Design CoE Lead

Line of Service

Internal Firm Services

Not Applicable

IFS - Information Technology (IT)

Senior Manager

At PwC, reporting to the Products & Experiences (P&E) Leader, the Experience Design CoE Lead is responsible for leading the Service Design, User Experience, User Experience Research, User Interface and Visual Design functions within PwC Canada’s Design Center of Excellence (CoE). This role is accountable not only for the overall quality and impact of design delivery, but for evolving how design is practiced, enabled, and scaled across PwC Canada to meet the changing needs of the firm, its clients, and its technology landscape.

A core focus of the role is redefining the relationship between design and its clients while modernizing the CoE’s practices and operating model. The Experience Design CoE Lead is accountable for transforming the CoE into a deeply client‑centric, advisory‑led organization, where design professionals are trusted partners with a strong understanding of customer needs, business context, and delivery constraints. This includes driving the adoption of new design approaches, methodologies, and technologies — including generative AI for the purpose of Rapid Prototyping — to improve insight generation, accelerate delivery, and increase the strategic value design brings to product and technology initiatives.

The role ensures design talent is embedded and aligned effectively with product, engineering, and other P&T counterparts, enabling design to influence decisions earlier and more meaningfully across the lifecycle of work.

As a people and practice leader, the Experience Design CoE Lead builds a culture that balances innovation with accountability. This includes setting clear expectations for craft excellence, technical capability, and client impact; continuously evolving skills, roles, and ways of working to support the future of design; and having direct, constructive conversations where performance or capability gaps exist. Success in this role is defined by measurable shifts in how design is practiced, experienced, and consumed across PwC Canada — from a primarily delivery‑oriented function to a modern, technology‑enabled, strategic partner that drives meaningful business value.

As an Experience Design CoE Lead at the Senior Manager level, you’ll work as part of a team of problem solvers, helping to solve business issues, deliver high quality client service and operational efficiency. Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Lead the transformation of the Experience Design COE by redefining its role, operating model, and value proposition to support a more client‑centric, advisory‑driven, and outcomes‑focused design capability within P&T.
• Drive the evolution of design practices, methodologies, and ways of working, ensuring the COE adopts modern, fit‑for‑purpose approaches that improve speed, quality, and alignment with product and technology delivery.
• Enable Design‑to‑code delivery with a focus on rapid prototyping for quickly creating and testing interactive designs to get feedback early and often.
• Provide strategic oversight for delivering high‑quality, customer‑centric design solutions across the Experience Design COE, ensuring consistency, rigor, and measurable impact.
• Ensure design outcomes are grounded in deep user and client insight, informed by research, and aligned to clear success metrics and business objectives.
• Establish and uphold standards for experience quality, usability, accessibility, and coherence across interfaces, journeys, touchpoints, and services.
• Oversee research, testing, and validation practices to inform decisions, reduce delivery risk, and drive evidence‑based improvement.
• Govern the evolution and use of shared assets such as design systems, patterns, and guidelines, balancing brand alignment with delivery flexibility.
• Enable seamless collaboration between design, product, engineering, and delivery teams to ensure design intent is feasible and realized end‑to‑end.
• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary design team, setting clear expectations, coaching…