Senior UX Designer

About the Role

Stuff connects with over two million New Zealanders monthly through its digital platform. Each story read and interaction represents an opportunity to deliver an outstanding user experience. We seek a Senior UX Designer passionate about resolving intricate product challenges, shaping strategic choices, and crafting experiences accessed daily by millions.

This position transcends typical design roles; it offers a chance to influence the future of New Zealand's premier digital news outlet. It involves integrating audience insights, personalisation, AI, and emerging tech to produce smarter, simpler, and more valuable digital experiences.

Collaborating with senior product leaders, engineers, editorial teams, and commercial stakeholders, you'll guide product strategy from initial discovery to final delivery. You will bring curiosity, expert design judgment, and keen understanding of human behavior, balancing user needs with business objectives and technical feasibility.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead discovery phases to identify user behaviors, needs, and growth opportunities.
• Convert research and data into decisive product directions and engaging user experiences.
• Design seamless, accessible interfaces across web, mobile, and new digital platforms.
• Develop user journeys, information architecture, wireframes, prototypes, and interaction flows that address genuine customer issues.
• Drive product strategies by promoting user-centered design principles and data-informed decisions.
• Work closely with engineering teams to guarantee high-quality implementation and iterative improvement.
• Advocate for accessibility, inclusive design, and evolution of design systems.
• Leverage AI-powered tools to speed up research, concept development, prototyping, and design optimization.
• Mentor and influence designers and cross-functional teams to embed excellent design practices organization-wide.

About This Opportunity

Stuff is revolutionising how New Zealanders engage with credible journalism by investing in modern digital products featuring AI enhancements, personalisation, and data-driven decisions to deliver superior audience experiences. This role offers the autonomy to mold products from inception to launch, influence strategic decisions, and help define New Zealand’s digital media future.

Candidate Profile

• Proven extensive expertise in UX, product design, or interaction design in complex digital environments.
• A compelling portfolio illustrating strategic design leadership and quantifiable impacts.
• Strong skills in user research, service design, usability evaluation, and customer-focused methodologies.
• Advanced proficiency with Figma and contemporary prototyping software.
• Experience applying customer insights, tests, and analytics to guide design choices.
• Thorough knowledge of accessibility standards, inclusive design principles, and scalable design systems.
• Ability to effectively communicate and influence senior stakeholders and diverse teams.
• Experienced in agile, cross-disciplinary product teams.
• Collaborative leadership approach with a passion for mentoring and elevating design expertise.

Additional Advantages

• Background in consumer-facing digital products on a large scale.
• Experience in media, publishing, subscription services, or content platforms.
• Familiarity with personalisation, recommendation engines, and AI-driven experiences.
• Exposure to experimentation, A/B testing, and optimisation processes.
• Proven ability to create products balancing user value and commercial goals.

Benefits

• Shape digital experiences reaching over two million New Zealanders each month.
• Significant opportunity to guide the future development of a top national digital brand.
• Engage with challenging design problems with real impact nationwide.
• Work in a highly collaborative environment spanning product, engineering, and editorial teams.
• Freedom to experiment with emerging technologies, AI tools, and design innovations.
• Continuous professional growth and increased influence prospects.
• Flexible working arrangements and strong focus on employee wellbeing.

Diversity and Inclusion

Stuff values diversity across gender, ethnicity, beliefs, abilities, and experiences, believing varied perspectives enrich learning and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive workplace reflecting the communities of New Zealand and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. Equal employment opportunity is fundamental to our hiring practices.