Manager, Product Design

Cambridge Investment Research, Inc.; Phoenix (AZ); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Premium benefits

Vacation & sick time

401K with matching

Paid holidays

Job summary

Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. is seeking a Manager, Product Design to lead and mature Product Design as a core enterprise capability. The role blends people leadership with hands-on design for strategic initiatives.

Based in Phoenix, AZ or Fairfield, IA, this hybrid position focuses 60-70% on hands-on work and 30-40% on leadership and capability building, with exposure to DesignOps and governance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years in Product Design, UX, Service Design, or related fields.
• 5+ years leading Product Design teams, incl. coaching and hiring.
• Player-coach: lead while actively practicing design work.
• Strong portfolio showing strategic UX leadership and enterprise design.
• Experience maturing capabilities in a product-led org: DesignOps, design systems, governance.
• Executive communication, stakeholder management, and change leadership.
• Must be located in Phoenix, AZ or Fairfield, IA with 3+ days in office.
• FINRA Series 99 and/or Series 7 license or ability to obtain within 12 months.

Responsibilities

• Lead design strategy, operating model, and governance for Product Design.
• Develop standards for interaction, visual design, IA, and usability.
• Strengthen partnerships with Product, Engineering, Data, and Compliance.
• Shift teams toward continuous discovery and evidence-based decisions.
• Build DesignOps: intake, capacity planning, reviews, metrics, governance.
• Produce design artifacts for strategic, high-priority initiatives.
• Lead discovery workshops, journey maps, service blueprints, and prototypes.
• Mentor designers and build talent and career paths.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate insights into product direction.

Skills

Leadership

Design Strategy

DesignOps

UX Research

Stakeholder Management

Product Discovery

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HCI/UX or related field

Tools

Figma

InVision

Adobe XD

Job description

Job Summary

Key Deliverables and Responsibilities

Cambridge Investment Research is seeking a Manager, Product Design to lead and mature Product Design as a critical enterprise capability within Cambridge’s Product Operating Model. This leader will manage the Product Design team, serve as a key member of the Product Strategy leadership team, and help shape exceptional digital experiences for financial professionals, associates, and clients.

This is a true player-coach role. The Manager, Product Design will be responsible for people leadership, design strategy, and operating model maturity while also remaining hands-on in the work by producing design artifacts for strategic, ambiguous, and high-impact product initiatives.

The role is expected to focus approximately 60-70% on hands-on design, discovery, research, journey mapping, prototyping, workshop facilitation, design reviews, UX artifact creation, DesignOps, governance, stakeholder partnership, and design strategy. The remaining 30-40% will focus on people leadership, product operating model maturity, and capability building.

What You’ll Do

Design Strategy, Operating Model & Governance

• Develop Product Design strategy aligned to Cambridge’s product taxonomy, portfolio priorities, product operating model, and enterprise product strategy.

• Establish standards for interaction design, visual design, information architecture, service design, usability, accessibility, research quality, and design governance.

• Strengthen Product-Design-Engineering partnerships and promote shared accountability for outcomes.

• Help shift teams from late-stage design handoffs to continuous discovery and evidence-based decision-making.

• Build DesignOps practices for intake, capacity planning, prioritization, design rituals, review processes, operational metrics, and governance.

Hands-On Design Contribution

• Produce design artifacts for strategic, complex, ambiguous, or high-priority product initiatives.

• Lead and contribute to discovery workshops, journey maps, service blueprints, workflow models, wireframes, prototypes, concepts, usability tests, and research synthesis.

• Model strong design practices through direct involvement in product discovery, customer validation, design critiques, and executive-ready experience storytelling.

• Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, Operations, Compliance, and business stakeholders to translate customer insights into practical product direction.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop Product Designers while setting expectations for design craft, collaboration, discovery, and product impact.

• Build career frameworks, competency models, coaching practices, growth paths, and future design leadership capability.

• Recruit, hire, onboard, retain, and develop high-performing design professionals.

• Foster a culture focused on quality, accountability, customer outcomes, learning, and cross-functional partnership.

Research, Systems, Accessibility & Emerging Experiences

• Establish scalable user research practices, templates, repositories, governance, and insight-sharing routines.

• Lead design system governance, reusable patterns, component standards, and experience guidelines in partnership with Engineering.

• Establish accessibility and inclusive design practices in a regulated financial services environment.

• Guide design strategy for AI-enabled experiences, intelligent workflows, recommendations, insights, automation, and responsible human-centered AI.

What We Are Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, UX Design, Product Design, Human Factors, Psychology, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, or a related field. Equivalent practical experience may be considered.

• 10+ years of Product Design, UX Design, Service Design, Design Strategy, or related experience.

• 5+ years leading Product Design teams, including coaching, performance management, hiring, talent development, and organizational planning.

• Demonstrated ability to operate as a player-coach by leading teams while remaining an active practitioner capable of producing high-quality UX artifacts.

• Strong portfolio or work samples demonstrating strategic UX leadership, product discovery, customer research, interaction design, service design, prototyping, and enterprise experience design.

• Experience building or maturing design capabilities in a product-led organization, including standards, governance, DesignOps, research operations, design systems, and design review practices.

• Strong executive communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, organizational influence, and change leadership skills.

• Must be located in or willing to work from Phoenix, AZ or Fairfield, IA with a minimum of three days per week in office.

• Current FINRA Series 99 and/or Series 7 license, or ability and expectation to successfully obtain required FINRA licensing within 12 months of employment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Financial Services, Wealth Management, Broker-Dealer, RIA, Custody, Advisory, Investment Management, FinTech, or another regulated industry.

• Experience with advisor workstations, onboarding, account opening, service requests, CRM, practice management, advisory operations, financial planning, portfolio management, compliance review, or client servicing workflows.

• Experience with enterprise SaaS, platform environments, digital transformation, complex workflows, product operating model transformation, DesignOps, research operations, AI-enabled products, automation, or data-rich enterprise experiences.

• Master’s degree, MBA, MS in HCI, Human Factors, Design Strategy, or related advanced degree preferred.

Preferred Certifications or Training

• Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification

• UXQB CPUX

• Human Factors International CUA

• IAAP CPACC or Web Accessibility Specialist

• IDEO Design Thinking, LUMA Institute, or Design Sprint Facilitation

• Product Discovery, Product Strategy, Product Operations, Pragmatic Institute, Product School, or Continuous Discovery training

Strategic & Product Leadership

• Connects design strategy to product strategy, portfolio priorities, customer outcomes, business value, and evidence-based decisions.

• Player-Coach Craft Leadership

• Models excellent design practice by producing artifacts, facilitating discovery, leading critiques, and demonstrating modern UX methods.

• People & Change Leadership

• Coaches designers, develops talent, builds career paths, strengthens accountability, and advances product operating model maturity.

Location: Phoenix, AZ or Fairfield, IA (hybrid attendance model)

Why Cambridge?

Cambridge has competitive benefits and promotes a work/life balance to encourage individual success.

• Premium benefit package including medical, vision, dental, life and long-term disability insurance

• Vacation/sick time

• 401K retirement plan with company matching program

• Eleven paid holidays

You can find more details about our comprehensive benefits package here.

Cambridge Overview:

Cambridge is a financial solutions firm that provides business support services to thousands of independent financial advisors. These advisors offer personalized investment services including wealth management, financial planning, and retirement services to individuals and families across the country. Cambridge provides significant compliance, technology, and transaction processing support to these financial advisors and their offices.