Lead Product Designer (Remote)

The Lead, Product Designer is a natural collaborator and design thinker who translates consumer and business needs into innovative, human-centered strategic artifacts and solutions. They solve problems based on research, data, and industry best practices with a strong focus on service design methods and omni-channel experiences. Additionally, they contribute to the overall strategic direction of product programs, helping to lead the experience vision for a specific customer segment or experience area, leveraging their unique ability to bring others within product and technology along on the journey with them.

They partner with critical disciplines to ideate and communicate our product experiences, including Product, Engineering, Marketing, Analytics, Strategy and Operations.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

· Inform and drive an experience design strategy for a customer or associate-led experience program

· Work within and across multiple product teams to provide thought leadership and create intuitive and elegant product design solutions that solve complex consumer problems and drive business results

· Communicate solutions to stakeholders and executives in a manner that simplifies complexity and generates excitement

· Lead and develop user experience research plans to understand consumer and associate needs, opportunities, and pain points to continually inform an iterative design and discovery process

· Collect and synthesize qualitative and quantitative research to inform and validate design decisions

· Collaborate (and lead/facilitate collaboration) with Product Managers, Designers, Analysts and Developers throughout the discovery, design, and development process

· Create visual artifacts to articulate, inform and validate ideas with consumers and stakeholders (prototypes, wireframes, sketches, journey maps, personas, etc.)

· Create and oversee the development of detailed design deliverables utilizing and contributing to the CarMax design language system and pattern library

· Stay current on all the tools, principles, and practices in product design, prototyping and development, and drive for continuous improvement

· Facilitate meetings and brainstorming sessions that are organized and productive

· Mentor and train junior members of the design team on industry and CarMax best practices

· Advocate for ambitious standards of excellence in providing delightful and rewarding user experiences, and proactively support the team in achieving them

QUALIFICATIONS:

· Passion for technology and design, and the drive to stay on top of industry trends and best practices

· Persuasive communicator – able to explain complex or intangible concepts to stakeholders at all levels

· Good listener – weighs input from multiple perspectives when forming opinions and recommendations

· Collaborative and team-oriented work approach

· Solid understanding of user-centered design processes and ability to balance customer needs with business goals in developing solutions

· Experience facilitating brainstorming and product discovery sessions and getting consensus among a large, diverse group of stakeholders

· Experience conducting and leveraging user research

· Strong UX Design principles and deliverables, including rapid prototyping, site maps, information architecture, user personas, wireframes, flows, etc.

· Ability to convert ideas quickly into design artifacts

· Strong design aesthetic

· Ability to perform interface design critiques and supply objective feedback to designers

· Strong critical thinking and analysis skills

· Able to train and mentor others in UX design methodologies and best practices

· Experience designing solutions for web, mobile, and tablet applications

· Experience with Agile development processes

· Responsive/adaptive design experience a plus

· E-commerce experience a plus

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

· 5-7 years' experience within the field of user experience and UX design/development preferred

· BA/BS degree

· Portfolio or work samples showcasing UX thinking, creativity, and depth of thought coupled with fluency in best practices for UX Design, Visual Design and Front-End Development

· Experience in teaching role and/or conference presentations

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

· Have an advanced understanding of:

· Presentation methods

· Design principles

· User-centered design process

· Collaboration techniques

· Web technology

· Prototyping methods and tools

· Usability and user research methods

· Data analysis

· Agile techniques and methods