Lead Designer

Hello, my name is Matty Schreck, and I’m the Head of Design here at WiseTech Global. Today, I have a rare opportunity for a capable Lead UX Designer to build the Design practice in an entirely new portfolio from day one. This Lead Designer will ensure that this new product portfolio is the best it can be for its users within the necessary constraints of a product-driven process. And while it begins as an individual contributor role in a highly complex field, the multi-year plan is to grow a Design Squad around this position, as more and more work needs to get done.

About the company

WiseTech Global is on a mission to change the world by creating breakthrough products that empower those who own, enable, and operate the world's supply chains. We’re the world’s biggest global logistics software company, with headquarters in Alexandria, Sydney. We’ve been listed on the ASX since 2016, and have over 3,000 employees worldwide, with offices in 50+ countries.

We are a globally distributed Design Team of over 35 Product Designers, but the core of the team (more than 25 Designers) is in Sydney’s Inner West. We look after our flagship product CargoWise. The domain of global logistics is very broad and very deep, and CargoWise covers many, many aspects of it. We’re shipping many hundreds of improvements to the product every year.

How we structured the Design Team

Understanding the role of a Lead Designer requires an understanding of our Design Team structure:

• The HUB is formed by the Design System Team, and led by a Principal Designer who reports directly to me. We’ve already built out a world-class Design System that will greatly support every Designer in my team, and it gets better with every release.
• The SPOKES in this model are made up of embedded Designers who are placed into business units for longer periods of time. These are usually Designers with a focus on UX and user research. Over time, they learn the subject matter of the business units from the subject matter experts they’re working with. Each Designer is part of a Design Squad (between 3-5 Designers), led by a Lead Designer within a larger domain.
• HUB and SPOKES work together to resolve difficult interaction problems. This is a win-win: embedded UX Designers have access to specialised UI Designers, while the Design System team learns of real-world challenges their system needs to tackle. This teaming up really works, and provides fantastic learning opportunities for both sides.

Where the Lead Designer fits in

When we create a new portfolio, I bring a Lead Designer in who digs deep into the subject matter, and ensures that Design as a discipline and as a contributor for product success is fully understood. And then over time, that Lead Designer builds up a Design Squad that grows alongside the needs of the growing portfolio. This is a multi-year journey, on which the Lead Designer starts as an individual contributor, but then turns more and more into a people leader and experience architect.

Let me list a few more characteristics of such a Lead Designer we’re looking for:

• You are an extremely strong facilitator and collaborator. As Designers at WiseTech Global, we’re often at the heart of collaboration, bringing the right people together and teasing out the necessary deep domain knowledge into coherent experiences. You will have to be comfortable dealing with stakeholders who are subject matter experts in this field, and create lasting, constructive relationships with them.
• You’re a willing educator, knowing that buy-in from your cross-functional peers comes from trust, and trust comes from understanding your role and the nature and value of your contribution. You need to be a Design pioneer who loves changing hearts and minds.
• You’re able to tackle a vast spectrum of challenges of very high domain complexity. While we try to match Designers and their strengths and interests to the appropriate types of challenges, we expect that you can carry a project through the entire double diamond of Design Thinking. You’ve built up a toolset of reliable methods and techniques to achieve the best outcomes for your projects.
• You need to be able to pursue outcomes pragmatically, rather than sticking to processes too rigidly. You have to be able to make decisions even if there’s a high level of uncertainty.
• You will need to embrace the domain you’re embedded in. Logistics in all its facets is deeply complex (but also extremely interesting), and your value as a Designer grows as you learn more about the specific challenges of your area.
• You’re an experienced people leader who has managed teams before. But this is not hands-off leadership - even with several people reporting into you, you will have to stay involved as you shape the user experience of this entire portfolio.

It will also be important to know that we work in a hybrid fashion - we meet, in person, every Tuesday at our Head Office in Alexandria, Sydney, allowing for stronger collaboration across our team. Therefore, this role is strictly Sydney only.

We’re a tight team who lift each other up

A week as a Designer on our team usually starts with a Design Showcase session. Our various Design Squads showcase the progress they’ve made, and flag anything that might be interesting for others in the Design Team.

Later in the week, we have our Design Critique sessions. Designers present the solutions they’ve been working on, and receive constructive feedback from other Designers.

With this combination of rituals, all Designers have full access to the whole Design group on a regular basis, regardless of where they’re embedded. This helps with projects, but also provides learning opportunities from others in the team.

Additionally, every Designer has a weekly 1:1 with their manager to get continuous constructive feedback, talk about the challenges they tackle, receive coaching, etc.

We round out our week with our "Week-end Wind-Down", which is strictly social and has been known to include silly drawing games and quizzes like “Whose fridge is this anyway?”.

Get in touch

We hope that all of this has made you curious! As the Head of Design, I’m always happy to grab a virtual coffee and hop on a MS Teams call to tell you about this great opportunity we have for you. These chats are strictly no-strings-attached, I’m always just glad to meet new people and can’t wait to meet you. Hopefully speak to you soon!

Before you apply:

From time to time, WiseTech Global may use external service providers to assist us with assessing applications, including background checks, on our behalf. Accordingly, by applying for this role and providing your personal information to WiseTech Global, you consent to WiseTech Global providing this information to our external service providers who are required to treat such information with strict confidentiality in line with privacy and data protection laws and regulations.

立即申请