Design Operations & UX Process Lead

Design Operations & UX Process Lead
- Long Term Project
- Remote (US/PT)

Title:

Design Operations & UX Process Lead

Location:

Remote (US/PT)
Duration: 6+ months long term project
Compensation: $70-80/hr.
Work Requirements: US Citizen, GC Holders or Authorized to Work in the U.S.

Position Summary
We are seeking an experienced Design Operations & UX Process Lead to establish, scale, and continuously improve our user experience and product design practices. This individual will be responsible for creating and managing the processes, frameworks, governance, and operating models that enable design, product, and engineering teams to deliver exceptional user experiences consistently and efficiently.
The ideal candidate combines expertise in UX methodologies, design systems, Agile product development, and cross-functional program leadership. This role will partner closely with Product Management, Engineering, Research, and Business stakeholders to drive a mature, scalable, and measurable design organization.

Key Responsibilities
UX Process Development & Governance

• Define, implement, and continuously improve the end-to-end UX design lifecycle.
• Establish standards for:
  • User research
  • Journey mapping
  • Information architecture
  • Wire framing
  • Prototyping
  • Usability testing
  • Accessibility reviews
• Develop governance frameworks to ensure design quality and consistency across products.
• Create repeatable processes that support both Agile and product-led development methodologies.

Design Operations

• Build and manage Design Ops practices that improve team effectiveness and scalability.
• Standardize workflows between UX, Product Management, Engineering, and QA teams.
• Establish design review, approval, and prioritization processes.
• Define metrics and KPIs to measure UX effectiveness and design team performance.
• Manage design tools, templates, workflows, and documentation.

Design Systems & Standards

• Partner with Design System teams to establish governance and adoption strategies.
• Define component usage standards and design guidelines.
• Ensure consistent implementation of visual design, interaction patterns, and accessibility standards.
• Promote scalable design solutions across multiple products and platforms.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Facilitate collaboration between:
  • Product Management
  • Engineering
  • UX/UI Design
  • User Research
  • Business Stakeholders
• Lead workshops, design reviews, and process improvement initiatives.
• Drive alignment on user-centered design practices across the organization.

User Research & Experience Strategy

• Establish research frameworks and participant recruitment processes.
• Create standards for gathering and utilizing customer feedback.
• Implement systems for measuring customer experience and usability outcomes.
• Ensure research insights are integrated into product decision-making.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify process bottlenecks and operational inefficiencies.
• Recommend and implement improvements to design delivery workflows.
• Benchmark industry best practices and emerging UX methodologies.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and design excellence.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in UX Design, Product Design, Design Operations, or Human-Centered Design.
• 3+ years of experience building and scaling UX or Design Operations processes.
• Strong understanding of:
  • Human-Centered Design (HCD)
  • Design Thinking
  • User Research methodologies
  • Agile and Scrum frameworks
  • Product development life cycles
• AI-SDLC expertise
  • Comfortable with all popular AI tools, and other popular design tools, be able to help our design team to identify a new process
  • Partner with product/engineering AI leads to complete this end to end AI-SDLC for the team
  • Required tools: claude code (enterprise and non-enterprise versions), figma, jira, conflunece
  • Comfortable with modern design PRDs
• Experience implementing Design Systems and UX governance models.
• Experience working with cross-functional Product and Engineering organizations.
• Strong facilitation, stakeholder management, and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading Design Ops functions within large enterprise organizations.
• Experience building UX Centers of Excellence (CoE).
• Familiarity with Lean UX and Product Operating…