Principal Innovation Designer

We are looking for a Former Founder with an emphasis on bringing an entrepreneurial approach to an Innovative team!

About Variable

Variable is an innovation team within a Fortune 100 company. Our mission is to discover, experiment, and build exciting technologies that leverage evolving frameworks, markets, and new technologies.

We are committed to encouraging a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where innovation thrives. We believe in long-term, strategic investment in innovation and talent, and we provide a stable and resilient platform for our team to grow their careers.

What's the role?

This role provides a rare opportunity to disrupt and ignite the financial services industry. Every member of this growing team is empowered to explore emerging, next-generation technologies, trends, and complementary startups that we believe are poised for exponential growth and align with our core ethos.

Explore, Identify, and develop new forms of consumer engagement that deliver against consumer problems / needs within identified opportunity spaces. Work with engineers and product managers to define both the long-term vision for the opportunities we're exploring and the short-term tactics for our experiments. Work on very broadly defined, loose concepts, and on narrowly defined, tactical deliverables. It's an opportunity to focus on what you do best - whether that's pixel pushing, designing, strategy, coding or all of the above - you'll have the opportunity to grow in any way you'd like. You'll work in a highly collaborative fashion with the design, project, and research teams.

What you'll be doing:

• Vary between leading complex projects and creating quick experiments

• Identify areas of opportunity in emerging technology and be able communicate potential impact

• Facilitating design workshops for the design team and relevant partners, SMEs, and other collaborators

• Be an ambassador for user-centeredness and the strategic value of design across the enterprise, especially with your cross-functional peers and leadership

• Experience with front-end or various prototyping tools to quickly share and test design ideas

• Make research informed decisions to visualize a world beyond what technology provides today

• Proven track record of delivering impactful and appealing products that customers love

• Must be able to clearly explain your work, process, and decisions to teammates and cross functional stakeholders

• A learning mentality that allows you to share and apply constructive feedback effortlessly

• Flexible with different types of deadlines and project sizes

• Unmatched attention to detail and due diligence, with a data-driven approach to understanding what's required for great customer experiences

• Enjoy working with a diverse group of people with different areas of expertise

What the role needs!

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in a creative role (digital agency experience is a plus)

• Experience with industry standard design tools

• Strategic and outcome oriented, presenting work based on a critical eye to the business

• Can show both a grounded foundational portfolio of work in product design, and levels of fluency in UX research, content strategy, copywriting, and Product Management

• UI development experience a plus

If you don't tick every box above, we'd still encourage you to apply. We're building a diverse team whose skills balance and complement one another.

Benefits:

• Tuition reimbursement, commuter plans, and paid time off

• Highly competitive compensation that include base salary plus bonus

• Medical/Dental/Vision plans, 401(k), pension program

N ort hwester n Mutual pays on a geographic-specific salary structure and placement in the salary range for this position will be determined by a number of factors including the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; the scope, complexity as well as the cost of labor in the market; and other conditions of employment. At Northwestern Mutual, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. Please note that the salary range listed in the posting is the standard pay structure. Positions in certain locations (such as California) may provide an increase on the standard pay structure based on the location. Please click for additional information relating to location-based pay structures.

We are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you work or would be working in California, Colorado, New York City, Washington or outside of a Corporate location, please click for information pertaining to compensation and benefits.