C2C Lead UX Designer Columbus, OH

Lead UX Designer
Columbus, OH
Contract

Department:
Design / User Experience

Experience:

8–12+ years in UX/Product Design, including 3+ years
leading legacy or mainframe application modernization initiatives in
the Banking domain.

We are seeking a Lead UX Designer to spearhead the transformation of complex, mission-critical mainframe applications into intuitive,
scalable, and intelligent digital experiences.
This role goes beyond designing modern interfaces—it requires
reimagining decades-old business processes, simplifying highly complex
workflows, and enabling organizations to transition from legacy
green-screen systems to modern, user-centered applications.
You will partner with Product Managers, Business Analysts, Architects,
Engineers, and business stakeholders to define the UX strategy for
modernization initiatives while mentoring designers and driving design
excellence across multiple work streams.
The ideal candidate combines strong UX leadership, enterprise design
expertise, systems thinking, and a deep understanding of legacy
application modernization. Experience designing data-intensive
enterprise applications and leveraging AI-enabled capabilities to
improve user productivity is highly desirable.

• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Architects, and Business stakeholders to understand business objectives, user needs, and modernization goals.
• Analyze legacy applications, including 3270/green-screen interfaces, COBOL/CICS transactions, business rules, workflows, and data models to identify modernization opportunities.
• Conduct user interviews, contextual inquiries, workflow observations, and stakeholder workshops to uncover usability challenges and business pain points.
• Facilitate Design Thinking workshops, journey-mapping sessions, and co-creation activities to align stakeholders on product vision and priorities.
• Translate business and technical requirements into actionable UX strategies and design opportunities.

• Define UX strategy and experience vision for enterprise modernization programs.
• Create personas, empathy maps, customer journeys, task flows, service blueprints, and information architecture that inform product direction.
• Simplify complex enterprise workflows into intuitive, task-oriented digital experiences.
• Design enterprise dashboards, reporting solutions, analytics, search experiences, workflow management, and decision-support interfaces.
• Identify opportunities to incorporate AI-powered experiences such as intelligent search, workflow automation, recommendations, conversational interfaces, and predictive insights where they provide measurable business value.

• Produce wireframes, user flows, interaction models, low- and high-fidelity prototypes, and production-ready UI specifications.
• Design responsive experiences optimized for desktop, tablet, and mobile platforms.
• Collaborate closely with Engineering to ensure accurate implementation of UX designs.
• Develop and maintain interaction standards, reusable patterns, and enterprise design system components.
• Create comprehensive design documentation and implementation guidelines.

• Plan and conduct usability testing, heuristic evaluations, accessibility reviews, and prototype validation sessions.
• Analyze user feedback, behavioral data, and research findings to continuously improve user experiences.
• Define UX success metrics and leverage analytics to measure product effectiveness and adoption.
• Advocate for evidence-based design decisions throughout the product lifecycle.

• Champion inclusive design and accessibility across all digital products.
• Ensure compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA (or higher) accessibility standards.
• Collaborate with Engineering to validate accessibility implementation and resolve usability issues.
• Establish UX quality standards and conduct design reviews to ensure consistency across modernization initiatives.

• Lead end-to-end UX activities across multiple modernization work streams.
• Mentor and guide UX designers, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Partner with Product Managers, Architects, Engineers, Business Analysts, and QA teams throughout the Agile delivery lifecycle.
• Present design concepts, research findings, and strategic recommendations to executive leadership and key stakeholders.
• Balance user needs, technical…