Product Design Manager Jobs in Iowa (NOW HIRING)

Cambridge Investment Research is seeking a Manager, Product Design to lead, scale, and mature Product Design as a strategic enterprise capability within Cambridge's Product Operating Model. This leader will manage and develop the Product Design team, serve as a key member of the Product Strategy leadership team, establish the standards and operating rhythms that enable high-quality product discovery, and strengthen the partnership between Product, Design, Engineering, Data, Operations, Compliance, and business stakeholders.

This player-coach role dedicates approximately 60-70% to team leadership, design strategy, governance, stakeholder influence, and capability building, and 30-40% to hands-on discovery, journey framing, design reviews, experience storytelling, and high-impact initiatives.

What You'll Do

Leadership, Strategy, Operating Model & Governance

• Lead Product Design as an enterprise capability aligned to Cambridge's product taxonomy, portfolio priorities, product operating model, and enterprise product strategy.

• Set the vision, standards, and operating expectations for interaction design, visual design, information architecture, service design, usability, accessibility, research quality, and design governance.

• Strengthen Product, Design, and Engineering partnership by clarifying decision rights, promoting shared accountability for outcomes, and improving product triad effectiveness.

• Advance the shift from late-stage design handoffs to continuous discovery, evidence-based decision-making, and outcome-oriented product development.

• Build and improve DesignOps practices for intake, capacity planning, prioritization, design rituals, review processes, operational metrics, and governance.

• Represent Product Design in product strategy discussions and provide leadership-level guidance on customer experience quality, product discovery, and design maturity.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop Product Designers while setting clear expectations for design craft, collaboration, discovery, accountability, and measurable product impact.

• Build career frameworks, competency models, coaching practices, growth paths, succession plans, and future design leadership capability.

• Recruit, hire, onboard, retain, and develop high-performing design professionals who can operate effectively in a regulated, product-led environment.

• Create a team culture focused on quality, customer outcomes, learning, inclusion, accountability, and strong cross-functional partnership.

• Guide performance management, workload planning, and team effectiveness while ensuring designers are focused on the highest-value product priorities.

Executive Influence & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, Operations, Compliance, and business stakeholders to translate customer insights, workflow needs, and business priorities into practical product direction.

• Facilitate alignment with senior stakeholders through clear framing of customer problems, opportunity areas, tradeoffs, experience principles, and recommended product direction.

• Use design reviews, discovery readouts, experience narratives, and executive-ready recommendations to improve decision quality and build confidence in product direction.

• Serve as a change leader who can influence adoption of product operating model practices, design standards, research methods, and stronger discovery habits across teams.

Selective Hands-On Design Leadership

• Provide hands-on design leadership for strategic, complex, ambiguous, or high-priority product initiatives where senior judgment and facilitation are needed.

• Lead or guide discovery workshops, journey maps, service blueprints, workflow models, concepts, prototypes, usability tests, and research synthesis when the work requires leadership-level involvement.

• Model strong design practices through targeted participation in product discovery, customer validation, design critiques, and executive-ready experience storytelling.

• Ensure design artifacts are decision-ready, evidence-based, accessible, and aligned to customer outcomes, compliance expectations, and business priorities.

Research, Systems, Accessibility & Emerging Experiences

• Establish scalable user research practices, templates, repositories, governance, and insight-sharing routines that help teams make better product decisions.

• Lead design system governance, reusable patterns, component standards, and experience guidelines in partnership with Engineering.

• Establish accessibility and inclusive design practices appropriate for a regulated financial services environment.

• Guide design strategy for AI-enabled experiences, intelligent workflows, recommendations, insights, automation, and responsible human-centered AI.

• Bachelor's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, UX Design, Product Design, Human Factors, Psychology, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, or a related field. Equivalent practical experience may be considered.

• 10+ years of Product Design, UX Design, Service Design, Design Strategy, Product Strategy, Design Operations, or related experience.

• 5+ years leading Product Design teams, including coaching, performance management, hiring, talent development, organizational planning, and leadership of design capability maturity.

• Demonstrated ability to build and mature design teams, standards, governance, DesignOps, research operations, design systems, design reviews, and product discovery practices.

• Proven executive communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, organizational influence, and change leadership skills.

• Strong portfolio or work samples demonstrating strategic design leadership, product discovery, customer research, experience strategy, service design, and enterprise experience design.

• Ability to operate as a leadership-oriented player-coach by setting direction, developing people, improving operating practices, and selectively contributing to high-impact design work when needed.

• Current FINRA Series 99 and/or Series 7 license, or ability and expectation to successfully obtain required FINRA licensing within 12 months of employment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Financial Services, Wealth Management, Broker-Dealer, RIA, Custody, Advisory, Investment Management, FinTech, or another regulated industry.

• Experience with advisor workstations, onboarding, account opening, service requests, CRM, practice management, advisory operations, financial planning, portfolio management, compliance review, or client servicing workflows.

• Experience leading enterprise SaaS, platform environments, digital transformation, complex workflows, product operating model transformation, DesignOps, research operations, AI-enabled products, automation, or data-rich enterprise experiences.

• Master's degree, MBA, MS in HCI, Human Factors, Design Strategy, Organizational Leadership, Product Strategy, or related advanced degree preferred.

Preferred Certifications or Training

• Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification

• UXQB CPUX

• Human Factors International CUA

• IAAP CPACC or Web Accessibility Specialist

• IDEO Design Thinking, LUMA Institute, or Design Sprint Facilitation

• Product Discovery, Product Strategy, Product Operations, Pragmatic Institute, Product School, Continuous Discovery, or leadership development training

Leadership Competencies

Strategic & Product Leadership

• Connects design strategy to product strategy, portfolio priorities, customer outcomes, business value, and evidence-based decisions.

• Sets the direction, governance, rituals, and standards that improve design maturity and product operating model effectiveness.

People & Change Leadership

• Coaches designers, develops talent, builds career paths, strengthens accountability, and grows future design leadership capability.

• Influences leaders and cross-functional teams through clear experience framing, strong facilitation, and practical change leadership.

Craft Judgment & Design Quality Leadership

• Maintains high standards for design quality while using direct hands-on involvement selectively to model good practice, unblock ambiguity, and improve strategic product decisions.

What Success Looks Like

• Increased Product Design maturity, standards adoption, governance effectiveness, leadership bench strength, and design team capability.

• Stronger Product, Design, and Engineering partnership, improved product triad effectiveness, continuous discovery adoption, customer research usage, usability testing, and evidence-based decision-making.

• Improved design quality, consistency, accessibility, usability, and design system adoption across Cambridge product experiences.

• Clearer prioritization, intake, capacity planning, design review practices, and executive-ready product experience recommendations.

• Measurable contribution to customer and business outcomes, including adoption, engagement, satisfaction, workflow efficiency, reduced friction, and stronger product experiences.

Location: Phoenix, AZ or Fairfield, IA (hybrid attendance model)

Cambridge has competitive benefits and promotes a work/life balance to encourage individual success.

• Premium benefit package including medical, vision, dental, life and long-term disability insurance

• Vacation/sick time

• 401K retirement plan with company matching program

• Eleven paid holidays

You can find more details about our comprehensive benefits packagehere.

Cambridge is a financial solutions firm that provides business support services to thousands of independent financial advisors. These advisors offer personalized investment services including wealth management, financial planning, and retirement services to individuals and families across the country. Cambridge provides significant compliance, technology, and transaction processing support to these financial advisors and their offices.