User Experience Lead

At Horizon Hobby, we inspire dreams and help build memories! Our company is the leader in the global Radio Control industry, celebrating 40 years in 2025! We offer tremendous opportunities for growth and development and a full array of benefits including discounts on our products! We are currently hiring a User Experience Lead for our Surface team in Ontario California!

This is a full-time, on-site position at our Ontario, California location. Working hours are Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.

Typical pay for this position is $70,000-$80,000 annually. The final offer for this position will be based on the unique experience and qualifications of the candidate selected. This position may also be eligible for a bonus not included in the base pay range.

The Horizon Hobby Surface Team is seeking a passionate and experienced User Experience Lead to represent the voice of the customer throughout the complete product development lifecycle of products for the Axial, Losi, Pro Boat, and TLR brands. This role bridges enthusiast-level RC vehicle knowledge with cross-functional product development leadership to ensure products meet or exceed customer expectations from ideation through post-launch support. The User Experience Lead will collaborate closely with Engineering, Project Delivery, Commercial, Graphics, Product Launch, and Brand Promotion teams to establish and maintain the customer experience vision for future products. This role is highly hands-on and requires extensive RC vehicle experience, strong communication skills, testing expertise, and the ability to proactively identify customer needs and translate them into actionable product direction.

The ideal candidate is both a deeply engaged RC hobbyist and a strong cross-functional collaborator who can combine customer empathy, technical understanding, testing discipline, and product storytelling.

Roles & Responsibilities

Customer Experience Leadership

• Act as the primary advocate for the customer throughout the full project lifecycle
• Establish and communicate the “why” behind future products and features
• Ensure customer expectations are properly understood, level-set, and represented across all project phases
• Own the overall customer experience vision for assigned products
• Proactively evaluate whether products will meet or exceed customer expectations at every development stage:
• Ideation
• Research
• Scoping
• Mule Testing
• Competitor Testing
• Design Brief Development
• Sample Testing
• Technical Approval
• PSOT
• Post-release support

Product Development & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Engineering, Project Delivery, Commercial, Graphics, Product Launch, and Brand Promotion teams as the voice of the customer
• Coordinate with the Engineering Manager to track and maintain project timelines
• Own design scope documentation, alignment discussions, and delivery coordination through engineering
• Collaborate in the creation and maintenance of Design Briefs
• Lead communication with Pro-Line (PRO) and Spektrum (SPM) regarding new project requirements
• Proactively hand over projects to the Delivery Team in a timely, accurate, and complete manner
• Participate in peer design reviews and cross-functional project reviews

User Experience Research & Testing

• Scope, schedule, lead, accompany, and report on User Experience testing activities
• Design, build, and drive test mules, including sourcing and ordering required components
• Conduct competitor vehicle testing and benchmarking activities
• Gather, interpret, and communicate customer feedback to improve current and future products
• Assist with testing and peer-checking of Surface Team and competitor samples in support of Delivery and Quality teams
• Define appropriate testing parameters and expectations with delivery and engineering teams

Media, Product Launch & Brand Support

• Support Product Launch activities and brand promotion initiatives
• Assist with ongoing product and brand promotion efforts
• Support Graphics and Marketing teams with technical visual assets when require

Essential

Skills & Experience

• Extensive RC car experience, including building, driving, tuning, and product evaluation
• Strong understanding of RC vehicle user expectations and enthusiast culture
• Excellent written documentation and verbal communication skills
• Strong organizational and project coordination abilities
• Ability to collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams
• Proactive mindset with strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite: o Excel o Word o Outlook

Desired

• SolidWorks CAD and 2D drafting experience
• Customer-facing, On Camera Experience
• Product testing or quality evaluation experience
• Familiarity with product launch support and enthusiast marketing
• Experience creating technical renders, illustrations, or instructional graphics
• Product Development experience in the RC Hobby industry
• Knowledge of and Passion for Motorsports and Automotive (1:1 and/or RC)

Physical Requirements

• Occasional lifting of office supplies and materials, up to 20 pounds.
• Ability to sit or stand for extended periods while working on a computer.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Benefits & Other Perks

• Medical, Dental, Vision
• HSA and FSA options
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Life Insurance and Supplemental Life Insurance
• 401(k) with a company match
• Paid Time Off
• Paid Holidays
• Internal Rewards
• Discounts on Products
• Additional Coverage such as accident, critical, hospital and pet insurance

Horizon Hobby is a progressive, innovative company and, as such, is constantly reevaluating and reinventing the processes and procedures associated with each job. The essential duties and responsibilities of this position may change at any time. In addition, employees may be asked to work on special projects or to assist with other work necessary or important to the operation of Horizon. Your cooperation and assistance in performing such additional work is expected and appreciated.

Horizon Hobby, LLC is an equal opportunity and E-Verify employer