Lead UX Designer

About the role

The Lead UX Designer is a strategic individual contributor who partners with engineering, product, and business leaders to translate research insights and technical requirements into design solutions across the IT digital portfolio. This role leads end-to-end user experience for the most complex and high-visibility initiatives while defining the practices, standards, and culture that will guide a future UX team. The ideal candidate brings strong hands-on design expertise and is prepared to help build and lead the function as it scales. The ideal location for this role is in Appleton, WI. We may consider candidates within a drivable distance within the Midwest based on relevancy of experience (up to 25% travel would be required if the candidate is not in Appleton).

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end user experience design for key product areas and high-impact initiatives.
• Partner with engineering, product management, and business stakeholders to translate requirements and research into scalable design solutions.
• Establish and evolve design standards, practices, and governance to prepare for future growth.
• Drive user research facilitation in partnership with Product Management, including interviews, field studies, usability testing, and data analysis.
• Collaborate with cross-functional leadership to ensure design vision aligns with product goals and technical feasibility.
• Partner with engineering leadership to architect and maintain a shared, code-aligned component library that bridges design assets and reusable development components, reducing design-related technical debt and accelerating development velocity.
• Identify and prioritize UX opportunities to drive measurable business and user impact.
• Lay the groundwork for future UX onboarding, including defining role expectations and skill criteria.
• Mentor cross-functional partners on design thinking and UX best practices.
• Stay current with emerging design methodologies and tools to inform evolving best practices.
• Advocate for accessibility, inclusivity, and discovery driven-product culture.
• Live our values of High Performance, Caring Relationships, Strategic Foresight, and Entrepreneurial Spirit.
• Find A Better Way by championing continuous improvement and quality control efforts to identify opportunities to innovate and improve efficiency, accuracy, and standardization.
• Continuously learn and develop self professionally.
• Support corporate efforts for safety, government compliance, and all other company policies & procedures.
• Perform other related duties as required and assigned.

Requirements

Required:

• 7+ years of UX design experience with a strong portfolio demonstrating both individual craft and strategic, cross-functional impact.
• Demonstrated ownership of end-to-end design for a major product or initiative.
• Advanced proficiency with modern design and prototyping tools (i.e. Figma, Adobe XD, Claude Design).
• Demonstrated experience owning user research, design/product thinking workshops, persona development, and journey mapping.
• Experience partnering directly with engineering to translate design assets into reusable, code-aligned components.
• Strong communication and influence skills, with experience presenting to senior stakeholders and driving alignment across teams.

Preferred:

• Experience, readiness, or interest in building foundational UX team practices.
• Familiarity with design system governance, component library architecture, and scalable design operations at an organizational level.
• Experience collaborating with product and engineering leadership at a strategic level.