UX Design Strategist

We are seeking a seasoned Design Strategist to join our team and lead the conceptualization of innovative customer and employee experiences. As a strategic design leader, you will be an expert in user research, experience strategy, and conceptual design. You thrive in ambiguity, are passionate about championing user needs, and are driven to create thoughtful, useful, and delightful experiences that provide tangible value.

In this role, you will lead the customer and employee experience design strategy, developing journey maps, service design blueprints, and "North Star" visions that shape long-term product roadmaps. You will work within a multi-disciplinary team of strategists, researchers, and visual designers to identify unmet needs and iterate on new products within a complex ecosystem. This position offers a unique opportunity to gain deep exposure to the insurance field while influencing the future of digital and physical service delivery.

This is a 6-month contract role which requires the talent to work at our client's office in downtown Toronto 3 days per week, increasing to 4 days by end of the year.

Responsibilities

• Strategy & Vision: Lead and own the end-to-end design strategy for specific journeys, uncovering unmet needs and crafting compelling "North Star" visions to guide 3–5 year strategic roadmaps.
• Executive Communication: Craft tangible and compelling Experience Vision presentations, eloquently communicating ideas, rationale, and business impact to Senior Management and Executives.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with business, product, and technology partners to ensure the delivery of industry-leading experiences.
• Human-Centered Design: Guide multi-disciplinary teams through the design process to uncover unarticulated needs, conceptualize new product experiences, and prioritize opportunities based on impact.
• Deliverable Management: Oversee the timely delivery of high-quality strategy deliverables, including discovery plans, user research findings, competitive insights, journey maps, and experience prototypes.
• Mentorship & Leadership: Motivate and lead high-performing design colleagues (researchers, UX designers, and strategists) through hands-on direction and constructive feedback.
• Framework Development: Refine and co-create robust Strategic Design Frameworks to ensure a holistic and integrated approach across the enterprise.

Requirements

• Experience: 5–7+ years of proven experience conceptualizing and leading strategic work for complex, human experiences at enterprise or consumer-focused companies.
• Education: A degree in design or a design-related discipline (Industrial Design, User-Centered Design, Human Factors, Psychology, HCI, Information Systems, etc.).
• Stakeholder Management: Exceptional ability to partner with diverse stakeholders (approx. 35% of the role), translating design into business impact and making well-articulated recommendations.
• Creative Discipline Breadth: A solid understanding of all creative disciplines, including experience strategy, design research, interaction design, visual design, and copywriting.
• Business Acumen: Strong ability to understand business context and support design recommendations with the right balance of tangible actions and theoretical context.
• Soft Skills: Meticulous attention to detail, organizational awareness, and the ability to communicate difficult concepts to reach a shared consensus.
• Industry Experience: Prior experience working with financial institutions or insurance companies.
• AI Innovation: Experience conceptualizing and building impactful AI-driven experiences.
• Agile Methodology: Familiarity with Agile environments (Scrum or other methodologies).
• Visual Communication: Strong independent skills in using visuals to simplify and support the understanding of complex concepts.

If you are a results-oriented design leader ready to challenge old ways of thinking and put the customer at the center of everything, we encourage you to apply today! Please submit your resume detailing your experience in driving experience design strategy and vision.

Note: This posting is for existing and upcoming vacancies.

Cella by Randstad Digital uses artificial intelligence to help our recruiters screen, assess and select qualified talent for this role and others within our database. Although Cella by Randstad Digital uses A.I. as a tool, candidate selection and hiring decisions are made by our employees.