Senior Product Designer
San Francisco, CA

Job Description

Bank of the West, Digital Channel Group - San Francisco, California

We are undergoing a dramatic transformation to reimagine our brand, experiences, and products. We know real change is hard work, which is why we need people who are aligned with our values and ready to make a serious impact on our industry and the world. We need your experience, optimism, and energy to define, design, and build the future.

We are throwing past constraints and assumptions out the window as we redesign and rebuild all of our digital products. From our native mobile apps to our extensive portfolio of online products and services we aim to reset the bar for consumer experience in the financial industry. To accomplish our goals, we are building a team of professionals assembled from e-commerce, entertainment, fintech, and social media.

We are looking for people unafraid of bringing their authentic selves to work. Our inspiration and collaboration depend on the diversity of our teams, and inclusion of all voices in our process. We value honesty, transparency, and positive leadership. We are not interested in corporate politics. We appreciate action. We reward continual improvement. We want you to grow. We want you to be yourself. We want you to ask for help and help your peers. We want you to work hard and be proud of the results. We want you to take vacation. We know that when we support you, you will do the best work of your career.

Our eyes are on the future and we need you to help make it happen, join us.

The Design Org

The role of Design is critically important and highly visible as we lead the way in building the future of our brand. During this rapid growth period we are intensely focused on three aspects of internal improvement to ensure success:

1. Fostering a fun and healthy Design Culture

2. Codifying a Design Process that is grounded in collaboration and group critique to support and challenge all Designers to do their best work

3. Hiring and retaining extraordinarily talented individuals who desire to work in an environment where we all share the belief that 'Design is how it works'.

Our organization operates in a Centralized Partnership model and is responsible for all Product Design, Visual Design, Brand Design, User Experience Design, Content Strategy, Design Research, Design Operations and Design Program Management. Our partnerships include deep collaboration with Product, Engineering, Data, Marketing, and Business teams.

The Role of Senior Product Designer

As a senior member of the Design Org your role will be to produce high-quality deliverables and support design as a core practice in our digital product and marketing lifecycles. Your design skills will be critical in delivering our message to millions of engaged consumers as we build a world-class consumer brand. You will understand the motivation, desire, and needs of our audience. You will work closely with peer Designers and Engineers to implement and evolve a modular design pattern library ensuring continuity across all of our consumer touch points. The majority of your work will focus on interactive digital products for native mobile apps and responsive web design. You will be creating illustrations, mockups, interactive prototypes, and digital style guide components. You will represent the Design Org in a supporting role during internal presentations and cross-departmental initiatives.

The perfect candidate will be a natural artist and simplifier, steeped in observation and listening skills, with deep experience in the digital consumer space. They will be skilled at presenting their design perspective, open to feedback or constraints, and accepting of compromise when necessary.

Key Responsibilities

* Lead Product Design efforts on multiple concurrent projects


* Mentor junior Designers in the Design Org


* Establish a pattern for successful design program management


* Participate in all phases of the product development lifecycle, including product ideation and definition, user research, identifying deliverables, estimating effort, design, UAT, post-launch evaluation, and stakeholder communication.


* Collaborate with UX Designers, Visual Designers and Engineers to develop a modular design pattern library ensuring continuity across all of our consumer touch points


* Construct clean and organized creative deliverables that adhere to style guidelines


* Define, share and deliver work to ensure project excellence


* Present work and rationale to stakeholders. Articulate decisions with research data, design principles or other objective information


* Create and maintain documentation and deliverables for multiple stakeholders: partners, Designers, Product Managers, and Engineers


* Contribute to a strong design culture by collaborating with members of multidisciplinary teams, advocating for our audience and human-centered design practices.


* Remaining aware of digital design trends and continually improving your skills and capabilities.



Experience & Qualifications

* 7 years of experience.
* Degree in Visual Arts, Marketing, Communication, Design, Human Computer Interaction, Information Architecture or other related disciplines
* Strong portfolio with engaging diverse material demonstrating a passion for design
* Experience in Front-end Engineering (HTML, CSS, Sass, JavaScript) and respect for code as a medium in design work. You must be able to leverage this understanding in order to bridge the gap between your product design goals and the resulting engineering implementation.
* Familiarity with iterative processes like Agile and the tools and strategies that make those processes successful.
* Understanding of design research, user experience design processes and methodology, its value and how to integrate into our work.
* Expertise in tools common to modern design work for digital products: Sketch common plugins, Invision CraftManager, Adobe Creative Suite, Omnigraffle, etc
* An understanding of interactivity and the Web and the fundamentals of information architecture, hierarchy, and layout
* You listen well and have excellent speaking and writing skills.
* You can observe, analyze, question, and conceptualize.
* You can articulate your decisions, rationale, and design process
* You are respectful when challenging assumptions and give and receive feedback with equal grace.
* You are reliable. You estimate work, commit and deliver on deadlines and are vocal when risk arises.
* You have a design aesthetic. Your documents are simple, informative and filled with value.

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

Bank of the West is an Equal Opportunity employer and proud to provide equal employment opportunity to all job seekers without regard to any status protected by applicable law. Bank of the West is also an Affirmative Action employer - Minority / Female / Disabled / Veteran.

Bank of the West will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance subject to the requirements of all state and federal laws and regulations.