Product Design Manager

C2’s client, a mission-driven organization that provides marketing, operations, and customer experience support for a national industry association. Known for its fast-paced, purpose-driven, and genuinely engaging culture, the organization has been recognized as #25 on The Wall Street Journal list, featured in Newsweek (2023 & 2024), and named to the Inc. 5000 for 14 consecutive years.

Most importantly, the work here has a real impact. They help Americans protect themselves, their families, and their freedoms every day.

They seek a strategic and hands-on Product Design Manager to lead and grow a high-impact product design function. This role is ideal for a player-coach who thrives at the intersection of user experience, product strategy, and team development. The ideal candidate brings strong product design expertise, leadership experience, and a passion for building scalable design practices within a collaborative product environment.

The ideal candidate aligns philosophically with the organizations' missions. This role works closely with partners like gun manufacturers and shooting ranges, and supports members through targeted campaign outreach and community building. Candidates who are personally comfortable with and supportive of responsible firearm ownership will thrive in this role.

Start Date: ASAP

Duration: Direct Hire

Location: West Bend, WI (Hybrid: 3 days onsite)

Compensation: $127,000 to $133,000 base salary plus bonus eligibility

Benefits: 23 days PTO + 8 company holidays + volunteer day. Robust Insurance Coverage Options: Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA, FSA, Life Insurance, Short- & Long-Term Disability.

Technology: TBD

Job Description

The Product Design Manager will lead and shape a growing product design function during a pivotal stage of the organization’s evolution. This role combines leadership and hands-on execution, requiring a balance of strategic thinking, team development, and direct design contribution.

You will establish and scale product design practices that support a discovery-led, outcome-driven product operating model. Working closely with product managers, engineers, and business stakeholders, you will help define product direction, improve workflows, and ensure every initiative is grounded in validated user insights and delivered through intuitive, high-impact experiences.

This role also plays a key part in mentoring designers, defining quality standards, and strengthening collaboration across Product, Engineering, and Creative teams. Success in this position requires strong experience in user-centered design, a deep understanding of modern product design workflows, and the ability to influence both design execution and product strategy.

Responsibilities:

Product Design Leadership

• Lead and develop the Product Design shared services team, including Product Designers and collaboration with the UX Strategist
• Establish and evolve product design practices that support the organization’s outcome-based product operating model
• Contribute to the product design strategy, ensuring design priorities align with product and organizational goals
• Mentor and coach product designers in discovery practices, interaction design, product thinking, and stakeholder collaboration
• Define design quality standards, review work, and provide guidance to ensure consistency and usability across product experiences
• Define and track experience quality metrics such as usability, task success, and customer feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of product design decisions

Embedded Product Team Collaboration

• Embed product designers within product teams to support initiatives across customer-facing, partner-facing, and internal employee platforms
• Partner with Product Managers to shape product discovery, problem framing, and feature definition
• Collaborate closely with engineers to ensure experience design aligns with technical feasibility and product architecture
• Support product teams in translating user needs and business goals into clear interaction models and user flows

Hands-on Design Contribution

• Lead and contribute to discovery activities such as user interviews , journey mapping, usability testing, and experience definition
• Create and guide development of wireframes, experience flows, prototypes, and interaction models
• Ensure product designs leverage the organization’s Figma design system and established UI standards
• When new experience patterns are required, collaborate with the Creative team to transition designs into high-fidelity UI before engineering handoff

Design Systems and Cross-Team Collaboration

• Partner with the Marketing Creative team to align product experiences with brand and design system standards
• Contribute to governance and adoption of the Figma design system across product teams
• Improve collaboration and handoff processes between Product Design, Creative, Product Management, and Engineering

Product Operating Model & Process Development

• Help embed discovery-led product development practices into the organization’s product lifecycle
• Partner with Product Managers and the Product Delivery team to ensure product work begins with clear user insight and experience alignment
• Contribute to improving product team workflows, reducing experience rework, and increasing design clarity early in initiatives

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Design, Human Factors, Psychology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• Philosophical alignment with the organizations' missions and target audience; comfort working with partners like gun manufacturers and shooting ranges
• 6+ years of experience in UX/UI design, information architecture & usability research
• 2+ years of experience managing designers in a product environment
• Demonstrated work experience in product operating models or cross-functional product teams
• Strong expertise in Figma and modern product design workflows
• Proven ability to lead discovery and experience design including journey mapping, user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes
• Experience partnering with business stakeholders to shape product solutions
• Strong understanding of user-centered design principles, usability practices, and interaction design patterns
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills with the ability to present design concepts and influence stakeholders
• Ability to operate as a player-coach, balancing hands-on design contribution with team leadership responsibilities
• Portfolio demonstrating shipped product experiences and design problem-solving approaches
• Familiarity with Agile product development environments and cross-functional product team collaboration
• Experience scaling or improving design practices, processes, or team collaboration is a plus

Not your type of gig, but know someone who would be interested? Refer a qualified candidate, and if they get the job, you get a signing bonus! (Make sure they mention your name as their referral source so you get your well-deserved credit!)

All candidates must be located and authorized to work in the United States. C2 does not sponsor work visas. No C2C.