Mid Level Design Lead Jobs
Mid level design lead jobs go to designers ready to own projects end to end, guide junior teammates, and shape creative decisions with limited day-to-day oversight. Openings run across Consulting & Professional Services, Electronics & Hardware, and Technology & Software, with a strong mix of remote and hybrid arrangements, and employers like Westwood Professional Services, HDR, and Astera Labs are hiring at this level now.
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Overview:
As a Product Design Lead on the M&T Experience Design & Innovation team, you will lead experience strategy and product design across complex customer and colleague experiences.
Working closely with Product, Technology, Research, and business partners, you will uncover customer needs, shape product direction, and create experiences that drive meaningful customer and business outcomes.
This role requires a strategic design leader who can guide teams through ambiguity, influence decisions, and turn insights into action.
Primary Responsibilities:
Lead experience strategy, discovery, and design efforts across products, services, and customer journeys.
Define and communicate experience vision through research, journey mapping, information architecture, content strategy, and service design.
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to align priorities, influence roadmaps, and drive customer-centered outcomes.
Facilitate workshops and collaborative sessions that build alignment and accelerate decision-making.
Drive end-to-end experience quality across products, channels, and touchpoints.
Champion accessibility, design standards, and scalable experience practices.
Mentor designers and contribute to hiring, onboarding, and talent development.
Ensure adherence to compliance, risk, and governance requirements.
Scope of Responsibilities:
This role will establish and evolve foundational experience assets across Commercial Treasury experiences, including customer understanding, journey frameworks, navigation models, and experience strategies.
The role is expected to guide work across multiple initiatives, influence portfolio direction, and help create a more cohesive end-to-end experience across products, channels, and customer journeys.
Managerial/Supervisory Responsibilities:
Lead, mentor, and potentially manage designers across one or more product areas. Provide coaching, strategic guidance, and design leadership while helping teams deliver high-quality experiences and achieve customer and business outcomes.
Education and Experience Required:
- Bachelor's degree in UX Design, Human Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, or similar, and a minimum of 5 years relevant experience or in lieu of a degree, a combined minimum of 9 years education and/or relevant/product design work experience.
- Proven expertise in Product Design/Human-Centered Design
- Experience creating use cases, flow diagrams, prototypes, scenarios and wireframes to communicate ideas and designs to unique groups of stakeholders
- Understanding of strengths and shortcomings of different design thinking methods, including when and how to apply them during product development processes
- Hands-on experience of designing for a variety of digital touchpoints and non-digital channels and supporting the delivery of those designs
- Experience managing programs supporting the full product development process, from vision to launch to iteration
- Project and people management skills; experience functioning as a project leader as well as an individual contributor
- Strong ability to mentor and educate others on the value and principles of good experience design
- Team player who is comfortable navigating ambiguity within a self-directed culture
- Ability to establish strong working relationships with colleagues, clients, and key stakeholders
- Extensive experience conducting remote and in-person workshops; strong familiarity with supporting tools such as Miro and Webex
- Experience with design and prototyping tools such as Adobe, Sketch, InVision, Figma or other similar tools used widely in the design community
- Proficiency in industry best practices for desktop, mobile and web applications
- Experience with accessibility standards, cross-platform issues, mobile user interfaces and systems-thinking
Education and Experience Preferred:
Customer-centric mindset with a deep understanding of customer needs, behaviors, motivations, and pain points.
Strategic thinking that connects customer needs, business goals, and technology capabilities into a clear experience vision.
Design leadership that guides teams through ambiguity and drives experience-led decision-making.
Systems thinking with an understanding of how products, channels, journeys, and processes connect into an end-to-end experience.
Facilitation and influence that builds alignment across diverse stakeholders and drives productive conversations.
Strong storytelling and communication skills that translate complex ideas into clear, compelling narratives for teams and senior leaders.
Collaboration and partnership across organizational boundaries to achieve shared outcomes.
Ownership and accountability for delivering results and driving initiatives forward.
Curiosity and continuous improvement through learning, experimentation, and challenging assumptions.
Location
Buffalo, New York, United States of AmericaOverview:
As a Product Design Lead on the M&T Experience Design & Innovation team, you will lead experience strategy and product design across complex customer and colleague experiences.
Working closely with Product, Technology, Research, and business partners, you will uncover customer needs, shape product direction, and create experiences that drive meaningful customer and business outcomes.
This role requires a strategic design leader who can guide teams through ambiguity, influence decisions, and turn insights into action.
Primary Responsibilities:
Lead experience strategy, discovery, and design efforts across products, services, and customer journeys.
Define and communicate experience vision through research, journey mapping, information architecture, content strategy, and service design.
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to align priorities, influence roadmaps, and drive customer-centered outcomes.
Facilitate workshops and collaborative sessions that build alignment and accelerate decision-making.
Drive end-to-end experience quality across products, channels, and touchpoints.
Champion accessibility, design standards, and scalable experience practices.
Mentor designers and contribute to hiring, onboarding, and talent development.
Ensure adherence to compliance, risk, and governance requirements.
Scope of Responsibilities:
This role will establish and evolve foundational experience assets across Commercial Treasury experiences, including customer understanding, journey frameworks, navigation models, and experience strategies.
The role is expected to guide work across multiple initiatives, influence portfolio direction, and help create a more cohesive end-to-end experience across products, channels, and customer journeys.
Managerial/Supervisory Responsibilities:
Lead, mentor, and potentially manage designers across one or more product areas. Provide coaching, strategic guidance, and design leadership while helping teams deliver high-quality experiences and achieve customer and business outcomes.
Education and Experience Required:
- Bachelor's degree in UX Design, Human Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, or similar, and a minimum of 5 years relevant experience or in lieu of a degree, a combined minimum of 9 years education and/or relevant/product design work experience.
- Proven expertise in Product Design/Human-Centered Design
- Experience creating use cases, flow diagrams, prototypes, scenarios and wireframes to communicate ideas and designs to unique groups of stakeholders
- Understanding of strengths and shortcomings of different design thinking methods, including when and how to apply them during product development processes
- Hands-on experience of designing for a variety of digital touchpoints and non-digital channels and supporting the delivery of those designs
- Experience managing programs supporting the full product development process, from vision to launch to iteration
- Project and people management skills; experience functioning as a project leader as well as an individual contributor
- Strong ability to mentor and educate others on the value and principles of good experience design
- Team player who is comfortable navigating ambiguity within a self-directed culture
- Ability to establish strong working relationships with colleagues, clients, and key stakeholders
- Extensive experience conducting remote and in-person workshops; strong familiarity with supporting tools such as Miro and Webex
- Experience with design and prototyping tools such as Adobe, Sketch, InVision, Figma or other similar tools used widely in the design community
- Proficiency in industry best practices for desktop, mobile and web applications
- Experience with accessibility standards, cross-platform issues, mobile user interfaces and systems-thinking
Education and Experience Preferred:
Customer-centric mindset with a deep understanding of customer needs, behaviors, motivations, and pain points.
Strategic thinking that connects customer needs, business goals, and technology capabilities into a clear experience vision.
Design leadership that guides teams through ambiguity and drives experience-led decision-making.
Systems thinking with an understanding of how products, channels, journeys, and processes connect into an end-to-end experience.
Facilitation and influence that builds alignment across diverse stakeholders and drives productive conversations.
Strong storytelling and communication skills that translate complex ideas into clear, compelling narratives for teams and senior leaders.
Collaboration and partnership across organizational boundaries to achieve shared outcomes.
Ownership and accountability for delivering results and driving initiatives forward.
Curiosity and continuous improvement through learning, experimentation, and challenging assumptions.
Location
Buffalo, New York, United States of AmericaSee All 49 Mid Level Design Lead Jobs
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Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Consulting & Professional Services10
- Electronics & Hardware8
- Technology & Software6
- Energy4
- Manufacturing3
Mid Level Design Lead Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a mid level design lead job?
Position yourself around ownership: applications that show you drove a project from brief to final delivery, not just executed tasks, stand out at this level. Highlight moments where you made design decisions independently, gave direction to others, or improved a process. A portfolio that demonstrates strategic thinking alongside craft signals readiness for mid level responsibilities far more than a list of tools.
Which companies hire mid level design leads?
Companies hiring mid level design leads right now include Westwood Professional Services, HDR, and Astera Labs, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Both established organizations with structured design teams and growing companies building out their creative functions actively recruit at this experience level.
Are there remote mid level design lead jobs?
Yes, remote and hybrid options are common at this level. About 13% of mid level design lead openings are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, reflecting how many organizations have normalized flexible arrangements for experienced individual contributors who can manage their own output and collaborate asynchronously.
How do I move up to a mid level design lead role?
The path from entry level to mid level is built on demonstrated ownership over time. Early-career designers grow into mid level by taking on progressively larger scopes, delivering complete projects rather than isolated deliverables, developing a point of view on design decisions, and showing measurable impact. Seeking out opportunities to mentor a peer or lead a small initiative accelerates the transition meaningfully.
Which industries hire the most mid level design leads?
Mid Level design lead roles concentrate in Consulting & Professional Services, Electronics & Hardware, and Technology & Software, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. These sectors invest in design at this stage because product quality and user experience drive competitive differentiation, making experienced designers who can own work independently a consistent hiring priority.