Head of UX

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Head of UX

Company: NAVEX

Location: Houston, TX, US

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: User Experience (UX) / Product Design Leadership

Date Posted: 2026-08-28

Experience Level: 10+ Years Leading UX

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the strategic vision and execution of User Experience (UX) across NAVEX's enterprise platform, driving design maturity and cohesive customer experiences.

• Champion UX as a critical business function, influencing product strategy, investment decisions, and cross-functional operating models through customer insights and design thinking.

• Define and implement NAVEX's AI-enabled UX strategy, leveraging artificial intelligence to accelerate research, prototyping, and design delivery while maintaining human-centered design principles.

• Foster a prototype-first product development culture to enhance alignment between Product and Engineering, mitigate delivery risks, and improve overall product quality and speed.

• Build and inspire a world-class design organization, developing leaders and cultivating a culture of accountability, experimentation, and continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a strategic leadership opportunity, focusing on elevating the entire UX function within NAVEX. The emphasis on AI integration, prototype-first culture, and cross-functional influence indicates a need for a candidate who can drive significant organizational change and impact business outcomes through design. The operations category is defined as User Experience (UX) / Product Design Leadership due to the role's focus on strategic design management and its impact on product development and customer experience, which are critical GTM and product operations components.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and champion the global enterprise UX vision, ensuring cohesive, differentiated customer experiences that elevate design maturity and strengthen the NAVEX platform.

• Lead UX as a strategic business function, influencing product strategy, investment priorities, and executive decisions through customer insights and design thinking methodologies.

• Develop and execute NAVEX's AI-enabled UX strategy, accelerating research, prototyping, documentation, and design delivery while championing human-centered design principles.

• Champion a prototype-first product development model, utilizing interactive prototypes to align Product and Engineering teams, reduce delivery risk, and accelerate time-to-market.

• Act as the primary advocate for the customer, transforming research and customer insights into actionable product strategy, prioritization frameworks, and measurable business outcomes.

• Lead Design Operations by establishing scalable design systems, robust research practices, governance frameworks, and accessibility standards to enhance both quality and speed of delivery.

• Set the standard for design excellence across the organization, establishing principles, governance structures, and quality frameworks to ensure intuitive, accessible, and exceptional user experiences.

• Build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing design organization, developing exceptional leaders and fostering a culture of accountability, experimentation, and continuous improvement.

• Strengthen product development processes by partnering with Product and Engineering leaders to create operating models that enhance collaboration, execution efficiency, and delivery effectiveness.

• Measure and analyze customer and business impact, utilizing data, customer feedback, and product outcomes to continuously improve adoption, engagement, retention, and overall experience quality.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic leadership, operational excellence in design, and a forward-thinking approach to integrating AI and modern development practices. This role requires a leader capable of influencing across departments, not just within the design team.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Digital Media Design, Graphic Design, or a related field.

Experience:

• 10+ years of progressive experience leading Product Design or UX within high-growth SaaS organizations, with a proven track record of shaping platform-scale customer experiences, building modern design organizations, and advancing enterprise design maturity.

• 5+ years of direct experience leading and managing leaders, with demonstrated success in building high-performing teams and developing exceptional design talent through periods of significant growth and organizational transformation. Required Skills:

• UX Strategy & Vision: Ability to define and articulate a compelling enterprise UX vision that aligns executive leadership, Product, and Engineering around a shared customer experience strategy.

• Leadership & Team Development: Proven experience leading leaders, mentoring design talent, and building high-performing, accountable design teams.

• Design Operations Expertise: Deep understanding and practical experience in building and scaling Design Operations, including design systems, research operations, governance, and modern design practices.

• AI-Enabled UX: Demonstrated success leveraging AI to accelerate research, prototyping, design quality, and team productivity while advancing human-centered design principles.

• Customer Insight Translation: Strong ability to translate customer insights, research findings, and feedback into actionable product strategy, prioritization, and measurable business outcomes.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Expertise in partnering with Product and Engineering leaders to modernize product development through AI, prototype-first practices, and scalable cross-functional operating models.

• Executive Communication & Influence: Exceptional executive communication, storytelling, and influencing skills with a proven ability to shape strategy through customer insight, design thinking, and data.

• Portfolio Demonstration: A comprehensive portfolio showcasing strategic UX leadership, platform thinking, and demonstrable business impact.

Preferred Skills:

• Product & Business Acumen: Strong understanding of product management principles and business objectives, with the ability to balance customer needs, technical constraints, and commercial outcomes.

• Accessibility & Inclusive Design: Deep expertise in accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG), inclusive design principles, and modern UX best practices to ensure equitable user experiences.

• UX Metrics Definition: Experience defining key UX success metrics that drive improvements in adoption, engagement, satisfaction, retention, and overall business performance.

• SaaS Industry Experience: Specific experience within the SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) industry, particularly in enterprise software solutions.

• Culture Agility: Comfort working in a fast-paced, candid environment that values innovation, healthy debate, and diligent follow-through.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements clearly indicate a need for a senior leader with a blend of strategic vision, operational execution, and people management skills. The emphasis on a portfolio is critical, and candidates should prepare to showcase their strategic impact and leadership capabilities. The "culture agility" point suggests a dynamic and potentially demanding work environment where adaptability is key.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio is mandatory, demonstrating strategic UX leadership, platform-scale thinking, and measurable business impact.

• Showcase case studies that highlight your role in defining and championing enterprise UX visions, influencing product strategy, and driving organizational transformation.

• Include examples of how you have translated customer insights into product strategy and measurable business outcomes.

• Present evidence of building and scaling Design Operations, including design systems, research practices, and governance frameworks.

• Demonstrate experience with AI-enabled UX strategies and their application in accelerating design processes and improving product quality. Process Documentation:

• Document your approach to establishing and evolving design systems, ensuring scalability, consistency, and efficiency across product lines.

• Detail methodologies for integrating customer research and feedback loops into the product development lifecycle, from ideation through to post-launch analysis.

• Outline frameworks for implementing and managing governance structures that ensure design quality, accessibility, and adherence to UX principles.

• Showcase your experience in developing and refining cross-functional operating models with Product and Engineering, emphasizing collaboration, risk reduction, and accelerated delivery through practices like prototype-first development.

• Provide examples of how you define and track UX success metrics, linking them directly to business performance indicators such as adoption, engagement, and retention.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirement is a critical component for this role. Candidates must be prepared to present detailed case studies that illustrate strategic leadership, operational impact, and the ability to drive significant change within a complex organization. The focus on processes is not just about doing, but about documenting and scaling how work gets done effectively.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: The starting base salary for this position is $240,000+ per annum.

Benefits:

• Performance-Based Bonus: Eligible for a 20% Management by Objectives (MBO) bonus, tied to measurable outcomes and business impact.

• Professional Growth Opportunities: Access to resources and support for career development, skill enhancement, and leadership advancement.

• Supportive Work Environment: A culture that values collaboration, candid feedback, and invests in employee success.

• Meaningful Purpose: Opportunity to contribute to an organization focused on making workplaces safer and more ethical.

• Competitive Compensation: A comprehensive package designed to recognize measurable outcomes and real impact.

Working Hours: The standard working hours for this role are 40 hours per week, typical for a full-time leadership position.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary is explicitly stated, which is a significant advantage for candidates. The inclusion of a performance-based bonus (MBO) highlights the company's focus on results and accountability. The benefits listed emphasize professional growth and a supportive environment, aligning with the company's stated values. For Houston, TX, a $240,000+ base salary for a Head of UX role with 10+ years of experience is within the competitive range, particularly for a senior leadership position in a growing SaaS company. The additional 20% MBO further enhances the total compensation potential.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: NAVEX operates within the Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) technology sector, providing solutions that help organizations manage risk, ensure compliance, and foster ethical conduct. This context is crucial for understanding the user needs and the importance of a secure, reliable, and intuitive platform.

Company Size: NAVEX is a significant player in its industry, indicated by its likely substantial employee base (though specific numbers aren't provided, the scope of the role suggests a company of considerable size, likely 1000+ employees). This size implies a complex organizational structure, multiple product lines, and a need for scalable UX strategies and design operations. For operations professionals, a larger company often means more established processes, but also potentially more bureaucracy and a greater need for strong stakeholder management.

Founded: While the founding date isn't explicitly stated, NAVEX has a history as a prominent provider in the GRC space. This implies a mature company with established products and a customer base that values stability and long-term solutions, while also expecting innovation. Understanding this history can inform how design evolution is approached – balancing legacy needs with future-forward design.

Team Structure:

• The Head of UX will report to the SVP of Product Management, indicating a strong link between design strategy and overall product direction.

• The role involves leading a design organization, suggesting a team of UX designers, researchers, and potentially UX writers, along with leading other design leaders.

• Close partnership is expected with Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and Customer Success teams, highlighting a highly cross-functional operating model. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: The role emphasizes transforming customer insights and data into product strategy and measurable business outcomes, indicating a strong reliance on analytics and user feedback.

• Prototype-First Culture: A key initiative is to establish a "prototype-first" approach, positioning interactive prototypes as the standard communication tool between Product, Engineering, and Design to accelerate alignment and reduce delivery risk.

• AI Integration: A strategic focus on leveraging AI to enhance UX processes, from research synthesis to prototyping and documentation, while maintaining human-centered design principles.

Company Website: https://www.navex.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The industry context is vital for a UX leader, as it dictates the criticality of security, compliance, and user trust. The company's likely size and maturity suggest that this role is about scaling and maturing existing capabilities rather than building from scratch, requiring strong change management and strategic influence skills. The reporting structure and cross-functional emphasis are typical for senior product/design leadership roles aiming to drive integrated GTM strategies.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a senior leadership position, often referred to as Director or VP level within a UX/Design function. It's a strategic role focused on setting the vision, managing teams of teams, and influencing company-wide product and design strategy. The scope extends beyond individual product teams to encompass the entire enterprise UX platform.

Reporting Structure: The Head of UX reports directly to the SVP of Product Management. This signifies a high level of integration with product strategy and a direct line of influence on executive-level decisions. It also suggests that design success will be closely tied to product success and overall business objectives.

Operations Impact: The Head of UX is expected to have a profound impact on revenue and business decisions by:

• Elevating the overall customer experience, which directly influences customer acquisition, retention, and lifetime value.

• Driving product strategy and investment decisions through compelling customer insights and design thinking, ensuring resources are allocated to areas that will yield the highest business impact.

• Improving product quality and delivery speed through enhanced collaboration and efficient processes, leading to faster time-to-market and competitive advantage.

• Establishing design as a strategic business advantage, differentiating NAVEX's offerings in the market and strengthening brand perception. Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Expansion: Potential to grow into a VP or Chief Design Officer role, overseeing broader product development functions or expanding the scope of design and customer experience across the organization.

• Strategic Influence: Deepen influence on company-wide product strategy, investment decisions, and go-to-market approaches.

• Organizational Transformation: Lead significant initiatives to mature design capabilities, integrate AI into product development, and refine cross-functional operating models, creating a lasting legacy.

• Industry Recognition: Opportunities to speak at conferences, contribute to industry thought leadership, and build a strong professional network within the GRC and UX communities.

• Skill Specialization: Develop deeper expertise in areas like AI-driven design, enterprise-scale design systems, and advanced UX research methodologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a significant step up for many UX professionals, demanding not just design expertise but strong business acumen, strategic thinking, and leadership capabilities. The growth opportunities are substantial, focusing on broader organizational impact and leadership progression.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is an on-site role in Houston, TX, indicating a traditional office-based work environment. This setup facilitates in-person collaboration, team building, and spontaneous idea generation, which are often highly valued in design and product development.

Office Location(s): The primary office location is Houston, Texas. Candidates should consider commute times and local amenities. The company may have other locations, but this specific role is based in Houston.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The office environment is expected to foster collaboration among Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Customer Success teams, with the Head of UX playing a pivotal role in facilitating these interactions.

• Tooling & Technology: Access to modern design and prototyping tools, AI-powered design assistance software, and collaboration platforms will be essential for enabling the team's work.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction with design teams, product leadership, engineering counterparts, and potentially executive stakeholders to drive alignment and shared understanding.

Work Schedule: While the core expectation is 40 hours per week, leadership roles in fast-paced SaaS companies often require flexibility to meet project deadlines, client needs, and strategic initiatives. This may involve occasional extended hours or work outside standard business times, balanced with the company's commitment to employee success.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement emphasizes the company's preference for in-person collaboration and team cohesion, which can be beneficial for a leadership role focused on driving cultural and process change. Candidates should ensure this aligns with their preferred working style.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will likely conduct an initial screening call to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and salary expectations.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A deeper dive with the SVP of Product Management to discuss strategic vision, leadership philosophy, and alignment with NAVEX's goals.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Product, Engineering, and possibly Marketing/Customer Success to evaluate collaboration style, influence, and understanding of their respective domains.

• Portfolio Presentation: A dedicated session where the candidate presents their portfolio, showcasing strategic UX leadership, case studies of significant impact, and their approach to managing design operations and AI integration. This is a critical stage.

• Executive Interview: Potentially an interview with a higher-level executive (e.g., CPO, CTO) to assess executive presence and strategic alignment.

• Final Decision: Offer extended based on overall assessment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Strategic Impact: Focus on case studies that demonstrate your ability to drive business outcomes, not just aesthetic design. Quantify impact wherever possible (e.g., increased conversion rates, reduced support tickets, improved user satisfaction scores).

• Leadership Narrative: Highlight your experience leading teams, developing talent, and influencing organizational change. Showcase examples of how you've elevated design maturity and established UX as a strategic function.

• AI & Process Focus: Clearly articulate your experience with AI-enabled UX strategies and your approach to Design Operations, prototype-first development, and scalable design systems.

• Problem/Solution/Result Framework: Structure your case studies using a clear problem, your strategic solution, and the measurable results achieved.

• Tailor to NAVEX: Understand NAVEX's industry (GRC) and tailor your presentation to show how your UX leadership can address their specific challenges and opportunities.

Challenge Preparation:

• Strategic UX Vision: Be prepared to discuss how you would develop and champion a UX vision for NAVEX, considering its enterprise SaaS context and GRC focus.

• AI Integration Strategy: Outline your approach to integrating AI into the UX workflow, balancing innovation with human-centered design principles and ethical considerations.

• Design Operations Maturity: Discuss how you would assess and mature NAVEX's Design Operations, focusing on scalability, efficiency, and quality.

• Cross-functional Alignment: Prepare examples of how you have successfully partnered with Product and Engineering to drive product strategy and improve delivery processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will heavily rely on the candidate's ability to articulate a strategic vision and demonstrate leadership through their portfolio. Candidates should prepare to discuss their experience with AI, Design Operations, and cross-functional collaboration in detail.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), InVision, Axure RP, or similar advanced prototyping tools.

• AI-Powered Design Tools: Experience with AI tools for research synthesis, content generation, workflow automation, and potentially AI-assisted design generation.

• Design Systems Management: Tools and platforms for creating, maintaining, and scaling design systems (e.g., Storybook, Zeroheight, internal platforms).

• Collaboration Platforms: Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello for project management and workflow tracking.

Analytics & Reporting:

• User Analytics: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude for tracking user behavior, engagement, and conversion metrics.

• A/B Testing Tools: Optimizely, VWO, or similar for experimental design and optimization.

• Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI, Looker for creating dashboards and communicating insights to stakeholders.

• Customer Feedback Platforms: SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, UserTesting.com for gathering qualitative and quantitative user feedback.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM Systems: Salesforce, HubSpot (understanding how UX impacts CRM usage and data integrity is beneficial).

• Workflow Automation: Familiarity with tools that can automate design-related workflows or integrate with product development pipelines.

• Accessibility Testing Tools: WAVE, Axe, or similar for ensuring compliance with accessibility standards.

📝 Enhancement Note: While specific tools aren't listed, the role's requirements imply a need for expertise in industry-standard design and prototyping software, along with a strong understanding of analytics, AI-driven tools, and collaboration platforms. The emphasis on Design Operations and AI integration suggests familiarity with tools that support these functions.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Speed, Passion, Purpose: NAVEX emphasizes moving with urgency, demonstrating enthusiasm for their mission, and acting with clear intent. For UX, this translates to efficient design processes, passionate advocacy for users, and a clear connection of design work to business objectives.

• Bold Ideas, Accountable Actions: Encourages innovative thinking and taking ownership of outcomes. UX leaders must be bold in proposing user-centric solutions and accountable for their successful implementation and impact.

• Doing the Right Things Right: A commitment to ethical practices and high-quality execution. This aligns with GRC principles and requires UX to prioritize integrity, accessibility, and user well-being.

• One Team: Fosters a collaborative, unified approach. UX must integrate seamlessly with Product, Engineering, and other departments, breaking down silos and working towards shared goals.

• Continuous Improvement: Values ongoing learning and refinement. UX leaders should foster a culture of experimentation, learning from failures, and iteratively improving processes and products.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: The role demands strong collaboration with Product Management and Engineering to shape product strategy and modernize development operating models. This involves regular communication, joint planning sessions, and shared accountability.

• Design Thinking Workshops: Facilitating workshops that bring together diverse perspectives to solve complex user and business problems.

• Feedback-Driven Culture: Embracing open communication and constructive feedback to refine design solutions and team processes.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively promoting the sharing of insights, best practices, and learnings across design and related teams to foster collective growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: NAVEX's stated values provide a strong framework for understanding the expected team culture. The Head of UX will need to embody these values in their leadership style and operational approach, ensuring that design initiatives are aligned with the company's core principles and drive positive cross-functional dynamics.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Elevating Design Maturity: In a large enterprise, maturing design practices, establishing consistent governance, and embedding design thinking across all product teams can be a significant undertaking.

• AI Integration Complexity: Successfully integrating AI into UX workflows while maintaining human-centered design principles and ensuring ethical use requires careful planning and execution.

• Cross-Functional Alignment at Scale: Ensuring consistent UX vision and execution across multiple product lines and diverse engineering/product teams requires strong influence and communication skills.

• Balancing Innovation with Legacy Systems: For a company with established products, balancing the introduction of new, innovative UX with the needs and constraints of existing systems can be challenging.

• Measuring ROI of Design: Clearly demonstrating the tangible business impact and ROI of UX initiatives to executive leadership requires robust data analysis and compelling storytelling.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI in Design Specialization: Deepen expertise in cutting-edge AI applications for UX research, prototyping, and design generation.

• Enterprise-Scale Design Leadership: Gain experience managing and scaling design operations for a large, complex SaaS platform.

• Strategic Product Influence: Hone skills in influencing product strategy, investment decisions, and go-to-market approaches at the executive level.

• Organizational Change Management: Develop advanced skills in leading significant organizational transformations and embedding new ways of working.

• Industry Engagement: Opportunities to represent NAVEX at industry events, contribute to thought leadership, and build a strong professional network.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical for a senior leadership role in a growing enterprise. Successfully navigating these will offer significant opportunities for professional growth and impact. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their strategies for overcoming these obstacles.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your approach to defining and championing an enterprise UX vision. How would you ensure alignment across Product, Engineering, and Executive leadership at NAVEX?"

• "How would you leverage AI to accelerate our UX processes, from research to prototyping and delivery, while ensuring we remain human-centered?"

• "Outline your strategy for building and scaling Design Operations within a company like NAVEX. What are the key components you'd focus on initially?"

• "How do you foster a 'prototype-first' culture? What are the biggest hurdles, and how do you overcome them with Product and Engineering teams?"

• "Walk us through how you would translate customer insights into product strategy and measurable business outcomes in a SaaS environment." Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on our values (Speed, Passion, Purpose; Bold Ideas, Accountable Actions; etc.), how would you lead the UX team to embody these principles?"

• "How do you approach collaboration with Product Management and Engineering leaders? Can you provide an example of a successful partnership and its outcome?"

• "What are your key metrics for measuring UX success, and how would you tie them to NAVEX's business objectives?"

• "Describe a time you had to influence executive leadership to adopt a new design approach or invest in UX initiatives. What was your strategy and the result?" Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for each case study. Clearly define the problem, your role and actions, and the quantifiable results.

• Focus on Strategy and Impact: Emphasize the strategic thinking behind your design decisions and the business impact achieved, not just the visual design or usability improvements.

• Showcase Leadership: Highlight instances where you led teams, mentored designers, influenced stakeholders, and drove organizational change.

• AI & Ops Integration: Explicitly present examples of your work in AI-enabled UX and Design Operations, detailing the processes you implemented and their benefits.

• Conciseness: Be prepared to present key highlights efficiently, as executive time is valuable. Have deeper details ready if asked.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview questions will likely probe strategic thinking, leadership capabilities, and practical experience with modern UX methodologies like AI integration and Design Operations. The portfolio presentation is a cornerstone of the evaluation process.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Head of UX position at NAVEX:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Dayforce portal.

• Tailor your resume: Highlight experience in enterprise SaaS, UX strategy, Design Operations, AI-enabled UX, and team leadership. Quantify achievements and use keywords from the job description.

• Curate your portfolio: Select 3-5 impactful case studies that demonstrate your strategic leadership, ability to drive business outcomes, experience with AI and Design Operations, and success in cross-functional collaboration. Ensure it clearly articulates your process, role, and measurable results.

• Prepare your narrative: Practice articulating your UX vision, leadership philosophy, and how you would address NAVEX's specific challenges and opportunities. Be ready to discuss your approach to AI integration and Design Operations in detail.

• Research NAVEX: Understand their GRC industry, product offerings, company values, and recent news. This will help you tailor your answers and demonstrate genuine interest.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.