual.

Join a passionate team of product-minded technologists and insurance professionals who are at the leading edge of a massive industry. Make a tangible difference in people's lives and help deliver our mission to help everyone protect what matters most through advanced technology and tailored advice.

This is a senior individual contributor role with leadership scope. Depending on the person, the role can grow into a design leader over time or work in support of design leadership as we scale the team.

What You’ll Do:

• Drive design and user experience across Modern Life’s product and brand presence
• Define, launch and iterate solutions that are clear, usable, and elegant
• Translate complexity into clarity in everything you touch, from research to pixels
• Push the bleeding edge of your approach and tools as AI capabilities continue to evolve
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional team from early concept through execution
• Direct and get the most out of work from other designers where needed, including external design freelancers — scoping, briefing, reviewing, and shipping

Your Impact:

• Enable our customers—life insurance advisors—to serve their clients more easily by delivering user experiences which improve the process of buying and selling insurance
• Influence product and company direction by driving design decisions that align user needs with business priorities, working closely with a tight-knit, fast-moving cross-functional team
• Raise the quality bar through thoughtful critique, high standards, and attention to detail across product, brand, and marketing touchpoints
• Contribute to building a culture of customer-centricism across the organization which results in consistently high customer satisfaction rates
• Continue to develop the design practice and approach in a scalable way

About You:

• 6+ years of experience in digital product design, ideally including time on an in-house team
• A portfolio showing your ability to define, execute and iterate impactful design solutions
• Curiosity and experimentation mindset; actively exploring how new tools can help your work
• Driven by tenacious problem-solving, deliver viable, desirable, feasible solutions
• Leadership experience or clear leadership aptitude; comfortable directing the work of other designers (including freelancers) and giving them what they need to be productive
• Systems thinker comfortable applying a defined system and seizing opportunities to evolve it
• Experience working with a refined brand; able to execute with visual finesse, uphold guidelines and apply good taste to design solutions
• Highly collaborative work style with stakeholders and peers
• Driven to build life insurance domain expertise through self-study, user research, pairing with internal subject matter experts
• Based in NYC and open to working from our SoHo office - in person hybrid 4 days a week

Bonus Points:

• You have experience and interest in working with complex B2B workflows and systems
• You are familiar with Service Design methods; experience working cross-channel
• You have formally managed or mentored other designers, or led freelance/agency partners