User Interface/User Experience Lead Designer

CLA is a top 10 national professional services firm where our purpose is to create opportunities every day, for our clients, our people, and our communities through industry-focused wealth advisory, digital, audit, tax, consulting, and outsourcing services. Even with more than 8,500 people, 130 U.S. locations, and a global reach, we promise to know you and help you.

CLA is dedicated to building a culture that invites different beliefs and perspectives to the table, so we can truly know and help our clients, communities, and each other.

Our Perks:

• Flexible PTO (designed to offer flexible time away for you!)
• Up to 12 weeks paid parental leave
• Paid Volunteer Time Off
• Mental health coverage
• Quarterly Wellness stipend
• Fertility benefits
• Complete list of benefits here

CLA is growing and seeking to hire an experienced User Interface/User Experience Lead Designer to join our talented Information Technology team. The position offers growth, flexibility and a collaborative work environment.

In this position you should have the following; excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate at all levels. Strong problem solving and creative skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment. Most important, demonstrate a high level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results-orientation.

The Lead Designer owns end-to-end design strategy and execution for a product domain within CLA’s digital portfolio, translating complex professional services workflows into intuitive, scalable, and outcome-driven experiences.

As the senior design voice within cross-functional triads (Product, Engineering, UX), the Lead partners from problem definition through delivery and is accountable for business outcomes—not just deliverables. Design at this level functions as decision support, with outputs grounded in measurable business problems, validated user needs, and workflow adoption goals. The Lead challenges low-evidence work and elevates design as a strategic input to what gets built.

This role holds full design accountability for an assigned domain or horizontal strategy, setting standards for quality, practice maturity, and user outcomes. As a strategic individual contributor, the Lead manages stakeholder relationships, drives cross-team alignment, and represents UX in broader product discussions. The Lead also stewards design system integrity within their product surface and models best practices in continuous discovery, evidence-based decision-making, and modern prototyping approaches. This role reports to the UX Manager and partners with peer Leads to ensure consistency across the UX organization.

How you’ll create opportunities in this User Interface/User Experience Lead Designer role:

Domain Strategy and Business Outcomes

• Own design strategy and prioritization for an assigned product domain
• Connect design work to measurable business and user outcomes (e.g., efficiency, adoption, quality)
• Generate and communicate trade-offs that inform domain-level decisions
• Challenge or descale work when impact is unclear to protect team focus

Continuous Discovery and Evidence-Based Decision Making

• Lead ongoing discovery to identify high-value problems before solutions are defined
• Translate insights into clear, actionable product direction
• Validate concepts through rapid testing, feedback, and available data
• Apply modern tools (including AI-assisted methods) to accelerate learning and execution

End-to-End Workflow and System Design

• Own end-to-end design of complex workflows across roles, systems, and dependencies
• Decompose ambiguous processes into usable, scalable solutions
• Design across product boundaries, considering data, rules, and operational impact
• Balance long-term experience quality with practical delivery constraints

Cross-Functional Partnership and Influence

• Partner with Product, Engineering, Research, and business stakeholders to shape direction
• Communicate design rationale in business terms (outcomes, value, risk, trade-offs)
• Represent UX in alignment and decision-making forums
• Navigate ambiguity and organizational complexity to drive progress

Design System and Experience Quality

• Promote and apply design system standards within the domain
• Contribute improvements to shared patterns and components with clear rationale
• Deliver high-quality interaction and visual design
• Apply accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA) and behavioral design principles

Mentorship and Practice Development

• Mentor designers on craft, product thinking, and stakeholder engagement
• Contribute to team practices, standards, and knowledge sharing
• Support hiring, critique, and overall UX capability growth

What you will need:

• 6+ years of experience in UX or product design within complex enterprise environments
• Proven ownership of product domains or end-to-end workflows with measurable outcomes
• Experience working in cross-functional product teams to shape direction and delivery
• Strong portfolio demonstrating strategic thinking, decision-making, and impact
• Experience leading discovery and translating ambiguous problems into clear direction
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• Bachelor's degree or a combination of relevant experience and training may be considered in lieu of a degree.

#LI-DJ1

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
 
Click here to learn about your hiring rights.

Wellness at CLA

To support our CLA family members, we focus on their physical, financial, social, and emotional well-being and offer comprehensive benefit options that include health, dental, vision, 401k and much more.

To view a complete list of benefits click here.