Lead Product and UX Designer

This role leads a team of product and UX designers supporting developer experience, design systems, and AI-enabled design tooling across PayPal. The successful candidate is an experienced people leader and active design practitioner who coaches designers, manages performance, builds a healthy team, and contributes directly when senior design judgment or technical depth can improve outcomes.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Establish overall business or technical strategy for user experience initiatives.
• Negotiate with and influence decision-making reaching the senior executive level.
• Identify and resolve unique situations of substantial significance in user interface or interaction design.
• Allocate resources, responsibly and apply creativity to enhancing user and customer experiences across digital and physical products and services.
• Lead the development of user experience strategies that resonate with target audiences.
• Support and mentor less-experienced roles to provide an example of innovation, excellence, and day-to-day learning.

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications:

• 10 or more years of relevant experience in product design, UX design, interaction design, or a related field.
• 5 or more years of experience directly managing product or UX designers.
• Demonstrated experience with hiring, coaching, performance management, career development, team health, retention, and difficult feedback or personnel decisions.
• A portfolio or set of case studies that shows strong storytelling, product and systems thinking, design judgment, leadership results, and meaningful personal contributions to the work.
• Strong current skills in interaction design, prototyping, information architecture, design critique, and user-centered product development.
• Experience leading design work for complex digital products and connecting user needs with business goals and technical constraints.
• Working knowledge of design-system architecture, component models, semantic design tokens, accessibility, front-end implementation constraints, and design-to-code workflows.
• Experience using qualitative and quantitative evidence to identify problems, guide design decisions, and evaluate outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to work across organizational boundaries and influence product, engineering, design, and senior leadership partners without direct authority.
• Clear written, verbal, and visual communication skills.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive, choice-based programs to support all aspects of personal wellbeing,physical, emotional, and financial.
• Generous paid time off.
• Healthcare coverage for you and your family.
• Resources to create financial security and support your mental health.