Experienced Engineering Leader

Job description

Role Overview At Ascendion, we don't just design interfaces; we architect experiences that drive measurable business outcomes. Our work is grounded in strategy, shaped by deep user insight, and delivered with world-class craft. We're looking for a seasoned UX Leader to lead our India UX practice. You'll step in as the senior-most design leader in-country, taking the helm of an established, growing team that's ready for its next chapter and shaping India into a flagship delivery and talent hub for the global practice. Your mission: lead a practice that clients trust, that UX practitioners are proud to be part of, and that consistently delivers transformative outcomes with you as its clear point of accountability. What You'll Do Lead the India Practice • Serve as the senior design leader and point of accountability for UX across India, design quality, delivery, and client relationships. • Strengthen Ascendion's reputation as a design leader in the India market. • Represent India in global leadership discussions, keeping local execution aligned with global standards, tools, and the Playbook. • Partner with Consulting Ops to shape how India engagements are staffed and resourced and own the quality and delivery of the work itself. Grow Client Partnerships • Act as senior design partner on key India accounts, sustaining trust and alignment through direct involvement. • Lead pitches, proposals, and presentations for India-based and India-delivered engagements, linking design outcomes to business value. • Partner with Sales and Strategy, locally and globally to shape opportunities and grow accounts through design excellence. • Be the face of Ascendion design to India clients and prospects. Elevate Design Excellence • Set and uphold the quality bar, staying close to the craft, directing the work, and stepping into it yourself when the moment calls for it. • Embed the Playbook across engagements, so every project follows a structured, pragmatic process. • Partner with Research, Strategy, and Engineering across geographies to align user insight with execution. • Champion design reviews, critique rituals, and quality benchmarks across every team. Empower the Team • Lead, mentor, and grow UX practitioners across every level and discipline. • Define career paths, performance standards, and growth opportunities tuned to the India talent market. • Attract, onboard, and retain top design talent while developing the next generation of design leaders. • Foster a culture of excellence, ownership, and continuous learning. Evolve the Practice • Continuously sharpen the function with best practices, tools, and delivery systems informed by and feeding back into the global practice. • Advocate for process improvement and knowledge sharing between India and other Geos. • Leverage AI to enhance the creativity, efficiency, and quality of design outcomes across the practice. What You Bring • 20+ years in UX, including 10+ years leading cross-functional design teams while staying hands-on in design and strategy. • A track record of elevating an existing team, raising quality, consistency, and delivery excellence, not just maintaining them. • Comfort operating as a player-coach: leading and directing and stepping into the work yourself when it matters. • Strong facilitation and storytelling skills, able to align diverse stakeholders, from global leadership to India-based clients, and influence executive decisions. • Confidence navigating ambiguity and driving clarity in complex, multi-stakeholder, multi-geography environments. • Excellent communication and relationship-management skills, with a consultative, client-first mindset. • A portfolio or case studies showing how your leadership shaped experiences, grew teams, and delivered tangible business outcomes. You'll Stand Out If You Have • Experience scaling a design practice or team in India for a global or multinational organization. • Experience leading design engagements for complex enterprise or B2B software. • Proven expertise in proposal ownership, client relationship management, and account growth. • Familiarity with design operations, metrics, and delivery-efficiency systems. • Knowledge of AI-assisted design tools and data-informed design workflows. • An existing network within the India design talent and client ecosystem.