Lead Product Designer

Position:                      Lead Product Designer

Reports to:                  Head of Design

Position Term:            Full Time Permanent

Primary Location:      Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Workplace Type:        Remote (within Canada)

Job Purpose: 

We are seeking a dynamic and innovative Lead Product Designer for our Mass Market activities and Digital Products. This pivotal role will report directly to the Head of Design and play a critical role in steering our digital product design strategy. The successful candidate will be instrumental in shaping the user experience and visual impact of our mass market digital activities and digital products, ensuring they align with our mission and brand values.

This role involves leading design projects and fostering a vibrant design community of practice within the organization. While direct reports from other teams are not part of this role’s immediate structure, the Lead Product Designer will serve as a mentor and support system for designers across various business units, facilitating knowledge sharing and consistent design excellence.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Design Leadership and Strategy: Lead the implementation and operation of the design strategy for all marketing-related activities and products, ensuring alignment with our organizational goals and user needs. Lead the end-to-end design process from concept to launch, including user research, prototyping and the build-measure-learn cycle. Navigate through ambiguity and adapt to changing scope as informed by the organization’s greater needs. Proactively prioritize design work to optimize and maximize its impact on business objectives.
• Design Craft: Serve as a role model whose taste other designers look up to. Contribute to and uphold design standards and guidelines as they relate to our design system. Effortlessly create highly effective UI that is second nature to meeting user needs and solving business objectives. Expertly craft end-to-end design solutions and experiences that solve complex problems.
• Brand Consistency: Work closely with the Head of Design and Brand team to ensure that all product experiences reflect our design framework and brand platform consistently across all external touch points.
• Community of Practice: Establish and run a Design Community of Practice within the organization, fostering an environment of learning, sharing, and collaboration among designers across different teams and business units.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate with go-to-market, partnership and product teams to create user-centred designs. Ensure design decisions are considered within the greater context across products and platforms and how they are integrated into product development processes from the outset.
• Communication: Present design clearly and engagingly and make even complex concepts easy to understand. Communicate effectively with stakeholders to ensure that design decisions are understood and that they directly solve user needs and business objectives. Seek and promote transparency and feedback flow between designers and other team members.
• Mentorship and Support: Act as a mentor and source of support for designers within the marketing team and across other business units. Encourage professional development and skill enhancement through regular feedback, workshops, and training sessions.
• Innovation and Trends: Collaborate with our Market-Creating Innovation team to keep abreast of the latest trends and technologies in digital product design. Advocate for adopting innovative design practices and tools that can enhance our digital offerings and user experience.
• Performance Metrics: Define and track key performance indicators for design projects within the marketing domain. Use data and feedback to guide future design decisions and strategies.

Desired Experience & Qualifications:

• Experience: Minimum 8 years of industry experience with a proven track record in leading design projects for digital products, preferably within a marketing context. A strong portfolio showcasing expertise in user experience design, visual design, and brand integration.
• Leadership: Experience in building and leading a community of practice or similar collaborative support groups. Strong mentorship skills and the ability to inspire and motivate designers. Experience as a design champion to grow the design maturity for an organization at large in the areas of strategy, culture, process, and impact.
• Collaboration: Exceptional collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively across different teams and disciplines. Experience in working within a cross-functional team environment.
• Communication: Excellent communication and presentation skills, a sharp focus and attention to detail, with the ability to articulate design concepts and strategies to stakeholders at all levels.
• Technical Proficiency: Proficiency in design, prototyping, and collaboration tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, Miro, Trymata, etc. Familiarity with HTML/CSS and basic front-end development is a plus.
• Education: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field.

Why Consider Us?

• World Vision Canada has consistently been awarded Canada’s and the GTA’s top employers. Other awards granted are for financial transparency, marketing, customer service and for the work we do in the field.
• We are Canada’s largest development, relief and advocacy non-profit.
• Competitive total rewards package.
• You get extra time off. We close for an additional day on long weekends, 6 times a year. You can get up to six weeks’ vacation, plus paid sick days, personal days & wellness days.
• Flexible work schedules, allowing you to prioritize yourself, your family and your work.
• Work from home opportunities.
• Opportunities to work with cutting edge technology.
• Opportunities for continued learning and professional development.
• Opportunities to become a member of our Employee Resource Groups.
• A creative and dynamic work environment, where your ideas and contributions can be heard, valued and respected.
• A supportive management team committed to upholding the highest standards of diversity and inclusivity.

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