User Experience (UX) Director - Coronary & Renal Denervation (CRDN)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: User Experience (UX) Director - Coronary & Renal Denervation (CRDN)

Company: Medtronic

Location: Galway, County Galway, Ireland

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: User Experience / Design Operations

Date Posted: 2026-05-08

Experience Level: 10+ years

Remote Status: Hybrid (Implied by location and typical Director roles in MedTech)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the vision, strategy, and execution for User Experience (UX) across Medtronic's Coronary and Renal Denervation (CRDN) digital product portfolio, ensuring alignment with business objectives and patient outcomes in a regulated environment.

• Build, scale, and manage a high-performing UX organization comprising UX designers and UX researchers, defining team structure, hiring plans, and operational budgets.

• Integrate foundational UX practices and standards into CRDN's product development lifecycle, including agile and dual-track delivery models, to ensure consistent, high-quality user experiences.

• Drive user-centered design and research methodologies, translating clinician insights and complex workflow requirements into intuitive, clinically meaningful, and compliant digital product experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is titled "User Experience (UX) Director," its responsibilities in building and scaling a UX organization, defining processes, managing budgets, and integrating UX into product development lifecycle firmly place it within the realm of "Design Operations" or "UX Operations" from a strategic and organizational perspective, albeit with a strong focus on direct UX leadership. The emphasis on regulated environments and clinical workflows suggests a deep need for operational rigor in the UX function.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• UX Strategy & Leadership: Own and evolve the UX vision and strategy for CRDN’s digital product portfolio, ensuring alignment with business priorities, clinical outcomes, and regulatory expectations.

• Organizational Development: Build, lead, and mentor a scalable UX organization, including defining team structure, roles, hiring plans, onboarding, and managing the UX operating budget.

• Process Integration: Establish and refine UX processes, documentation standards, and experience guidelines that support consistency across CRDN’s digital ecosystem and integrate UX seamlessly into product development lifecycles (e.g., agile, dual-track).

• User-Centered Design & Research: Oversee and contribute to user research (clinical observations, interviews) and design activities, translating clinical insights and system constraints into intuitive interaction models and end-to-end product experiences.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate closely with digital product leads, engineering, marketing, clinical teams, and system architecture to shape product direction, align priorities, and drive successful product delivery.

• Quality & Compliance: Ensure usability research and validation activities, including formative and summative testing, are planned, executed, and documented appropriately according to Medtronic's quality and regulatory policies.

• Innovation & AI Integration: Incorporate modern AI-assisted design and prototyping techniques while ensuring outputs remain clinically safe, clear, and aligned with regulatory expectations.

• Vendor Management: Manage and coordinate outsourced UX partners, ensuring quality, consistency, and seamless integration with internal teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strategic leadership role focused on operationalizing UX within a complex, regulated product development environment. Key operational aspects include budget management, vendor coordination, process definition, and scaling the UX team—all critical for effective Design Operations.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• 10+ years of experience in designing complex digital product experiences involving workflows, interaction design, and system-level considerations (8+ years with Master's degree).

• 7+ years of managerial experience, with a proven track record of leading and scaling UX organizations.

Required Skills:

• UX Strategy & Vision: Ability to define and articulate a clear UX strategy aligned with business and clinical goals.

• Team Leadership & Development: Proven experience in hiring, mentoring, managing, and scaling UX designers and researchers.

• User-Centered Design Principles: Deep understanding and application of UX research, interaction design, and usability engineering methodologies.

• Workflow-Oriented Design: Expertise in translating complex clinical workflows into intuitive and efficient user experiences.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with Product Management, Engineering, Clinical Affairs, and Marketing.

• Agile & Product Development Integration: Experience integrating UX processes into agile or dual-track product development lifecycles.

• Design Systems & Standards: Experience building or governing design systems and enterprise-level UX standards.

• Communication & Influence: Excellent skills in clarifying design trade-offs, resolving conflicts, and driving alignment at senior levels.

• Portfolio Demonstration: A strong portfolio showcasing end-to-end UX leadership, workflow-driven design, and complex system design.

• UX Tools Proficiency: Proficiency with modern UX, research, and prototyping tools (e.g., Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, user research platforms).

Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing clinician-facing software or workflow-heavy applications.

• Experience supporting platforms of connected devices, cloud-based ecosystems, or data-rich clinical applications.

• Familiarity with Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), EHR workflows, clinical data visualization, or AI applications in healthcare.

• Deep understanding of regulatory, safety, and risk management considerations for medical software and digital health.

• Experience operating at the intersection of product strategy, UX maturity, and organizational transformation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience requirements emphasize a blend of deep UX expertise and significant leadership/operational management capabilities, typical for a Director-level role in a mature organization. The "Nice to Have" skills point towards a need for candidates who can navigate highly specialized and regulated areas within MedTech.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Leadership: Showcase projects where you led the entire UX process from strategy and research through to design and implementation, demonstrating ownership and impact.

• Workflow-Driven Design: Present case studies that clearly illustrate how you mapped complex user workflows and translated them into intuitive digital interfaces, highlighting the problem, your process, and the solution's impact.

• Complex System Design: Include examples of designing for integrated systems, connected devices, or platforms that require consideration of multiple user types, data flows, and regulatory constraints.

• Impact & Outcomes: Quantify the impact of your UX work. Demonstrate how your designs improved clinical outcomes, user efficiency, safety, or adoption rates, ideally with metrics.

Process Documentation:

• UX Integration into SDLC: Provide examples or frameworks for how UX activities are integrated into Agile or dual-track development processes, including user story creation, design sprints, and continuous feedback loops.

• Design System Governance: Demonstrate experience in establishing or managing design systems, including documentation, version control, and adoption strategies for consistency across products.

• Usability Engineering & Validation: Show examples of how usability research and validation (formative and summative) are planned, executed, and documented to meet regulatory requirements (e.g., IEC 62366).

• Workflow Mapping & Analysis: Present examples of detailed workflow diagrams, user journey maps, and task analyses used to understand user needs and inform design decisions.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Director-level UX role in MedTech, the portfolio must go beyond showcasing individual design contributions. It needs to demonstrate strategic thinking, organizational leadership, process definition, and a deep understanding of operating within regulated environments. The emphasis on workflow and system design is critical.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Ireland: €124,800.00 - €187,200.00 EUR per year.

Benefits:

• Competitive Salary: Aligns with industry benchmarks for senior leadership roles in MedTech.

• Flexible Benefits Package: Offers adaptability to individual employee needs and life stages.

• Medtronic Incentive Plan (MIP): Eligibility for a company-wide short-term incentive program, likely tied to individual and company performance.

• Annual Long-term Incentive Plan: Eligibility for equity or other long-term performance-based incentives, reflecting a commitment to employee retention and long-term success.

Working Hours:

• Approximately 40 hours per week, standard for full-time professional roles. The hybrid nature of the role may offer some flexibility in scheduling work hours.

📝 Enhancement Note: The provided salary range is substantial and reflects a senior leadership position in a high-cost European location for a global medical technology company. The inclusion of both short-term and long-term incentives is standard for Director-level roles, indicating a focus on both annual performance and long-term commitment. The "flexible Benefits Package" is common but often includes health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and potentially wellness programs.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Medical Devices / Healthcare Technology. Medtronic is a global leader in this sector, known for innovation and a mission-driven approach to improving patient lives.

Company Size: Large enterprise (95,000+ employees globally). This means established processes, significant resources, potential for cross-functional collaboration across many divisions, and a structured career path.

Founded: 1949. Medtronic has a long history of innovation and market leadership, indicating stability and deep industry expertise.

Team Structure:

• UX Organization: The role involves building and leading a dedicated UX team (designers, researchers) within the CRDN Operating Unit. This team will likely operate as a center of excellence for UX within that specific product area.

• Reporting Structure: The Director will report to a senior leader within the CRDN unit (e.g., Head of Digital Products, VP of R&D, or similar), and will directly manage UX personnel.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: The role requires extensive collaboration with Digital Product Leads, Engineering teams, Clinical Affairs, Marketing, System Architects, and potentially Regulatory Affairs. This structure emphasizes a matrixed environment common in large tech and MedTech organizations.

Methodology:

• User-Centered Design (UCD): Core to the role, emphasizing understanding user needs through observation and research.

• Agile & Dual-Track Development: The UX team will need to integrate seamlessly into these product development methodologies, likely involving close partnership with Scrum teams.

• Design Systems: Establishment and governance of design systems are key for ensuring consistency and efficiency across a growing digital product portfolio.

• Regulatory Compliance: All UX activities must adhere to stringent medical device regulations (e.g., IEC 62366, FDA guidelines), requiring robust documentation and validation processes.

Company Website: http://www.medtronic.com

📝 Enhancement Note: Medtronic's culture is mission-driven and deeply rooted in engineering and innovation. For a UX Director, this translates to a need to balance user advocacy with business objectives, technical feasibility, and rigorous regulatory compliance. The scale of the organization offers opportunities for broad impact but also requires navigating established processes.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Director of User Experience. This is a senior leadership role responsible for a significant function within a major operating unit. It involves strategic planning, team building, process definition, and cross-functional influence.

Reporting Structure: Reports to a senior executive within the CRDN unit, likely overseeing digital product development or R&D. Direct reports include UX designers and researchers.

Operations Impact: The UX Director's impact is crucial for the success of CRDN's digital products. Effective UX directly influences clinician adoption, patient outcomes, regulatory approval, and ultimately, market competitiveness and revenue generation. The role ensures that user needs are at the forefront of product development, mitigating risks associated with poor usability in a critical healthcare context.

Growth Opportunities:

• Strategic Leadership Expansion: Potential to expand UX leadership scope across multiple operating units or contribute to global MedTech UX strategy.

• Product Strategy Influence: Deeper involvement in shaping the strategic direction of CRDN's digital offerings and future innovation.

• Organizational Transformation: Opportunity to lead significant improvements in how UX is perceived and integrated across the organization, driving higher UX maturity.

• Mentorship & Development: Further development of leadership and management skills, mentoring a growing team, and potentially contributing to industry best practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: This Director role represents a significant step in a UX career, moving from individual contribution or team management to strategic operational leadership. Growth potential lies in expanding influence, scope, and strategic impact within Medtronic or the broader MedTech industry.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid. The role is based in Galway, Ireland, but the "TELECOMMUTE" (though likely miscategorized as the location is specific) and the nature of Director roles suggest a hybrid model, allowing for remote work with regular office presence for collaboration.

Office Location(s): Galway Parkmore 2, Galway, County Galway, Ireland. This is a specific site within Medtronic's Irish operations.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The role demands significant interaction with various teams, suggesting an office environment that facilitates collaboration, brainstorming, and cross-functional meetings.

• Tools & Technology: Access to standard professional office technology, as well as specialized UX software, research tools, and potentially hardware for testing medical devices.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities to work closely with UX team members, product managers, engineers, and clinical experts, fostering a dynamic and interdisciplinary atmosphere.

Work Schedule:

• Standard 40-hour work week, with potential for flexibility depending on project demands and team needs. The hybrid arrangement allows for a balance between focused remote work and in-office collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The Galway location indicates a significant presence for Medtronic in Ireland, likely a hub for R&D and manufacturing. The hybrid model is standard for senior roles, balancing personal flexibility with the need for in-person collaboration and team cohesion, especially within a regulated environment where direct interaction can be critical.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or Talent Acquisition will likely conduct an initial call to assess basic qualifications and cultural fit.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A deep dive into your leadership experience, strategic thinking, and understanding of UX in regulated environments. Expect questions about your experience building and scaling teams.

• Portfolio Review: A critical stage where you will present key projects from your portfolio. Focus on demonstrating your strategic approach, process, problem-solving, and impact, particularly in complex, regulated systems. Be prepared to discuss your role, challenges, and outcomes in detail.

• Cross-Functional Panel: Interviews with key stakeholders (e.g., Product Leads, Engineering Directors, Clinical Affairs) to assess collaboration skills, ability to influence, and understanding of their respective domains.

• Executive Interview: A final conversation with a senior leader to ensure alignment with company vision and strategic priorities.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-5 projects that best showcase your leadership, strategic impact, workflow design, and experience in regulated environments.

Prioritize quality over quantity.

• Structure Your Case Studies: For each project, clearly articulate:

  • The Problem/Challenge (business, user, or technical)
  • Your Role and Responsibilities (especially leadership and strategic contributions)
  • The Process (research, design, collaboration, iteration, validation)
  • The Solution (key design decisions and rationale)
  • The Impact & Outcomes (quantifiable results, e.g., efficiency gains, safety improvements, user satisfaction, regulatory compliance achieved).

• Highlight Operational Aspects: Emphasize how you built processes, managed teams, integrated UX into development, and governed standards.

• Prepare for Deep Dives: Be ready to answer detailed questions about your design decisions, trade-offs, challenges faced, and how you navigated them.

Challenge Preparation:

• Strategic UX Challenge: You might be asked to outline how you would approach building a UX strategy for a new product line, or how you would improve UX maturity in a specific area.

• Process Design Scenario: You could be asked to describe how you would integrate UX into a specific agile workflow or develop a plan for a new design system.

• Leadership/Team Building Scenario: Be prepared to discuss how you handle team conflicts, motivate designers, and foster a collaborative UX culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will heavily scrutinize not just UX expertise but also leadership capabilities, strategic thinking, and operational acumen required to manage a function within a large, regulated enterprise. The portfolio review is paramount for demonstrating practical experience and impact.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• UX Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision, Axure RP (or similar industry-standard tools).

• User Research Platforms: UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey (for surveys and feedback collection).

• Collaboration & Workflow: Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello (for project management and team collaboration).

• Design System Management: Tools for managing design tokens, components, and documentation (e.g., Storybook, Zeroheight).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics (for understanding user behavior in digital products).

• Reporting Tools: Tableau, Power BI (for visualizing UX metrics and impact).

• Feedback Aggregation: Tools to consolidate feedback from various channels (e.g., support tickets, surveys, user interviews).

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managing CRM, understanding how UX impacts customer journeys managed by CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) is beneficial.

• Familiarity with automation in research or design processes (e.g., AI-assisted design tools).

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in standard UX design and research tools is a baseline. For this role, demonstrating experience with tools that support design system management, integrating UX into agile workflows (Jira/Confluence), and understanding product analytics is crucial. The mention of AI-assisted design tools indicates a forward-looking expectation.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Mission-Driven: A strong commitment to Medtronic's mission of alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life. UX decisions should always consider their impact on patients and clinicians.

• Innovation & Engineering Excellence: A culture that values pushing boundaries, creative problem-solving, and delivering high-quality, well-engineered solutions.

• Collaboration & Teamwork: Emphasis on working together across functions and geographies to achieve common goals.

• Integrity & Compliance: Adherence to the highest ethical standards and rigorous compliance with regulatory requirements.

• Customer Focus: Deep understanding and advocacy for the needs of clinicians and patients.

Collaboration Style:

• Partnership-Oriented: The UX Director will need to foster strong partnerships with Product Management, Engineering, and Clinical teams, acting as a bridge between user needs and technical/business realities.

• Data-Informed Decision Making: While user advocacy is key, decisions will be informed by research data, usability testing results, and product performance metrics.

• Iterative & Feedback-Rich: A culture that embraces continuous feedback, design critiques, and iterative improvements to ensure the best possible outcomes.

• Transparent Communication: Open and honest communication about design challenges, trade-offs, and progress is essential for building trust and alignment.

📝 Enhancement Note: Medtronic's established values will shape the operational approach of the UX team. The Director must embody these values and translate them into actionable UX practices that are both user-centric and compliant within the healthcare industry.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Innovation with Regulation: Navigating the strict regulatory landscape of medical devices (e.g., FDA, MDR) while pushing for innovative UX solutions. This requires meticulous documentation and validation.

• Scaling a UX Organization: Building and scaling a high-performing UX team within a large, complex organization, ensuring consistent quality and adoption of UX practices.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Gaining buy-in and aligning priorities across diverse stakeholders (clinical, engineering, marketing, regulatory) who may have different perspectives and priorities.

• Integrating AI Safely: Incorporating emerging AI capabilities into clinical tools in a way that is safe, effective, transparent, and compliant.

• Managing Outsourced Partners: Ensuring quality, consistency, and integration of work from external UX vendors.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced UX Leadership: Developing skills in enterprise-level UX strategy, organizational design, and driving UX maturity across a large business unit.

• MedTech Regulatory Expertise: Deepening knowledge of medical device software regulations and human factors engineering standards specific to healthcare.

• Digital Health & AI Trends: Staying abreast of advancements in digital health, AI in healthcare, and connected device ecosystems.

• Strategic Business Acumen: Gaining a broader understanding of the business strategy, market dynamics, and financial drivers within the CRDN business unit.

• Mentorship Programs: Access to senior leaders and potential for cross-functional mentorship to develop leadership and strategic capabilities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to leading UX in a highly regulated and complex industry. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering a path for significant professional development in strategic leadership, industry specialization, and organizational influence.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your process for developing a UX strategy for a new digital product line in a regulated medical device environment." (Focus on alignment, research, team building, and regulatory integration.)

• "How would you establish and scale a UX organization within a business unit like CRDN, and what metrics would you use to measure its success and maturity?" (Highlight team structure, hiring, processes, budget, and KPIs.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What do you know about Medtronic's mission and how would you ensure your UX team contributes to it?" (Connect UX impact to patient outcomes and health improvement.)

• "How do you foster a collaborative and user-centric culture within a cross-functional product team?" (Discuss your approach to stakeholder management and influencing.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Storytelling: Frame each case study as a narrative with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Emphasize your role in driving the story forward.

• Focus on Impact: Quantify your achievements whenever possible. Use metrics related to efficiency, safety, adoption, or clinical outcomes.

• Demonstrate Process Rigor: Clearly articulate the methodologies you used, especially those relevant to regulated environments (e.g., usability engineering, risk analysis).

• Showcase Leadership: Highlight your strategic contributions, team management, and ability to influence stakeholders.

• Engage Your Audience: Be prepared to answer questions and facilitate a discussion, rather than just delivering a monologue.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation for this role should focus on demonstrating strategic leadership, operational thinking, and a deep understanding of UX within the specific context of MedTech. Your portfolio is your primary tool for illustrating these capabilities.

📌 Application Steps

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

• Submit your application through the Medtronic Careers portal via the provided URL.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight leadership experience, team-building achievements, UX strategy development, and experience in regulated industries (MedTech, SaMD, etc.). Use keywords from the job description.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Prepare 3-5 robust case studies that showcase your strategic UX leadership, workflow design, process definition, and measurable impact. Ensure it aligns with the requirements of a Director role in a regulated environment.

• Prepare for a Strategic Interview: Be ready to discuss your leadership philosophy, how you would scale a UX team, integrate UX into product development, and navigate regulatory challenges. Practice articulating your portfolio case studies with a focus on strategic impact and operational execution.

• Research Medtronic CRDN: Understand the specific product areas (Coronary & Renal Denervation), their market, and Medtronic's overall mission. This will help you tailor your responses and demonstrate genuine interest.

⚠️ 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.