Director, User Experience

Nationwide Insurance; United States; Remote; USD 134,000 - 202,000; Full time

Job summary

Nationwide Insurance seeks a Director of User Experience to lead UX practices, focusing on team growth and innovative design solutions. This leadership role emphasizes empathetic human-centered design, mentoring, and collaboration across teams to enhance customer experiences. Candidates should possess strong design leadership skills and a robust understanding of human-centered practices.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Life insurance

Paid time off

401(k) with company match

Company-paid pension plan

Business casual attire

Qualifications

• Typically, eight or more years of experience in human-centered design.
• Experience leading teams in a design process.
• Comfortable speaking publicly and explaining design rationale.

Responsibilities

• Lead and expand UX practice, fostering mentoring and innovation.
• Design and recommend innovative solutions balancing customer and business needs.
• Consult and collaborate with stakeholders to provide strategic direction.

Skills

Excellent communications skills

Strong interpersonal skills

Project management skills

Research skills

Analytical skills

Troubleshooting skills

Education

Undergraduate studies in User Experience

Job description

If you're passionate about helping a Fortune 100 company drive their strategy forward through innovative product development and advancing strategic partnerships to protect customers (and their pets), then Nationwide is the place for you! At Nationwide, "on your side" goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we're looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

The role

As Director of User Experience (UX), you will lead and expand our UX practice by fostering a culture of continuous learning, mentorship, and innovation. You will drive team growth through targeted coaching, structured mentorship, and upskilling initiatives, spearheading emerging design methodologies to keep the team at the industry’s forefront. Your leadership will inspire creative breakthroughs, strengthen cross-functional partnerships, and build a diverse, high-performing team dedicated to delivering exceptional, customer-focused digital experiences aligned with business goals. Additional responsibilities include advancing inclusive design, managing performance excellence, and supporting organizational success as needed.

This role does not qualify for employer-sponsored work authorization. Nationwide does not participate in the Stem OPT Extension program.

Compensation grade H4.

Job Description Summary

Do you have a keen understanding of the value that human-centered design provides in achieving strategic objectives and can you articulate that value to cross-functional teams and business partners? If you’re capable of leading teams through the design process to distill complex problems into clear solutions that exemplify standard methodologies and encourage others, then we want to know more about you!

As a Director in our User Experience (UX) organization, you’ll demonstrate a thorough comprehension of the design process and expertly lead teams through both the ambiguous discovery phase of identifying the right problem to solve and the detailed work of delivering desirable products. You’ll have opportunities to help teams turn complex problems into solutions exemplifying best approaches and inspiring others. We’ll count on you to be adept at articulating and defending design decisions in a way that cross-functional teams and business partners can understand. It’s important in this role for you to share our passion for creating exceptional experiences that have a real impact on people’s lives and futures.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

• Consults and collaborates with stakeholders, product managers, technologists, UX peers and others across the company to provide strategic, creative and technical direction.

• Advocates for empathetic, human-centered design. Helps mitigate risk by pursuing work based on insights and an understanding of our users.

• Problem solves, thinks big, and explores divergent ideas while understanding how to converge and build iteratively towards the best solution.

• Designs and recommends innovative solutions that balance customer needs with business viability and technical feasibility.

• Participates in and facilitates idea-generating sessions evaluating those ideas with regards to technical feasibility, business viability and human desirability.

• Able to think strategically and connect your work to a larger picture. Helps everyone consider the end-to-end experience and connect the dots.

• Mentors and guides the team in their craft and profession to continually uplift the quality of our work.

May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Reporting Relationships: Reports to Director/Associate Vice President/Vice President. Manages a team of five to 10 associates based on organizational structure. May be responsible for matrixed reporting relationships and virtual teams.

Typical Skills and Experiences:

Education: Undergraduate studies in User Experience, human-computer interaction, psychology, graphic design, information science, communications or related field preferred.

Experience: Typically, eight or more years professionally practicing some aspect of human-centered design.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Comfortable speaking publicly to large groups and explaining design rationale to other parts of the business. Proven ability to navigate multiple groups of collaborators, tell compelling narratives and influence others. Works independently with minimal oversight. Can provide leadership for all aspects of the design process, as well as areas outside our field of expertise.

Skills/Competencies: Excellent communications skills (written and verbal). Clear user experience design focus; familiarity with emerging technologies and the ability to integrate new technologies to benefit customer experiences. Strong interpersonal skills; able to work effectively, independently and collaborate as part of a team. Strong project management skills; ability to perform well on multiple concurrent projects while working under timelines. Strong research, analytical and troubleshooting skills. Ability to coach, mentor and motivate team members, establish priorities, meet objectives and promote a diverse work environment.

Other criteria, including leadership skills, competencies and experiences may take precedence.

Staffing exceptions to the above must be approved by the hiring manager’s leader and HR Business Partner.

Values: Regularly and consistently demonstrates the Nationwide Values.

Job Conditions:

Overtime Eligibility: Exempt (Not Eligible)

Working Conditions : Normal Office Environment. Extended work hours may be necessary during heavier volume work periods. Travel required as necessary.

ADA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.

We currently anticipate accepting applications until 06/22/2025. However, we encourage early submissions, as the posting may close sooner if a strong candidate slate is identified before the deadline.

Benefits

We have an array of benefits to fit your needs, including: medical/dental/vision, life insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date, nine paid holidays, 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off, 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off, 401(k) with company match, company-paid pension plan, business casual attire, and more. To learn more about the benefits we offer, click here .

Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.

This position could be filled within any of the lower 48 U.S. states.#marketingSmoke-Free Iowa Statement: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, its affiliates and subsidiaries comply with the Iowa Smokefree Air Act. Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed areas on or around company premises as well as company issued vehicles. The company offers designated smoking areas in which smoking is permitted at each individual location. The Act prohibits retaliation for reporting complaints or violations. For more information on the Iowa Smokefree Air Act, individuals may contact the Smokefree Air Act Helpline at 888-944-2247.
For NY residents please review the following state law information: Notice of Employee Rights, Protections, and Obligations LS740 (ny.gov) https://dol.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/02/ls740_1.pdf

NOTE TO EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES:

We value the partnerships we have built with our preferred vendors. Nationwide does not accept unsolicited resumes from employment agencies. All resumes submitted by employment agencies directly to any Nationwide employee or hiring manager in any form without a signed Nationwide Client Services Agreement on file and search engagement for that position will be deemed unsolicited in nature. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is subsequently hired as a result of the referral or through other means.

Nationwide pays on a geographic-specific salary structure and placement within the actual starting salary range for this position will be determined by a number of factors including the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; the scope, complexity and location of the role as well as the cost of labor in the market; and other conditions of employment. If a Sales job, Sales Incentives, based on performance goals are possible in addition to this range.The national salary range for Director, User Experience : $124,000.00-$238,000.00The expected starting salary range for Director, User Experience : $134,000.00 - $202,000.00

About the company

Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the United States. Nationwide is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s.

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