User Experience Operations Lead

Workiva

United States

Remote

USD 177,000 - 290,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Restricted Stock Units

401(k) match

Comprehensive employee benefits

Job summary

Workiva is seeking a UX Operations Lead to bridge UX design, systems, content, and research with Product. You will standardize operating models, drive automation, and partner with Product Operations to scale rituals, tooling, and workflows.

The role emphasizes cross-functional influence and executive-facing communication. You will own budgets, vendor relationships, and the onboarding system while building a culture of psychological safety across a distributed team.

Qualifications

10+ years in UX operations, design/research program management, or a comparable operations role across multiple director-led teams.
Experience owning a budget and managing vendor relationships end to end.
Track record of building an operating model, cadence, or process from a low-maturity starting point.
Experience preparing an executive for high-stakes cross-org conversations and driving follow-through.

Responsibilities

Design and run recurring rituals, design critique routines, and decision-making checkpoints across all UX functions.
Prepare the Head of UX for Product Strategy sessions and act as the day-to-day UX counterpart to Product Operations.
Own the UX tooling and vendor budget; manage renewals with IT, Procurement, Finance, and Legal.
Consolidate communication channels and documentation; audit tooling (e.g., Figma, AI tools); pilot new tools with measurable outcomes.
Build onboarding system and reusable job descriptions, interview loops, and evaluation templates.
Connect Research Ops to shared rhythms and a leveling framework across disciplines.
Run executive reporting cadence and communicate UX strategy to the team.
Identify repeatable workflows for AI or automation with guardrails and measurable outcomes.
Foster rituals and engagement moments to build connectivity and psychological safety across distributed teams.

Skills

UX operations

Program management

Cross-team leadership

Executive briefing

Operating model

Executive communication

Influence without authority

Planning cadences

Research operations

Design systems

AI & automation

Tools

Figma

Jira

Confluence

Budget tracking tools

Job description

In the role of UX Operations Lead at Workiva, you will serve as the central bridge connecting our UX disciplines, UX Design, Design Systems, Content, and UX Research, with the broader Product organization. Your primary focus will be establishing unified decision routines and shared operating models to ensure the UX organization operates as a cohesive unit. You will drive continuous operational improvements by streamlining workflows, standardizing practices, and leveraging automation and AI for repetitive tasks. While the Head of UX and UX Directors maintain ultimate responsibility for people leadership, UX strategy, and priorities, you will support them directly and collaborate closely with Product Operations on joint operating models and cross-functional initiatives.

What You’ll Do

Rituals and Routines: Design and run recurring rituals, design critique routines, and decision-making checkpoints across all UX functions.
Product Partnership: Prepare the Head of UX for Product Strategy & Operations sessions, drive follow-through, and serve as the day-to-day UX counterpart to Product Operations.
Vendor Management: Own the UX tooling and vendor budget, manage renewals and procurement with IT, Procurement, Finance, and Legal.
Tooling & Ways of Working: Consolidate communication channels and documentation, audit the tooling ecosystem including Figma and AI tools, pilot new tools with measurable outcomes, and build reusable templates.
Hiring & Onboarding: Build the onboarding system and reusable job description, interview loop, and evaluation templates that Directors populate with discipline-specific content.
Research Ops & Leveling: Connect Research Ops to shared rhythms and facilitate a cross-discipline competency and leveling framework.
Communications & Reporting: Run the executive reporting cadence, communicate UX strategy to the team, and coordinate UX participation in annual cross-functional efforts.
AI & Automation: Identify repeatable workflows for AI or automation, pilot with guardrails, and use operational health measures to scale what works.
Team Culture: Create rituals and engagement moments that build connectivity and psychological safety across the distributed team.

What You’ll Need

Minimum Qualifications

10+ years in UX operations, design/research program management, or a comparable operations role across multiple director-led teams
Experience owning a budget and managing vendor relationships end to end
Track record of building an operating model, cadence, or process from a low-maturity starting point
Experience preparing an executive for high-stakes cross-org conversations and driving follow-through

Preferred Qualifications

Experience building operating processes, planning cadences, or shared systems where structure was limited or still evolving
Ability to influence without formal authority, facilitate decisions, and build strong relationships across disciplines
Experience preparing leaders for cross-functional discussions and translating decisions into clear actions and follow-through
Strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to adapt information for executives, team leaders, and individual contributors
Ability to prioritize a broad portfolio and deliver improvements in practical, manageable stages
Experience supporting a multidisciplinary UX organization spanning design, research, content, and design systems
Experience partnering with Product Operations on shared planning processes, workflows, or organizational standards
Experience developing hiring and onboarding systems, supporting competency frameworks, or coordinating research operations
Working proficiency with Figma, Jira, collaboration and documentation platforms, and budget-tracking tools
Experience applying AI or automation to operational workflows, with clear guardrails and measurable outcomes
Experience defining operational metrics and using data to improve processes, understand capacity, and evaluate adoption

Travel Requirements & Working Conditions

Up to 10% travel to meet geographically distributed team members, depending on proximity to company offices
Reliable internet access for remote work periods

How You’ll Be Rewarded

Salary range in the US: $177,000.00 - $290,000.00
A discretionary bonus typically paid annually
Restricted Stock Units granted at time of hire
401(k) match and comprehensive employee benefits package

Why Join Workiva

Workiva is the platform designed to bring confidence, control, and a competitive edge to the world’s most complex organizations. Our AI-powered platform unifies finance, risk, and sustainability on a single, secure foundation—ensuring data is trusted, traceable, and ready to act on. With an unbroken path from source to output, leaders gain confidence in their numbers, visibility into current and emerging risks, and the ability to move with speed and precision in a constantly changing world. At Workiva, you’ll bring technology to market that executives, boards, and regulators depend on. The work you do here helps organizations navigate uncertainty, maintain trust, and make decisions that stand up to scrutiny. If you’re energized by meaningful challenges, inspired by collaborative teams, and motivated to help organizations turn uncertainty into advantage, we’d love to meet you.

Employment decisions are made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status or any other protected characteristic. Workiva is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. To request assistance with the application process, please email talentacquisition@workiva.com.

Workiva employees are required to undergo comprehensive security and privacy training tailored to their roles, ensuring adherence to company policies and regulatory standards.

Workiva supports employees in working where they work best - either from an office or remotely from any location within their country of employment.