Director Of User Experience (UX)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Director Of User Experience (UX)
Company: Informa Group Plc. (Curinos)
Location: New York, New York, United States
Job Type: Full-time
Category: User Experience (UX) / Product Design Leadership
Date Posted: December 04, 2025
Experience Level: 10+ Years
Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and grow the User Experience (UX) chapter within the Product & Technology organization, setting the vision for user experience across the product portfolio.
• Directly manage a team of UX designers, each embedded within empowered product teams, fostering synergistic collaboration and ensuring alignment with user-centered design principles.
• Define and uphold UX standards, design systems, and best practices across the end-to-end UX process, from discovery and research to prototyping, testing, iteration, and engineering handoff.
• Champion user-centered design by integrating user needs, behaviors, and feedback into the product development lifecycle, guiding teams toward validation and iteration.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior leadership opportunity within UX, focusing on building and scaling a design chapter. The emphasis on "empowered product teams" and "Marty Cagan's model" indicates a modern, agile product development environment. The need to balance strategic vision with hands-on contribution suggests a dynamic, potentially fast-paced setting within a data-focused B2B SaaS company.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• UX Chapter Leadership: Manage, mentor, and develop UX designers, supporting their career paths, performance evaluations, and professional growth. Foster a collaborative and inclusive design community within the chapter.
• Design Process & Standards: Define, implement, and enforce UX standards, design systems, pattern libraries, and best practices to ensure consistent, intuitive, accessible, and client-delighting user experiences across all products.
• User-Centered Design Advocacy: Act as a primary advocate for user needs, driving user research, usability testing, and design validation to inform product strategy and roadmap decisions.
• Strategic Product Influence: Contribute significantly to product vision and strategy by ensuring UX perspectives and insights are integral to long-term investments and roadmap planning.
• Resource & Talent Management: Oversee UX team talent allocation, workload management, and resource planning to meet business needs, potentially taking on direct UX ownership for a product pod.
• Hands-on Contribution: Serve as both a people manager and an individual contributor, directly owning and executing UX discovery and design work for assigned product teams.
• Innovation & Trend Integration: Stay abreast of emerging UX technologies, design trends, and industry best practices to drive innovation and maintain competitive digital experiences.
• Culture Building: Cultivate a culture of creativity, inclusion, experimentation, and continuous improvement within the UX team and across product development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a dual focus on people management (leadership, mentoring) and direct design contribution. The emphasis on "end-to-end UX process" and "design systems" points to a need for robust process definition and implementation. Connecting design decisions to "client and business outcomes and product analytics metrics" suggests a strong emphasis on measurable impact, which is critical for operations-minded professionals.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's Degree required. Experience: 10+ years of experience in User Experience (UX) design, with a minimum of 5 years in leadership roles managing and mentoring design teams.

Required Skills:

• UX Design Leadership: Proven experience leading and growing UX teams, including mentoring, performance management, and career development.
• End-to-End UX Process Mastery: Deep understanding and practical application of the full product development lifecycle, including user research, discovery, ideation, interaction design, prototyping, usability testing, and iteration.
• Design Systems & Standards: Experience in owning, evolving, or contributing significantly to design systems, pattern libraries, and ensuring consistency and accessibility at scale.
• B2B/SaaS Product Experience: Demonstrated track record of leading UX for complex B2B or SaaS products, ideally with data-driven or analytics-focused platforms.
• Strategic Influence & Execution: Ability to operate at both strategic and tactical levels – articulating design vision, influencing roadmaps, and executing hands-on design work.
• Communication & Storytelling: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a strong ability to articulate design rationale, influence stakeholders, and inspire teams.
• Business Acumen: Strong understanding of business objectives and the ability to connect design decisions to client and business outcomes, as well as product analytics metrics.
• Market-Standard UX Tools: Fluency with industry-standard UX design and prototyping tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD.
• Development Constraints Awareness: Familiarity with development constraints, including awareness of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Preferred Skills:

• Financial Industry Experience: Prior experience within the financial services industry.
• Advanced Research & Analytics: Experience with advanced user research methodologies and a strong ability to interpret and leverage product analytics for design decisions.
• Accessibility Expertise: Deep knowledge of accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) and their application in design and development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements emphasize a blend of strategic leadership, deep UX expertise, and practical execution. The explicit mention of "data-driven or analytics-focused platforms" and "product analytics metrics" aligns well with operations-minded candidates who can demonstrate the business impact of their design work. The need for fluency in specific UX tools and awareness of development constraints indicates a practical, hands-on approach to design execution.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design Leadership Showcase: A comprehensive portfolio demonstrating leadership in UX design across the full product lifecycle, including strategic contributions, team management, and impactful design outcomes.
• Process Documentation: Evidence of defining, implementing, or evolving UX standards, design systems, and best practices. Showcase workflows for research, ideation, prototyping, testing, and engineering handoff.
• System Consistency & Accessibility: Examples of how design systems were used to ensure consistency and accessibility at scale across complex B2B or SaaS products.
• Business Impact & Metrics: Demonstrations of how design decisions directly influenced client and business outcomes, supported by product analytics metrics or ROI calculations.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Detail the processes used for user research, discovery, and ideation, highlighting methods for problem definition and solution exploration.
• Implementation & Automation: Showcase experience with prototyping, usability testing, and iterative design processes, including how designs are handed off to engineering for implementation.
• Measurement & Performance Analysis: Provide examples of how UX performance was measured, analyzed, and used to inform subsequent design iterations and strategic decisions.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Director-level UX role, the portfolio must showcase not just individual design skills but also the ability to build and lead a design function. This includes defining processes, establishing standards, and demonstrating strategic impact. Operations professionals can leverage their experience in process mapping, efficiency improvements, and metric-driven decision-making to frame their portfolio effectively.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $180,000 - $220,000 per year (plus bonus)
Note: The provided salary is $180,000 base plus bonus. Based on the Director level, 10+ years of experience, and the New York City location, a competitive range is estimated.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Financial, Health, and Lifestyle Benefits: A broad selection of benefits tailored to employee needs.
• Flexible Working Options: Including home working and flexible hours, contingent on role requirements, promoting work-life balance.
• Generous Leave Policy: Competitive annual leave, floating holidays, volunteering days, and a birthday day off.
• Learning & Development: Access to tools and resources to support career advancement and skill development.
• Industry Expertise & Networking: Opportunities to work with Subject Matter Experts and participate in regular social and networking events.
• Collaborative & Inclusive Culture: Supportive work environment with an active Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) program.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Provides expert third-party advice on wellbeing, legal, and financial matters, plus access to counselling services.

Working Hours: Approximately 40 hours per week, with flexibility offered based on role requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The base salary of $180,000 is a strong starting point. Considering the Director title, extensive experience requirement, and the cost of living in New York City, a broader range of $180,000 - $220,000 base salary is a reasonable estimate for such senior roles, with the bonus structure likely adding significant compensation. The benefits package is robust, emphasizing employee wellbeing and professional development, which are key considerations for experienced operations professionals.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Technology (FinTech) / Data Analytics for Financial Services. Curinos operates at the intersection of financial services and technology, providing proprietary data, technologies, and insights. Company Size: Informa Group Plc. is a large, global business. Curinos, as a part of Informa, likely operates with the agility of a specialized unit while benefiting from the resources of a larger corporation. This blend can offer both structure and opportunity. Founded: Curinos leverages decades of expertise, indicating a long-standing presence and deep domain knowledge in financial services. Informa Group Plc. was founded in 1998.

Team Structure:

• UX Chapter: The UX team operates as a distinct "chapter" within the Product & Technology organization, suggesting a model that promotes specialization and cross-functional collaboration.
• Empowered Product Teams: UX designers are embedded within cross-functional, empowered product teams, aligning with modern product development methodologies (e.g., Marty Cagan's model) where teams own specific outcomes.
• Reporting Hierarchy: The Director of UX reports to senior Product leadership, indicating a strategic position within the product development hierarchy and close collaboration with Product Managers.

Methodology:

• User-Centered Design: A core philosophy driving product development, ensuring user needs, behaviors, and feedback are central to the design process.
• Data-Driven Insights: Emphasis on leveraging proprietary data, analytics, and insights to optimize go-to-market decisions and product development.
• Agile & Iterative Development: Implied through the "empowered product team" model, suggesting iterative design, testing, and validation cycles.
• Consistency & Scalability: Focus on establishing design systems and standards to ensure consistency and scalability across the product portfolio.

Company Website: https://www.curinos.com/ (and Informa Group Plc. corporate site)

📝 Enhancement Note: Curinos' focus on data and insights for financial institutions suggests a culture that values analytical rigor, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of client needs. The "empowered product team" model points to a culture of autonomy, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration, which resonates with operations professionals who often bridge different business functions.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a senior leadership position within the User Experience discipline, equivalent to a Director or Head of UX. It involves significant strategic responsibility, team management, and direct impact on product direction and client satisfaction. For operations professionals, this level often signifies a transition into strategic leadership, focusing on enabling business growth through optimized user journeys and product adoption. Reporting Structure: The Director of UX reports to senior Product leadership, indicating a key strategic partner role within the product organization. This structure allows for direct influence on product strategy and roadmap. Operations Impact: The role's impact is measured through the success of the product portfolio, user adoption, client satisfaction, and ultimately, the profitability of Curinos' offerings. By ensuring intuitive and effective user experiences for complex financial data products, the UX Director directly contributes to revenue generation and client retention.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Expansion: Potential to grow into a VP-level role, overseeing a broader product design and research organization as the company scales.
• Strategic Product Ownership: Opportunity to take on more strategic product responsibilities, influencing business strategy beyond UX.
• Domain Expertise Development: Deepen expertise in the financial services and data analytics sectors, becoming a thought leader in FinTech UX.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Develop stronger cross-functional leadership skills by collaborating closely with Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams to align UX strategy with broader business objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: For an operations professional, this role offers a path to influence product strategy and user adoption, areas critical for driving revenue and customer success. The growth potential lies in expanding leadership scope and deepening strategic impact within a specialized, high-value industry.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model, combining remote work flexibility with in-office collaboration. The specific office is located at 485 Lexington Avenue in New York City, a prime business district. Office Location(s): New York, NY (Primary specified location). Informa Group Plc. has global locations, but this role is based in New York.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The New York office likely serves as a hub for in-person collaboration, team meetings, workshops, and fostering company culture.
• Technology Enabled: Access to modern design tools (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD) and potentially other collaboration platforms relevant to a hybrid workforce.
• Cross-functional Interaction: Opportunities to interact with designers, product managers, engineers, and potentially business stakeholders within the New York office or virtually.

Work Schedule: The standard work week is approximately 40 hours, with flexibility offered. This allows for structured work focused on design processes, research, and team management, while accommodating personal needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature of the role implies a need for strong self-management and asynchronous communication skills, alongside the ability to leverage in-office time effectively for collaboration and team building. Operations professionals are often adept at managing complex schedules and optimizing work arrangements.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely involves a review of your resume and portfolio by a recruiter to assess basic qualifications and fit.
• Hiring Manager Interview: A discussion with the senior Product leader to evaluate strategic thinking, leadership experience, and alignment with the company's vision.
• Team/Peer Interviews: Meetings with UX designers, Product Managers, and potentially Engineering leads to assess collaboration style, technical understanding, and cultural fit. May involve problem-solving exercises or design challenges.
• Portfolio Presentation: A dedicated session to walk through your portfolio, showcasing leadership examples, process, and impact. Be prepared to discuss specific case studies in detail.
• Executive/Final Interview: A final conversation with senior leadership to confirm strategic alignment and overall fit for the Director role.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for Leadership: Showcase projects where you led design initiatives, mentored teams, or influenced product strategy. Highlight your role in defining processes and driving outcomes.
• Process Over Polish: While polished visuals are good, focus on clearly articulating your design process, the problems you solved, the decisions you made, and the rationale behind them.
• Quantify Impact: Use data, metrics, and business outcomes to demonstrate the tangible results of your design work and leadership. Connect your UX efforts to business goals.
• Showcase B2B/SaaS Relevance: If possible, include examples from B2B or SaaS products, especially those involving data, analytics, or complex workflows.
• Address Design Systems & Accessibility: Include examples of your work with design systems, pattern libraries, and your commitment to accessibility.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design Strategy Case Study: Be prepared to discuss how you would approach a hypothetical UX challenge for Curinos' products, considering their data-centric, B2B nature.
• Leadership Scenario: Anticipate questions about managing underperforming designers, resolving team conflicts, or advocating for UX within a product organization.
• Process Improvement: Prepare to discuss how you would enhance Curinos' existing UX processes or establish new ones to foster greater efficiency and impact.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations candidates can leverage their experience in process mapping, KPI definition, and stakeholder management to shine during the interview process. Framing portfolio examples around process optimization, efficiency gains, and measurable business impact will be particularly effective.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• UX Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD (Fluency required).
• User Research Platforms: Tools for conducting and analyzing user interviews, surveys, and usability tests (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze).
• Design System Management: Tools and methodologies for building and maintaining design systems (e.g., Zeroheight, Storybook, internal documentation).
• Collaboration Tools: Jira, Confluence, Slack, Microsoft Teams for project management and team communication.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, Google Analytics to track user behavior and product adoption.
• Data Visualization: Potentially Tableau, Power BI, or similar tools for understanding and communicating data insights.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM: Familiarity with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) used by Sales and Customer Success teams for context on client interactions.
• Workflow Automation: Awareness of how UX designs integrate into automated workflows within SaaS products.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in industry-standard UX tools is essential. For operations professionals, understanding how these tools integrate with broader business systems (like CRMs and analytics platforms) and contribute to measurable business outcomes is a key differentiator. Highlighting experience with data analysis tools and methodologies will strengthen the application.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: A strong emphasis on using data, insights, and analytics to inform strategic decisions and measure impact.
• Client Focus: A commitment to understanding and meeting the needs of financial institutions, ensuring products deliver tangible value.
• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: A drive to explore new technologies and methodologies to enhance product offerings and user experiences.
• Collaboration & Transparency: Fostering an environment where teams work together openly, share knowledge, and support each other's growth.
• Efficiency & Scalability: Building robust systems and processes that can support growth and maintain quality across a growing product portfolio.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Partnership: Close collaboration with Product Management, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success to ensure a cohesive product strategy and customer journey.
• Empowered Team Dynamics: Encouraging autonomy and shared ownership within product teams, fostering a culture of mutual respect and accountability.
• Feedback-Rich Environment: Valuing constructive feedback as a mechanism for continuous learning and improvement in design and process.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's emphasis on data, client focus, and innovation aligns well with the core tenets of effective Revenue and Sales Operations. Highlighting experience in driving efficiency, leveraging data for strategic insights, and fostering cross-functional alignment will resonate strongly with Curinos' culture.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Strategic Vision with Execution: Effectively leading the UX chapter while also contributing hands-on design for a product pod requires strong time management and prioritization skills.
• Scaling UX in a Growing Organization: Ensuring design standards, systems, and processes scale effectively as the company and product portfolio expand.
• Integrating Complex Data into Intuitive Experiences: Translating sophisticated financial data and analytics into user-friendly interfaces for demanding B2B clients.
• Driving User Adoption and Value: Demonstrating the tangible business impact and ROI of UX initiatives to stakeholders.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Strategic Leadership Development: Opportunities to hone strategic planning, stakeholder management, and executive communication skills at a senior level.
• FinTech Domain Expertise: Deepen knowledge of the financial services industry, data analytics, and regulatory landscapes.
• Advanced UX Methodologies: Exposure to cutting-edge UX research, design thinking, and product development frameworks.
• Mentorship: Opportunities to mentor and develop a team of talented UX designers, fostering leadership potential within the team.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations professionals can approach these challenges by applying their systematic problem-solving skills, focusing on process optimization, and leveraging data to drive solutions. The growth opportunities align with career paths focused on strategic impact and leadership in technology-driven environments.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach building or evolving a design system for a complex B2B data analytics platform like Curinos'?" (Prepare to discuss your process, key components, and stakeholder buy-in strategy).
• "Describe a time you had to influence product roadmap decisions based on user research or UX insights. What was the outcome?" (Focus on your strategic influence, communication, and ability to connect UX to business goals).
• "How do you balance the need for user-centered design with business objectives and technical constraints in an agile environment?" (Highlight your understanding of trade-offs, prioritization, and collaborative problem-solving).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What do you know about Curinos and the financial data analytics industry? How do you see UX contributing to our success?" (Research Curinos' products, market position, and potential client pain points).
• "Describe your leadership philosophy and how you foster a high-performing, collaborative UX team." (Emphasize mentorship, empowerment, and creating an inclusive environment).
• "How do you measure the success and impact of UX initiatives within a product organization?" (Prepare to discuss KPIs, metrics, and ROI demonstration).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your presentation logically, perhaps by project or by theme (e.g., Leadership, Process Innovation, Impact). Start with a high-level overview of your role and responsibilities.
• Storytelling: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your role and approach, the key decisions made, the solutions developed, and the measurable outcomes. Use visuals effectively.
• Emphasize Process: Detail the methodologies used (research, design, testing) and how they led to the final solution. Discuss any challenges encountered and how they were overcome.
• Quantify Results: Whenever possible, present quantitative data (e.g., conversion rate improvements, task completion times, user satisfaction scores) and qualitative insights to support your claims.
• Tailor to Curinos: Connect your experience and examples to the specific challenges and opportunities at Curinos, demonstrating your understanding of their business and user base.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations professionals can draw parallels between their experience in defining operational processes, implementing efficiency measures, and reporting on business KPIs, and the requirements for this UX leadership role. Emphasizing how they translate complex requirements into actionable plans and measurable results will be key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Director of User Experience (UX) position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the SmartRecruiters platform.
• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight UX leadership, experience with B2B/SaaS products (especially data-driven ones), and your ability to define and implement design systems and processes. Showcase examples of how your UX contributions led to measurable business outcomes.
• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 10+ years of UX experience, with a strong emphasis on your 5+ years in leadership and management roles. Use keywords from the job description, such as "UX Design Leadership," "Design Systems," "B2B SaaS," "User-Centered Design," and "Product Strategy." Quantify achievements where possible.
• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your leadership philosophy, detailing your process for managing design teams, and preparing case studies that demonstrate your strategic thinking, problem-solving skills, and ability to drive impact. Be ready to discuss how you would approach UX challenges specific to Curinos' product offerings.
• Company Research: Thoroughly research Curinos, its products, its place in the financial services industry, and Informa Group Plc. Understand their mission, values, and target audience. This will help you tailor your responses and ask insightful questions during the interview process.

⚠️ 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.