Director of UX Job Description Template

The director of user experience leads design across multiple teams, owning strategy, standards and the design organization itself. The role is where design gains or loses influence in a company, since it carries the job of demonstrating that design work produces outcomes rather than simply improving appearance. That argument has to be made continuously and with evidence, because it is rarely accepted once and then left alone.

Typical Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead design across multiple product areas and their managers
• Set experience strategy and design standards
• Own the design system and its governance
• Build and develop design managers and senior designers
• Establish research practice and its integration into planning
• Demonstrate the commercial impact of design work
• Partner with product and engineering leadership on process
• Own design hiring strategy and employer positioning
• Represent design to executives and the board
• Manage design budget, tooling and external partners

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in design or a related field

Required Skills and Experience

• 10+ years in design with 3+ leading design teams
• Track record of design work with demonstrable business impact
• Experience building and developing design leaders
• Ability to make the commercial case for design investment
• Strong design judgment across research, interaction and visual work
• Experience with design systems at organizational scale
• Executive communication skill
• Understanding of how design fits into product development

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience scaling a design organization
• Background in both product and brand design