Experience Designer - Research Lead, Sr

Job Profile

Position Overview

At PNC, our people are our greatest differentiator and competitive advantage in the markets we serve. We are all united in delivering the best experience for our customers. We work together each day to foster an inclusive workplace culture where all of our employees feel respected, valued and have an opportunity to contribute to the company’s success. As an Experience Designer Lead Sr within PNC's Treasury Management - Digital organization, you will be based in Pittsburgh, PA or within the PNC footprint.
In this research focused role, we are looking for experience with:
1. Strategic Research & Facilitation Leadership
• Design Thinking Facilitation –framing and leading workshops that drive alignment, ideation, and customer-centered decision-making.
• Human-Centered Design –putting user needs at the core of solution-building.
• Journey Mapping / Service Blueprinting –able to visualize and communicate the end-to-end user experience in a way that aligns teams and identifies opportunities.
• Workshop Facilitation Expertise – deep experience designing and running collaborative sessions with stakeholders.
• Governance - works across the design team to codify and continuously improve design operations
2. Research Craft
• Mixed-Methods Research – comfortable across qualitative and quantitative methodologies, interviews, usability testing, surveys, A/B testing, readouts with large audiences, contextual inquiries.
• Insight Synthesis & Storytelling – distill findings into compelling insights and present them clearly up and down the org chart.
• Continuous Discovery – advocates for and implements ongoing research to inform product evolution and future phases.
• Evidence-Based Decision Making – Evangelizes user evidence as a key input into product and business strategy.
3. Operational & Team Management
• Design Ops / Intake Management –setting up and managing a structured intake process, prioritization of work, and resourcing processes across the design team.
• Contractor Oversight – Able to assess quality and fit, delegate effectively, and ensure consistent research standards.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship – ability to govern the work of a team, delegate effectively, ensure consistent standards across all researchers
• Capacity planning & resource allocation - works with leadership to track team bandwidth and balance workloads across researchers and UX/UI teams.
• Workflow Optimization - partners with team leads to improve and evolve systems and rituals to reduce friction and handshakes between research, design, product and dev teams.

Job Description

• Influences the process and transforms most complex tasks into intuitive, accessible and easy-to-use designs through the entire experience lifecycle, from the first-time user to the expert.
• Develops and recommends the discovery techniques of customer and business needs through contextual inquiries, and generative and quantitative research. Uncovers customer latent needs and creates vision to meet those needs.
• Drives and establishes the design direction and strategy. Leads others to execute visual, information, interaction and service design elements of the initiative that meets business and customer needs and delights customers. Communicates the initiative and product to others, including senior management, through user journeys, storyboards, prototypes, wireframes and other materials.
• Sets the direction for usability of new and existing products, makes adjustments to align with shifting customer expectations.
• Develops research methods and strategies, conduct studies, and present findings that will inform improvements in the customer experience.
• Coaches and mentors junior staff; Assists management team in training new staff.

PNC Employees take pride in our reputation and to continue building upon that we expect our employees to be:

• Customer Focused - Knowledgeable of the values and practices that align customer needs and satisfaction as primary considerations in all business decisions and able to leverage that information in creating customized customer solutions.
• Managing Risk - Assessing and effectively managing all of the risks associated with their business objectives and activities to ensure they adhere to and support PNC's Enterprise Risk Management Framework.

Qualifications

Successful candidates must demonstrate appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities for a role. Listed below are skills, competencies, work experience, education, and required certifications/licensures needed to be successful in this position.

Preferred SkillsAgile Web Development, Business Requirements Documentation (BRD), Digital User Experience, IT Architecture, JavaScript, Wireframing

CompetenciesBusiness Analytics, Creativity, Design Thinking, Effective Communications, Graphic Visualization, Group Facilitation, Product Development Life Cycle, Requirements Analysis, Solutions Development, User Experience Design, User Interface Design

Work ExperienceRoles at this level typically require a university / college degree. Higher level education such as a Masters degree, PhD, or certifications is desirable. Industry relevant experience is typically 8+ years. Specific certifications are often required. In lieu of a degree, a comparable combination of education, job specific certification(s), and experience (including military service) may be considered.

EducationBachelors

CertificationsNo Required Certification(s)

LicensesNo Required License(s)

Pay Transparency

Base Salary: $80,000.00 – $177,100.00

Salaries may vary based on geographic location, market data and on individual skills, experience, and education. This role is incentive eligible with the payment based upon company, business and/or individual performance.

Application Window

Generally, this opening is expected to be posted for two business days from 05/12/2025, although it may be longer with business discretion.

Benefits

PNC offers a comprehensive range of benefits to help meet your needs now and in the future. Depending on your eligibility, options for full-time employees include: medical/prescription drug coverage (with a Health Savings Account feature), dental and vision options; employee and spouse/child life insurance; short and long-term disability protection; 401(k) with PNC match, pension and stock purchase plans; dependent care reimbursement account; back-up child/elder care; adoption, surrogacy, and doula reimbursement; educational assistance, including select programs fully paid; a robust wellness program with financial incentives.

In addition, PNC generally provides the following paid time off, depending on your eligibility: maternity and/or parental leave; up to 11 paid holidays each year; 8 occasional absence days each year, unless otherwise required by law; between 15 to 25 vacation days each year, depending on career level; and years of service.

To learn more about these and other programs, including benefits for full time and part-time employees, visit Your PNC Total Rewards.

Disability Accommodations Statement

If an accommodation is required to participate in the application process, please contact us via email at [email protected]. Please include “accommodation request” in the subject line title and be sure to include your name, the job ID, and your preferred method of contact in the body of the email. Emails not related to accommodation requests will not receive responses.  Applicants may also call 877-968-7762 and say "Workday" for accommodation assistance. All information provided will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.

At PNC we foster an inclusive and accessible workplace.  We provide reasonable accommodations to employment applicants and qualified individuals with a disability who need an accommodation to perform the essential functions of their positions.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

PNC provides equal employment opportunity to qualified persons regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, or other categories protected by law.

This position is subject to the requirements of Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) and, for any registered role, the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE Act) and/or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which prohibit the hiring of individuals with certain criminal history.

California Residents

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