Design Lead, Sponsor Experience

Who we are:

Manulife is a leading international financial services group serving over 33 million customers across the globe. Within our Canadian division, we’re hard at work to transform our organization into a digital, customer-centric market leader - evolving our customer interactions into innovative, immersive and highly functional digital experiences delivering high value.

The barrier to the financial services industry can be complex but it doesn’t have to be; our mission is to simplify financial services through making decisions easier and lives better.

The Experience Design team:

As the Design Lead, Sponsor Experience, you’ll be a part of the larger Canadian Human-Centered Design team joined by talented individuals in Design, Research, Content and Strategy, but embedded into our Group Benefits, Sponsor business where you’ll be the Lead Designer, as well as People Lead of at least one Product Designer. We’re big on collaboration, open communication and getting things done right. We’re looking to build and grow alongside talented, ambitious people who are driven to create a positive impact on the lives of Canadians.

Who you are:

• Self-directed and confident in your user experience design and product strategy know-how; you use and combine your knowledge of the market to formulate effective approaches.

• A big picture thinker; you know how to effectively balance product strategy with designing for the user’s best interests; you’re someone who knows when to challenge an ask and navigate to the root of the problem.

• Adaptive to change; you’re nimble and can easily shift focus working with different projects and teams in parallel. You’re comfortable with working in a large organization undergoing transformation with shifts in priority and people.

• Collaborative; you build trust with your team, customers and stakeholders by leading with empathy and curiosity. You treat everyone as equals, aiming for shared goals and outcomes.

• A strong communicator; you can effectively articulate and share your work with small to large groups of designers and non-designers alike.

• User-focused and analytical; you understand and appreciate the process of identifying users’ needs and can balance the pros and cons of different designs, backed by research and analytics.

• Experienced in user research techniques; you’ve created Information Architecture (IA) and flows, conducted user studies and interviews, moderated and unmoderated usability tests, and focus groups.

• Organized and intentional; you have experience leading UX planning, research and design for complex projects, ensuring alignment and owning UX and Product Design best practices. Project management skills are a plus!

• Have a growth mindset; you take initiative to seek coaching, training and to strengthen interpersonal skills; on the flip side, you’re excited to lead, learn and help others grow.

The role:

As the Design Lead, Sponsor Experience you will...

• Be a confident and empowering people leader who leans in with empathy, support, and a penchant for design mentorship.

• Shape the design craft, help us build the team and practice, and create the conditions for world-class work.

• Provide direction, feedback, coaching and oversight to designers while maintaining the necessary execution of UX artefacts and facilitating communication with product teams

• Be responsible for defining, articulating and executing the UX vision and strategy

• Ensure smooth end-to-end coordination between team members and external teams

• Be directly involved in execution of complex design work, including:

• Leading ideation, sketching, and prototyping activities

• Developing the information architecture, interaction design, task flows and navigation design

• Creating usability test plans and synthesizing research findings into actionable insights

• Coaching the team in how to deliver inspiring design by leading critiques

• Overseeing the output from team members to ensure consistently exceptional work

• Leading design review sessions with developers and project teams, getting consensus and approval on designs and documentation

• Lead, own and advocate for experiences that address what customers really need.

• Work with Product, Marketing, Business, and Technology teams to learn and understand business, functional and technical requirements.
  

You’ll also be:

• Contributing to the evolution and management of mobile and web design systems

• Involved in defining and improving processes within the broader Human Centered Design team

• Determining UX success metrics & KPIs

• Scoping and planning the delivery of UX activities, from an annual roadmap to Agile epics & sprints

• Designing and facilitating workshops with senior-level internal clients

You’ll need to have:

• Exceptional Figma skills!

• Experience fostering an inclusive climate of collaboration and innovation while getting the best out of diverse personalities

• A track record of big picture thinking and drive to improve processes and bring people along through a collaborative, documentative approach

• Solid professional experience working on complex web experiences (B2B, financial and transactional), with medium to large-sized teams, preferably in an enterprise environment or digital agency

• Experience collaborating with multiple disciplines including product, engineering, content, research, and more

• Passion for solving core product problems while owning all facets of UX (strategy, IA, interaction design and research)

• A balance of an analytical mindset, strong vision, and sound technical knowledge in designing for digital platforms

• High proficiency in human-centered design principles, user research, usability and accessibility

• Demonstrated aptitude for design leadership, via testimonials or performance reviews

• Well-versed in Agile project methodology

To apply:

We’d like to see a portfolio of recent case studies that show...

• Your depth of experience and knowledge applied in the real world on shipped digital experiences and/or products.

• Your experience leading and working with other designers, developers, and business teams.

• Your approach to problem definition, problem solving and the ways you balanced and/or negotiated business and technical needs.

• The ways you measured success.

• How you’ve contributed to an organization's design practice and/or team culture.

We thank all applicants for your interest in this position. Please note that only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

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