We are looking for a UX Design Lead to join our team. A candidate in this role will lead the creation of customer-centered concepts, prototypes, and front end designs. They will have deep empathy for user needs and behaviors with a solid understanding of how to leverage design research. They understand how to express business model, brand, and growth strategy within the user flows they shape. For earlier explorations they are proficient at clearing low-fidelity, sketch level concepts for research; for later phases, they are skilled in Figma and high-fidelity design all the way to production; and, they have a passion for details and design systems. This team member will be working under a Partner and a Project Lead and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to scope, design, concept test and deliver innovative solutions.

About Runyon

Runyon is a product design and venture studio that helps companies grow. We are a team of customer-centered designers, researchers, and strategists that crafts new products, experiences and ventures. Our approach combines customer needs and behaviors with leading edge business strategy. Our work is sprint- and prototype-driven and we think about how we can craft strategies and products into the market in ways that are meaningful and measured from the start. Our team has decades of experience working with some of the largest global partners including Disney, The New York Times, American Express, Target and others.

• We're prototyping-led. We lead with tangible assumptions in the form of prototypes and test them with real stakeholders to validate and refine our strategy and design. Regardless of discipline, we think and communicate in concepts, and use those to move further, faster.
• We're detailed and intentional. We always back up our design decisions with sound reasoning—be it user research, market research, or both. We make things that make sense and that have a clear through line.
• We're fast. We work almost exclusively in sprints, and with lean teams. We need folks who like to run.
• We're collaborative. We jam as a multidisciplinary team of specialists who collectively contribute to the full spectrum of work across user research, strategy and design to arrive at high quality outcomes.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Engage with design research, design directors, and client partners to understand design success criteria, including business goals, market opportunities and user needs
• Work with strategic design to gain an understanding of user personas, pain points and journeys
• Generate or translate insights from qualitative design research sessions into UX concepts and iterations 
• Craft strategically sound concepts, functional and beautiful user flows, and interactive prototypes 
• Create narratives that help tell the story of the work in an impactful way to stakeholders
• Establish deep partnerships across the cross-functional team, thereby establishing a space where ideas readily flow and everyone feels empowered to do their best work
• Communicate clearly with teammates, and present work appropriately (verbally and in client-facing decks).

QUALIFICATIONS 

• 7 years of professional experience in experience design (or the equivalent) at a design studio or internally on a product team within an organization
• A portfolio of work that demonstrates your expertise in creating delightful, highly usable designs and layouts, and a propensity towards simplification
• Demonstrated leadership and craftsmanship in either zero-to-one product/service design OR design system creation and implementation
• Experience with contemporary design and prototyping tools and methods, inclusive of setting up Figma files for wireframes, visual designs, prototypes, and design systems
• Strong communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills including the ability to communicate design concepts clearly and persuasively across different audiences and varying levels of the organization
• A passion for creating products that meet people's functional and emotional needs
• You thrive in ambiguity, and have a propensity to experiment with generative ideas in order to identify the most innovative and disruptive solutions