User Interface/User Experience Lead Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: User Interface/User Experience Lead Designer

Company: CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen)

Location: Milwaukee, WI; Nashville, TN; Raleigh, NC; Houston, TX; Cedar Rapids, IA

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: User Experience & Design Operations

Date Posted: May 22, 2026

Experience Level: 6+ Years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the end-to-end design strategy and execution for a product domain within CLA’s digital portfolio, transforming complex professional services workflows into intuitive, scalable, and outcome-driven user experiences.

• Act as the senior design voice within cross-functional triads (Product, Engineering, UX), driving business outcomes by grounding design in measurable business problems, validated user needs, and workflow adoption goals.

• Own full design accountability for an assigned domain or horizontal strategy, setting standards for quality, practice maturity, and user outcomes, while functioning as a strategic individual contributor.

• Steward design system integrity within their product surface and model best practices in continuous discovery, evidence-based decision-making, and modern prototyping approaches.

• Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, Research, and business stakeholders to shape product direction, communicate design rationale in business terms, and represent UX in critical decision-making forums.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor with significant strategic influence, focusing on driving tangible business and user outcomes through design. The emphasis on "design as a strategic input" and "decision support" highlights a mature design organization that values design's role in shaping product direction and protecting team focus from low-impact work.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Domain Strategy and Business Outcomes: Own the design strategy and prioritization for an assigned product domain, directly connecting design work to measurable business and user outcomes such as efficiency gains, adoption rates, and quality improvements.

• Continuous Discovery and Evidence-Based Decision Making: Lead ongoing discovery efforts to identify high-value user problems and business opportunities before solutions are fully defined, translating insights into clear, actionable product direction and validating concepts through rapid testing, feedback, and data analysis.

• End-to-End Workflow and System Design: Take ownership of the complete design of complex workflows that span across multiple user roles, systems, and dependencies, decomposing ambiguous processes into usable, scalable, and maintainable solutions that consider data, rules, and operational impact.

• Cross-Functional Partnership and Influence: Actively partner with Product Management, Engineering, User Research, and various business stakeholders to collaboratively shape product direction, clearly communicate design rationale using business-centric language (value, risk, trade-offs), and represent the UX perspective in key alignment and decision-making forums.

• Design System and Experience Quality: Promote and rigorously apply design system standards within the assigned product domain, contributing to shared patterns and components with well-reasoned justifications, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality interaction and visual design that adheres to accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA) and behavioral design principles.

• Mentorship and Practice Development: Mentor fellow designers on craft, product thinking, and effective stakeholder engagement, while actively contributing to the team's overall practices, standards, and knowledge-sharing initiatives to foster growth across the UX organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a strategic, outcome-oriented approach to design, moving beyond traditional UI/UX deliverables to encompass product strategy, business impact, and continuous improvement. The "cross-functional triads" and "decision support" framing suggest a highly integrated and influential design role.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree or a combination of relevant experience and training may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Experience: 6+ years of experience in UX or product design, specifically within complex enterprise environments.

Required Skills:

• Strategic Product Design: Proven ability to own product domains or end-to-end workflows, demonstrating strategic thinking and delivering measurable business and user outcomes.

• End-to-End Workflow Ownership: Expertise in designing complex, multi-system workflows, decomposing ambiguity, and balancing long-term experience quality with practical delivery constraints.

• Continuous Discovery & Validation: Experience leading ongoing discovery processes, translating insights into clear product direction, and validating concepts through rapid testing, user feedback, and data analysis.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Proven success working effectively within cross-functional product teams (Product, Engineering, UX, Research) to shape product direction and drive delivery.

• Stakeholder Management & Communication: Strong ability to communicate design rationale in business terms (outcomes, value, risk, trade-offs) and represent UX effectively in alignment and decision-making forums.

• Design System Stewardship: Proficiency in applying and advocating for design system standards, contributing to shared patterns, and ensuring experience quality.

• Accessibility Standards: Deep understanding and application of accessibility standards, specifically WCAG 2.1 AA.

• Mentorship & Leadership: Experience mentoring junior designers and contributing to the development of UX practices and standards.

Preferred Skills:

• Enterprise Software Design: Experience designing for large-scale, complex enterprise environments with diverse user roles and intricate business processes.

• Behavioral Design Principles: Application of behavioral design principles to influence user actions and drive desired outcomes.

• AI-Assisted Design Methods: Familiarity and application of modern tools, including AI-assisted methods, to accelerate learning and execution in the design process.

• Advanced Prototyping: Mastery of modern prototyping tools and approaches to rapidly test and iterate on concepts.

• User Research Integration: Ability to effectively integrate user research findings into the design process and decision-making.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "complex enterprise environments" and "measurable outcomes" suggests that candidates with experience in B2B SaaS, professional services, or similarly complex operational software will be highly valued. The requirement for a strong portfolio demonstrating "strategic thinking, decision-making, and impact" is crucial for this senior-level role.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Strategic Impact Case Studies: Showcase 2-3 detailed case studies that highlight your ownership of product domains or complex end-to-end workflows, clearly articulating the business problem, your strategic approach, the design process, and quantifiable outcomes achieved (e.g., efficiency improvements, adoption rates, user satisfaction metrics).

• Discovery & Validation Examples: Include examples demonstrating your approach to continuous discovery, how you translated ambiguous problems into clear product direction, and how you validated concepts through rapid testing, user feedback, or data analysis.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Artifacts: Present artifacts or describe scenarios where you effectively partnered with Product, Engineering, and business stakeholders, illustrating how you communicated design rationale and influenced decision-making.

• Design System Contributions: Showcase examples of how you applied design system standards within a product domain or contributed to the evolution of design system components and patterns, explaining the rationale behind your contributions.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Mapping & Optimization: Demonstrate proficiency in mapping complex, multi-system workflows and identifying areas for optimization and redesign, supported by visual aids or process flow diagrams.

• User Journey Mapping & Analysis: Provide examples of user journey maps that informed design decisions and led to improved user experiences and business outcomes.

• Design Rationale Documentation: Present how you document and communicate the strategic rationale behind your design decisions, linking them to business objectives and user needs.

• Agile/Scrum Integration: Illustrate how your design process integrates seamlessly with agile development methodologies, including iterative design, feedback loops, and collaboration with engineering.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are heavily weighted towards demonstrating strategic impact and process ownership rather than just visual design execution. Candidates must clearly articulate how their design work contributed to measurable business outcomes and how they navigated complex organizational and technical landscapes.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Lead UX/UI Designers in major metropolitan areas and the enterprise software sector, a competitive salary range is estimated to be between $130,000 - $170,000 USD annually. This range can vary based on specific location, candidate experience, and negotiation.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health & Wellness: Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance, Mental Health Coverage, Quarterly Wellness Stipend, Fertility Benefits.

• Work-Life Balance: Flexible PTO (designed for flexible time away), Paid Volunteer Time Off.

• Financial Security: 401k plan.

• Family Support: Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

• Additional Perks: A complete list of benefits is available via the provided link, often including professional development opportunities and employee assistance programs.

Working Hours: Standard full-time engagement is typically 40 hours per week. While the role is primarily on-site, CLA offers flexibility in scheduling to accommodate project needs and individual work styles, fostering a results-oriented environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimation is based on a combination of Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, and industry reports for Lead UX/UI Designers in enterprise environments across the specified locations. The benefits listed are directly from the job description, highlighting CLA's commitment to employee well-being and work-life integration.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Professional Services (Accounting, Tax, Consulting, Wealth Advisory, Digital, Outsourcing). CLA operates within the professional services sector, a field characterized by client-centricity, deep expertise, and a focus on delivering value through knowledge and advisory services. This context means design work will often involve complex business processes and cater to diverse professional user groups.

Company Size: 8,500+ employees across 130 U.S. locations, with a global reach. This indicates a large, established organization with a structured environment, offering opportunities for broad impact and career progression, but also requiring navigation of established processes and cross-departmental collaboration.

Founded: While the founding date isn't explicitly stated, CLA is described as a "top 10 national professional services firm," implying a significant history and established market presence.

Team Structure: The User Interface/User Experience Lead Designer reports to the UX Manager and partners with peer Leads to ensure consistency across the UX organization. They will function within "cross-functional triads" comprising Product, Engineering, and UX, indicating a highly collaborative and integrated team structure focused on specific product domains or horizontal strategies.

Methodology: Design at CLA is framed as "decision support," with outputs grounded in measurable business problems, validated user needs, and workflow adoption goals. The emphasis is on continuous discovery, evidence-based decision-making, and utilizing modern tools, including AI-assisted methods, to accelerate learning and execution. Design system integrity and the application of accessibility standards are core tenets.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture emphasizes "creating opportunities" and a commitment to diversity and inclusion. The professional services industry context implies that design solutions will need to be robust, scalable, and highly functional, catering to sophisticated users and complex business logic.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a senior-level individual contributor position within the design function. It's positioned above a standard UX Designer, with significant strategic ownership, leadership responsibilities (mentorship), and accountability for business outcomes. The focus is on driving design strategy for a product domain, influencing product direction, and acting as a design authority.

Reporting Structure: The Lead Designer reports to the UX Manager and collaborates closely with peer Leads within the UX organization to ensure consistency and best practices. They will also work intimately with Product Managers and Engineering Leads within their assigned cross-functional triads.

Operations Impact: The Lead Designer's impact is measured by their ability to translate complex professional services workflows into intuitive, scalable, and outcome-driven experiences that directly contribute to measurable business and user outcomes. This includes driving efficiency, adoption, and quality improvements within their product domain, thereby enhancing client service delivery and internal operational effectiveness.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership within UX: Potential to grow into a UX Manager role or lead larger product areas, or specialize in a critical domain.

• Strategic Influence: Opportunity to deepen influence on product strategy and technology roadmaps by consistently demonstrating the value of design in driving business results.

• Skill Development: Continuous learning through exposure to complex enterprise challenges, AI-assisted design methods, and advanced prototyping techniques. Mentoring opportunities foster leadership skills.

• Cross-Functional Expertise: Deepen understanding of Product Management and Engineering processes, enhancing overall product development acumen and career flexibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a clear path for experienced designers to move into leadership without necessarily managing people directly, focusing instead on strategic impact and domain expertise. The emphasis on "business outcomes" and "decision support" signals a desire to elevate design's strategic contribution within the organization.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is designated as On-site, indicating a preference for in-person collaboration and engagement within CLA's physical office spaces in Milwaukee, WI; Nashville, TN; Raleigh, NC; Houston, TX; or Cedar Rapids, IA.

Office Location(s): Candidates can be based in Milwaukee, WI; Nashville, TN; Raleigh, NC; Houston, TX; or Cedar Rapids, IA. These are major metropolitan areas offering professional environments and access to talent.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Triads: Work will be conducted within highly collaborative "cross-functional triads" (Product, Engineering, UX), fostering close partnership and shared accountability.

• Design System & Tools: Access to and active use of CLA's design system, along with modern prototyping tools and potentially AI-assisted design tools, will be integral to the workspace.

• Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing: The environment supports mentorship and continuous learning, with opportunities to engage with peer Leads and contribute to team practice development.

Work Schedule: While the role is full-time (typically 40 hours/week), CLA emphasizes flexibility within an on-site framework, suggesting a results-oriented approach where work is prioritized and managed effectively to meet project demands and deliver outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement suggests CLA values in-person collaboration for complex problem-solving and team cohesion. However, the mention of "flexibility" implies that within the office setting, there's an accommodation for work-life balance and efficient workflow management.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess experience, strategic thinking, and alignment with the role's requirements.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: Expect to present 2-3 detailed case studies from your portfolio, focusing on your strategic approach, process, and the measurable business/user outcomes achieved. Be prepared to discuss trade-offs, decision-making rationale, and stakeholder management.

• Cross-Functional Interview: Interviews with Product Management and Engineering counterparts to assess collaboration style, communication skills, and ability to integrate design into the development process.

• UX Leadership Interview: Discussion with the UX Manager and potentially peer Leads to evaluate design craft, mentorship capabilities, understanding of design systems, and strategic vision for the product domain.

• Behavioral & Cultural Fit: Questions designed to assess problem-solving skills, leadership potential, integrity, and alignment with CLA's values and culture.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Clearly articulate the "so what?" for each project. Quantify results whenever possible using metrics related to efficiency, adoption, user satisfaction, or business goals.

• Strategic Storytelling: Frame your projects as strategic initiatives, not just design exercises. Explain the problem, your hypothesis, the research and design process, and how you measured success.

• Demonstrate Process: Show your thinking process – how you approach ambiguity, conduct discovery, make decisions, and collaborate. Include wireframes, prototypes, user flows, and research insights.

• Highlight Collaboration: Provide examples of how you worked with Product and Engineering, and how you communicated complex ideas and negotiated trade-offs.

• Tailor to CLA: Research CLA's business and target users. Highlight projects that demonstrate experience with complex enterprise workflows or professional services contexts.

Challenge Preparation:

• Problem Decomposition: Be ready to discuss how you would approach a complex, ambiguous problem related to professional services workflows. Practice breaking down large problems into manageable parts.

• Design System Application: Prepare to discuss how you would leverage or contribute to a design system in a large enterprise context, considering scalability and consistency.

• Trade-off Scenarios: Anticipate questions about making difficult trade-offs between ideal user experience, technical constraints, and business deadlines.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process emphasizes practical application of design strategy, measurable impact, and strong collaboration skills. A well-curated portfolio that tells a compelling story of strategic contribution is paramount for success in this role.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping Software: Proficiency in industry-standard tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (XD, Illustrator, Photoshop), and advanced prototyping tools (e.g., InVision, Axure RP) will be essential for creating high-fidelity designs and interactive prototypes.

• Collaboration Platforms: Experience with tools enabling seamless collaboration within cross-functional teams, such as Jira, Confluence, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Miro for whiteboarding and brainstorming.

• AI-Assisted Design Tools: Familiarity and willingness to apply modern AI-assisted methods to accelerate design processes, generate ideas, or analyze user data.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Web Analytics Tools: Understanding of how to interpret data from tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or similar platforms to inform design decisions and measure impact.

• User Feedback & Survey Tools: Experience with tools like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, UserTesting.com, or Hotjar to gather qualitative and quantitative user feedback.

• Data Visualization Tools: Familiarity with how design outputs integrate with or inform data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) for reporting on user behavior and business outcomes.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a CRM role, understanding how user experience design impacts CRM adoption and efficiency within professional services contexts (e.g., Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics) is beneficial.

• Familiarity with workflow automation principles and how intuitive UI/UX design can drive user adoption of automated processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack emphasizes modern design and collaboration tools, with a forward-looking inclusion of AI-assisted methods. The role requires not just proficiency in design tools but also an understanding of how design integrates with broader product development, analytics, and business operations processes.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Create Opportunities: A core company value emphasizing growth, innovation, and positive impact for clients, people, and communities. For designers, this means proactively identifying opportunities to improve user experiences and business outcomes.

• Know and Help: Focus on deep understanding of user needs and business contexts to provide effective solutions. This translates to empathetic design and a service-oriented approach to collaboration.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Emphasis on grounding design decisions in measurable business problems, validated user needs, and data analysis, rather than solely on intuition.

• Integrity and Dependability: High importance placed on honesty, reliability, and delivering on commitments, essential for trust in cross-functional teams and with clients.

• Sense of Urgency and Results-Orientation: A drive to achieve outcomes efficiently and effectively, prioritizing work that delivers tangible value.

Collaboration Style:

• Integrated Triads: Close, day-to-day collaboration within Product, Engineering, and UX triads, fostering shared ownership and rapid iteration.

• Evidence-Based Dialogue: Design discussions are grounded in data, research findings, and clear articulation of business value and user needs, enabling constructive debate and decision-making.

• Mentorship and Knowledge Sharing: A culture that encourages sharing best practices, providing constructive feedback, and supporting the growth of all team members.

• Strategic Partnership: Design acts as a strategic partner, actively participating in early-stage product definition and influencing direction, not just executing on defined requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values suggest a culture that is dynamic, client-focused, and committed to professional growth and ethical conduct. The collaboration style is highly integrated and data-informed, positioning design as a critical strategic function.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Translating Complex Workflows: The primary challenge lies in simplifying and optimizing highly complex, often legacy, professional services workflows into intuitive, scalable digital experiences.

• Balancing Strategic Vision with Delivery: Effectively balancing the long-term strategic vision for a product domain with the practical constraints of agile delivery cycles and evolving business needs.

• Driving Adoption of New Designs: Ensuring that sophisticated users within professional services adopt new designs and workflows, requiring a strong focus on user training, change management, and demonstrating clear value.

• Navigating Organizational Complexity: Operating effectively within a large, established professional services firm requires strong stakeholder management and the ability to influence across different departments and leadership levels.

• Maintaining Design System Integrity: Ensuring consistent application of the design system across a broad product surface while also contributing to its evolution based on domain-specific needs.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design Strategy: Deepen expertise in strategic product design, outcome-based design, and leveraging AI in design processes.

• Industry Best Practices: Gain exposure to best practices in enterprise UX design within the professional services sector, including specific challenges and solutions.

• Leadership & Mentorship: Develop leadership skills through mentoring junior designers and contributing to the maturation of the UX practice at CLA.

• Cross-Functional Acumen: Enhance understanding of product management, engineering, and business operations within a large professional services firm, broadening career versatility.

• Continuous Discovery Skills: Hone skills in leading continuous discovery, rapid validation, and evidence-based decision-making in a dynamic environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical for senior design roles in large, established organizations, particularly those in complex service industries. The growth opportunities are well-aligned with advancing a career in strategic design leadership.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you owned the design strategy for a product domain. What were the key business problems you addressed, what was your strategic approach, and how did you measure the impact of your design work?" (Focus: Strategic Ownership, Outcome Measurement)

• "Walk us through a complex workflow you designed from problem definition to delivery. How did you decompose the ambiguity, collaborate with Product and Engineering, and what trade-offs did you have to make?" (Focus: Process, Problem Decomposition, Collaboration, Trade-offs)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "How do you see design acting as strategic input and decision support within a professional services firm like CLA?" (Focus: Understanding of Role, Industry Context)

• "Describe your experience mentoring designers. What is your approach to fostering growth and ensuring practice maturity?" (Focus: Mentorship, Team Development)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Begin with a high-level overview of CLA and the role, then present 2-3 case studies. For each case study, clearly state the project goal, your role, the business/user problem, your strategic approach, key design decisions, the process followed, and most importantly, the measurable outcomes.

• Quantify Impact: Use data and metrics effectively. If exact numbers aren't available, discuss the types of metrics you would track and why they are important.

• Show Your Thinking: Don't just show final screens. Present wireframes, user flows, research findings, and prototypes to illustrate your process and decision-making. Explain why you made certain choices.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Prepare to answer detailed questions about specific design decisions, technical constraints, stakeholder challenges, and your collaboration process.

• Ask Insightful Questions: Prepare questions about the UX team's structure, strategic priorities, design system roadmap, and the biggest challenges facing the product domain you'd be responsible for.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, a deep understanding of the design process from discovery to delivery, and the ability to articulate impact in business terms. The portfolio is the primary tool for showcasing these capabilities.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this User Interface/User Experience Lead Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Workday job portal link.

• Curate your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best demonstrate your strategic thinking, end-to-end workflow ownership, measurable impact, and cross-functional collaboration skills, tailored to an enterprise professional services context.

• Optimize Your Resume: Highlight your 6+ years of experience in complex enterprise environments, specifically mentioning your ownership of product domains or complex workflows, and any experience in leading discovery or mentoring designers. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice walking through your case studies, focusing on clearly articulating the business problem, your strategic approach, the design process, and the quantifiable outcomes. Be ready to discuss trade-offs and stakeholder management.

• Research CLA: Understand CLA's business as a professional services firm, its mission ("create opportunities"), and its commitment to client success and employee well-being. Consider how your design philosophy aligns with these values.

⚠️ 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.