NYC: Product Design Manager, Internal Experiences

@ well-known Benefits / Payroll tech co helping SMBs

Location: 3 days/week onsite in NYC, with sweeping river views!

Comp: $190,000 to 241,500 base + pre-IPO equity in the form of options

The client:

Chances are, if you've worked for a startup or an established small-to-medium-sized business, you're probably already familiar with our client!

They're a late-stage, b2b2c Benefits / Payroll tech company (Series E, pre-IPO) with great name recognition in the tech space.

They’re also in an exciting stage of massive growth, and as a part of that growth, they’ve embraced AI in an intelligent way, both within their own Design process, and instilling AI into the products they make.

They provide SMBs - including many in the tech industry - high-quality, enterprise-level health insurance and payroll tools that smaller businesses and their employees wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

They also have an incredible culture, rooted in honesty, openness, integrity, friendliness, no-ego, and inclusion. “Collaboration” isn’t just a a word on a cheesy poster in their hallways; it’s their values at their core.

It’s truly a dreamy place to work, and this is a golden opportunity to lead one of their highest-visibility teams that will be instrumental to their growth ahead.

Their cred:

Fortune magazine named them to their Best Workplaces in New York list 5 times, and they’re also on BuiltIn’s list of “NYC Best Large Companies to Work For".

They’ve been in business for 10+ years and are an important player in the $40B HR Tech industry. They’re secured $160M in funding from top VCs including Bain, Thrive, Union Square Ventures.

Their star is rapidly rising; it’s a great time to get in the door! They continually expand into global markets and have grown consistently and intelligently year over year, including during times when many other companies were laying people off. 

They’re currently at 1300 total employees, with 35+ Designers, and have doubled their Product org in the last 2 years.  

What's happening there in Design:

We've known their VP of Design for many years and adore him. Since he joined this company 2+ years ago, he's steered Design into one of the most influential disciplines in the company - with reach and impact that extends well beyond the org chart. He thinks expansively about the present and future of Experience Design, pushing past the screen and into the full gestalt of the user journey, whether that person is a customer or a colleague.

This role reports into a Director of Experience Design who is seasoned and kind, comes out of well-known companies, and has a true gift for making her teams shine. We've placed people across Product Design, Research, Content, and Product there, and everyone is thriving.

The Role:

They're looking for a full-time, seasoned Experience Design Manager to lead internal experiences. 

This is not a role for someone new to leadership; they’re seeking a seasoned leader with at least 4-5+ years of formalized management experience who has overseen teams of 3-5+ people, who also enjoys being hands on in 1-2 projects themselves, too. You'll start with 2 direct reports with room to grow the team. 

This is Product Design taken to new heights in that it spans across an entire ecosystem: you’ll be designing for the entire revenue org (Sales, Onboarding, Customer Service and Success teams), Operations, and Risk & Underwriting. Essentially, everything a customer touches has an internal mirror that you’d oversee, and your team designs both sides of that equation. This team has earned its seat at the strategy table: they're the people you bring in to solve the problem, not just make the thing.

You enjoy 0 to 1 builds and have successes in that area. A lot of what needs to be built doesn't exist yet, so you’ll be instrumental in guiding that along and owning it all.

You're a systems thinker who operates comfortably at altitude: in strategy conversations, across org boundaries, and with influence that stretches well beyond your immediate team. 

Your craft leans toward service design, systems design, complex workflows, and information architecture - and you're proactive about where AI is taking the discipline, in terms of your own skillset and process.

You'll be:

• Leading and growing a team across a broad, interconnected ecosystem of internal tools and workflows
• Taking on 1-2 substantial projects yourself in a hands-on way, from 0 -> 1 tools to complex service and workflow rethinks
• Partnering with leaders across Sales, Product, Engineering, Operations, Customer Success, and Underwriting
• Helping define and elevate Service Design as a practice within the org

What They're Looking For:

• 8+ years of UX / Experience Design experience, with 4-5+ years formally managing teams of 3-5+ designers
• Deep fluency in service design and systems thinking - service blueprints, journey mapping, complex multi-user workflows, and information architecture
• Background in a highly regulated or operationally complex industry: fintech, insurance, healthcare, banking, or similar - or demonstrated ability to show equivalent complexity (logistics, government consulting, multi-sided platforms)
• Experience designing across multiple user types within the same ecosystem (think: the sales rep, the underwriter, the ops team, and the customer - all connected)
• A portfolio that tells a systems story - show us the problem, not just the solution, and what changed because of the work, for both the business and the people using it. Visual craft matters as a signal of taste and your ability to mentor others, but it's not the headline
• The tenacity to push past "make the screen" and advocate for design as a strategic, problem-solving function
• Actively incorporating AI into your design process and workflow - and thinking seriously about what it means for the discipline going forward
• Strong cross-functional influence and communication skills; comfortable in strategy conversations and knows how to bring people along
• Executive presence and a natural ambassador for Design's role as a strategic function

Recap:

• Location: 3 days/week onsite in NYC, with sweeping river views!
• Comp: $190,000 to 241,500 base + equity in the form of pre-IPO options

Benefits:

World-class health insurance, flexible PTO, a dog-friendly office, 16-week parental leave, full or partial coverage for Citibike, Talkspace, and fitness memberships, ERG groups, continued learning resources, wellness room, and more.

TO APPLY:

Apply here online, or email us at team@joanneweavergroup.com with your resume, portfolio, openness to 3x/week onsite in NYC, and desired comp range.

We'll get back to you if this looks like a good fit for you!

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