Description
Lordstown Motors Corporation seeks to eliminate inefficiencies that exist in modern work by creating electric vehicles that radically improve the way work gets done. Cost effective for fleets, safer, and designed to be more productive than traditional commercial vehicles, Lordstown pickup trucks and fleet vehicles are built to fix challenges that limit modern work. With a focus on Integrity, Discipline, Collaboration, and Design & Innovation, we are working to design and build the work vehicles of the future. Join us to make a difference!
Culture – as a Startup, we are looking for Leaders that want to create an organization and structure where you can make an impact, have your voice heard, ambitious to step up to dynamic challenges and be accountable, like everyone else in the company, for your results.
The Director for Design, User Experience (UX), and Human Machine Interface (HMI) will be responsible for ensuring all aspects of Lordstown Motors products meet the needs of the customer and support manufacturability and serviceability for commercial fleet vehicles now and in the future. Design includes exterior and interior design, user interfaces with switches, screens, and other contact points with an affinity for a human experience that is thoughtful and efficient. This director will be responsible for working with an external design partner to create the aesthetics and useability of our commercial fleet EVs.
This role is a trusted advisor to senior leadership and will focus on design strategy, execution, operational efficiency, and organizational alignment. This includes managing and driving the design process to ensure data-informed decision making, coordinated end-to-end execution, and visibility to key initiatives within the team all while incorporating the Lordstown Motors values and culture. Candidates need to demonstrate a successful history of pragmatic innovation, building alignment, driving team collaboration and unification efforts across different business units, developing design strategy and realization plans, and supporting LMC team development.
Responsibilities
- Working in conjunction with a design partner, and leveraging Design Thinking, to create and deliver the vision for future LMC EVs, from concept to production. With the first 90-days focused on the draft layouts of vehicle concepts, components, assemblies, and systems using sketches, models, and prototypes to drive product direction.
- Partner with the strategy and research teams to influence research questions and direction that will inform the EV product roadmap and connect the dots between experience research, market research, data insights, and business metrics.
- Working with the program chief engineers and engineering leadership to develop innovative and world-class designs for commercial fleet EVs that fit consumers needs and reflect the LMC image and values.
- Build the team responsible for vehicle design, HMI and User Experience.
- Take a big-picture perspective on customer needs and future transportation and create provocative concepts and designs
- Maintain knowledge of current design trends and technology. Present ideas frequently to management and leadership to communicate design ideas.
- Determine factors that may affect design proposals by using previous car models, understanding manufacturing limitations and collaborating with automotive engineers
- Ensure the user experiences is prioritized, with frequent interfaces with the customer to ensure alignment and usability
- Responsible for leading and coordinating the HMI Strategy of LMC vehicles. Given technology is a necessary part of the progression of vehicles, the director of design will be responsible for ensuring the HMI is defined and delivered for efficient and smart interactions to the vehicle.
- Shape human-centered design processes at the organization level to influence strategic directions and to support the organization in understanding, valuing and applying customer-centric design thinking
- Develop a design vision and language to create delightful, powerful transformative vehicle experiences.
- Collaborate with your peers in Product Management, Engineering, and other cross-functional partners to define strategies that help our customers get the most value and best experience.
- Balance forward-looking work and a high bar for quality with a bias to action and a desire to bring value to customers early and often.
- Lead workshops and other creative ideation sessions that help teams quickly understand the problem, opportunity, tradeoffs, and converge towards ways we might solve customer problems and create value.
- Contribute to the LMC team culture as the key leader in Design across the company.
Requirements
- 12 years of professional Vehicle Design (Exterior and Interior, HMI, User Experience)
- Bachelor’s Degree in design (preferably vehicle design) or related field
- Experience leading product strategy for passenger and light-duty truck EV products
- Experience designing multi-program platform products
- Experience driving large-scale design unification efforts across multiple verticals, major feature areas, or products
- Up-to-date expertise in human-centered design best practices, user research, design systems, and content strategy
- Hands-on experience with Design Thinking framework and principles
- Ability to function independently and in a team environment, with excellent collaboration skills
- Ability to set priorities and evangelize a shared plan with a wide range of audiences at all levels of the organization, including senior executives
- Excellent communication and presentation skills; both written and verbal
- Able to take a flexible approach to working with others across an enterprise, with a demonstrated ability through ambiguity
- Able to accept risk and work within current constraints, evolve core processes, and invent new ways of working.
Lordstown Motors provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.