Sr Design Lead (UX Architect), Design System and Accessibility

Company Information
Solid reputation, passionate people and endless opportunities. That's Travelers. Our superior financial strength and consistent record of strong operating returns mean security for our customers - and opportunities for our employees. You will find Travelers to be full of energy and a workplace in which you truly can make a difference.

Job Summary
Are you a strategic thinker who cares deeply about the details? Do you confidently facilitate group sessions and present to stakeholders? Enjoy analyzing diverse inputs and finding patterns in the complexity? Love to iterate on concepts, using testing and experimentation to learn as you go? Dedicated to creating accessible, delightful, and effective digital experiences? If this is you, we need you on our Design System Team.

The Travelers Design System was created so that we can offer exceptional experiences for customers, partners, and employees at scale and with consistency. With the growth of our design system and the pace of digital transformation across the company, we need a design leader to help the team tackle the next phase. As the UX architect, you'll work closely with the product manager, the team, and stakeholders to understand the needs of our users and guide our design strategy. You'll leverage insights to define and prioritize the creation of interface patterns and content. You'll also serve as a key point of contact for other teams across the enterprise using the design system, providing coaching and consulting to ensure they deliver exceptional product experiences, while working with the team to gather insights that help us improve the Design System.


Primary Job Duties & Responsibilities

Lead the team in planning and conducting cooperative design and critique sessions, user interviews, testing, and other research activities.
Ensure exceptional craftsmanship in design artifacts, including personas, user flows, IA maps, pattern comps, prototypes, and more.
Work closely with the developers on our team to create accessible, standards-compliant, reusable interface patterns.
Support the product manager to run continuous prioritization efforts and drive an outcome-based approach to all work.
Collaborate with product designers, product owners, developers, and business stakeholders to support adoption and gather input.
Take part in continuous improvement efforts, finding opportunities to make our work more effective.
Provide input to ensure we have adequate capacity for sustaining and advancing the Design System.
Engage with vendors to ensure we leverage the design system across all touch points.
Serve as a leader in our experience design practice, helping to recruit new members, coach more junior designers, improve processes and tools, and build a mature, high-performing design group.



Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in graphic design, psychology, human factors, social sciences or related field or 5 years of User Experience work experience required.

Education, Work Experience & Knowledge
Typical incumbent experience level 8+ years Experience advocating for user design at an organizational level.

Job Specific & Technical Skills & Competencies

Mastery of common information architecture and interaction design methods and artifacts, such as site maps, taxonomies, flow diagrams, mental models, content inventories, wireframes, etc.
Proven ability to facilitate diverse groups of stakeholders and users in workshops and meetings, sometimes with minimal planning, and providing a productive, enjoyable, collaborative experience.
Strong understanding of front-end web technologies and development approaches, including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, mobile-first responsive web design, and accessibility best practices.
Excellent writing and editing skills, and the ability to create clear, simple references and guidelines for complex concepts.
Knowledge of accessibility standards (Section 508 Refresh/WCAG 2.0) and experience with their application in digital product design.
Experience with creating or working on pattern libraries, style guides, or design systems, especially with a focus on accessibility and inclusive design.
Experience designing and conducting user research activities (e.g. surveys, interviews, tests, observation), and evaluating results to create actionable insights.
Experience championing and growing a user-centric, product-oriented culture, including usability and accessibility standards and practices.
Familiarity with lean and agile principles, approaches, and methods for creating and delivering products and services.
Familiarity with popular software for UI design and prototyping, such as Sketch, InVision, Figma, Axure, etc.
Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, and the ability to be a change agent in a large, complex organization.



Environmental/Work Schedules/Other
Work Schedules Weekend work hours (Occasionally) Other Travel (Occasionally)

Physical Requirements
Operates standard office equipment (Continuously) Sitting (Can stand at will) (Continuously) Use of Keyboards, Sporadic 10-Key (Continuously) Driving (Occasionally)

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
Travelers is an equal opportunity employer.