Senior Vice President, Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Vice President, Product Designer

Company: BNY

Location: New York, NY, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / Service Design / Enterprise Operations Design

Date Posted: April 21, 2026

Experience Level: Senior (10-12+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the strategic direction and execution of experience design for BNY's complex Enterprise Custody Services platform, focusing on structural transformation rather than incremental changes.

• Drive a cultural shift towards evidence-based design decisions, leveraging user research and data synthesis as primary inputs.

• Champion the development and implementation of AI-assisted tools within the design process, from research synthesis to prototyping and workflow analysis.

• Define and establish coherence across a fragmented platform of over a hundred applications by creating guiding principles, patterns, and standards.

• Act as a senior individual contributor and design leader, mentoring a small team of designers and influencing product and engineering leadership.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a critical leadership opportunity within a complex, high-stakes financial operations environment. The emphasis is on strategic transformation, data-driven decision-making, and leveraging advanced technologies like AI, requiring a candidate with deep service design expertise and a systems-thinking approach to operations.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and contribute to a comprehensive persona framework for a platform encompassing over 100 applications, catering to specialized roles in settlements, instruction capture, corporate events, tax, and client services.

• Map and redesign end-to-end operational workflows using service design methodologies to identify breakdowns and design experiences that eliminate, automate, or unify manual steps.

• Implement and champion user research best practices, including contextual inquiry, usability testing, and research synthesis, to ensure design decisions are grounded in evidence.

• Drive platform experience coherence by defining standards, principles, and patterns that unify a fragmented application landscape.

• Design interaction patterns for human-AI collaboration, addressing AI capabilities such as automated rule generation, exception triage, intelligent search, and predictive processing.

• Mentor and guide a team of three designers, providing critique, coaching, and strategic direction to elevate design quality and practice.

• Influence product owners and engineers to adopt a user-centric approach and raise the overall standard of user experience thinking across the platform.

• Support design strategy communication to leadership by articulating the connection between design work and operational outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strong focus on service design, operational workflow optimization, and strategic platform development. The role requires not only design execution but also significant strategic influence, research leadership, and team mentorship, particularly in the context of integrating AI and improving efficiency in a complex financial enterprise.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, or a related field is typically expected for a role of this seniority.

Experience: 10-12 years of experience in product or experience design, with a significant emphasis on service design and complex operational environments.

Required Skills:

• 10-12 years of experience in product or experience design with deep expertise in service design: mapping end-to-end workflows, creating service blueprints, and designing across multiple channels and touchpoints.

• Demonstrated experience leveraging user research methods (contextual inquiry, usability testing, research synthesis) to inform and ground design decisions in empirical evidence.

• Proven experience shaping persona frameworks or user segmentation models for complex, multi-role operational environments.

• Strong systems-level thinking: ability to perceive the entire user experience, including workflows, workarounds, handoffs, and failure modes, beyond just the interface design.

• Proven ability to influence product and engineering decisions through robust design evidence and strategic communication.

• Experience working in enterprise, regulated, or high-stakes operational environments, demonstrating comfort with complexity, compliance constraints, and organizational dynamics.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience incorporating AI-assisted tools into the design, research, and prototyping workflow as a standard practice.

• Experience designing for AI-augmented workflows, including patterns for confidence indicators, human-in-the-loop decision-making, and explainable AI outputs.

• Experience with design system governance across a fragmented platform.

• Experience in service design within environments where the term may not have been explicitly used, focusing on mapping workflows, identifying offline processes, and designing interventions to eliminate them.

• A deep understanding that significant enterprise design opportunities lie in operational processes, handoffs, and unquestioned assumptions, not solely in user interfaces.

📝 Enhancement Note: The qualifications emphasize a blend of deep design expertise, strategic thinking, and practical experience in complex, regulated environments. The preference for AI integration and a systems-thinking approach underscores the forward-looking nature of the role and the need for a candidate who can navigate and transform intricate operational landscapes.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase how complex systems have been understood and improved, demonstrating a strong grasp of the thinking, process, and impact.

• Include artifacts such as service blueprints, journey maps, workflow analyses, research synthesis reports, and persona frameworks.

• Highlight the design interventions and strategic decisions that originated from these analyses.

Process Documentation:

• Evidence of mapping and redesigning end-to-end operational workflows, detailing the methodology used (e.g., service design, process mapping).

• Documentation of user research initiatives, including how findings were synthesized and translated into actionable design strategies and improvements.

• Examples of developing and applying persona frameworks or user segmentation models within complex operational contexts.

• Demonstrations of systems-level thinking, illustrating how you've considered the broader ecosystem of an application or service.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are unique, emphasizing the process and impact over aesthetic presentation. This indicates a strong preference for candidates who can demonstrate strategic thinking, analytical rigor, and a deep understanding of operational workflows and their improvement, particularly within a large enterprise context.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $104,000 - $253,000 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Commission earnings

• Discretionary bonuses

• Short and long-term incentive packages

• Company-sponsored benefit programs

Working Hours: The job description implies a standard full-time work schedule, with an estimated 40 hours per week. The hybrid nature suggests flexibility in balancing on-site and remote work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is provided for the New York, NY location. This range is typical for a Senior Vice President level role in product design within the financial services industry in a major metropolitan area. The inclusion of commission, bonuses, and incentive packages indicates a performance-driven compensation structure beyond the base salary. The note about "at-will" employment and the company's right to modify compensation is standard legal language.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Services (specifically Custody Services). BNY Mellon is a global investment company.

Company Size: BNY Mellon is a large, established financial institution, indicated by its extensive operational environment (hundreds of applications, thousands of people) and the Senior Vice President title. This suggests a robust, complex organizational structure with significant resources.

Founded: BNY Mellon has a long history, founded in 1784, signifying stability and deep industry roots.

Team Structure:

• This role is part of the Enterprise Custody Services design team, which is being "built from the ground up."

• It's a hybrid structure: a senior individual contributor with direct influence over a small design team (three designers).

• The role involves working as a peer to product owners and engineering leadership, indicating a collaborative, cross-functional structure.

Methodology:

• The team is defining its own design model and operating procedures.

• A strong emphasis on evidence-based decision-making, using AI tools for research synthesis, prototyping, workflow analysis, and design system infrastructure.

• A cultural shift towards design decisions being grounded in evidence, not inherited opinions.

• Strategic and research-focused work (approx. 80%), with hands-on design (approx. 20%).

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is described as being in a state of transformation, particularly within the Enterprise Custody Services domain. This implies an environment that values innovation, strategic thinking, and the adoption of new technologies like AI. The emphasis on building design capabilities from the ground up suggests an opportunity for significant impact and influence for the hired individual.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Vice President (SVP) / Senior Individual Contributor. This level signifies a high degree of expertise, strategic influence, and leadership within a specialized domain. The role is critical for transforming a core, complex operational platform within a major financial institution.

Reporting Structure: The SVP will mentor three designers and work as a peer to product owners and engineering leadership. The exact reporting line for the SVP is not specified but is likely to be to a Director or VP within Product or Design leadership, focusing on the Enterprise Custody Services domain.

Operations Impact: The role directly impacts the efficiency, user experience, and operational outcomes of BNY's Enterprise Custody Services platform, a critical and complex area of the business. By redesigning workflows, improving coherence, and integrating AI, the role aims to drive significant operational improvements, reduce manual effort, and enhance decision-making accuracy.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Opportunity to shape and lead a design function from its foundational stages, defining processes, methodologies, and team culture.

• Strategic Influence: Directly influence product strategy, engineering roadmaps, and executive-level narratives related to design and operational efficiency.

• Domain Expertise: Develop deep knowledge in the complex financial services domain of custody operations, a highly specialized and valuable area.

• AI Integration Expertise: Gain hands-on experience and leadership in applying AI tools and designing for AI-augmented workflows within an enterprise context.

• Platform Transformation: Lead a significant transformation initiative, offering a high-impact project that can be a significant career differentiator.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers substantial growth potential for a designer looking to make a strategic impact in a complex enterprise environment. The opportunity to build and shape a design function, coupled with the focus on AI and operational transformation, provides a unique career trajectory beyond traditional product design roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work environment. The role is based in New York, NY, implying a physical office presence is required, but with flexibility.

Office Location(s): New York, NY. BNY Mellon has significant operations in this financial hub.

Workspace Context:

• The role involves close collaboration with product owners, engineering leadership, and a small design team.

• The environment is described as complex and operational, suggesting a focus on problem-solving and process optimization rather than purely creative ideation.

• The team is actively defining its processes and methodologies, indicating a dynamic and potentially agile work setting within a larger, established organization.

• Access to AI tools and advanced design technology is a core part of the daily practice.

Work Schedule: A standard full-time schedule is implied, with the hybrid arrangement allowing for a balance between in-office collaboration and remote work. This structure supports the need for both deep work (research, analysis) and collaborative sessions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature of the role in a major financial center like New York suggests a professional, structured work environment. The emphasis on collaboration with product and engineering teams, along with the ongoing effort to build out the design function, indicates a work setting that values cross-functional synergy and continuous improvement.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely involves a review of your resume and portfolio by a recruiter to assess foundational qualifications and experience.

• Hiring Manager/Team Interview: Discussion with the hiring manager and potentially other senior designers or product leads to delve into your experience, approach to service design, user research, and systems thinking.

• Portfolio Presentation: A critical stage where you will present your portfolio, focusing on case studies that demonstrate your ability to tackle complex operational problems, your process, and the impact of your work. Expect to discuss your approach to service design, workflow mapping, and evidence-based decision-making.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with product owners and engineering leadership to assess your ability to collaborate, influence, and integrate design into broader product development cycles.

• Executive Review: Potentially a final discussion with senior leadership to assess strategic alignment, leadership potential, and overall fit for the transformation initiative.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Process and Impact: As per the job description, emphasize your thinking, process, and the measurable impact of your design interventions. Show the "why" and "how" behind your solutions.

• Showcase Complex Systems: Highlight projects where you tackled intricate operational workflows, multi-stakeholder environments, or fragmented platforms.

• Demonstrate Service Design Rigor: Include service blueprints, journey maps, workflow analyses, and clear explanations of how you identified pain points and designed solutions across touchpoints.

• Evidence-Based Rationale: Clearly articulate how user research and data synthesis informed your design decisions.

• Systems Thinking Examples: Illustrate your ability to see the bigger picture, including handoffs, workarounds, and potential failure modes.

• AI Integration (if applicable): If you have experience with AI-assisted design tools, present how you've leveraged them effectively.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be prepared to discuss how you would approach designing for a complex, multi-application platform with diverse user roles.

• Anticipate questions about how you would establish design coherence and a shared language across teams.

• Prepare to articulate your strategy for integrating AI capabilities into user experiences and designing for human-AI collaboration.

• Think about how you would measure the success and impact of your design initiatives in an operational context.

• Be ready to discuss how you would mentor and guide a design team and influence non-design stakeholders.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process emphasizes a deep dive into the candidate's strategic thinking, problem-solving abilities, and practical application of service design principles in complex operational settings. The portfolio is paramount, serving as the primary tool to demonstrate these capabilities. Candidates should prepare to articulate their methodologies and showcase tangible results.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: While not explicitly stated, proficiency in industry-standard tools like Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, XD) is expected for design craft.

• Service Design & Workflow Mapping: Tools such as Miro, Lucidchart, or specialized service design platforms for creating service blueprints, journey maps, and workflow diagrams.

• User Research & Synthesis: Tools for conducting research (e.g., user interview platforms), and for synthesis and analysis (e.g., Dovetail, Condens, or advanced spreadsheet/data analysis tools).

• AI-Assisted Design Tools: The role explicitly mentions using AI tools for research synthesis, prototyping, and workflow analysis. Candidates should be familiar with or eager to learn and leverage such emerging technologies.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a primary focus for a designer, understanding how to interpret data from analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) or internal dashboards to inform design decisions would be beneficial.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managing CRM systems, an understanding of how enterprise platforms integrate and the role of data flow in operational efficiency is crucial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on AI tools suggests a forward-thinking environment. Candidates should highlight any experience with AI in design or a strong willingness and aptitude to learn and integrate these technologies into their workflow. The core requirement is the ability to use appropriate tools for service design, research, and strategic thinking.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Evidence-Based Decision-Making: Design decisions are driven by research, data, and user insights, not anecdotal evidence or opinion.

• Systems Thinking: A holistic approach to understanding and improving complex operational ecosystems.

• Efficiency and Automation: A drive to eliminate manual steps, streamline workflows, and leverage technology for greater operational efficiency.

• Collaboration and Influence: Working effectively with product, engineering, and business stakeholders to drive change and achieve shared goals.

• Continuous Improvement: An ongoing commitment to learning, iterating, and refining processes and experiences.

• User-Centricity within Complexity: A focus on the end-user experience, even within the intricate and regulated context of financial operations.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Close collaboration with Product Owners and Engineering leadership is essential, working as peers to integrate design into the development lifecycle.

• Mentorship and Coaching: The role involves guiding and uplifting other designers, fostering a culture of learning and skill development within the team.

• Intentional Design Process: The team is actively defining its methodology, suggesting an environment that values structured collaboration, feedback exchange, and process refinement.

• Data-Informed Dialogue: Discussions and decision-making are expected to be grounded in research findings and operational data.

📝 Enhancement Note: The team culture appears to be in a formative stage, emphasizing a modern, data-driven, and collaborative approach to design within a complex enterprise setting. The values align with a strategic operations and product development mindset, where efficiency, evidence, and cross-functional partnership are paramount.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complexity of Enterprise Custody Services: Navigating the intricate, highly regulated, and legacy-laden environment of global financial custody operations presents significant challenges in understanding user needs and implementing change.

• Platform Fragmentation: Addressing over a hundred disparate applications requires a robust strategy for achieving coherence and consistency across the user experience.

• Cultural Shift: Leading a shift towards evidence-based design and AI integration within a large, established financial institution can face resistance and require strong change management skills.

• Balancing Strategy and Craft: Effectively dedicating 80% of time to strategy and research while maintaining hands-on design skills and output for the remaining 20%.

• Mentoring and Leading without Direct Admin Management: Guiding and inspiring a design team through influence and expertise rather than direct managerial authority.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Service Design Application: Deepen expertise in applying service design principles and methodologies to one of the most complex operational domains in finance.

• AI in Design Leadership: Gain significant experience in leveraging AI tools and designing for AI-augmented workflows, positioning yourself at the forefront of design innovation.

• Strategic Transformation Leadership: Lead a foundational build-out of a design capability within a major enterprise, shaping its future direction and impact.

• Cross-functional Influence: Hone skills in influencing product, engineering, and executive stakeholders within a large, complex organization.

• Industry-Specific Knowledge: Develop specialized knowledge of custody operations and the financial services industry, a valuable niche expertise.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are significant but are balanced by substantial growth opportunities. The role is ideal for a seasoned designer who thrives in complex environments, enjoys leading transformative initiatives, and is eager to pioneer the use of AI in enterprise design.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a complex operational workflow you've mapped and redesigned. What was your process, and what was the impact?" (Focus on service blueprints, identifying pain points, and quantifiable outcomes).

• "How would you approach establishing design coherence across over 100 disparate applications? What principles or frameworks would you use?" (Discuss design systems, pattern libraries, and establishing a shared design language).

• "Imagine we're introducing an AI feature for predictive processing. How would you design the user interaction to build trust and ensure effective human-AI collaboration?" (Prepare to discuss confidence indicators, transparency, escalation paths, and user control).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about transforming the design approach for BNY's Enterprise Custody Services?" (Connect your passion to the company's stated goals of structural redesign and AI integration).

• "How would you mentor and elevate the skills of a small design team without direct administrative authority?" (Discuss coaching, constructive feedback, and leading by example).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure your presentation around 2-3 key case studies that best demonstrate your service design, systems thinking, and operational transformation capabilities.

• For each case study:

  • Context: Clearly define the problem space, the complexity of the system, and the user roles involved.
  • Process: Detail your methodology – how you conducted research, mapped workflows, synthesized insights, and developed design solutions. Use visual aids like service blueprints and journey maps.
  • Solution: Showcase the design interventions and their rationale.
  • Impact: Quantify the results wherever possible (e.g., reduction in manual effort, improved efficiency, decreased error rates). If quantitative data isn't available, articulate the qualitative improvements and strategic value.

• Be prepared to discuss your approach to AI integration if you have relevant experience, or articulate your thoughts on designing for AI in an enterprise context.

• Emphasize your systems-level thinking and how you see beyond the UI to the entire operational experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating a deep understanding of service design, operational workflows, and strategic thinking, supported by concrete examples from your portfolio and a clear articulation of your design process and its impact.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Vice President, Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the BNY Mellon careers portal.

• Curate your portfolio meticulously: Focus on showcasing 2-3 of your most impactful projects that demonstrate deep service design, complex system analysis, and operational workflow improvements. Ensure your portfolio clearly articulates your process, thinking, and measurable results, aligning with the company's emphasis on evidence and impact over visual polish.

• Tailor your resume: Highlight keywords and responsibilities that directly map to the job description, such as "service design," "workflow mapping," "user research," "systems thinking," "enterprise operations," and "AI-assisted design." Quantify achievements whenever possible.

• Prepare your presentation: Practice walking through your portfolio case studies, focusing on your strategic approach, problem-solving methodology, and the outcomes achieved. Be ready to discuss your experience with complex operational environments and your vision for designing with AI.

• Research BNY Mellon and Enterprise Custody Services: Understand the company's mission, values, and the specific challenges within the custody services domain. This research will help you tailor your responses and demonstrate genuine interest and understanding during interviews.

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