UX/UI Lead (Hands-On, Website Delivery Focus)
Location: Tokyo, Japan (Hybrid)
Department: Digital & Experience
Employment Type: Haken
Reports To: Head of Digital / Director, PMO & Digital (TBD)
Role Summary
We are seeking a hands-on UX/UI Lead who deeply understands the end‑to‑end delivery of website projects and is ready to grow into a formal team‑leadership role. You will spend the first 9 months internalizing UI work currently handled by vendors, establishing UX/UI standards and design systems, and building workflows that reduce overwork and protect project margins.
As these foundations stabilize, you will gradually take on line management responsibilities, building and leading a small team of UX/UI designers within the first year.
This role is ideal for a senior UX/UI designer who has led projects or mentored others informally and is now ready to step into a Lead position—while still remaining very hands‑on with design and delivery.
Key Responsibilities
1. Hands-On UX/UI Design (Core of the Role)
Design full website experiences: structures, flows, wireframes, high‑fidelity UI
Create user flows, IA drafts, wireframes, visual designs (Figma)
Produce developer‑ready handoffs: components, tokens, interaction states, annotations
Support implementation and answer developer questions
Conduct quick UX validations: heuristic reviews, stakeholder interviews, etc.
2. Website Delivery & Operational Excellence
Map and refine website delivery steps (brief → IA → wireframe → UI → handoff → QA → launch)
Clarify responsibilities across UX/UI, Creative, PM, Development
Identify scope risks caused by unclear requirements or last‑minute changes
Define “definition of done” for each UX/UI milestone
Participate in post‑mortems and propose fixes to reduce rework and overwork
3. UI Internalization & Design Standards (First 9 Months Priority)
Audit internal/vendor work to identify quality gaps and inefficiencies
Create and document UI standards (grid, type, tokens, spacing, motion, accessibility)
Build and own a Figma design system: components, templates, patterns
Define guidelines so vendors can follow the same standards
Develop UX/UI QA checklists (responsive behavior, interactions, content edge cases, accessibility basics)
4. Cross-Functional Collaboration
Partner with PMs, Developers, Producers, Creative, and Account teams
Ensure UX/UI solutions are feasible, correctly scoped, and commercially aligned
Collaborate with engineers to maintain design–code parity
Support new business by producing UX flows and pitch visuals
Help refine estimation templates and WBS items for UX/UI tasks
5. People Leadership (Months 6–12)
Mentor junior/mid-level designers: reviews, feedback, paired work
Help define skill matrices and growth paths
Take on 1–2 direct reports for formal line management (1:1s, goals, performance input)
Contribute to hiring and resource planning with focus on sustainable workload
6. Process, Governance & Continuous Improvement
Align UX/UI steps with company delivery gates: intake → design → build → QA → launch
Maintain templates, checklists, and playbooks
Track indicators (design defects, rework causes, unclear specs) to drive improvements
Pilot AI tools for layout checks, content fit, accessibility, or documentation automation
12‑Month Success Roadmap
0–3 Months
Deliver key website projects hands‑on
Document real workflows and identify pain points
Introduce basic UI standards and handoff/QA checklists
3–9 Months
Launch design system and show measurable reduction in rework
Internalize a significant portion of UI work currently outsourced
Improve workload balance and prevent UX/UI‑related overrun
9–12 Months
Take formal line management of 1–2 designers
Demonstrate ability to support multiple concurrent website streams
Present a Year 2 plan (team structure, internalization roadmap, advanced UX capabilities)
Qualifications & Experience
Must-Have
6+ years in UX/UI or product/digital design
Strong experience delivering full website projects end‑to‑end
Deep understanding of the website production lifecycle and business implications
Expert Figma skills (components, variants, auto‑layout, libraries)
Working knowledge of front‑end technologies (HTML/CSS, tokens, responsive behavior)
Experience building or maintaining design systems
Proven collaboration with PMs and engineers to reduce rework and improve scoping
Nice-to-Have
Experience internalizing vendor work and setting standards
Familiarity with CMS ecosystems (AEM, Sitecore, WordPress, headless CMS)
Exposure to analytics/optimization (GA4, Hotjar, A/B testing)
Experience with global brands or regulated industries (automotive, finance, etc.)
Language Requirements
Japanese: Business level (JLPT N2+ / able to understand requirements & feedback)
English: Business level (able to present and join global calls)
Mindset & Culture Fit
You enjoy hands-on design—not just management
You think in processes and flows, not only screens
You care about workload health and operational discipline
You are comfortable pushing back constructively
You enjoy mentoring and developing others
You thrive in multicultural, bilingual environments