UX Senior Manager

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: UX Senior Manager Company: PepsiCo Location: Plano, Texas, United States Job Type: FULL_TIME Category: User Experience / Design Operations Date Posted: November 11, 2025 Experience Level: Senior (10+ years) Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• This role focuses on leading the design and development of user experiences for strategic technology (S&T) core priorities, ensuring they are user-friendly and impactful.
• The Senior Manager will conceptualize, design, and present engaging solutions by leveraging a deep understanding of user needs and business objectives.
• This position requires strong collaboration with cross-functional teams, including product, business, strategy, and data & analytics, to deliver value and drive innovation.
• The role emphasizes strong facilitation and presentation skills for client-facing engagements and workshops, translating complex ideas into effective user journeys and wireframes.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the job title is "UX Senior Manager," the description indicates a strong overlap with operations in terms of process definition, cross-functional collaboration, and driving strategic initiatives within the S&T domain. This role can be framed as a critical bridge between design and operational execution, requiring a blend of creative leadership and structured problem-solving, similar to a Design Operations or GTM Operations role focused on user enablement. The emphasis on "S&T core priorities" suggests a focus on internal business applications or platforms that support the company's strategic technology roadmap, requiring an understanding of business processes and how design can optimize them.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the conceptualization and co-creation of user experiences for S&T core priority applications, ensuring alignment with business goals and user needs.
• Develop well-researched understanding of S&T core priorities to inform design decisions and create engaging, user-friendly, and easy-to-use experiences.
• Conceptualize, design, and present engaging experiences through various mediums, including digital prototypes, presentation design, immersive activations, and video.
• Facilitate client-facing meetings and workshops, effectively communicating design rationale and leading engagement sessions to define end-user experiences.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams (product, business, strategy, data & analytics) to deliver value and ensure cohesive product development.
• Design frameworks for information organization, user flows, and interaction models, balancing user needs with business, brand, and technical requirements.
• Visualize solutions using models, wireframes, documentation, and prototypes, paying close attention to user interaction elements, components, labels, and flows.
• Partner closely with front-end developers to ensure seamless integration of design and implementation.
• Provide guidance on product design to enhance usefulness, usability, effectiveness, desirability, and differentiation.
• Maintain and evolve Digital Principles and style guides to ensure consistency and high standards across interactive, user-centric products.
• Manage client expectations and ensure delivery meets or exceeds expectations, balancing creative vision with business goals.
• Drive the design conceptualization of Customer-Centered Products, infusing user values and defining the user experience across the entire ecosystem.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities listed heavily emphasize design leadership, client management, and cross-functional collaboration. For an operations-focused candidate, the key is to highlight the ability to translate these design outcomes into operationalizable processes, user adoption strategies, and measurable improvements, especially within the context of "S&T core priorities." The role's success hinges on not just creating great designs, but ensuring they are effectively implemented and adopted, which has strong operational implications.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: BA/BS in a related field required; MS/MFA preferred. Experience: 10+ years of experience in specialization such as user experience, design strategy, marketing activation design, interaction design, or visual and content design, with a willingness to broaden skillsets into adjacent specializations while refining mastery of primary skillset.

Required Skills:

• Expert in digital design software and tools, including Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, InVision, AfterEffects, Figma, etc.
• Proficient in front-end web development (HTML/JS/CSS) and rapid prototyping techniques.
• Expert in creating experience maps, user journeys, service blueprints, interaction models, flows, high-fidelity wireframes, and UI/visual design.
• Master facilitator with proven track record in running client engagements, demonstrating excellence in presentation polish, executive presence, and client orientation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking, storytelling, and presentation building.
• Proven history of delivering results on time, within budget, and with a high level of execution.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects.
• Ability to tackle diverse and complex design challenges and recognize patterns to develop creative, strategic, and scalable solutions.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience working with design systems, components, and extensible assets.
• A creative optimist and self-starter who brings energy and enthusiasm to the work.
• Desire to teach others through doing.

📝 Enhancement Note: For an operations candidate, translating these design skills into operational frameworks is key. For example, "Expert in digital design software" can be reframed as "Proficiency in leveraging design tools to prototype and validate operational workflows." "Master facilitator" can be linked to "Ability to facilitate cross-functional workshops to define and optimize operational processes." The emphasis on "delivering results on time, within budget, and with a high level of execution" directly aligns with operations management principles.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrations of end-to-end user experience design, from initial concept to final implementation, showcasing the ability to translate business needs into user-centric solutions.
• Case studies detailing the design process for complex applications or initiatives, highlighting problem-solving approaches, user research, wireframing, prototyping, and final UI design.
• Examples of how design solutions have directly impacted business objectives, user adoption, efficiency, or satisfaction, quantified with metrics where possible.
• Evidence of facilitating workshops or engagement sessions, showcasing the ability to guide stakeholders and drive consensus on user experience strategies.
• Prototypes or interactive demonstrations of designed experiences that illustrate user flows, interaction design, and visual aesthetics.

Process Documentation:

• Showcase documentation of design processes, including user journey mapping, service blueprinting, and wireframe creation, demonstrating a structured approach to design.
• Examples of how design principles and style guides were developed, maintained, and applied across multiple projects or platforms to ensure consistency and brand integrity.
• Documentation illustrating collaboration with development teams, including how design specifications were communicated and implemented.
• Case studies that detail the iterative design process, including user feedback loops and design refinements based on data and insights.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations professionals should frame their portfolio to highlight process ownership, efficiency gains, and data-driven decision-making within design contexts. For instance, a portfolio piece could detail how a design system was implemented to streamline content creation workflows for marketing teams, or how user journey mapping was used to identify bottlenecks in a customer onboarding process, leading to operational improvements.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $118,700 - $198,800 annually. Bonus: Performance-based bonus with an eligibility target payout of 15% of annual salary, paid out annually.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive benefits package subject to elections and eligibility.
• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance.
• Disability insurance.
• Health and Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Insurance coverage including Accident, Group Legal, and Life insurance.
• Defined Contribution Retirement Plan.
• Paid time off, subject to eligibility, including:
  • Paid parental leave
  • Vacation time
  • Sick leave
  • Bereavement leave

Working Hours: Assumed 40 hours per week, typical for a full-time role.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is competitive for a Senior Manager role in a major metropolitan area like Plano, Texas, considering the experience requirements. The bonus structure indicates a performance-driven culture. The benefits package is standard for a large corporation like PepsiCo, offering robust support for employees and their families. For operations candidates, understanding how performance is measured and how bonuses are tied to operational KPIs can be a key insight.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Food & Beverage Manufacturing and Distribution. PepsiCo is a global leader in the industry, known for its diverse portfolio of brands and extensive distribution network. Company Size: Large Enterprise (PepsiCo is a Fortune 500 company with over 300,000 employees globally). Founded: 1965 (Merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay). This long history signifies stability and a deep understanding of consumer markets.

Team Structure:

• The role sits within the S&T (Strategy & Technology) function, indicating a focus on internal technology solutions and strategic initiatives.
• The UX Senior Manager will likely lead a team of designers or work as a senior individual contributor, collaborating closely with Product Owners, Business Analysts, Data Scientists, and Strategy Leads.
• The structure emphasizes cross-functional alignment and shared ownership of strategic priorities.

Methodology:

• The role requires a user-centered design methodology, leveraging research, prototyping, and iterative feedback to create effective experiences.
• Emphasis on "S&T core priorities" suggests a strategic, project-based approach, likely involving Agile or hybrid methodologies for rapid development and deployment.
• Data & Analytics collaboration points to a data-driven approach to validating design decisions and measuring impact.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: PepsiCo's scale means operations roles are critical for ensuring efficiency and scalability across diverse business units. A UX Senior Manager role within S&T implies a focus on enhancing internal tools and platforms that drive business operations, requiring an understanding of how design impacts operational efficiency and employee productivity. The culture likely values innovation, data-driven decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Manager level position, indicating significant autonomy, responsibility for strategic initiatives, and potentially team leadership. In an operations context, this translates to managing complex projects, driving process improvements, and influencing strategic decisions related to technology adoption and user enablement. Reporting Structure: The role reports into a higher-level leader within the S&T function, likely a Director or VP of Design, Product, or Strategy. The UX Senior Manager will collaborate extensively with peers in Product Management, Business Strategy, and Data & Analytics. Operations Impact: This role has a direct impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of PepsiCo's strategic technology initiatives. By designing user-friendly and intuitive experiences for S&T core priority applications, the UX Senior Manager can significantly improve user adoption, reduce training needs, minimize errors, and enhance overall productivity across various business functions. The success of S&T priorities is often tied to user engagement and adoption, making this role critical for achieving strategic technology goals and driving operational excellence.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Advancement: Potential to move into Director-level roles overseeing larger design teams or broader strategic initiatives within S&T or other business units.
• Specialization Deepening: Opportunity to become a recognized expert in specific design disciplines or in applying design thinking to complex operational challenges within the food and beverage industry.
• Cross-Functional Mobility: Potential to transition into Product Management, Program Management, or strategic roles within other PepsiCo functions, leveraging a deep understanding of user needs and technology.
• Mentorship and Teaching: The role explicitly mentions a desire to "teach others through doing," offering opportunities to mentor junior designers and influence design best practices across the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations professionals, this role represents a pathway into strategic initiatives where design thinking is applied to solve operational problems. Growth opportunities may involve leading design operations, process optimization initiatives, or even broader GTM strategy roles that require a strong user-centric approach. The emphasis on "teaching others" is a strong indicator of a culture that values knowledge sharing and mentorship, common in mature operations teams.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is listed as "On-site," with a specific mention of Plano, Texas as a potential hiring location, and also Purchase, NY. This suggests a traditional office-based work environment. Office Location(s): Plano, Texas (7701 Legacy Dr, Plano, TX 75024) and Purchase, New York. These are significant corporate campuses, likely offering a range of amenities and collaborative spaces.

Workspace Context:

• Candidates can expect a dynamic, corporate office environment typical of a large CPG company.
• Collaboration is a key aspect, with opportunities to work in shared spaces, meeting rooms, and potentially dedicated design labs or studios.
• Access to modern technology and design tools is expected, facilitating the creation of prototypes and high-fidelity designs.
• Interaction with diverse teams (product, business, strategy, data) will be frequent, fostering a collaborative and knowledge-sharing atmosphere.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time corporate schedule, likely Monday-Friday, with potential for occasional extended hours during critical project phases. The emphasis on delivery within budget and on time suggests a need for efficient time management and dedication.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement means candidates should be prepared for a structured office environment. For operations professionals, understanding the company's approach to hybrid or remote work policies for other roles can provide context on the overall flexibility and culture. The presence of significant corporate campuses suggests ample resources and opportunities for networking and professional development within the physical workspace.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or Recruiter call to assess basic qualifications, salary expectations, and cultural fit.
• Hiring Manager Interview: In-depth discussion with the hiring manager covering experience, leadership style, and approach to UX design and problem-solving.
• Portfolio Review: A critical stage where candidates present their work. Expect to walk through 2-3 key projects, detailing the problem, your process, your role, decisions made, and the outcomes/impact.
• Cross-functional Interviews: Interviews with key stakeholders from Product, Business, Strategy, and Data & Analytics teams to assess collaboration skills and understanding of business needs.
• Executive/Final Interview: Potentially with a senior leader (Director/VP) to assess strategic thinking and overall fit within the S&T leadership team.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the business problem, the user need, your specific contribution, the design process, and the measurable outcomes (e.g., improved efficiency, increased adoption, reduced errors, enhanced user satisfaction). Quantify results whenever possible.
• Showcase Process: Detail your design methodology, including user research, journey mapping, wireframing, prototyping, and iteration. Explain why you made certain choices.
• Demonstrate Collaboration: Highlight instances where you successfully collaborated with cross-functional teams, managed stakeholder expectations, and integrated diverse feedback.
• Tailor to PepsiCo: Research PepsiCo's brands, S&T initiatives, and company values. Frame your experience and projects in a way that demonstrates how you can contribute to their strategic goals.
• Presentation Skills: Practice your presentation thoroughly. Be articulate, confident, and able to answer questions about your design decisions and their operational implications. Use visuals effectively.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be prepared for potential design challenges, which might involve solving a specific UX problem related to an internal tool or process, or developing a concept for a new feature.
• Focus on demonstrating your problem-solving approach, your ability to think strategically, and your communication skills.
• If given a case study, thoroughly analyze the requirements, consider the business context, and outline a clear, actionable plan.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations candidates should emphasize how their portfolio projects showcase process optimization, efficiency improvements, and a data-driven approach to problem-solving, even within a design context. For example, a project could demonstrate how a streamlined user interface for an internal tool reduced data entry errors by X% or decreased task completion time by Y minutes, directly impacting operational efficiency.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Digital Prototyping & Design: Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, InVision, Figma, AfterEffects.
• Front-End Development: HTML, JavaScript, CSS (understanding of these is required for collaboration).
• Specialized Design Tools: Tools for creating experience maps, user journeys, service blueprints, wireframes, UI/visual design.
• Presentation Software: Tools for creating high-impact deliverables and presentation designs.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not explicitly listed as a primary tool for the UX Manager, a strong understanding of how to leverage data and analytics (from Data & Analytics teams) to inform design decisions and measure impact is crucial. This would involve tools like Tableau, Power BI, or other business intelligence platforms used by PepsiCo.

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly specified, but experience with or understanding of how UX design impacts user adoption and efficiency within CRM or other business automation platforms would be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations professionals, proficiency in these design tools can be framed as an ability to rapidly prototype and validate operational workflows or to create user-friendly interfaces for operational dashboards and reporting tools. Understanding how these tools integrate with broader enterprise systems (like ERP, CRM, or internal workflow management systems) is also valuable.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A core value, ensuring that all designs and solutions prioritize the end-user's needs and experience. This translates to understanding the "user" of internal operational tools.
• Collaboration: Strong emphasis on working effectively with diverse teams across product, business, strategy, and data. This mirrors the collaborative nature of most operations roles.
• Innovation & Creativity: Encouraging new ideas and approaches to problem-solving, pushing boundaries to create impactful solutions.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Using insights from user research and analytics to inform design choices and measure success. This aligns perfectly with operations' reliance on data.
• Execution Excellence: A commitment to delivering high-quality results on time and within budget, a fundamental tenet of operations management.

Collaboration Style:

• Highly collaborative and cross-functional, involving frequent interaction with various departments to align on strategic priorities and user experience goals.
• Facilitative leadership, guiding discussions and workshops to achieve consensus and drive action.
• Emphasis on clear communication, storytelling, and presenting ideas persuasively.
• A culture of constructive feedback and iterative improvement is implied through the design process.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations candidates should highlight their ability to translate these values into actionable strategies. For example, demonstrating how a data-driven approach has led to process improvements or how strong collaboration has facilitated the successful implementation of new operational workflows. The emphasis on "user-centricity" can be applied to internal users of operational systems.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Diverse Stakeholder Needs: Effectively managing expectations and needs from various business units, product teams, and technology stakeholders, all with potentially competing priorities.
• Translating Strategy into Actionable Design: Bridging the gap between high-level strategic objectives and detailed, user-friendly design solutions for complex S&T priorities.
• Driving Adoption of New Experiences: Ensuring that designed solutions are effectively adopted by users, which requires strong change management and communication, often a key challenge in operations.
• Staying Ahead of Design Trends and Technology: Continuously updating skills and approaches to incorporate the latest in UX design, prototyping tools, and relevant technologies.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design Methodologies: Deepening expertise in areas like service design, journey mapping, and immersive experience design.
• Cross-Functional Expertise: Gaining a deeper understanding of business strategy, product development lifecycle, and data analytics within a large CPG organization.
• Leadership Development: Opportunities to hone leadership, team management, and strategic influencing skills through leading complex projects and potentially managing direct reports.
• Industry Exposure: Learning about the unique operational challenges and opportunities within the food and beverage industry and how technology and design can address them.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations professionals can reframe these challenges as opportunities to apply their problem-solving and process optimization skills. For instance, the challenge of "driving adoption" can be addressed by leveraging experience in change management and user training strategies, common in operations. The growth opportunities align well with a career path that moves from specialized execution to broader strategic impact.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to balance conflicting requirements from different stakeholders (e.g., business, product, engineering) when designing a solution. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on your facilitation, negotiation, and problem-solving skills).
• "How do you ensure that your designs not only meet user needs but also align with and support broader business objectives and operational efficiency?" (Highlight your understanding of business impact and process optimization).
• "Walk us through your process for translating a complex business problem into a user-centered design solution. What tools and methods do you use, and how do you validate your approach?" (Showcase your structured methodology and data-driven mindset).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about PepsiCo and specifically about this role within our S&T function?" (Research PepsiCo's recent innovations, sustainability efforts, or technology initiatives).
• "How do you approach teaching or mentoring others in design principles or processes?" (Address the "desire to teach others through doing" aspect).
• "Describe a situation where you had to adapt your design approach due to unforeseen constraints or feedback. How did you manage it, and what did you learn?" (Demonstrate flexibility and resilience).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, follow a clear story arc: The Challenge (business/user problem), Your Role & Process, The Solution (design artifacts/prototypes), The Impact (quantifiable results, user adoption, operational benefits).
• Emphasize Operational Impact: When discussing outcomes, explicitly link design decisions to improvements in efficiency, productivity, error reduction, or user enablement – aspects critical to operations.
• Showcase Collaboration: Highlight how you worked with diverse teams, managed feedback, and integrated different perspectives.
• Be Prepared for Technical Deep Dives: While focusing on the 'why' and 'what', be ready to discuss the 'how' of your design and prototyping process, especially concerning tool proficiency and front-end collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations candidates should prepare to discuss their portfolio through the lens of process improvement, stakeholder management, and delivering measurable business value. Frame design solutions as enabling operational efficiency or enhancing the user experience of critical business processes. Use operations terminology where appropriate to describe the impact of design choices.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations-adjacent UX Senior Manager position:

• Submit your application through the PepsiCo Jobs portal using the provided link.
• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in user-centric design, cross-functional collaboration, project delivery, and any experience with internal tools or strategic technology initiatives. Emphasize keywords from the job description, such as "user experience," "design strategy," "prototyping," "facilitation," and "stakeholder management."
• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate 2-3 of your strongest projects that demonstrate your end-to-end design process, problem-solving skills, and measurable impact. Ensure your portfolio clearly articulates the business context and operational benefits of your work.
• Practice Your Presentation: Rehearse your portfolio presentation, focusing on clear storytelling, articulating your process, and highlighting the business and operational outcomes of your projects. Be ready to answer questions about your design decisions and how they translate to real-world impact.
• Research PepsiCo: Familiarize yourself with PepsiCo's brands, its S&T initiatives, and its company values. Consider how your skills in design and process optimization can contribute to their strategic goals.

⚠️ 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.