Senior Manager UX Design - ACC [AQ-25903]

Aquent; Bentonville (AR); On-site; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Aquent, collaborating with a leading global enterprise, seeks a senior UX leader to drive user experience strategy across a broad product portfolio. You will empower design teams, align with product and engineering leaders, and ensure intuitive, accessible digital experiences for millions of users worldwide.

You will define roadmaps, scale design systems, and guide research to translate complex insights into executive-ready narratives and actionable roadmaps.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in UI/UX Design or related field plus 5+ years in UX/UI/interaction/product design (or 7+ years with no degree).
• 2+ years of supervisory experience leading design teams.
• Experience with UX/Interaction Design, information architecture, wireframes, journey maps, and platform patterns (iOS, Android).

Responsibilities

• Define and champion UX roadmaps balancing business, technical feasibility, and user needs.
• Scale design systems and patterns across native mobile and web platforms.
• Lead end-to-end UX lifecycle for complex initiatives including journeys, IA, wireframes, and high-fidelity prototypes.
• Guide qualitative and quantitative research to validate hypotheses and inform decisions.
• Review PRDs and architectures to maintain design intent through launch.
• Mentor designers and manage performance, workload, and milestones.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Merchandising, Analytics, and Customer Advocacy leaders.

Skills

UX leadership

Design systems

User research

Prototyping

Cross-functional collaboration

Storytelling to execs

Mentoring teams

Education

Bachelor’s or higher in UI/UX Design or related field

Tools

HTML/CSS/JS familiarity

Figma/Sketch

Job description

Aquent is partnering with a leading global enterprise that is revolutionizing the retail landscape through innovative technology and unparalleled customer experiences. In this pivotal leadership role, you will have a profound and direct impact on the digital journeys of millions of global users daily, shaping the future of commerce by driving user experience strategy and fostering a culture of design excellence.

The Opportunity

We are seeking an exceptional leader to step into a key role driving user experience strategy and execution across a significant product portfolio. You will empower a talented team of designers, collaborate closely with cross-functional product and engineering leaders, and ensure that every digital interaction is intuitive, accessible, and highly impactful. Your vision will directly translate into tangible improvements that resonate with users on a global scale, fostering innovation and design excellence at every step.

What You Will Do

• Define and champion user experience roadmaps and design strategies that expertly balance business objectives, technical feasibility, and critical customer needs.
• Establish, scale, and govern robust design frameworks, interaction patterns, and comprehensive design systems across native mobile (iOS/Android) and web platforms.
• Drive end-to-end design consistency across multi-disciplinary teams, collaborating closely with Engineering Architects and Product Managers.
• Monitor industry trends, emerging technologies, and competitive benchmarks to anticipate user needs and inspire continuous design innovation.
• Oversee the entire UX lifecycle for complex initiatives, from user journeys and information architecture to wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes, and detailed design specifications.
• Guide teams in executing qualitative and quantitative research, user interviews, contextual inquiries, and usability testing to validate design hypotheses and inform decisions.
• Review Product Requirement Documents (PRDs) and technical architectures to ensure design intent and usability standards are meticulously maintained through launch.
• Partner with technical teams to develop functional proofs of concept, evaluate UI components, and troubleshoot prototype implementations.
• Manage, mentor, and foster the professional growth of UX, interaction, and visual designers, cultivating an inclusive, high-trust team culture.
• Set clear performance expectations, conduct evaluations, recognize high performance, and lead resource planning, workload allocation, and project milestone tracking.
• Act as a strategic partner and trusted advisor to cross-functional leaders in Product Management, Engineering, Merchandising, Analytics, and Customer Advocacy.
• Translate complex customer insights and data analytics into compelling narratives and executive presentations to secure strategic alignment.
• Facilitate co-creation workshops, design sprints, and cross-functional brainstorming sessions to drive collaborative innovation.

Required Skills & Experience

• A Bachelor’s degree in UI/UX Design, Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Product Design, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, plus 5+ years of professional experience in UX/UI, interaction design, or product design (or 7+ years of professional experience in these fields without a degree).
• 2+ years of direct supervisory or people management experience leading design teams.
• Demonstrated expertise in UX & Interaction Design, including information architecture, wireframing, user task flows, journey mapping, site maps, and platform-specific design patterns (such as iOS Human Interface Guidelines and Android Material Design).
• Proven ability in Design Systems & Frameworks, including developing scalable component libraries, setting UI style guides and templates, and producing precise system-level design specifications.
• Strong background in User Research & Discovery, encompassing qualitative and quantitative research methods, contextual inquiries, user interviews, surveys, persona creation, and synthesizing behavioral data and analytics into actionable design insights.
• Experience with Usability Testing & Iteration, including designing test plans, building test scenarios, conducting user acceptance testing (UAT), and iterating based on empirical user feedback.
• Proficiency in Prototyping & Technical Acumen, including interactive prototyping, proof-of-concept modeling, and collaborating with engineering architectures (familiarity with HTML/CSS/JavaScript and front-end solutions for Service-Oriented Architectures environments).
• Exceptional People Leadership & Talent Development skills, including managing and mentoring designers, setting performance expectations, and cultivating a positive team culture.
• Demonstrated Strategic Influence & Cross-Functional Alignment abilities, including executive storytelling, consensus building across engineering and business partners, and translating high-level business goals into actionable UX roadmaps.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Master’s degree in UI/UX Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Product Design, or a related discipline.
• 7+ years of hands-on design experience, with 5+ years in large-scale eCommerce, retail, supply chain, or enterprise environments.
• 4+ years driving UX strategy across multi-product portfolios.
• Demonstrated expertise in digital accessibility, including practical implementation of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standards and assistive technologies.
• Experience designing front-end user experiences interfacing with Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) and design system component libraries.
• Recognized design or design-thinking certification (such as IDEO U Foundations in Design Thinking).