Lead UX Designer
Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, CarGurus is the all-in-one platform that’s moving the entire car shopping journey online and guiding customers through each step. This includes everything from selling an old car to financing, purchasing, and delivering a new one. Today, millions of consumers visit cargurus.com each month, and more than 30,000 dealerships use our products. We have a people-first culture that fosters kindness, collaboration, and innovation, while empowering our Gurus with tools and resources to fuel their career growth. Our goal is to give all people—consumers, dealers, and our employees—the power to reach their destination.
Job Description
Role overview
CarGurus is seeking a Lead User Experience Designer to drive the quality and consistency of user experiences across our consumer marketplace website, mobile apps, and car dealer offerings. This high-level individual contributor role will focus on elevating the UX design for multiple product areas and will play a crucial role in shaping the overall design direction for some areas of our mobile and web platforms. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in design systems, both as a contributor and user, and be capable of guiding fellow designers, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and championing user-centered design throughout the organization.
What you'll do
- Contribute as a hands-on designer for key projects, responsible for all end-to-end design work
- Serve as the primary design authority for specific UI areas, ensuring consistency and quality across multiple designers' work through effective use of the design system
- Ideate and develop early-stage concepts for new features and products, creating a foundation for further design exploration and validation
- As a design leader, help contribute to the development, implementation, and evolution of our design system, ensuring it meets the needs of all product areas and promotes consistency across the platform
- Collaborate with product leaders, product managers, engineers, and other designers to define and prioritize design initiatives that drive business value
- Develop and communicate UX design guidelines and best practices for CarGurus' experiences, aligning with business goals and user needs
- Create and review user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs for complex features and new product offerings, leveraging the design system effectively
- Assist in driving user research initiatives and usability testing programs, synthesizing insights to inform design decisions and product strategy
- Present design concepts, research findings, and design system updates to stakeholders at various levels of the organization
- Drive innovation in UX/UI design, keeping the team updated on industry trends and emerging technologies, particularly in the realm of design systems
- Balance technical constraints, business requirements, and user needs while maintaining a user-centric approach
- Provide mentorship and guidance to other designers, fostering a culture of design excellence and effective use of the design system
- Oversee and align the work of other more junior aligners, ensuring quality, consistency, and overall seamlessness in experience
- Work closely with other Leads to create a delightful end-to-end experience for the CarGurus platform
What you'll bring
- 8+ years of UX design experience, with a proven track record of working on complex, large-scale projects
- Experience in design systems, including experience in creating, implementing, and assisting in maintaining them in large-scale applications
- Strong conceptual thinking skills with the ability to generate innovative ideas and translate them into viable design solutions
- Experience in ideation techniques and early-stage concept development
- Strong visual design skills with an exceptional eye for detail and aesthetics
- Expert knowledge of UX/UI design principles, methodologies, and best practices across web and mobile platforms
- Impressive portfolio demonstrating your ability to solve complex design challenges, influence design direction, showcase early-stage ideation work, and contribute to/utilize design systems effectively
- Advanced skills in design tools such as Figma, with the ability to create high-fidelity prototypes and design specs that align with and contribute to the design system
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions, early concepts, and the value of design systems to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Strong understanding of user research methodologies and data-driven design practices
- Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and collaborating closely with product and engineering teams
- Familiarity with front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and understanding of technical constraints in design implementation, particularly as they relate to design systems
- Knowledge of accessibility standards and commitment to creating inclusive design solutions
- Formal training in Design, HCI, or a related field is highly desirable
- Deep commensurate experience can substitute for formal education
- Experience in the automotive or e-commerce industry is a plus
- Knowledge of A/B testing and experimentation frameworks
- Familiarity with data visualization and analytics tools
- Experience with service design or customer journey mapping
- Published articles or conference presentations on UX topics, particularly related to design systems, are valued
Role overview
CarGurus is seeking a Lead User Experience Designer to drive the quality and consistency of user experiences across our consumer marketplace website, mobile apps, and car dealer offerings. This high-level individual contributor role will focus on elevating the UX design for multiple product areas and will play a crucial role in shaping the overall design direction for some areas of our mobile and web platforms. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in design systems, both as a contributor and user, and be capable of guiding fellow designers, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and championing user-centered design throughout the organization.
What you'll do
- Contribute as a hands-on designer for key projects, responsible for all end-to-end design work
- Serve as the primary design authority for specific UI areas, ensuring consistency and quality across multiple designers' work through effective use of the design system
- Ideate and develop early-stage concepts for new features and products, creating a foundation for further design exploration and validation
- As a design leader, help contribute to the development, implementation, and evolution of our design system, ensuring it meets the needs of all product areas and promotes consistency across the platform
- Collaborate with product leaders, product managers, engineers, and other designers to define and prioritize design initiatives that drive business value
- Develop and communicate UX design guidelines and best practices for CarGurus' experiences, aligning with business goals and user needs
- Create and review user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs for complex features and new product offerings, leveraging the design system effectively
- Assist in driving user research initiatives and usability testing programs, synthesizing insights to inform design decisions and product strategy
- Present design concepts, research findings, and design system updates to stakeholders at various levels of the organization
- Drive innovation in UX/UI design, keeping the team updated on industry trends and emerging technologies, particularly in the realm of design systems
- Balance technical constraints, business requirements, and user needs while maintaining a user-centric approach
- Provide mentorship and guidance to other designers, fostering a culture of design excellence and effective use of the design system
- Oversee and align the work of other more junior aligners, ensuring quality, consistency, and overall seamlessness in experience
- Work closely with other Leads to create a delightful end-to-end experience for the CarGurus platform
What you'll bring
- 8+ years of UX design experience, with a proven track record of working on complex, large-scale projects
- Experience in design systems, including experience in creating, implementing, and assisting in maintaining them in large-scale applications
- Strong conceptual thinking skills with the ability to generate innovative ideas and translate them into viable design solutions
- Experience in ideation techniques and early-stage concept development
- Strong visual design skills with an exceptional eye for detail and aesthetics
- Expert knowledge of UX/UI design principles, methodologies, and best practices across web and mobile platforms
- Impressive portfolio demonstrating your ability to solve complex design challenges, influence design direction, showcase early-stage ideation work, and contribute to/utilize design systems effectively
- Advanced skills in design tools such as Figma, with the ability to create high-fidelity prototypes and design specs that align with and contribute to the design system
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions, early concepts, and the value of design systems to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Strong understanding of user research methodologies and data-driven design practices
- Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and collaborating closely with product and engineering teams
- Familiarity with front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and understanding of technical constraints in design implementation, particularly as they relate to design systems
- Knowledge of accessibility standards and commitment to creating inclusive design solutions
- Formal training in Design, HCI, or a related field is highly desirable
- Deep commensurate experience can substitute for formal education
- Experience in the automotive or e-commerce industry is a plus
- Knowledge of A/B testing and experimentation frameworks
- Familiarity with data visualization and analytics tools
- Experience with service design or customer journey mapping
- Published articles or conference presentations on UX topics, particularly related to design systems, are valued
