Product Design Lead

Posted Mar 6

Work Arrangement: As the Experience Team for a community bank, we believe that our “office” may be anywhere our customers and employees live, work and play. So while our team members may not be required to come into an office on a set schedule, we are expected to engage in purposeful, in-person collaboration and to be active participants in the M&T community and the communities we serve. This may require quarterly to monthly travel within the M&T bank footprint.

Ideally, this will be a hybrid or remote position located near an M&T Bank office location, preferably in the Buffalo, NY, New York, NY, Boston, MA, Bridgeport, CT, Baltimore, MD, or Wilmington, DE areas. Depending upon the location of the final candidate and the needs of the team the position may remote within the M&T Bank footprint (CT, DE, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT, VA or DC), with travel required as referenced above.

Overview:

As a Product Design Lead on the M&T Experience Design & Innovation team, you will support the organization and our business partners in our efforts to evolve the platforms we leverage to deliver accessible services to users of our Mobile and Online Banking experiences - helping the organization both see a better future for its offerings, while ensuring continuous improvement on the services currently available. You will support the definition and discovery of epics, break them down into design features for yourself and your team, and ensure the production of high quality experience designs for our customers alongside the broader team.

You will also provide leadership for members of your team regarding Research and Design quality, and provide critical feedback both on how your team members wield the design process, and the outputs they produce, in partnership with the CX Team Lead.

Primary Responsibilities:

  • Shift between product planning, program planning, and design execution, including:
  • Envision and design a desired end-state that meets business goals and end user needs/expectations, as informed by research.
  • Utilize user-centered design methods throughout the product development lifecycle to define deliverables and bring the experience to life.
  • Partner with developers to ensure their awareness of successful user experience standards and industry best practices.
  • Explore multiple user-centered design concepts through whiteboard sessions, wireframes and usability studies to gather end user feedback and continually improve the customer experience.
  • Work with product owners to define functionality and end user requirements to meet desired outcomes.
  • Mentor Product Designers across your teams and building knowledge of design thinking among product teams and senior leadership.
  • Lead, mentor, and potentially manage a team dedicated across product spaces; connect to and help evolve broader product vision.
  • Lead and participate in cross-functional meetings.
  • Lead cross-functional teams in design workshops, sprints, and related planning sessions using human-centered and design thinking methodologies.
  • Plan and perform user/customer research in partnership with our Experience Research team.
  • Identify opportunities to leverage resources and methods across teams to ensure a more cohesive end-to-end experience.
  • Explore new patterns and practices while enhancing methodological toolkit. May contribute to the development of new practices.
  • Use storytelling and persuasion to build trust with cross-functional peers and establish long-term relationships.
  • Advocate for the customer perspective at any level of the organization with confidence and charisma.
  • Take an active role in recruiting and hiring new members of the team.
  • Adhere to applicable compliance/operational risk controls in accordance with Company or regulatory standards and policies.
  • Promote an environment that supports diversity and reflects the M&T Bank brand.
  • Maintain M&T internal control standards, including timely implementation of internal and external audit points together with any issues raised by external regulators as applicable.
  • Complete other related duties as assigned.

Scope of Responsibilities:

The M&T Experience Design & Innovation team is a dedicated team of designers, developers, strategists, and leaders who believe in the transformative power of customer centricity. We believe that focus on craft and advocacy for the customer as truth are keys to building differentiated, innovative experiences. We lead by example — staying curious, doing the work, and challenging assumptions at every turn. We’re bold enough to believe that great design can exist at a bank, and that it can be a catalyst to bettering the lives of our customers and the communities we share with them. Our mission: Combine deep human understanding with the bank’s full suite of capabilities to provide personal, connected, and surprisingly simple banking experiences that help our customers achieve their financial goals.

Managerial/Supervisory Responsibilities:

Lead, mentor, and potentially manage a team

Education and Experience Required:

  • Bachelor's degree in UX Design, Human Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, or similar, and a minimum of 5 years relevant experience or in lieu of a degree, a combined minimum of 9 years education and/or relevant/product design work experience.
  • Proven expertise in Product Design/Human-Centered Design
  • Experience creating use cases, flow diagrams, prototypes, scenarios and wireframes to communicate ideas and designs to diverse groups of stakeholders
  • Understanding of strengths and shortcomings of different design thinking methods, including when and how to apply them during product development processes
  • Hands-on experience of designing for a variety of digital touchpoints and non-digital channels and supporting the delivery of those designs
  • Experience managing programs supporting the full product development process, from vision to launch to iteration
  • Project and people management skills; experience functioning as a project leader as well as an individual contributor
  • Strong ability to mentor and educate others on the value and principles of good experience design
  • Team player who is comfortable navigating ambiguity within a self-directed culture
  • Ability to establish strong working relationships with colleagues, clients, and key stakeholders
  • Extensive experience conducting remote and in-person workshops; strong familiarity with supporting tools such as Miro and Webex
  • Experience with design and prototyping tools such as Adobe, Sketch, InVision, Figma or other similar tools used widely in the design community
  • Proficiency in industry best practices for desktop, mobile and web applications
  • Experience with accessibility standards, cross-platform issues, mobile user interfaces and systems-thinking

Education and Experience Preferred:

Core Competencies:

  • Customer Centric – Outside in perspective with a focus on improving the customer experience
  • Curiosity – Seeks out ways to improve the customer experience
  • Resilient – Respectful of broad opinions and makes tough calls with ease
  • Driven & Prioritization – Self-motivated and knows how to say no
  • Challenges assumptions
  • Decisive & Lead Taking – Sense of urgency with an ability to inspire followers
  • Takes ownership with a strong sense of accountability
  • Interdependent – Communicates and convenes others; reaches across boundaries
  • Continuously seeks out ways to improve
  • Advanced degree
  • Familiarity with design systems
  • Experience in financial services industry a plus

Compensation Range:

Annual(USD): 115,923.15 - 193,205.25