Senior Director, Product Design & DesignOps

Jobtailor; Arizona; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor seeks a senior Product Design leader to mature enterprise design capabilities within a regulated financial services context. You will guide strategy, governance, and design system execution while partnering across Product, Engineering, Data, and Compliance to deliver AI-enabled experiences.

You will lead, mentor, recruit, and develop designers, establish scalable research practices, and drive Transformation of the product operating model with a strong emphasis on collaboration and

Qualifications

• 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 player-coach capability with high-quality UX artifact production
• 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
• Experience in financial services, wealth management, broker-dealer, RIA, custody, advisory, investment management, FinTech, or another regulated industry preferred
• Experience with advisor workstations, onboarding, account opening, service requests, CRM, practice management, advisory operations, financial planning, portfolio management, compliance review, or client servicing workflows preferred
• 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 preferred
• Master’s degree, MBA, MS in HCI, Human Factors, Design Strategy, or related advanced degree preferred
• Preferred certifications or training include Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification, UXQB CPUX, Human Factors International CUA, IAAP CPACC or Web Accessibility Specialist, IDEO Design Thinking, LUMA Institute, Design Sprint Facilitation, Product Discovery, Product Strategy, Product Operations, Pragmatic Institute, Product School, or Continuous Discovery training

Responsibilities

• Lead and mature Product Design as an enterprise capability within the product operating model
• Manage the Product Design team and serve on the Product Strategy leadership team
• Develop Product Design strategy aligned with product taxonomy, portfolio priorities, 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
• Build DesignOps practices for intake, capacity planning, prioritization, rituals, reviews, metrics, and governance
• Produce design artifacts for strategic, complex, ambiguous, or high-priority product initiatives
• Lead discovery workshops, journey maps, service blueprints, workflow models, wireframes, prototypes, concepts, usability tests, and research synthesis
• Conduct product discovery, customer validation, design critiques, and executive-ready experience storytelling
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, Operations, Compliance, and business stakeholders
• Lead, mentor, recruit, hire, onboard, retain, and develop Product Designers
• Build career frameworks, competency models, coaching practices, growth paths, and future design leadership capability
• Establish scalable user research practices, repositories, governance, and insight-sharing routines
• Lead design system governance, reusable patterns, component standards, and experience guidelines
• 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

Skills

Product Design Leadership

DesignOps Practices

User Research Governance

Executive Communication

Change Leadership

Education

Bachelor's in HCI / UX / Design related field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Design Systems

Journey Maps

Prototypes

CRM Systems

Job description

Jobtailor seeks a senior Product Design leader to mature enterprise design capabilities within a regulated financial services context. You will guide strategy, governance, and design system execution while partnering across Product, Engineering, Data, and Compliance to deliver AI-enabled experiences.

You will lead, mentor, recruit, and develop designers, establish scalable research practices, and drive Transformation of the product operating model with a strong emphasis on collaboration and