Vice President Smokejumper Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Amazon North America Stores (NAS) Design organization is seeking a Principal UX Designer to join a team dedicated to design excellence in the space where shopping and technology meet. This IC role reports directly to the Design Director and offers the opportunity to lead design on the most strategic initiatives across the entire NAS portfolio, including Premium/Luxury experiences, Brand stores, and Design system integration.
This person will serve as a high-impact individual contributor deployed across the most strategic initiatives in the NAS portfolio. This position requires navigating complex cross-organizational initiatives and driving alignment across category teams and external partners including Shopping Design, Search, DEX, Ads, and WW Prime.
This strategic position works across Fashion & Fitness, Premium, Haul, US Prime, social/outbound, creator programs, deals/promotions, registries, design ops, and high-velocity events like Prime Day.
What You'll Do:
In this role, you'll be deployed to the most strategic, high-priority initiatives across NAS. You'll lead design on complex customer problems across categories, premium and luxury shopping experiences, and new AI-driven customer experiences. You'll work at the highest organizational levels, leading design in executive meetings and representing the design organization across strategic projects.
The pace is fast and you'll move from concept to execution rapidly, working closely with product teams, researchers, and engineers to deliver solutions that impact millions of customers daily. You'll also mentor less experienced designers and serve as a bar raiser for design quality across the organization.
What We're Looking For:
We need an experienced design leader with over 10 years' of design experience who can execute at speed. You have a strong e-commerce background, ideally from big-box retail digital divisions or modern consumer-facing platforms with high standards for visual design and UI. You've worked in high-velocity environments and know how to deliver quality work quickly.
You excel at navigating ambiguity and working across organizational boundaries. You can independently assess complex situations, make sound judgments, and drive solutions without extensive guidance. You're comfortable leading design in executive-level meetings and have the gravitas to influence senior stakeholders.
Your expertise spans User Interface Design, Information Architecture, and Interaction Design. You're proficient with tools like Figma, Sketch, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Most importantly, you're an executor who puts pen to paper and delivers and not just someone who advises from the sidelines.
Key job responsibilities
- Analyze customer problems and design delightful solutions that meet measurable business goals.
- Be a strong design advocate across the entire North American Stores Design team and a bar raiser for quality of work.
- Work across design verticals to standardize and educate others on design systems and visual languages.
- Work closely with product teams to develop use cases and high-level requirements.
- Quickly and thoroughly create process flows, wireframes, and visual design mockups as needed to effectively conceptualize and communicate detailed interaction behaviors.
- Create user-centered designs by considering market analysis, customer feedback, site metrics, and usability findings.
- Develop and maintain detailed user-interface specifications.
- Present design work to the user experience team, product team, and project stakeholders for review and feedback.
- Partner with development teams to build experiences: provide appropriate design specifications, create assets, and review finished interfaces.
- Experience designing and prototyping with tools such as Figma, Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator, Axure, Keynote, and InVision
A day in the life
What Stands Out
Critical Need: The hiring manager explicitly needs an executor, not a theorist and this role requires someone who will "put pen to paper" and deliver at speed.
Pace & Velocity: NAS measures work in days and weeks (rarely months), moving significantly faster than other Design teams. The ideal candidate must thrive in a rapid execution environment.
Troubleshooter/Smokejumper: This is not a traditional principal role with defined ownership. The candidate will jump into high-priority, ambiguous projects and drive solutions across organizational boundaries.
Gravitas Required: Must have the presence and credibility to lead Director and VP meetings, represent the hiring manager, and mentor less experienced designers.
Examples of strategic projects you'll lead:
Premium/luxury shopping experiences, new LLM/AI customer experiences, US Prime initiatives, high-velocity events, and more.
About the team
We're an eclectic creative team of design, research, writing and design technology professionals that share our experiences and help each other succeed. Our creative work impacts millions of customers, thousands of selling partners, and hundreds of coworkers every day. We hire people who are unafraid of bringing their authentic selves to work. Our inspiration and collaboration depend on the diversity of our teams and the inclusion of all voices in our process. We love a complex problem and moving fast in a growing and changing environment. We appreciate action and learning from mistakes. Championing our customers, placing their particular goals in the forefront, informing the collective design, and lifting customer empathy across the larger organization is our sweetspot. Our creative work impacts millions of customers, thousands of selling partners, and hundreds of coworkers every day and we are proud to be a part of it.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 10+ years of design experience
- Experience with best practices for User Interface Design, Information Architecture, and Interaction Design
- Experience in life cycle design projects from design strategy through execution
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience providing and effectively communicating strategic and tactical recommendations based on data
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you're applying in isn't listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
USA, WA, Seattle - 167,700.00 - 226,900.00 USD annually