Product Design Director - HR Design

Capital One National Association; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 230,000 - 263,000; Full time

Job summary

Capital One is seeking a Product Design Director to join the enterprise design team focused on transforming associate experiences. You’ll lead a cross-disciplinary group of designers, collaborate with research, Product and Tech leadership, and define design strategy aligned to business goals.

This role emphasizes building foundational capabilities, leveraging AI-enabled workflows, and hands-on leadership as a player-coach.

Qualifications

• At least 8 years of experience in product design.
• At least 3 years of experience leading design teams.
• Experience leading design teams across UX, UI, strategy, content and research.
• Experience partnering with product managers, engineers, marketing and analytics leaders.
• Experience working within a design system.
• Proficiency with web and mobile technologies and platforms.
• Experience with design and prototyping tools such as Figma.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and relationship building across complex organizations.
• Exceptional people management and development skills.

Responsibilities

• Define design strategy aligning to business objectives.
• Lead cross-disciplinary design teams across internal platforms.
• Prototype and visualize complex workflows.
• Develop and maintain design systems to reduce complexity.
• Collaborate with product, research, and engineering partners.

Skills

Leadership

Collaboration

Communication

Strategy

People management

Tools

Figma

Job description

At Capital One, we’re building a leading information-based technology company. Still founder-led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairbank, Capital One is on a mission to help our customers succeed by bringing ingenuity, simplicity, and humanity to banking. We measure our efforts by the success our customers enjoy and the advocacy they exhibit. We’re succeeding because they’re succeeding.

Guided by our shared values, we thrive in an environment where collaboration and openness are valued. We believe that innovation is powered by perspective and that teamwork and respect for each other lead to superior results. We elevate each other and obsess about doing the right thing. Our associates serve with humility and a deep respect for their responsibility in helping our customers achieve their goals and realize their dreams. Together, we’re on a quest to change banking for good.

We’re currently seeking a Product Design Director to join our enterprise design team focused on creating transformational associate experiences.

As a Director on the HR design team, you’ll lead a talented, cross-disciplinary team of designers and collaborate deeply with our research teams and Product and Tech leadership. You’ll be responsible for leading high-impact, highly complex projects and defining and driving design strategy that informs the higher-level vision of the organization and aligns to business objectives.

This specific remit requires a leader who is energized by foundational building, experimentation with emerging AI enabled ways of working, and has a genuine passion for transforming internal enterprise tools into world class experiences.

In this role you will:

• Navigate Nascent Domains: Take the lead on defining the design strategy for high-priority, emerging challenges where the "target state" isn't yet known. You will be responsible for working with partners to move initiatives from abstract concepts to concrete roadmaps.
• Lead High-Complexity Product Design: Leverage emerging AI tools to drive the design of sophisticated internal platforms—specifically focusing on associate growth and performance experiences—built on consistent, repeatable, and scalable design foundations rather than one-off solutions.
• Standardize Complexity: You deeply understand the value of design systems in reducing technical debt and designer "swirl." You will oversee the creation of patterns that allow for high-integrity, repeatable experiences across a diverse portfolio of internal platforms.
• Lead Through Making: We are looking for a "player-coach" who remains hands-on. You will lead your team not just through management, but by prototyping, visualizing complex workflows, and learning through the act of building and testing real experiences.

We require not just a people leader who can tactically execute work, but rather, a strategic design leader. In this Director role, you will be expected to deliver on the following critical areas:

Product Design Expertise

Leverage established expertise and leadership in product design to elevate the quality and maturity of the design practice at Capital One. Leveraging a variety of skills across interaction, visual and service design; in collaboration with cross-functional partners, help to oversee and optimize the use of appropriate tools, platforms, frameworks and design systems and enable your team to develop artifacts that may include vision stories, journey maps, blueprints, high-fidelity designs and prototypes

Leadership

Create conditions for a positive and inclusive team environment and set a vision for an inclusive, collaborative culture that makes your team feel valued and heard

Human-Centered

Champion voices of both customers and partners, modeling the mindset that business and customer outcomes are not distinct but complementary, ultimately resulting in experiences that exceed baseline customer needs and expectations

Business-Focused

Demonstrate expert knowledge of products, processes, our customers, competitors and industry market trends, applying relevant insights to shape how Design should engage and solve business challenges

Problem-Solving

Share insights around technical advances and data capabilities that could influence outcomes, while helping larger teams navigate technical limitations and boundaries in service of bold technological solutions, data destinations and efficiency

Collaboration

Connect the dots across teams, portfolios, platforms and LOBs, bringing together partners and processes in ways that drive more coherent experiences, accelerate delivery and elevate the value of design

Communication

Present work across levels and job functions, modeling a strategic human-centered approach that integrates design frameworks, data and research insights to make the complex accessible, influence senior stakeholders and achieve impactful results

The ideal candidate has a strong portfolio demonstrating your leadership, process, results and impact.

Basic Qualifications

• At least 8 years of experience in product design role
• At least 3 years of experience leading design teams

Preferred Qualifications

• At least 10 years of experience in product design role
• At least 5 years of experience leading design teams
• Experience in a design toolkit that spans product design, service design, design strategy and content design
• Experience leading product design teams operating across UX and UI, strategy, content and research from strategy through delivery to market
• Experience partnering with product managers, engineers, marketing and analytics leaders across multiple business lines to shape strategy, OKRs, roadmaps and operating models
• Experience working within a design system
• Proficiency with web and mobile technologies and platforms, navigating technology considerations and constraints to drive sound product and experience decisions
• Expertise with design and prototyping tools such as Figma
• Experience managing an interdisciplinary design team
• Proficiency in business case development, grounding product and user experience decisions to business value
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and relationship building across complex organizations
• Exceptional people management and development skills

At this time, Capital One will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.

The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.

McLean, VA: $230,400 - $263,000 for Director, DesignNew York, NY: $251,400 - $286,900 for Director, DesignRichmond, VA: $209,500 - $239,100 for Director, Design

Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate’s offer letter.

This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.

Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website. Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.