Sr. Spclst , UX/UI Design

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Sr. Spclst , UX/UI Design

Company: MSD

Location: Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: UX/UI Design & Strategy

Date Posted: 2026-06-11

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Define and scale enterprise-level UX strategy, principles, and design standards across end-to-end product lines to ensure consistency and scalability.

• Lead and contribute to UX design for high-priority product initiatives, translating business and user needs into intuitive experiences and creating wireframes, interaction models, and prototypes.

• Drive end-to-end experience consistency across product lines, identifying and resolving systemic UX gaps and inconsistencies to minimize fragmented designs.

• Champion user-centered design principles and enable UX capability across the organization through frameworks, playbooks, and a community of practice.

• Partner with Product Management, Engineering, Architecture, and Adoption teams to embed UX into product and delivery decisions, influencing roadmaps by representing the enterprise voice of the user.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Senior Specialist, implying a significant level of individual contribution and expertise, potentially with some influence over junior team members or projects. The "Associate Director" in the internal description suggests a potential for promotion or a dual-track role depending on candidate experience, indicating a strategic and leadership-oriented function within the UX domain.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• UX Strategy & Governance: Define, own, and govern enterprise UX strategy, principles, and design standards across E2E product lines. Establish and govern design frameworks, interaction patterns, and reusable components to ensure consistency and scalability. Serve as the accountable owner of UX standards and best practices, ensuring adoption across product teams. Align with enterprise design systems and contribute to UX governance and decision frameworks.

• Product Design Leadership: Lead and contribute to UX design for high-priority product initiatives, translating business and user needs into intuitive experiences. Create wireframes, interaction models, prototypes, and experience flows to support product discovery and solution design. Facilitate problem discovery sessions and design workshops to define user problems and co-create solutions with product and engineering teams. Ensure designs reflect enterprise UX standards while addressing product-specific requirements and constraints. Provide design guidance and direction to product teams, reviewing and refining UX outputs for quality and consistency.

• Cross-Product Experience Alignment: Drive end-to-end experience consistency across product lines, minimizing fragmented or duplicative designs. Identify and resolve systemic UX gaps, inconsistencies, and friction points across products. Define cross-product journeys, shared workflows, and experience blueprints. Partner with product teams to align on shared interaction patterns and user journeys.

• User-Centered Strategy & Enablement: Participate in problem discovery sessions with Activation teams, lead journey mapping, and research approaches. Ensure user insights are translated into scalable experience strategies and actionable product decisions. Champion user-first thinking across the product lifecycle. Build and scale UX capability across the organization, including tools, playbooks, and reusable assets. Enable Product, Engineering, and Adoption teams with UX frameworks, templates, and best practices. Help establish and evolve a UX community of practice.

• Feedback & Continuous Improvement: Establish mechanisms to capture, synthesize, and operationalize user feedback across products. Define and monitor experience success metrics (usability, friction, adoption signals, satisfaction trends). Ensure insights are systematically integrated into roadmaps, design decisions, and experience improvements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly delineate a hybrid role, emphasizing both strategic, enterprise-level UX governance and hands-on design contributions for critical product initiatives. This dual focus is common in senior operations or platform roles where individuals must set standards while also demonstrating their practical application.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, Product Design, or a related field is required.

• An advanced degree in a related field is preferred. Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in UX, product design, or experience strategy roles within complex, cross-functional environments is required.

• Proven experience in both designing high-quality UX solutions for specific product needs and defining scalable UX frameworks across multiple teams and products.

• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively at an enterprise/platform level while also contributing directly to hands-on design outcomes.

• Experience in data, analytics, or platform-based environments is strongly preferred. Required Skills:

• Deep expertise in user-centered design principles and methodologies, including Design Thinking and Experience Strategy.

• Strong ability to translate user insights into actionable design outputs and enterprise-level frameworks.

• Advanced proficiency in industry-standard design tools such as Figma and Adobe XD.

• Strong facilitation skills for leading workshops, co-creation sessions, and problem-solving activities.

• Excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex design concepts clearly.

• Proven ability to influence without authority and operate effectively across distributed and cross-functional teams.

• Client Counseling, Content Writing, Data Visualization, Measurement Analysis, Strategic Planning, User Experience Analysis, User Experience Evaluation, User Research. Preferred Skills:

• Experience with enterprise architecture and integration strategies.

• Knowledge of agile development methodologies and how UX integrates within them.

• Familiarity with healthcare industry specifics and regulatory considerations (given MSD's industry).

• Experience in building and scaling design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "Associate Director" in the internal description, coupled with "10+ years of experience" and the breadth of responsibilities, suggests this role might attract candidates looking for a senior individual contributor path with significant strategic impact, or potentially a stepping stone to management if that track is available within MSD.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a blend of strategic UX initiatives (e.g., establishing design systems, enterprise UX strategies) and hands-on product design examples (e.g., complex user flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes).

• Clearly articulate the problem statement, your role, the design process followed, key decisions made, and the quantifiable impact or outcomes achieved for each project.

• Demonstrate experience in defining and applying design standards, frameworks, and reusable components.

• Include examples of cross-product journey mapping, identifying systemic UX gaps, and proposing solutions.

• Highlight experience in facilitating design workshops, user research, and co-creation sessions. Process Documentation:

• Provide evidence of how you have documented and standardized UX processes, including design specifications, interaction models, and user flows.

• Showcase examples of creating playbooks, templates, or assets to enable broader UX capability across product and engineering teams.

• Illustrate how user feedback mechanisms were established and how insights were synthesized and operationalized for continuous improvement.

• Demonstrate how experience success metrics were defined and monitored, and how these insights informed product roadmaps.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the "enterprise/platform level" and "cross-product" nature of this role, portfolios should emphasize strategic thinking, scalability, and the ability to influence across multiple product teams, in addition to strong individual design execution skills.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Based on industry benchmarks for Senior UX Designers/Strategists with 10+ years of experience in Hyderabad, India, the estimated annual salary range is ₹18,00,000 to ₹30,00,000 (Indian Rupees). This range accounts for the senior level, specialized skill set in UX strategy and design, and the hybrid work arrangement.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance coverage for employees and dependents.

• Retirement savings plan (e.g., Provident Fund, Gratuity as per Indian regulations).

• Paid time off, including vacation days, sick leave, and public holidays.

• Professional development opportunities, including training, conferences, and access to learning platforms.

• Hybrid work model offering flexibility and work-life balance.

• Potential for performance-based bonuses and incentives.

• Access to employee assistance programs and wellness initiatives. Working Hours:

Standard full-time work hours are expected, typically around 40 hours per week. While the role is hybrid, core working hours will likely align with Indian business hours (Asia/Kolkata time zone) to facilitate collaboration with local and potentially international teams. Flexibility may be offered within the hybrid framework, with specific in-office days determined by team needs and project requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary estimates are based on general market data for senior UX/UI roles in major Indian tech hubs like Hyderabad, considering the specified experience level. Actual compensation may vary based on the candidate's specific qualifications, interview performance, and MSD's internal compensation bands.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology. MSD (known as Merck & Co. in the US and Canada) is a global leader in healthcare, dedicated to discovering, developing, manufacturing, and marketing innovative medicines and vaccines. This industry context implies a strong focus on compliance, data integrity, and user needs within complex regulated environments.

Company Size: MSD is a large multinational corporation, with tens of thousands of employees globally. This scale suggests a structured environment with established processes, but also opportunities for significant impact within specialized domains like UX.

Founded: 1891. With a long history, MSD has a deep-rooted culture of scientific innovation and a commitment to improving global health.

Team Structure:

• The UX team likely operates as a central function or a distributed group embedded within product lines, focusing on enterprise-wide standards and critical product implementations.

• Reporting structure would likely lead up through a Head of UX or a Director of Product Design, with dotted-line reporting or strong collaboration with Product Management, Engineering, and Business Unit leads.

• Cross-functional collaboration is paramount, involving close partnerships with Product Managers, Engineers, Architects, Data Scientists, Business Analysts, and Adoption/Activation teams to ensure user-centered design is integrated throughout the product lifecycle. Methodology:

• Data Analysis & Insights: Emphasis on leveraging user research, analytics, and feedback to inform design decisions and measure success.

• Workflow Planning & Optimization: Focus on designing intuitive, efficient workflows and user journeys that streamline complex processes, particularly within a pharmaceutical/biotech context.

• Automation & Efficiency: Implementing design solutions that enhance automation and user efficiency, reducing friction and improving adoption rates for internal and external platforms.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on pharmaceuticals suggests that UX considerations will extend beyond typical consumer applications, potentially involving complex data visualization, scientific workflows, and regulatory compliance, all of which require a mature approach to UX strategy and design.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is at a senior individual contributor level, often termed "Senior Specialist" or "Principal." It involves a high degree of autonomy, strategic input, and the ability to influence design direction at an enterprise level. The "Associate Director" mention indicates a potential for significant leadership influence, even without direct people management responsibilities.

Reporting Structure: The role reports into a UX leadership position (e.g., Director of UX, Head of Design) and collaborates extensively with Product Management, Engineering, and business stakeholders. This structure allows for broad exposure and influence across various product domains.

Operations Impact: The UX team's impact is critical for the success of MSD's digital products, influencing user adoption, efficiency, data accuracy, and ultimately, the company's ability to achieve its scientific and business objectives. By ensuring intuitive and effective user experiences, this role directly contributes to the efficiency of research, development, and commercial operations.

Growth Opportunities:

• Operations Skill Advancement: Opportunities to deepen expertise in specific UX areas (e.g., design systems, enterprise UX strategy, user research methodologies) and gain exposure to new technologies and product domains within MSD.

• Leadership Development: Potential to transition into people management roles (e.g., UX Manager, Associate Director of UX) or move into specialized leadership tracks focusing on UX strategy or design systems.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Possibility to move into Product Management, Program Management, or strategic roles within other technology or business units, leveraging a strong understanding of user needs and product development.

• Industry Influence: Opportunities to represent MSD at industry conferences, contribute to UX best practices, and mentor junior designers.

📝 Enhancement Note: The dual nature of the role (strategy and hands-on design) offers a unique growth path, allowing individuals to either specialize further in enterprise UX strategy or leverage their strategic insights to lead larger, more complex product design initiatives.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is designated as "Hybrid," indicating a blend of remote work and in-office presence. This suggests a modern work environment that balances flexibility with the need for in-person collaboration.

Office Location(s): The primary location is Hyderabad, Telangana, India, a major technology hub. Employees are expected to work from the MSD office in HITEC City, Hyderabad, on designated days.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model and cross-functional nature of the role necessitate effective collaboration. Expect a dynamic workspace that supports team meetings, design sprints, and brainstorming sessions, alongside focused individual work.

• Operations Tools & Technology: Access to standard office technology, high-speed internet, and specialized UX design software (Figma, Adobe XD, etc.) will be provided. Collaboration tools for remote work will also be essential.

• Team Interaction: Regular interaction with UX colleagues, product teams, and engineering stakeholders will occur both in person and virtually, fostering a culture of shared learning and problem-solving.

Work Schedule:

The hybrid work schedule allows for flexibility, with core working hours likely aligning with Indian business times to facilitate collaboration. Specific days in the office will be coordinated with the team and manager, balancing project needs with individual preferences. This structure supports deep work required for design tasks while enabling spontaneous collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model in a large multinational like MSD typically involves structured in-office days for key meetings and collaborative activities, with remote days dedicated to focused design work and individual tasks.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or a recruiter will conduct an initial screening to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit. Be prepared to discuss your career trajectory and interest in MSD.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A conversation with the hiring manager to delve deeper into your experience, understanding of UX strategy, design leadership capabilities, and how you approach complex product challenges.

• Portfolio Review (Live or Recorded): A critical stage where you will present 1-3 key projects from your portfolio. Focus on projects that showcase both strategic thinking (enterprise-level impact, design systems) and hands-on execution (complex product design). Be ready to articulate your process, decision-making, and the impact of your work.

• Skills-Based/Technical Interview: This may involve a design exercise, a case study presentation, or technical questions related to UX tools, methodologies, and problem-solving. Expect questions about how you handle ambiguity and collaborate across teams.

• Cross-Functional Team Interviews: Meetings with potential peers and stakeholders from Product Management, Engineering, or other relevant departments to assess collaboration style and alignment with team dynamics.

• Final Interview/Offer: Typically with a senior leader, focusing on overall fit, strategic vision, and alignment with MSD's values.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select projects that best demonstrate your ability to operate at both the enterprise strategy level and the product execution level. Highlight your experience with design systems, cross-product consistency, and complex problem-solving.

• Storytelling is Key: For each project, clearly define the problem, your specific role and contributions, the process you followed (research, ideation, design, testing), key decisions and trade-offs, and the measurable outcomes or impact. Use visuals effectively.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, present data and metrics to support the success of your designs (e.g., improved conversion rates, reduced task completion time, increased user satisfaction scores, adoption metrics).

• Address Challenges: Be prepared to discuss challenges encountered, how you overcame them, and what you learned. This demonstrates resilience and a growth mindset.

• Tailor to MSD: If possible, research MSD's products and target users. Frame your experience and case studies in a way that highlights relevance to their industry and challenges.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design Exercise: Be prepared for a take-home assignment or a live design challenge that requires you to solve a UX problem relevant to MSD's business. Focus on demonstrating your structured approach, user-centricity, and ability to think strategically.

• Case Study Presentation: Practice presenting your portfolio case studies concisely and engagingly, anticipating questions about your process, rationale, and impact.

• Stakeholder Management Scenarios: Think about how you would handle conflicting priorities, resistance to design recommendations, or communication with executive stakeholders.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on both "enterprise UX strategy" and "hands-on design for prioritized product needs" means interviewers will be looking for candidates who can think big picture and execute details, demonstrating a blend of strategic vision and practical design skills.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• UX Design & Prototyping: Figma (highly probable, given industry trends and explicit mention), Adobe XD (explicitly mentioned), Sketch. Proficiency in creating wireframes, user flows, interactive prototypes, and high-fidelity mockups.

• User Research & Testing Platforms: Tools for conducting usability testing, user interviews, and surveys (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics).

• Collaboration & Project Management: JIRA, Confluence (common in Agile environments), Asana, Trello, Slack, Microsoft Teams. For sharing design assets, documenting processes, and facilitating team communication.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Web/Product Analytics: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude. For understanding user behavior on digital platforms.

• Data Visualization Tools: Tableau, Power BI, or similar tools for creating dashboards and reports to communicate UX insights and performance metrics to stakeholders.

CRM & Automation:

• While not primary UX tools, understanding how UX integrates with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and marketing automation platforms is beneficial, especially for user journey mapping and understanding customer touchpoints.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma and Adobe XD is explicitly stated as required. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their experience with these tools and how they leverage them for end-to-end design processes, including collaboration features.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and advocating for the user throughout the product development lifecycle, ensuring solutions meet genuine needs and provide exceptional experiences.

• Collaboration & Partnership: Valuing strong working relationships with Product Management, Engineering, Architecture, and business stakeholders to achieve shared goals. Open communication and mutual respect are key.

• Excellence & Quality: Striving for high-quality design outputs, adhering to established standards, and continuously seeking ways to improve user experiences and operational efficiency.

• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Embracing new ideas, exploring novel design solutions, and fostering a culture of learning and adaptation to stay ahead in a dynamic technological landscape.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Utilizing user research, analytics, and feedback to inform design strategies and measure the effectiveness of UX interventions.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Actively engaging with diverse teams, bridging communication gaps between design, technology, and business objectives. Proactive engagement in discovery and planning phases.

• Process Review & Feedback: Fostering an environment where constructive feedback is welcomed and shared openly, leading to iterative improvements in design processes and outputs. Regular design critiques and reviews.

• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging the sharing of best practices, insights, and learnings through communities of practice, internal presentations, and documentation to elevate the collective UX capability of the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given MSD's industry, expect a strong emphasis on integrity, compliance, and a meticulous approach to design and process, balanced with the innovative spirit required for cutting-edge pharmaceutical research and development.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Enterprise Strategy with Product Specificity: Navigating the complexity of defining overarching UX standards while ensuring they are practical and effective for diverse, specific product needs. This requires strong negotiation and adaptation skills.

• Influencing Without Direct Authority: Persuading product teams, engineering leads, and stakeholders to adopt UX best practices and prioritize design improvements, often requiring strong data-backed arguments and relationship-building.

• Scaling UX Across a Large Organization: Establishing and maintaining consistent UX quality and adoption across numerous product teams, each with potentially different priorities and maturity levels.

• Keeping Pace with Evolving Technology & User Expectations: Continuously adapting UX strategies and design approaches to incorporate new technologies, user behaviors, and industry trends, particularly within the fast-paced pharmaceutical sector.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Specialization in Enterprise UX: Deepen expertise in areas like design systems, UX governance, platform strategy, and large-scale enterprise UX transformation.

• Industry Conferences & Certifications: Opportunities to attend leading UX conferences (e.g., UXPA, Interaction Week) and pursue relevant certifications to stay current with industry trends.

• Mentorship & Leadership Development: Engage with senior UX leaders for mentorship and participate in leadership development programs to hone strategic thinking, influence, and team-building skills.

• Exposure to Diverse Product Domains: Gain broad experience across MSD's various product lines, from R&D to commercial operations, understanding diverse user needs and business contexts.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role is designed to tackle significant organizational challenges related to design consistency and user adoption, offering substantial growth for individuals adept at strategic problem-solving and cross-functional influence.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach defining enterprise-level UX standards for a company with diverse product lines like MSD?"

• "Describe a time you successfully influenced a product team or stakeholder to adopt a new UX approach or standard. What was your strategy?"

• "How do you balance the need for consistency with the unique requirements of individual products or features?"

• "Imagine you've identified a significant UX friction point across multiple products. How would you go about diagnosing the root cause and proposing a solution?" Company & Culture Questions:

• "What do you know about MSD and our mission? How do you see UX contributing to our goals in the pharmaceutical industry?"

• "How do you foster a user-centered mindset within teams that may not have a strong UX background?"

• "Describe your experience working in a hybrid environment and collaborating with distributed teams."

• "How do you stay updated on the latest UX trends and technologies, and how would you bring that knowledge to MSD?" Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly outline the problem, your role, the process, the solution, and the impact. Emphasize your strategic contributions and hands-on design skills.

• Highlight Enterprise Impact: Showcase projects where you influenced design systems, established standards, or improved cross-product consistency. Quantify this impact with metrics if possible.

• Demonstrate Problem-Solving: Be ready to walk through your design process, explaining why you made certain decisions, and how you addressed user needs and business constraints.

• Prepare for Q&A: Anticipate questions about your design choices, trade-offs, collaboration methods, and how you would apply your experience to MSD's context.

📝 Enhancement Note: Expect questions that probe your ability to think strategically about user experience at scale, influence stakeholders across different functions, and apply your design expertise within the unique context of a global pharmaceutical company.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the MSD careers portal via the provided link.

• Tailor Your Resume: Ensure your resume highlights experience relevant to enterprise UX strategy, design systems, cross-product consistency, and hands-on product design. Use keywords from the job description such as "UX Strategy," "User-Centered Design," "Design Thinking," "Figma," and "stakeholder management."

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate 1-3 strong case studies that demonstrate both strategic thinking (e.g., establishing standards, enterprise-level impact) and hands-on design execution. Clearly articulate your role, process, challenges, and quantifiable outcomes for each.

• Research MSD: Familiarize yourself with MSD's mission, products, and values, particularly in the context of the pharmaceutical industry. Understand how UX contributes to their scientific and business objectives.

• Practice Your Presentation: Rehearse presenting your portfolio case studies, focusing on clear communication, strategic rationale, and measurable impact. Be prepared to discuss your approach to collaboration and problem-solving in a hybrid and cross-functional environment.

⚠️ 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.