Director, Design

Why USAA?

At USAA, our mission is to empower our members to achieve financial security through highly competitive products, exceptional service and trusted advice. We seek to be the #1 choice for the military community and their families.

Embrace a fulfilling career at USAA, where our core values – honesty, integrity, loyalty and service – define how we treat each other and our members. Be part of what truly makes us special and impactful.

We are proud to support active-duty military spouses. USAA roles may offer remote or hybrid flexibility for active-duty military spouses consistent with applicable policy and business needs.

The Opportunity

We are a multi-disciplinary team of product designers, UX strategists, content strategists, and producers supporting our members that Bank with USAA.  We are built to operate at enterprise scale without losing the craft that makes the work worth doing.

As a dedicated Director, Design, you will apply expert knowledge and experience in human-centered design to direct high-performing teams through the design lifecycle, orchestrating the work of cross-functional disciplines to deliver a unified design vision for complex to highly complex Member and Employee experiences in a human-centered, data-informed, agile environment. Manages the performance of a multi-disciplinary team of design practitioners and producers, ensuring the conceptual integrity and quality of the work created by their team accomplishes strategic business goals and objectives. Creates a healthy, collaborative environment and removes barriers to efficiency, effectiveness, and well-being. Works daily to help direct reports grow in their careers and achieve their goals. Actively contributes to shaping the strategy and culture of USAA's design organization. Ensures key internal metrics are met and stay on track through each quarter.

This role is remote eligible in the continental U.S. with occasional business travel. However, individuals residing within a 60-mile radius of a USAA office will be expected to work on-site four days per week.  

What you'll do:

• Serves as a strategic partner by understanding business and technical models, processes, challenges, and performance metrics so that design efforts balance achieving end user goals with the goals of design's stakeholders.
• Champions the value of design and fosters a culture of empathy within the enterprise by building and maintaining trust-based relationships with executive and partner groups across the company.
• Oversees the facilitation of cross-organizational, cross-functional understanding of business problems and is accountable for delivering design solutions that achieve program and project objectives.
• Directs a creative review process to ensure coherency with design principles and the design language system through contribution and collaboration with the team.
• Actively participates in design leadership meetings and work efforts, helping set the vision for the design organization and helping the organization achieve its development goals.
• Provides thought leadership to deconstruct complex problems into clear and achievable solutions that increase the value of member, employee, and business outcomes.
• Builds and leads a team dedicated to design through recruiting, developing, retaining, coaching, guiding, performance management and managerial activities.
• Cultivates an environment and team culture aligned with the USAA mission and core values that motivates team members to perform to the best of their abilities, take pride in their work, be candid and direct in communication, and continually grow their skills.
• Ensures risks associated with business activities are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled in accordance with risk and compliance policies and procedures.

What you have:

• Bachelor's degree; OR 4 years of related experience (in addition to the minimum years of experience required) may be substituted in lieu of degree.
• 8 years of relevant, on-the-job experience in a Product Design, UX Design, Service Design or Design Research role delivering complex design systems for web and native applications.
• 3 years of direct team lead or management experience.
• Expert knowledge and experience in human-centered design to direct high-performing cross-functional teams through all phases of the design lifecycle.
• Mastery of product design, user interface and interaction design, visual design, storytelling, and prototyping.
• Demonstrated knowledge of data analysis and research techniques.
• Outstanding people management abilities; creates and sustains environment to succeed.
• Proven leadership and ability to influence at all levels of management.
• Demonstrated experience working in a distributive and agile work environment.
• Subject matter expertise in facilitation, collaboration, and presenting to cross-functional teams and Senior/Executive leaders.
• Expert ability to effectively communicate, both orally and in writing, to executive leadership, driving accountability and sense of urgency.

What sets you apart:

• Direct experience leading design organizations of 7+ people across mixed composition (Leads, senior ICs, vendor partners).
• Demonstrated examples of inheriting a team and improving its performance against named metrics.
• 3+ years in financial services, insurance, healthcare, government, or another industry with comparable compliance overhead.
• Able t You can articulate the difference between consumer-product and regulated-product velocity with examples.
• US military experience through military service or a military spouse/domestic partner.

Compensation range: The salary range for this position is: $164,780- $314,960.

USAA does not provide visa sponsorship for this role. Please do not apply for this role if at any time (now or in the future) you will need immigration support (i.e., H-1B, TN, STEM OPT Training Plans, etc.).

Compensation: USAA has an effective process for assessing market data and establishing ranges to ensure we remain competitive. You are paid within the salary range based on your experience and market data of the position. The actual salary for this role may vary by location.

Employees may be eligible for pay incentives based on overall corporate and individual performance and at the discretion of the USAA Board of Directors.

The above description reflects the details considered necessary to describe the principal functions of the job and should not be construed as a detailed description of all the work requirements that may be performed in the job.

Benefits: At USAA our employees enjoy best-in-class benefits to support their physical, financial, and emotional wellness. These benefits include comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, 401(k), pension, life insurance, parental benefits, adoption assistance, paid time off program with paid holidays plus 16 paid volunteer hours, and various wellness programs. Additionally, our career path planning and continuing education assists employees with their professional goals.

For more details on our outstanding benefits, visit our benefits page on USAAjobs.com.

Applications for this position are accepted on an ongoing basis, this posting will remain open until the position is filled. Thus, interested candidates are encouraged to apply the same day they view this posting.

USAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.