Associate Director of Product Design

Job Description

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE BOARD

The Campaign Finance Board is a nonpartisan, independent city agency that empowers New Yorkers to have a greater impact on their elections. Our mission is to make local democracy more open, transparent, and equitable by removing barriers to participation.

We make it easier for New Yorkers to vote, meaningfully support candidates for city office, and run for office themselves. NYC Votes, our voter engagement initiative, meets people where they are to share trustworthy election information and help New Yorkers make a plan to vote. We publish the citywide Voter Guide, which delivers information about candidates directly to voters’ doors. Our public matching funds program ensures small contributions can make a big difference, allowing regular people to run for office by relying on the support of other regular people, not just wealthy donors and special interests. And we lift the veil on how candidates raise and spend money, increasing transparency and accountability in local government.

We believe that when every New Yorker is empowered to participate meaningfully in elections, candidates will better reflect the communities they serve, elected leaders will be more accountable to the public, and New Yorkers will have a democracy they can truly trust.

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The Strategy, Products, and Innovation division is the agency’s newest division and leads the strategic planning and policy work, working across the agency to test out and implement new ideas. This division also creates and actions on the agency’s product roadmap to take us into future elections while maintaining and improving existing systems. The new Product Strategy vertical will be responsible for creating the overall roadmap for tech modernization and process improvements; prioritize tech projects to pursue, and liaise between technical engineers and subject matter experts; and align tech projects with the agency’s strategic plan and objectives. Plans for this vertical include building new teams for product management as well as user experience and service design, as well as some reorganization of existing PMO functions.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Associate Director of Product Design is a senior design leader responsible for driving the execution of user-centered design across digital products and public-facing services. Reporting to the Senior Director of Product, this role translates high-level design vision into actionable product experiences that improve service delivery, accessibility, and trust in government. The Associate Director of Product Design plays a critical role in embedding human-centered design practices into cross-functional teams, ensuring that policy-driven requirements are transformed into intuitive, equitable, and accessible digital experiences. This leader balances strategy and hands-on design oversight, mentoring designers while partnering closely with product and engineering leadership.

Unlike private sector roles focused on revenue or growth metrics, success in this role is measured by usability, accessibility, adoption, clarity, and public value.

This position will require the selected candidate to obtain NYC residency within 90 days of starting their job and be in-person in the CFB Manhattan office a minimum of 1 day a week.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

- Lead end-to-end product design efforts for key digital services and platforms.

- Translate policy, operational, and regulatory requirements into simple, intuitive user experiences.

- Ensure consistent application of design standards, accessibility requirements, and inclusive design principles.

- Oversee user flows, interaction models, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity design outputs.

- Champion user research practices including interviews, usability testing, journey mapping, and accessibility testing.

- Ensure all digital products meet accessibility standards (Section 508, WCAG).

- Embed inclusive design practices that account for language access, digital literacy, disability access, and device constraints.

- Promote scalable, modular design practices across products.

- Serve as an advocate for human-centered design within the agency, helping non-design teams understand and adopt iterative, user-focused workflows.

- Mentor and coach mid-level and senior designers, providing feedback and growth opportunities while supporting hiring efforts to build a diverse, high-performing design team.

- Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and mission-driven team culture.

Requirements:

- 5+ years of experience in product design, UX/UI, or service design.

- 5+ years of experience designing complex digital services that serv