Senior UX Lead – Product Design Lead (Remote)

Basic Function:

As a Product Design Lead on the M&T Experience Design & Innovation team, you will lead the process and engagement around building digital products to deliver cohesive end-to-end experiences. You will lead and mentor Product Designers working within a squad of agile teams to bring our experience visions to life. In addition, you will collaborate closely with other Product Design Leads and Service Design Leads to keep our visions and product experiences aligned. We’re looking for an experienced creative systems thinker who has the ability to flex across levels of altitude within the enterprise to solve for both tactical design problems and strategic business opportunities.

Overview:

The M&T Experience Design & Innovation team is a dedicated team of designers, developers, strategists, and leaders who believe in the transformative power of customer centricity. We believe that focus on craft and advocacy for the customer as truth are keys to building differentiated... innovative experiences. We lead by example — staying curious, doing the work, and challenging assumptions at every turn. We’re bold enough to believe that great design can exist at a bank, and that it can be a catalyst to bettering the lives of our customers and the communities we share with them. Our mission: Combine deep human understanding with the bank’s full suite of capabilities to provide personal, connected, and surprisingly simple banking experiences that help our customers achieve their financial goals.

Primary Responsibilities:

Shift from product planning to program planning, including:

• Envisioning and designing a desired end-state that meets business goals and end user needs/expectations, as informed by research.
• Utilizing user-centered design methods throughout the product development lifecycle to define deliverables and bring the experience to life.
• Partnering with developers to ensure their awareness of successful user experience standards and industry best practices.
• Exploring multiple user-centered design concepts through whiteboard sessions, wireframes and usability studies to gather end user feedback and continually improve the customer experience.
• Working with product owners to define functionality and end user requirements to meet desired outcomes.
• Mentoring all Product Designers within your squad and building knowledge of design thinking among product teams and senior leadership.

Lead, mentor, and potentially manage a team dedicated to the solution of undefined problem spaces (e.g. “How can we reconsider how people keep track of their bills each month?"); connect to and help evolve broader product vision.

Participate in and lead cross-functional meetings.

Lead cross-functional teams in design workshops, sprints, and related planning sessions using human-centered and design thinking methodologies.

Perform user/customer research in partnership with our Experience Research team.

Identify opportunities to leverage resources and methods across agile teams to ensure a more cohesive end-to-end experience.

Explore new patterns and practices while enhancing methodological toolkit.

Use storytelling and persuasion to build trust with cross-functional peers and establish long-term relationships.

Advocate for the customer perspective at any level of the organization with confidence and charisma.

Take an active role in recruiting and hiring new members of the team.

Understand and adhere to the Company’s risk and regulatory standards, policies and controls in accordance with the Company’s Risk Appetite. Identify risk-related issues needing escalation to management.

Promote an environment that supports diversity and reflects the M&T Bank brand.

Maintain M&T internal control standards, including timely implementation of internal and external audit points together with any issues raised by external regulators as applicable.

Complete other related duties as assigned.

Education and Experience Required:

Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 5 years’ technical experience, including a minimum of 3 years’ professional experience in user interface, user experience and/or interaction design, or in lieu of a degree a combined minimum of 9 years’ higher education and/or work experience, including a minimum of 5 years’ technical experience, with a minimum of 3 years’ professional experience in user interface, user experience and/or interaction design

Strong proficiency using pertinent illustration, photo-editing, word processing and presentation software

Strong project management skills and techniques

Excellent presentation skills

Excellent visualization skills

Proven experience interacting with various multi-disciplinary teams of professionals

Leadership Attributes:

• Customer Centric – Outside in perspective with a focus on improving the customer experience
• Curiosity – Seeks out ways to improve the customer experience
• Resilient – Respectful of broad opinions and makes tough calls with ease
• Driven & Prioritization – Self-motivated and knows how to say no
• Challenges assumptions
• Decisive & Lead taking – Sense of urgency with an ability to inspire followers
• Takes Ownership with a strong sense of accountability
• Interdependent – Communicates and convenes others – reaches across boundaries
• Continuously seeks out ways to improve

Education & Experience Preferred:

• Understanding of strengths and shortcomings of different design thinking methods, including when and how to apply them during product development processes
• Experience creating use cases, flow diagrams, prototypes, scenarios and wireframes to communicate ideas and designs to diverse groups of stakeholders
• Hands-on experience of designing for a variety of digital touchpoints and non-digital channels and supporting the delivery of those designs
• Experience managing programs supporting the full product development process, from vision to launch to iteration
• Project and people management skills; experience functioning as a project leader as well as an individual contributor
• Strong ability to mentor and educate others on the value and principles of good experience design
• Team player who is comfortable navigating ambiguity within a self-directed culture
• Ability to establish strong working relationships with colleagues, clients, and key stakeholders
• Extensive experience conducting remote and in-person workshops; strong familiarity with supporting tools such as Miro and Webex

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Location

Buffalo, New York, United States of America