VP of Design and User Experience

About the role

We seek an innovative design leader to reshape and redefine the future of educational technology experiences. As VP of Design and User Experience, you will craft the vision and creative direction for how learners, educators, and institutions experience our platforms. You will design intuitive, inspiring, and impactful experiences to improve measurable learning outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Develop and articulate a compelling design vision, creative direction, rooted in design thinking principles — emphasizing empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing.
• Empower teams to imagine what’s possible, unlocking new approaches to innovation and invention in education technology.
• Build and mentor a high-performing UX team, encouraging creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Establish design quality and craft standards and conduct executive-level design reviews.
• Work within the Product Operating Model to incorporate UX principles at each phase of product development, ensuring consistency with product roadmaps and delivery timelines.
• Establish scalable build systems and governance models, incorporating AI-assisted prototyping, accessibility checks, and personalization engines to ensure consistency and quality.

Qualifications

• Experience: 10+ years in UX Design, leading UX, Product Design, and Experience Design, with a proven track record in complex digital ecosystems or EdTech.
• Experience leading large-scale digital transformation initiatives.
• Proven success influencing executive stakeholders and organizational strategy.
• Demonstrated ability to connect experience investments to business outcomes.
• Education: Bachelor’s or equivalent experience, or Master’s degree or equivalent experience in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Learning Sciences, or related field.
• Expertise in UX Design, Craft and research methodologies.
• Strong understanding of learning principles and how building impacts educational outcomes.
• Familiarity with user experience tools powered by artificial intelligence, personalization technologies, and automation workflows.
• Extensive experience working within a Product Operating Model or comparable frameworks.
• Outstanding communication and storytelling skills to articulate vision and influence collaborators.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large, diverse teams and drive organizational change.

Benefits

Cengage is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless of any classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws. Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process.

Pay

The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location. Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range. In this position, you will be eligible to participate in the company’s discretionary incentive bonus program. This position's bonus target amount, which is not guaranteed and is dependent on individual performance and overall company results among other factors, is provided below. 35% Annual: Individual Target $192,500.00 - $300,000.00 USD