Senior Manager - User Experience Design Lead (PL)

Your Opportunity

At Schwab, you're empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us "challenge the status quo" and transform the finance industry together.

We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s).

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without employer sponsorship.

We are looking for an experienced, collaborative, and adaptable Senior Manager to join the User Experience (UX) team. This is a people leader role for a proven design leader who can develop high performing teams, influence cross-functional partners, and evolve how design is practiced at scale.

In this role, you will lead design teams responsible for Schwab's foundational platform experiences, including Accounts & Summary, Security, Navigation, and Digital Messaging. These experiences form the backbone of how client's access, understand, and manage their financial lives.

You will shape experience strategy across these highly visible experiences, guide teams through complex problem spaces, and leverage modern, AI-enabled design practices that improve quality, consistency, and speed at scale.

The UX team crafts effortless mobile and desktop experiences grounded in empathy, insights, and thoughtful planning. We are a multidisciplinary group of designers, content strategists, and researchers who partner across the enterprise to build trusted, intuitive experiences for millions of clients.

As a Senior Manager, UXD Lead (PL), you are responsible for:

Product Design Leadership and Execution

• Lead and influence product design efforts from early discovery through delivery, ensuring experiences meet user needs, business goals, and quality standards
• Define and evolve the UX approach across product areas, including interaction models, visual systems, accessibility, and cross-platform consistency
• Guide teams in designing cohesive experiences across desktop, mobile web, and native mobile platforms
• Ensure work aligns to Schwab brand, design system standards, and inclusive, accessible design principles
• Balance innovation with reuse by leveraging and contributing to design systems, patterns, and shared frameworks
• Connect design decisions to measurable outcomes by partnering with Product and Engineering on success metrics and learning loops

AI-Enabled UX Leadership

• Lead teams in the practical use of AI tools across the design lifecycle, including research synthesis, ideation, concept development, prototyping, content creation, critique, and delivery
• Establish shared AI workflows, standards, and playbooks that increase efficiency while preserving design quality, accessibility, and compliance
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Risk, and Legal to pilot, evaluate, and responsibly scale AI-enabled design capabilities
• Coach and mentor designers and content strategists on how and when to use AI effectively, building fluency, confidence, and ethical judgment
• Use AI-supported insights to inform prioritization, experience strategy, and decision making at both team and portfolio levels

Talent Management and People Leadership

• Lead and manage UX teams across multiple product areas, balancing delivery excellence with long-term people growth
• Set clear expectations for performance, provide timely feedback, and address performance related issues with transparency and care
• Build team capacity by developing future leaders, delegating meaningful ownership, and creating stretch opportunities
• Foster a culture of learning, psychological safety, accountability, and continuous improvement
• Proactively plan for resource capacity and skill needs across programs and initiatives

Team and Cross-Functional Leadership

• Act as a trusted design leader and partner to Design, Content, Product, Engineering, Research, and business stakeholders
• Facilitate alignment across teams by clarifying priorities, tradeoffs, and paths forward, especially in ambiguous or high stakes situations
• Lead cross-functional working sessions, reviews, and decision forums to drive progress and resolve blockers
• Influence roadmaps and prioritization by synthesizing user insights, business context, and design perspective
• Model strong collaboration, communication, and leadership behaviors that build trust and momentum

Your Approach

• Put clients first by grounding decisions in user needs, evidence, and long term value
• Use quantitative data and analytics to identify opportunities, validate design decisions, and measure impact over time
• Demonstrate a challenger mindset by constructively questioning assumptions and exploring better ways forward
• Set a clear path for teams by articulating direction, tradeoffs, and next steps
• Remain calm, resilient, and decisive in uncertain environments, helping teams navigate complexity without losing momentum
• Communicate with clarity and credibility, tailoring messages to diverse audiences, including senior leadership

Why Your Work Matters

• Lead teams designing experiences that help clients confidently manage their financial lives
• Your leadership will shape how design is practiced across Schwab — influencing quality, consistency, and innovation
• Help teams adopt modern tools and methods, including AI, to improve how we work and what we deliver
• Lead an engaged, high performing UX team that grows people while delivering meaningful outcomes

What You Have

On your resume, please include a link to a digital portfolio of your relevant work; make sure to include any passwords required*

Required Qualifications:

• 11+ years of experience in product or UX design for digital products or equivalent
• 3+ years of experience leading people or managing design teams
• Demonstrated hands on experience using AI tools as part of a design practice (e.g., research synthesis, ideation, prototyping, workflow acceleration)
• Proven ability to lead teams through change, including adoption of new tools, processes, and ways of working
• Strong facilitation, communication, and stakeholder leadership skills
• Deep experience collaborating with Product and Engineering within iterative, Agile environments
• Experience designing for mobile and cross-platform ecosystems
• An online portfolio demonstrating design thinking, leadership, and impact

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading or scaling AI-enabled design practices across teams or organizations
• Experience developing shared design standards, playbooks, or operating models
• Familiarity working in complex or regulated domains
• Experience designing conversational experiences (chat or voice) and other newer interaction patterns

In addition to the salary range, this role is also eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities.