Director, UX & Design

Responsibilities

• Define and champion a unified customer experience vision for the Consumer Bank that is coherent across all segments, channels, and touchpoints.
• Develop a multi-year design strategy that balances near-term delivery with longer-horizon capability building.
• Establish experience principles and a design point of view that differentiates Valley's brand and deepens customer relationships.
• Serve as the senior voice for customer-centered thinking in executive and cross-functional forums.
• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing, multidisciplinary design organization spanning service design, UI design, research, and conversational design.
• Establish the operating model for how design integrates with product management, technology, and business stakeholders across all three segments.
• Foster a culture of craft, curiosity, and continuous learning within the design organization.
• Develop talent and career paths that attract and retain top design professionals in a competitive market.
• Partner closely with Business, Product, Segment and Channel Partners to align experience priorities with business goals.
• Collaborate with technology and engineering leaders to ensure design intent is faithfully implemented and that delivery velocity is supported by strong design operations.
• Collaborate with Risk, Compliance, and Legal to ensure all experiences meet regulatory requirements while still delivering for customers.
• Define and track experience quality metrics (NPS, CSAT, task completion, effort scores) that connect design decisions to business results.
• Establish a research and insight practice that continuously feeds product and strategy decisions with customer evidence.
• Drive accessibility and inclusive design standards across all products and channels.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading design across both digital and physical or service-oriented environments (not solely app or web).
• Proven ability to develop and execute experience strategy at an organizational level, not just individual product or feature scope.
• Strong fluency in service design methodology including journey mapping, service blueprinting, and systems thinking.
• Experience building and scaling user research capabilities that inform both tactical and strategic decisions.
• Familiarity with conversational design, voice UX, or AI-assisted interaction design.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and represent design at the leadership table.
• Outstanding communication skills: able to frame design strategy in business terms and connect design decisions to measurable outcomes.
• High School diploma or GED equivalent and a minimum of 12 years of progressive UX and design experience, including significant leadership of multi-disciplinary design teams.
• PREFERRED: Business, Finance, Technology or related field. MBA. Experience in financial services, banking, or other regulated industries with complex, multi-segment customer bases. Experience designing for small business and/or wealth management client segments. Background incorporating AI/ML-driven personalization or generative AI into customer-facing experiences. Experience integrating design teams through organizational change or following a merger or consolidation. Familiarity with contact center experience design, IVR/voice channel optimization, or branch experience design.