UX/UI Design Manager - Digital Solutions

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: UX/UI Design Manager - Digital Solutions

Company: Orica

Location: Richmond Vale, NSW, Australia

Job Type: Full-time

Category: UX/UI Design Management, Digital Product Design

Date Posted: 2026-09-25

Experience Level: 10+ years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and mentor a team of UX/UI designers within Orica Digital Solutions (ODS), fostering a high-performance design culture and driving capability development.

• Own and evolve the ODS Design System, establishing comprehensive guidelines, patterns, and components to ensure a consistent, user-centered experience across all digital products.

• Define and continuously enhance the UX/UI operating model, setting standards, selecting appropriate tools, and implementing governance frameworks for an effective design practice.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, and Business stakeholders to align design priorities with strategic objectives, ensuring design depth directly supports delivery and commercial effectiveness.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is pivotal in shaping the user experience of Orica's digital solutions within the mining and civil blasting industry. The emphasis on a Design System and integrated operating model suggests a focus on scalability, efficiency, and cross-functional alignment, common in mature GTM and product organizations.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• People Leadership: Mentor, coach, and develop UX/UI designers, setting clear expectations, providing constructive feedback, and planning for capability growth and development opportunities.

• Design System Management: Build, maintain, and govern a modern ODS Design System, ensuring its adoption and consistent application across existing and new digital products, empowering teams with autonomy and consistency.

• Operational Excellence: Define and refine the UX/UI operating model, establishing best practices, standards, and governance for a robust and efficient design practice.

• Contextual Design Maturity: Adapt design system maturity and processes to suit the specific context of each product, considering team composition, technology stack, deadlines, and available resources, prioritizing shared principles over rigid mandates.

• Resource Management & Collaboration: Work with designers, product managers, and engineers to understand budgets, priorities, and complexity, providing clarity on design tasks and investment, and ensuring design efforts are directly linked to delivery outcomes. Coordinate design capacity across multiple products, advocating for agile delivery and iterative validation.

• Stakeholder Engagement & Communication: Build trust and communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders, articulating the impact of design activities on product performance and justifying design decisions and trade-offs.

• User Research & Insights: Champion the integration of user research, ensuring insights are effectively translated into actionable product decisions and opportunities for design improvement.

• Workflow & Usability Optimization: Drive continuous improvement of user workflows, ensuring that deployed solutions are more usable, efficient, and fit-for-purpose for end-users.

• Continuous Improvement: Leverage feedback, delivery evidence, and product outcomes to iteratively enhance the design practice, team effectiveness, and the overall customer experience.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic leadership, operational management, and hands-on design system stewardship. The focus on "right-sizing" design maturity and "favouring shared principles over prescriptive process" indicates a mature approach to design operations, adaptable to various product needs within a larger organization.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Digital Design, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience. Relevant domain, technical, leadership, or professional qualifications are desirable.

Experience: 10+ years of relevant UX/UI or digital product design experience, with a proven track record of leadership and people management.

Required Skills:

• UX/UI Design Leadership: Demonstrated experience leading and mentoring design teams, with a strong understanding of people management principles, capability planning, and development.

• Design System Expertise: Proven ability to establish, maintain, and govern comprehensive design systems, including guidelines, patterns, and component libraries.

• Agile & Product Development: Experience working within agile delivery environments, collaborating effectively with Product Management and Engineering teams to manage competing priorities and trade-offs.

• User-Centered Design Principles: Strong knowledge of interaction design, information architecture, prototyping, usability principles, and user research methodologies.

• Figma Proficiency: Advanced proficiency with Figma and other relevant design, prototyping, collaboration, and research tools.

• Stakeholder Management: Ability to build trust, communicate complex design concepts clearly, and influence without solely relying on authority.

• Problem-Solving & Decision Making: Strong judgment, courage, resilience, and adaptability in ambiguous environments, with the ability to make timely, pragmatic decisions.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries and resolve differences constructively.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in the mining, resources, or industrial technology sectors.

• Familiarity with digital transformation initiatives and their impact on user experience.

• Experience with design governance frameworks and operating model definition.

• Knowledge of various technology stacks and their implications for design implementation.

• Contributions to the broader UX/UI design community (e.g., speaking, writing, open-source).

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on leadership, design systems, and agile collaboration, combined with the 10+ years of experience, points to a senior role requiring strategic thinking and operational execution. Proficiency in Figma is a key technical requirement, aligning with industry standards for modern design workflows.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design Leadership Case Studies: Demonstrate experience leading design teams, including examples of mentoring, capability development, and operational improvements within a design function.

• Design System Development & Governance: Showcase a comprehensive design system you have built or significantly contributed to, detailing its structure, governance model, adoption strategies, and impact on product consistency and team efficiency.

• Product Design & Workflow Optimization: Present case studies of complex digital products or platforms where you were instrumental in defining the UX/UI strategy, improving user workflows, and delivering user-centered solutions.

• Agile Collaboration Examples: Illustrate how you have effectively partnered with Product and Engineering teams in an agile environment, managing priorities, trade-offs, and ensuring design is integrated into the delivery lifecycle.

• User Research Integration: Provide examples of how user research insights were gathered, analyzed, and translated into concrete design decisions and product improvements.

Process Documentation:

• Design Operations Frameworks: Document your approach to defining and improving UX/UI operating models, including standards, tools, and governance structures.

• Agile Design Workflow: Illustrate your process for integrating design into agile sprints, from discovery and ideation to delivery and iteration.

• Design System Maintenance & Evolution: Outline a process for maintaining, updating, and evolving a design system to keep pace with product needs and technological advancements.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Protocols: Detail established protocols for effective collaboration with Product Management, Engineering, and other business units.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the role's focus on leadership and operationalizing design, a portfolio demonstrating strategic thinking, team management, and the ability to build and scale design systems and processes is crucial. The emphasis on "right-sizing" suggests a need to show adaptability in process application.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Based on industry benchmarks for a UX/UI Design Manager with 10+ years of experience in a specialized field like Digital Solutions within the mining industry in Australia, the estimated annual salary range would be AUD $150,000 - $210,000. This range accounts for the leadership responsibilities, technical expertise, and the strategic importance of the role within Orica's digital transformation efforts.

Benefits:

• Competitive Salary: A strong remuneration package reflecting the seniority and impact of the role.

• Global & Local Team Collaboration: Opportunities to work with diverse, talented individuals across Orica's global and local operations.

• Professional Development Opportunities: Access to learning resources, training, and development programs to enhance skills and career progression.

• Flexible Career Paths: Support for diverse and adaptable career trajectories within the organization.

• Safe Workplace Culture: Commitment to a safe and inclusive working environment.

• Innovation Focus: Opportunity to contribute to shaping the future of mining through digital and automated technologies.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours, typically around 40 hours per week, with potential for flexibility depending on project needs and team agreements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on market data for similar roles in Australia, considering the experience level, industry, and leadership scope. Actual compensation may vary based on specific qualifications, negotiation, and Orica's internal compensation structure.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Mining and Civil Blasting (specifically Digital Solutions). Orica is a global leader in providing blasting systems and solutions to the mining, quarrying, oil and gas, and construction industries. The Digital Solutions division focuses on leveraging technology to enhance efficiency, safety, and productivity in these sectors.

Company Size: Orica employs over 14,000 people worldwide, indicating a large, established global corporation with significant resources and a complex organizational structure. This size suggests opportunities for broad impact and exposure to diverse business units and technologies.

Founded: Established in 1874, Orica has a long history, evolving from an explosives manufacturer to a diversified global entity. This longevity suggests stability, deep industry knowledge, and a capacity for long-term strategic planning. The current focus on digital and automated technologies indicates a commitment to modernization and innovation.

Team Structure:

• The UX/UI Design Manager will lead a dedicated team of UX/UI designers within the Orica Digital Solutions (ODS) division.

• This team likely reports into a broader digital product or technology leadership function within ODS.

• Close collaboration is expected with Product Managers, Engineering teams, and potentially Business Unit stakeholders across Orica's various operational areas.

• The structure aims to integrate design expertise directly into the product development lifecycle, ensuring user needs are met and business objectives are achieved. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Emphasis on user research and insights to inform design decisions and drive product improvements.

• Agile Development: Design processes are integrated within agile frameworks, prioritizing iterative development, rapid feedback, and continuous validation.

• Design System Centricity: A core methodology involves building and leveraging a robust design system to ensure consistency, efficiency, and scalability across a portfolio of digital products.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: A strong emphasis on collaborative workflows between design, product, and engineering to achieve shared goals and deliver effective solutions.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: Orica's long history combined with its current investment in digital solutions suggests a company undergoing significant transformation. The UX/UI Design Manager will be a key player in this evolution, bridging traditional industry needs with modern digital capabilities.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a Senior Management position within the UX/UI design discipline. It requires not only deep expertise in design practices but also significant leadership and operational management capabilities. The focus is on managing a team, evolving a critical design asset (the Design System), and influencing strategic product direction.

Reporting Structure: The UX/UI Design Manager will likely report to a Director or VP of Product, Digital Solutions, or Technology within Orica Digital Solutions. They will manage a team of individual contributor designers. This structure places them in a position to influence both design strategy and execution.

Operations Impact: The role's impact is significant, directly influencing the usability, efficiency, and commercial effectiveness of Orica's digital products. By leading the design team and owning the design system, the manager ensures that digital solutions are intuitive for end-users (miners, engineers, etc.), thereby improving operational productivity, safety, and customer satisfaction. They are instrumental in translating Orica's business objectives into user-centric digital experiences.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Expansion: Potential to grow into a broader Head of Design or Director of Product Design role, overseeing a larger design organization or multiple product lines.

• Strategic Influence: Deeper involvement in product strategy, innovation initiatives, and digital transformation roadmaps for Orica.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Opportunities to lead cross-functional initiatives or move into related leadership roles within Product Management or Technology.

• Industry Expertise Development: Deepen understanding of the mining and resources sector's digital challenges and contribute to cutting-edge solutions.

• Mentorship & Coaching: Develop advanced coaching and mentoring skills through leading and growing a talented design team.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a clear path for experienced designers to transition into significant leadership positions, impacting both people and product strategy within a large, established, and digitally evolving organization.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The position is based on-site in Richmond Vale, NSW, Australia. This suggests a traditional office environment where in-person collaboration, team meetings, and access to on-site resources are prioritized.

Office Location(s): Richmond Vale, NSW, Australia. This location is likely within or near Orica's operational or R&D facilities, offering direct exposure to the industry context.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The on-site nature will foster direct collaboration with the design team, Product Managers, and Engineering colleagues, encouraging real-time problem-solving and knowledge sharing.

• Tools & Technology: Access to Orica's standard design and collaboration tools, including Figma, and potentially other project management and communication platforms.

• Team Interaction: Frequent opportunities for face-to-face interactions, team stand-ups, design reviews, and brainstorming sessions, which are crucial for a design-centric role.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time working hours are expected, likely around 40 hours per week. While the role is on-site, Orica's mention of "flexible and diverse career paths" and "thrive in a safe workplace within a collaborative culture" may imply some degree of flexibility in daily scheduling, provided work is completed and team collaboration is maintained.

📝 Enhancement Note: An on-site role in a company like Orica, especially in a specific location like Richmond Vale, suggests a strong connection to the operational aspects of the business, which can be highly beneficial for a UX/UI manager aiming to deeply understand user needs and industry challenges.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your application and resume, focusing on leadership experience and relevance to UX/UI design management.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A discussion with the hiring manager to assess your leadership style, experience with design systems, team management capabilities, and strategic thinking.

• Design Team & Stakeholder Interviews: Meetings with members of the UX/UI design team and key stakeholders (e.g., Product Managers, Engineering Leads) to evaluate your collaborative approach, technical skills, and cultural fit.

• Portfolio Presentation: A dedicated session to present your portfolio, showcasing case studies of leadership, design system development, and impactful product design projects. This is where you'll demonstrate your operational and strategic thinking.

• Final Interview: Potentially with senior leadership to discuss overall fit and strategic alignment with Orica Digital Solutions.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Leadership Impact: Showcase how you've led teams to success, improved design processes, and fostered a positive design culture. Quantify team growth and performance improvements where possible.

• Demonstrate Design System Mastery: Clearly articulate your process for building, maintaining, and governing design systems. Show examples of components, guidelines, and how the system drove consistency and efficiency.

• Showcase Strategic Thinking: Use case studies to illustrate how you translated business objectives into user-centered design solutions, managed trade-offs, and measured impact.

• Emphasize Collaboration: Provide examples of your successful partnerships with Product and Engineering, detailing how you navigated challenges and achieved shared goals.

• Present Clearly and Concisely: Focus on the most relevant projects and use clear, impactful visuals and storytelling. Be prepared to discuss your design decisions and the rationale behind them.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design Operations Scenario: Be prepared for a hypothetical scenario where you need to assess and improve a design practice, build a design system for a new product, or resolve a conflict between design and engineering priorities.

• Team Management Discussion: Anticipate questions about how you handle underperforming team members, motivate designers, and foster professional growth.

• Design System Strategy: Be ready to discuss your philosophy on design systems, their scalability, and how to ensure adoption across an organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to assess not just design skills but also leadership, operational management, and strategic alignment. A strong portfolio demonstrating a structured approach to design operations, team leadership, and design system development will be critical for success.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, prototyping, collaboration, and design system management. Proficiency is a key requirement.

• Design System Tools: Familiarity with tools and methodologies for creating and maintaining design systems (e.g., Storybook, Zeroheight, or internal Orica platforms).

• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma, experience with other prototyping tools might be beneficial for complex interactions.

• Collaboration Platforms: Tools like Jira, Confluence, Slack, or Microsoft Teams for project management, documentation, and team communication.

Analytics & Reporting:

• User Analytics Platforms: Experience with tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or specialized product analytics tools (e.g., Mixpanel, Amplitude) to understand user behavior and measure design impact.

• Heatmapping & Session Recording Tools: Tools such as Hotjar or FullStory to gain deeper insights into user interactions on digital interfaces.

• Reporting & Dashboard Tools: Familiarity with creating reports and dashboards (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) to communicate design performance and user insights to stakeholders.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managing CRM systems, understanding how UX/UI design impacts CRM adoption and data quality for sales and marketing operations can be advantageous.

• Familiarity with how digital solutions integrate with broader enterprise systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma highlights its centrality. Beyond this, the role requires an understanding of how design tools integrate into a broader technology ecosystem that includes analytics, project management, and potentially enterprise software.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A fundamental value of prioritizing the end-user's needs, ensuring digital solutions are intuitive, efficient, and valuable.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Valuing insights derived from user research and analytics to inform design choices and demonstrate impact.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Fostering an environment where design, product, and engineering teams work together openly, sharing knowledge and feedback constructively.

• Continuous Improvement & Innovation: A commitment to constantly refining processes, exploring new technologies, and seeking innovative solutions to industry challenges.

• Accountability & Ownership: Taking responsibility for design outcomes, from concept to delivery, and driving initiatives to successful completion.

Collaboration Style:

• Integrated Teams: Design is not a silo but an integral part of cross-functional product teams, working hand-in-hand with Product Managers and Engineers.

• Iterative Feedback Loops: A culture that encourages regular feedback, constructive critique, and iterative refinement of designs and processes.

• Knowledge Sharing: Active participation in sharing best practices, design patterns, and learnings across the design team and wider organization.

• Empowerment: Designers are empowered to contribute to strategic discussions and make informed decisions within their areas of expertise.

📝 Enhancement Note: Orica's emphasis on "power of our people," "embracing new ways of thinking," and "pioneering innovation" suggests a culture that values collaboration, continuous learning, and forward-thinking approaches, which will extend to the digital solutions team.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling a Design System: Ensuring a design system remains effective and scalable as Orica's digital product portfolio grows and evolves. This involves balancing consistency with flexibility.

• Driving Design Maturity Across Diverse Products: Adapting the design approach and system maturity to suit varying product complexities, team capabilities, and business priorities across Orica Digital Solutions.

• Influencing Stakeholders in a Traditional Industry: Navigating the cultural landscape of a large, established industrial company to champion user-centered design principles and drive adoption of new digital practices.

• Managing Competing Priorities: Balancing the needs of multiple product teams, strategic initiatives, and operational demands within a resource-constrained environment.

• Talent Development & Retention: Attracting, mentoring, and retaining top UX/UI design talent in a competitive market.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Strategic Design Leadership: Developing advanced skills in strategic planning, operational management, and influencing senior leadership.

• Industry-Specific Design Challenges: Gaining deep expertise in solving complex design problems within the mining and resources sector.

• Mentorship Programs: Opportunities to mentor junior designers and learn from experienced leaders within Orica.

• Conferences & Training: Potential to attend industry conferences (e.g., UX Australia, design system events) and participate in specialized training to stay abreast of design trends and technologies.

• Cross-Functional Exposure: Gaining insights into Product Management, Engineering, and the broader business operations of a global industrial company.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are typical of a manager role in a large, transforming organization. The growth opportunities are strong, focusing on expanding leadership scope and strategic impact within a critical industry.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach scaling Orica's design system to accommodate new product lines and evolving technologies, while ensuring adoption across diverse teams?" (Focus on governance, modularity, and adoption strategies.)

• "Describe your philosophy on balancing prescriptive design guidelines with team autonomy, especially when dealing with products of varying maturity and complexity." (Highlight your 'right-sizing' approach.)

• "How do you measure the success and ROI of a design system and the broader UX/UI practice within a digital solutions division?" (Prepare metrics related to efficiency, consistency, user satisfaction, and business outcomes.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What do you know about Orica and the mining industry's digital transformation, and how do you see UX/UI design playing a role?" (Showcase your research and strategic thinking.)

• "How would you foster a collaborative and high-performing design culture within your team and across cross-functional departments?" (Discuss your leadership style and collaboration strategies.)

• "How do you stay updated on the latest UX/UI trends and technologies, and how would you integrate them into Orica's design practice?" (Demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role and approach, the solutions implemented, and the measurable impact.

• Quantify Your Impact: Use data and metrics to demonstrate the value of your work. For design systems, focus on adoption rates, time savings, and consistency improvements. For product design, highlight user satisfaction, task completion rates, and business KPIs.

• Showcase Leadership: If presenting a team-led project, clearly define your leadership contribution and how you empowered your team.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions about your design decisions, trade-offs made, and the rationale behind your strategic choices.

• Focus on Operations: Emphasize how your work improved processes, efficiency, and scalability, aligning with the operational focus of the role.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic leadership, operational thinking, and a deep understanding of design systems and their application within a large enterprise context.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this UX/UI Design Manager position:

• Submit your application through the Orica careers portal link provided.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your 10+ years of UX/UI design experience, specifically focusing on leadership, team management, design system development, and experience in agile environments. Use keywords from the job description.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 3-5 of your most impactful projects that best demonstrate your leadership, design system expertise, product design achievements, and collaborative abilities. Ensure it's well-organized and easily navigable.

• Prepare Your Portfolio Presentation: Practice presenting your key case studies, focusing on quantifiable results, strategic thinking, and your operational approach to design management. Be ready to discuss your leadership philosophy and how you'd tackle Orica's specific challenges.

• Research Orica: Understand Orica's business, its digital transformation goals, and the mining industry's context to tailor your responses and demonstrate your strategic alignment.

⚠️ 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.

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