If you're passionate about helping a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales drive their strategy forward through innovative product development and advancing strategic partnerships to protect customers, then Nationwide is the place for you! At Nationwide®, "on your side" goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we're looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.
Nationwide is looking for a seasoned User Experience (UX) ResearchLeadto join the Emerging UX team within our UX & Human Centered Practices organization. We focus on value-chain innovation to advance enterprise strategies, lead human-centered work in Generative AI and other emerging experiences, and partner closely with the Customer Office toinformcustomer journeys and key moments that matter.
As a UX Research Lead, you will directly engage with target customers toidentifyunmet needs, assessthe desirabilityof opportunities, and evaluate the usability of design solutions. You will build learning plans, selectappropriate researchmethodologies, execute studies, synthesize findings, and translate insights into clear recommendations for product strategy.
This role partners deeply with the Customer Office to support journey mapping and investigate underlying processes and ecosystems to diagnose pain points, root causes, and potential solutions. Your work will help advance Nationwide’s mission to be the most customer-centric protection company and drive innovative products, services, and experiences that protect people, businesses, and futures with extraordinary care.
The ideal candidate is grounded in design thinking and human-centered design, with provenexpertisecontributing to experience strategy and product development. You bring working knowledge of UX design principles and best practices, prototyping, and agile software development, and you are comfortable collaborating with cross-functional stakeholdersand peers.
You have deepexpertisein multiple research methodologies—especially ethnography, contextual inquiry, and rapid concept testing—and can select the right approach based on learningobjectives. You stay current on design patterns, research methods, consumer psychology, and business strategy, and you can clearly influence design solutions that balance user needs and business goals.
You are skilled at using storyboards, wireframes, rough screen shots, and other visual aids for concept research and have strong moderation skills for observations and in-depth interviews. You excel at synthesizing qualitative and quantitative data and presenting insights to a wide range of audiences. You build strong, collaborative relationships across teams, manage multiple concurrent projects, and thrive in a fast-paced environment with excellent verbal, written, and project management skills.
Thingsyou’lldo as a UX research lead:
Collaborate with product managers, designers, researchers, technologists, and business leaders to achieve strong outcomes.
UX at Nationwide is a large, dynamic organization that champions customer-centric solutions and strategic design thinking. Our ~100-person team collaborates acrossthe enterprisein a hybrid/remote environment where design has a strong voice in strategic decision-making and plays a key role in protecting people, businesses, and futures with extraordinary care.
This role does not qualify for employer-sponsored work authorization. Nationwide does not participate in the Stem OPT Extension program.
Remote work arrangements will be considered for candidates located outside the Columbus area.
#LI-DNI
Job Description Summary
Do you shine in at least one core user experience (UX) competency? We have a passion for creating exceptional experiences that have a real impact on people’s live and futures. If you understand the value UX provides in achieving strategic objectives and can articulate that value to cross-functional teams and business partners, we want to know more about you!
As a Senior Consultant in the User Experience organization, you’ll be viewed as an expert with the ability to drive the delivery of outstanding customer experiences. In addition to expertise in one core UX strength (experience strategy, research, information architecture, interaction design, interface design, front-end development, content strategy or design operations), you’ll need to demonstrate a thorough grasp of a couple others. It'll be important to have a deep understanding of the design process and an ability to work in ambiguous discovery phase of identifying the right problem to tackle and the detail delivering desirable products. You’ll also have opportunities to lead project teams to distill complex problems into clear solutions that exemplify standard methodologies and encourage others. You are a visionary and will need to be adept at articulating and defending design decisions in a way that can be understood.
Job Description
Key Responsibilities:
Consults and collaborates with stakeholders, product managers, technologists, UX peers and others across the company to provide strategic, creative and technical direction.
Advocates for empathetic, human-centered design. Helps mitigate risk by pursuing work based on insights and an understanding of our users.
Problem solves, thinks big, influences, and explores divergent ideas while understanding how to converge and build iteratively towards the best solution.
Designs and recommends innovative multi-platform solutions that balance customer needs with business viability and technical feasibility.
Participates in and facilitates idea-generating sessions evaluating those ideas with regards to technical feasibility, business viability and human desirability.
Able to think strategically and connect your work to a larger picture. Helps everyone consider the end-to-end experience and connect the dots.
Mentors and guides the team in their craft and profession to continually uplift the quality of our work.
Perceive rapid advancements in technology and how customers expect to interact with our company.
May perform other responsibilities as assigned.
Reporting Relationships: Reports to Manager/Director. May have opportunity to manage a team based on organizational structure. May also have opportunity to lead matrixed and virtual/project teams.
Typical Skills and Experiences:
Education: Undergraduate degree in UX, human-computer interaction, psychology, graphic design, information science, communications or related field preferred.
Experience: Typically, eight or more years professionally practicing some aspect of human-centered design.
Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Comfortable speaking publicly to large groups and explaining design rationale to other parts of the business. Able to leverage data to make informed design decisions. Ability to navigate multiple partner groups, tell compelling narratives and influence others. Owns work with minimal oversight. Very independent and self-motivated. Can provide leadership for all aspects of the design process, as well as areas outside field of expertise.
Excellent communications skills (written and verbal). Clear user experience design focus; proven familiarity with emerging technologies and the ability to integrate new technologies to user experience designs. Strong interpersonal skills; ability to work effectively independently and in partnership with cross-functional teams. Proven project management skills; ability to perform well on multiple concurrent projects and meet timelines. Strong research, analytical, and troubleshooting skills. Acts as a source of expertise for direction, mentoring and guidance for less experienced team members. Works with development team to resolve technically complex issues requiring alignment across multiple business partners and subject areas. Understand and make progress toward the company’s consumer performance indicator (CPI) and key performance indicator (KPI) goals
Other criteria, including leadership skills, competencies and experiences may take precedence.
Staffing exceptions to the above must be approved by the hiring manager’s leader and HR Business Partner.
Values: Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.
Job Conditions:
Overtime Eligibility: Not Eligible (Exempt)
Working Conditions: Normal Office Environment. Extended work hours may be necessary during heavier volume work periods. Travel required as necessary.
ADA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.
We currently anticipate accepting applications until 02/01/2026. However, we encourage early submissions, as the posting may close sooner if a strong candidate slate is identified before the deadline.
Benefits
We have an array of benefits to fit your needs, including: medical/dental/vision, life insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date, nine paid holidays, 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off, 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off, 401(k) with company match, company-paid pension plan, business casual attire, and more. To learn more about the benefits we offer, click here.
Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.
This position could be filled within any of the lower 48 U.S. states.#marketingSmoke-Free Iowa Statement: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, its affiliates and subsidiaries comply with the Iowa Smokefree Air Act. Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed areas on or around company premises as well as company issued vehicles. The company offers designated smoking areas in which smoking is permitted at each individual location. The Act prohibits retaliation for reporting complaints or violations. For more information on the Iowa Smokefree Air Act, individuals may contact the Smokefree Air Act Helpline at 888-944-2247.
For NY residents please review the following state law information: Notice of Employee Rights, Protections, and Obligations LS740 (ny.gov) https://dol.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/02/ls740_1.pdf
NOTE TO EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES:
We value the partnerships we have built with our preferred vendors. Nationwide does not accept unsolicited resumes from employment agencies. All resumes submitted by employment agencies directly to any Nationwide employee or hiring manager in any form without a signed Nationwide Client Services Agreement on file and search engagement for that position will be deemed unsolicited in nature. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is subsequently hired as a result of the referral or through other means.
Nationwide pays on a geographic-specific salary structure and placement within the actual starting salary range for this position will be determined by a number of factors including the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; the scope, complexity and location of the role as well as the cost of labor in the market; and other conditions of employment. If a Sales job, Sales Incentives, based on performance goals are possible in addition to this range. Note on Compensation for Part-Time Roles: Please be aware that the salary ranges listed below reflect full-time compensation. Actual compensation may be prorated based on the number of hours worked relative to a full-time schedule.The national salary range for Sr Consultant, User Experience : $138,000.00-$243,000.00The expected starting salary range for Sr Consultant, User Experience : $138,000.00 - $206,000.00
