Lead UX Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Lead UX Designer Company: athenahealth Location: Chennai, India Job Type: Full-Time Category: User Experience (UX) Design / Product Design Date Posted: October 24, 2025 Experience Level: 8+ Years Professional Design Experience (AI inferred 10+ years) Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the user experience (UX) design efforts for a critical component of athenahealth's award-winning electronic health record (EHR) and physician practice management product.
• Drive the UX portion of the product development lifecycle within multidisciplinary agile R&D teams, ensuring a user-centric approach to product innovation.
• Conduct in-depth user research, including primary and secondary methods, to inform design decisions and identify opportunities for process optimization and efficiency gains.
• Design scalable, intuitive, and effective web-based product experiences that address complex user problems within the U.S. healthcare domain.
• Champion design best practices, mentor junior designers, and foster strong collaborative relationships across product, engineering, and service operations to ensure user experience consistency and cohesion.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role is explicitly for a "Lead UX Designer" with a requirement for 8+ years of experience, suggesting a senior individual contributor or a potential team lead role. The AI inferred 10+ years aligns with this seniority. The emphasis on "leading the UX portion" and "promoting design best practices" indicates a strong leadership and mentorship component, even if not a formal management position. The focus on agile R&D teams and specific healthcare system context are key differentiators for operations-minded candidates.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Spearhead the end-to-end UX design process for specific product areas, from initial concept generation and user research to detailed design specifications and usability testing.
• Conduct comprehensive user research, including interviews, surveys, contextual inquiries, and competitive analysis, to deeply understand user needs, workflows, and pain points within healthcare settings.
• Map complex user journeys and business processes, identifying critical areas for improvement, streamlining, and automation to enhance efficiency for both internal teams and external practice clients.
• Develop detailed wireframes, user flows, prototypes, and high-fidelity mockups that clearly communicate design intent and interaction patterns to cross-functional stakeholders.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers to define product strategy, scope, and requirements, ensuring UX considerations are integrated from the outset.
• Partner with Engineering teams to ensure designs are technically feasible, implemented accurately, and adhere to established design systems and style guides.
• Actively seek, solicit, and incorporate feedback from users, stakeholders, and fellow team members to iterate on designs and achieve optimal user outcomes.
• Mentor and guide junior designers, providing constructive feedback, sharing design expertise, and promoting a culture of design excellence within the agile teams.
• Advocate for the user throughout the product development lifecycle, making well-reasoned design decisions and trade-offs in collaboration with product and engineering leadership.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve existing product features and user experiences, driving incremental yet meaningful enhancements towards a larger strategic vision.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic design thinking, hands-on execution, and leadership. The emphasis on "mapping out processes" and "identifying opportunities for efficiency" strongly aligns with revenue and sales operations principles of workflow optimization and data-driven improvements, even within a UX context. Candidates should be prepared to discuss how their design process directly impacts operational efficiency and user productivity.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Psychology, or a related field is typically expected for a Lead UX Designer role. Experience: 8+ years of professional design experience, with a preference for enterprise, financial, or healthcare systems.

Required Skills:

• User Experience (UX) Design: Deep understanding of UX principles, methodologies, and best practices for web-based applications.
• User Research: Proficiency in conducting qualitative and quantitative user research, including user interviews, usability testing, surveys, and persona development.
• Interaction Design: Strong ability to design intuitive and efficient user interfaces and workflows for complex systems.
• Prototyping & Wireframing: Expertise in creating wireframes, user flows, interactive prototypes, and detailed design specifications using tools like Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, or similar.
• Problem Framing & Solving: Demonstrated ability to understand complex user problems, frame them effectively, and develop innovative design solutions.
• Communication & Articulation: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate rationale for design decisions to diverse audiences.
• Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary agile/scrum teams, fostering strong partnerships with product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders.
• Attention to Detail: Meticulous approach to design, ensuring high-quality output and consideration of edge cases.
• Self-Direction & Decision Making: Ability to work independently, make well-informed decisions with incomplete information, and take ownership of design outcomes.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience within the U.S. healthcare technology sector.
• Familiarity with athenahealth's product suite or similar EHR/practice management systems.
• Experience with design systems and component libraries.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG).
• Experience mentoring junior designers or leading design initiatives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The required skills are heavily focused on core UX competencies but also include aspects like "problem framing," "articulating rationale," and "self-direction," which are critical for operations roles. The preference for enterprise, financial, or healthcare systems suggests that candidates with experience in regulated or complex business environments will be highly valued.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Problem Framing & Solution: Showcase how you identified a complex user problem or process inefficiency and the strategic thinking behind your proposed design solution.
• User-Centric Design Process: Detail your approach, including research methodologies, user journey mapping, persona development, and how user insights directly influenced your design decisions.
• Interaction Design & Workflow: Present examples of designing intuitive workflows and interactions for complex systems, demonstrating an understanding of user efficiency and task completion.
• Visual Design & Execution: Include high-fidelity mockups and prototypes that highlight your visual design skills, attention to detail, and ability to create polished, user-friendly interfaces.
• Impact & Outcomes: Quantify the impact of your designs where possible, such as improvements in user efficiency, task completion rates, reduction in errors, or user satisfaction scores.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Analysis: Demonstrate experience in analyzing existing workflows, identifying bottlenecks, and proposing optimized processes through design.
• Design Specifications: Provide examples of detailed design specifications, user stories, or annotated wireframes that effectively communicate design intent to development teams.
• Usability Testing & Iteration: Showcase how you planned, executed, and utilized usability testing to iterate on designs, validate assumptions, and improve the user experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Lead UX Designer role, the portfolio is paramount. The emphasis on "process mapping," "identifying opportunities for efficiency," and "designing scalable, web-based product experiences" directly translates to operations-style thinking. Candidates should focus on showcasing how their design work directly contributes to operational efficiency, reduced user effort, and improved business outcomes within a complex system like healthcare.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Lead UX Designers in Chennai, India, with 8+ years of experience in enterprise software, a competitive salary range would typically fall between ₹15,00,000 to ₹28,00,000 per annum. This may include a base salary, performance bonuses, and potential stock options, depending on the company's compensation structure and the candidate's specific experience and negotiation.

Benefits:

• Health and Financial Benefits: Comprehensive health insurance and financial planning support.
• Commuter Support: Assistance with daily commute logistics.
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP): Confidential support services for personal and professional well-being.
• Tuition Assistance: Support for continued education and professional development.
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Opportunities to join and contribute to diverse communities within the company.
• Collaborative Workspaces: Access to modern, well-equipped office environments designed for collaboration.
• Work-Life Balance: Commitment to fostering a healthy balance between professional responsibilities and personal life, with flexibility where possible.
• Professional Development: Opportunities for continuous learning, skill enhancement, and career growth.

Working Hours: Standard full-time working hours are expected, typically around 40 hours per week. While the role is on-site, the company emphasizes work-life balance and flexibility, suggesting that adherence to strict, inflexible hours might be less common, especially for senior roles, provided project deliverables are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on market data for Lead UX Designers in Chennai with significant experience in enterprise software. Actual compensation will vary based on the candidate's unique qualifications, interview performance, and athenahealth's internal compensation bands. The benefits listed are directly from the provided company information, highlighting a strong emphasis on employee well-being and development, which is attractive to operations professionals seeking a supportive work environment.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: U.S. Health-tech Leader, providing cloud-based solutions for clinical and financial performance in healthcare. The company operates within a highly regulated and complex sector, requiring robust, reliable, and compliant solutions. Company Size: Large enterprise (over 10,000 employees globally). This size implies established processes, opportunities for specialization, and a significant impact potential, but also the need for strong communication to navigate organizational complexity. Founded: The company was founded in 1997. This history suggests a mature organization with a deep understanding of the healthcare market, having navigated significant industry changes.

Team Structure:

• Multidisciplinary Agile R&D Teams: The UX Designer will be embedded within agile teams that include Product Managers, Developers, Data Analytics Specialists, Service Operations Agents, and potentially customer representatives.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Strong emphasis on collaboration across Product, Engineering, and other disciplines to ensure cohesive user experiences and strategic alignment.
• Reporting: While not explicitly stated, a Lead UX Designer typically reports to a UX Manager, Director of Product Design, or Head of Product, and works closely with Product Owners and Engineering Leads within their agile teams.

Methodology:

• Agile/Scrum Framework: The team operates using agile methodologies, emphasizing iterative development, collaboration, and rapid feedback loops.
• User-Centric Design: A core philosophy of understanding and designing for the user's needs and workflows.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: While the role is UX-focused, the mention of "data analytics specialists" and the nature of health-tech implies that data insights will inform design and product decisions.
• Process Optimization Focus: Actively seeking to map processes and identify opportunities for efficiency, a key tenet of operations.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's U.S. health-tech focus and large enterprise size are critical context. For operations professionals, this means dealing with complex regulatory environments, large-scale data, and established but potentially evolving processes. The emphasis on values-driven culture, flexibility, and work-life balance, alongside a strong DEI commitment, are attractive cultural indicators.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a senior individual contributor position, designated as "Lead." It signifies a high level of expertise, autonomy, and influence within the UX domain. While not a direct management role, it involves mentorship and leadership in design strategy and execution. Reporting Structure: The Lead UX Designer will likely report to a UX Manager or Director within the Product organization. They will work closely with Product Managers and Engineering Leads within their specific agile R&D teams, forming a matrixed reporting and collaboration structure. Operations Impact: The Lead UX Designer's work directly impacts the usability, efficiency, and adoption of athenahealth's core products. By improving workflows and user experiences, they contribute to increased productivity for healthcare providers, reduced administrative burden, better patient care outcomes, and ultimately, the financial health and sustainability of client practices. This role translates user experience improvements into tangible operational efficiencies and business value.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership in Design: Potential to grow into a formal UX Manager or Director role, leading a team of designers, or to become a Principal/Staff UX Designer, focusing on highly complex strategic initiatives and technical leadership.
• Domain Expertise: Deepen expertise in the U.S. healthcare industry, a highly valuable and specialized domain within tech.
• Cross-Functional Skill Development: Expand skills in product strategy, agile development processes, and data analysis through close collaboration.
• Mentorship and Training: Opportunities to formalize mentorship skills and contribute to design training programs within the company.
• Strategic Product Influence: Influence the long-term product vision and roadmap through user advocacy and strategic design contributions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Lead" title suggests a clear path for advancement either into people management or deeper technical/strategic UX leadership. The emphasis on impacting operational efficiency and business value aligns perfectly with what operations professionals seek. The opportunity to gain deep domain expertise in healthcare is a significant long-term career asset.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is based in Chennai, India, in an on-site capacity. The company mentions "collaborative workspaces" and a commitment to "work-life balance," suggesting modern office environments designed to facilitate teamwork and employee well-being. Office Location(s): Chennai, India. This location is one of several offices for athenahealth in India, alongside Bangalore and Pune, and is part of a global presence with headquarters in Boston and offices in the U.S. and Europe. Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The office design likely supports teamwork, brainstorming sessions, and cross-functional interaction, crucial for agile R&D teams.
• Tools and Technology: Access to industry-standard design and collaboration tools will be provided.
• Team Interaction: Regular opportunities to interact with diverse teams, including product managers, engineers, data analysts, and service operations agents, fostering a rich learning and problem-solving environment.

Work Schedule: While the role is on-site and full-time (approximately 40 hours/week), athenahealth emphasizes flexibility and work-life balance. This suggests that while core hours will exist for team collaboration, there may be some flexibility in start/end times or the ability to manage workload effectively to achieve balance, provided project goals are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site nature for a "Lead" role in a large health-tech company is common, emphasizing the need for in-person collaboration. The mention of "collaborative workspaces" and "flexibility" suggests a modern approach to office-based work, balancing team cohesion with employee well-being, which is often a key consideration for operations professionals.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a recruiter screen to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.
• Hiring Manager Interview: Deeper dive into experience, leadership potential, and specific UX skills.
• Portfolio Presentation & Case Study: A critical stage where candidates present their portfolio, often focusing on a detailed case study of a complex problem they solved, showcasing their process, rationale, and impact. This will likely involve hypothetical scenarios or discussions about past projects in detail.
• Team/Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, or other designers to assess collaboration skills, communication style, and ability to integrate into agile teams.
• Final Round: May involve senior leadership or a final discussion on strategic thinking and alignment with company vision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Process, Not Just Pixels: Clearly articulate your thought process, research methodology, and how user insights drove your design decisions.
• Showcase Problem Framing: Dedicate a significant portion of your presentation to how you understood and defined the problem before jumping into solutions.
• Highlight Collaboration: Provide examples of how you worked with cross-functional teams, managed feedback, and navigated trade-offs.
• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the positive outcomes of your designs (e.g., improved efficiency, reduced errors, increased adoption).
• Tailor to Healthcare: If possible, include examples relevant to enterprise software, complex workflows, or ideally, healthcare.
• Be Prepared for "Why": Expect to be asked to justify every design decision and trade-off made.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design Exercise: Be prepared for a take-home design challenge or a live design exercise focusing on a complex problem relevant to healthcare workflows or enterprise software.
• Process Mapping & Workflow Design: Practice mapping out complex processes and identifying areas for improvement.
• Articulating Trade-offs: Think about common design trade-offs (e.g., speed vs. thoroughness, breadth vs. depth) and how you would make decisions.
• Understanding the Healthcare Context: Research current trends, challenges, and user types within the U.S. healthcare system.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio presentation is the most crucial element. Operations candidates should emphasize how their UX work directly translates into operational improvements, efficiency gains, and reduced friction for users, mirroring the problem-solving approach in operations roles. Highlighting process mapping and efficiency identification will resonate strongly.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• UX Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision, Axure RP (Candidates should be proficient in at least one primary tool, with Figma being a modern industry standard).
• User Research Tools: UserTesting.com, Maze, Lookback, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey (for surveys and feedback collection).
• Collaboration & Project Management: Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello (essential for working within agile teams).
• Design Systems: Experience working with and contributing to design systems.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Web Analytics: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics (to understand user behavior on web platforms).
• Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI (may be used by cross-functional teams to share insights that inform design).

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a UX tool, understanding the principles of CRM (like Salesforce) and workflow automation can be beneficial for designing integrated experiences within enterprise systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in modern UX design and prototyping tools is essential. For operations candidates, familiarity with project management tools like Jira and Confluence is a significant advantage, as these are commonly used for tracking development progress and documenting processes within agile environments. Understanding how data analytics informs design decisions is also key.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and advocating for the user, ensuring their needs are at the forefront of all design decisions.
• Collaboration: Fostering a team-oriented environment where open communication, shared knowledge, and mutual support are paramount for success.
• Data-Driven Improvement: Utilizing research, analytics, and user feedback to inform design choices and drive continuous improvement in product experiences.
• Efficiency & Simplicity: Striving to simplify complex processes and create intuitive, efficient experiences that reduce user burden.
• Innovation & Problem-Solving: Embracing challenges, seeking creative solutions, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible to transform healthcare.
• Accountability & Ownership: Taking responsibility for design outcomes and driving projects to successful completion.

Collaboration Style:

• Integrated within Agile Teams: Working seamlessly as part of multidisciplinary scrum teams, participating in all agile ceremonies.
• Cross-Functional Partnerships: Proactively building relationships with Product Managers, Engineers, Data Analysts, and Service Operations Agents to ensure alignment and cohesive product development.
• Feedback-Rich Environment: Encouraging and actively seeking constructive feedback from peers and stakeholders to refine designs and processes.
• Knowledge Sharing: Willingness to share expertise, mentor junior team members, and contribute to the overall growth of the design practice.

📝 Enhancement Note: The listed values and collaboration style align well with operations principles of efficiency, data-driven decision-making, and cross-functional teamwork. The emphasis on simplifying complexity and reducing user burden is a direct parallel to operational goals.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complexity of Healthcare Domain: Navigating the intricate regulations, diverse user roles, and complex workflows inherent in the U.S. healthcare system.
• Balancing User Needs with Business Goals: Making design trade-offs that satisfy user requirements while aligning with business objectives and technical constraints.
• Driving Adoption of New Designs: Effectively communicating the value of UX improvements and encouraging adoption among users accustomed to existing workflows.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent vision and execution across multiple agile teams and departments with potentially competing priorities.
• Keeping Pace with Technology: Staying current with evolving design tools, methodologies, and emerging technologies in the UX and health-tech space.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deepening Healthcare Domain Expertise: Gaining in-depth knowledge of clinical and financial processes within U.S. healthcare.
• Advanced UX Techniques: Opportunities to learn and apply cutting-edge UX research and design methodologies.
• Leadership and Mentorship: Developing skills in leading design initiatives and mentoring junior designers.
• Strategic Product Thinking: Contributing to product strategy and roadmap development.
• Industry Conferences & Training: Potential to attend relevant industry events and pursue professional certifications.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical for senior roles in complex industries and directly relate to the problem-solving and strategic thinking required in operations. The growth opportunities highlight a clear path for career advancement and skill development, particularly in specialized domains like healthcare technology.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Problem Solving & Design Process: "Describe a time you had to solve a highly complex user problem. Walk us through your process from problem framing to final solution, highlighting key decisions and trade-offs." (Focus on your methodology, research, and how you validated your solution.)
• Collaboration & Leadership: "How do you ensure alignment and consistency in user experience across multiple agile teams? Describe your approach to mentoring junior designers or influencing stakeholders." (Emphasize your communication, influence, and team-building skills.)
• User Advocacy & Trade-offs: "Tell us about a situation where you had to make a difficult design trade-off between user needs and business/technical constraints. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?" (Showcase your ability to balance competing priorities and articulate rationale.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• Healthcare Interest: "What interests you about working in the U.S. healthcare technology space, and specifically at athenahealth?" (Research athenahealth's mission, values, and recent news. Connect your interest to their goals.)
• Agile Experience: "Describe your experience working within agile/scrum teams. How do you integrate UX into sprint planning and execution?" (Highlight your understanding of agile ceremonies and your role within them.)
• Values Alignment: "Our culture is values-driven, focusing on flexibility, collaboration, and work-life balance. How do these values resonate with your professional approach?" (Provide specific examples of how you embody these values.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your portfolio with a clear narrative for each case study: Problem -> Research -> Solution (Process) -> Outcome.
• Focus on Impact: Clearly articulate the business and user impact of your work. Quantify results whenever possible.
• Demonstrate Process: Show, don't just tell. Include artifacts like user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and research findings.
• Prepare for Q&A: Anticipate questions about your design decisions, challenges faced, and alternative approaches you considered.
• Tailor to the Role: Emphasize projects that showcase enterprise-level complexity, workflow optimization, or healthcare-related challenges if you have them.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating how your UX skills translate into operational improvements and strategic thinking. Be ready to articulate your process, justify decisions, and showcase your ability to collaborate effectively within a complex, regulated industry.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Lead UX Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Workday link.
• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio prominently features case studies that highlight your problem-framing abilities, user research methodologies, and the impact of your designs on efficiency and user experience. Tailor your presentation to showcase experience with complex enterprise systems and workflow optimization.
• Resume Optimization: Update your resume to emphasize your 8+ years of professional design experience, specifically mentioning enterprise, financial, or healthcare systems. Use keywords from the job description, such as "User Experience Design," "Agile Methodologies," "Problem Solving," "Interaction Design," and "Process Mapping." Highlight leadership and mentorship experience.
• Interview Preparation: Thoroughly prepare for the interview process by reviewing common UX interview questions, practicing your portfolio presentation, and researching athenahealth's products, mission, and values. Be ready to discuss your approach to user research, design trade-offs, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Company Research: Deeply research athenahealth's position in the health-tech market, its core products (EHR, practice management), its mission to simplify healthcare, and its company culture. Understand the challenges and opportunities within the U.S. healthcare ecosystem.

⚠️ 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.

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