Senior Manager, Product Designer

When you join Sallie, you become a champion for all students. Sallie’s Education Services team is a diverse group of growth-obsessed entrepreneurs, data analysts, engineers, and developers with a passion for imagining and building scalable businesses for students and families on their unique journey to-through and immediately after higher education. We’re on a mission to revolutionize how students and their families plan, pay and complete this journey with confidence. Join a team of seekers, challengers and creative thinkers to change the way students plan for their future for the better. Summary We are seeking an experienced and highly skilled Senior Product Designer to join our growing team and play a critical role in expanding Sallie Mae's new Education Services division, "Sallie." This new line of business offers resources such as Scholarship Search, College Search, FAFSA assistance, and more. The ideal candidate will help shape the future of these products by balancing strategic user research and testing with exceptional design execution. This role will focus on driving user-centered design strategies while collaborating across teams to deliver exceptional digital experiences that align with the mission of helping students and families navigate their educational journeys. Key Responsibilities Strategic Design Leadership: Lead design discovery efforts, facilitating brainstorming sessions, workshops, and reviews. Present design concepts and user insights to stakeholders, aligning design decisions with business goals. Conduct website and product audits to identify opportunities for improvement. Create and maintain end‑to‑end user journey maps to identify key touchpoints, pain points, and opportunities, helping align teams and inform experience decisions. Design Execution: Create wireframes, user flows, high‑fidelity designs, and interactive prototypes. Utilize and expand the design system to ensure consistency and scalability across all "Sallie" products. Leverage AI‑enabled tools to accelerate design execution, including rapid prototyping, concept exploration, and asset generation, while maintaining quality, accessibility, and design standards. User Research & Testing: Collaborate with the Consumer Insights team to plan and conduct user research, usability testing, and analysis. Translate user insights into actionable design recommendations and solutions. Advocate for the user throughout the design process. Collaboration & Mentorship: Partner with cross‑functional teams to bring concepts to life through iterative design. Work closely with product managers, developers, and other designers to ensure alignment and feasibility. Mentor junior designers on design best practices and user research methodologies. Requirements Minimum of 5 years of experience in UX/UI design, with a strong focus on user research and usability testing. Demonstrated ability to lead discovery work and translate user insights into impactful designs. Proficiency in design and prototyping tools such as Figma, Figma Make, and FigJam. Additional skills are a plus, including experience with Adobe Creative Cloud, Photoshop and Illustrator for image editing and creative work, as well as After Effects and Premiere for video and animation. Experience managing and contributing to design systems. Exceptional communication skills with the ability to present ideas and insights clearly to both technical and non‑technical audiences. Strong problem‑solving skills and a proven track record of designing for web and mobile platforms. Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and their integration into designs. A portfolio showcasing a range of design work, including research‑led projects and high‑fidelity designs. Bonus Qualifications Familiarity with visual design principles for marketing materials, emails, and social media. Experience collaborating with marketing and branding teams. Benefits Competitive base salaries and bonus incentives. Generous PTO, floating holidays, and 12 federal holidays observed. Support for financial‑well‑being and retirement 401k with employer match. Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance and more. Employer paid short‑term/long‑term disability and basic life insurance. Flexible hybrid working arrangements. Paid parental leave and adoption reimbursement programs. Free access to on‑site staffed fitness centers (in Delaware) and gym subsidy for locations outside Delaware. Confidential counseling support (EAP), health advocacy services and wellness program with financial incentives. Tuition reimbursement and family scholarship programs. Career development and training opportunities. Equal Employment Opportunity Sallie Mae is proud to be an equal opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, gender identity, disability, Veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities in all phases of the application and employment process. To request an accommodation please call View phone number on click.appcast.io and choose option 9. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations. #J-18808-Ljbffr