Design Lead

Modern Life

Apply to this job
New York, NY (4 days/week in office) on site Until 8/23/2026 6+ years exp H-1B sponsor history First posted May 22, 2026 Last posted May 22, 2026
Job description

Join our team and accelerate your career.

Life insurance is a complex and consequential purchase that impacts hundreds of millions of Americans. With our powerful and integrated digital tools, expert support, and leading insurance products, we empower advisors to better serve their clients, grow their businesses, and bring the future of the industry to life.

We are a high-growth, AI-driven brokerage backed by $35M from top-tier investors, including Thrive Capital (major investors in OpenAI, SpaceX, Stripe, Instagram, Spotify, and Slack), New York Life, and Northwestern Mutual.

Join a passionate team of product-minded technologists and insurance professionals who are at the leading edge of a massive industry. Make a tangible difference in people's lives and help deliver our mission to help everyone protect what matters most through advanced technology and tailored advice.

This is a senior individual contributor role with leadership scope. Depending on the person, the role can grow into a design leader over time or work in support of design leadership as we scale the team.

What You'll Do:

  • Drive design and user experience across Modern Life’s product and brand presence
  • Define, launch and iterate solutions that are clear, usable, and elegant
  • Translate complexity into clarity in everything you touch, from research to pixels
  • Push the bleeding edge of your approach and tools as AI capabilities continue to evolve
  • Collaborate closely with cross-functional team from early concept through execution
  • Direct and get the most out of work from other designers where needed, including external design freelancers — scoping, briefing, reviewing, and shipping

Your Impact:

  • Enable our customers—life insurance advisors—to serve their clients more easily by delivering user experiences which improve the process of buying and selling insurance
  • Influence product and company direction by driving design decisions that align user needs with business priorities, working closely with a tight-knit, fast-moving cross-functional team
  • Raise the quality bar through thoughtful critique, high standards, and attention to detail across product, brand, and marketing touchpoints
  • Contribute to building a culture of customer-centricism across the organization which results in consistently high customer satisfaction rates
  • Continue to develop the design practice and approach in a scalable way

About You:

  • 6+ years of experience in digital product design, ideally including time on an in-house team
  • A portfolio showing your ability to define, execute and iterate impactful design solutions
  • Curiosity and experimentation mindset; actively exploring how new tools can help your work
  • Driven by tenacious problem-solving, deliver viable, desirable, feasible solutions
  • Leadership experience or clear leadership aptitude; comfortable directing the work of other designers (including freelancers) and giving them what they need to be productive
  • Systems thinker comfortable applying a defined system and seizing opportunities to evolve it
  • Experience working with a refined brand; able to execute with visual finesse, uphold guidelines and apply good taste to design solutions
  • Highly collaborative work style with stakeholders and peers
  • Driven to build life insurance domain expertise through self-study, user research, pairing with internal subject matter experts
  • Based in NYC and open to working from our SoHo office - in person 4 days a week

Bonus Points:

  • You have experience and interest in working with complex B2B workflows and systems
  • You are familiar with Service Design methods; experience working cross-channel
  • You have formally managed or mentored other designers, or led freelance/agency partners

Compensation (from employer):
180000–220000 USD per year

About this role

Summary

Lead design efforts for insurance products, collaborating across teams, guiding other designers, and enhancing user experience.

Job title

Design Lead

Experience level

6+ years

Minimum experience

6+ years exp

Industry

insurance

Location requirements

NYC-based, 4 days/week in office, remote work allowed

Salary

$180k–$220k

Visa sponsorship

H-1B sponsor history

Management role

Yes

Skills & keywords

Required skills

digital product designportfoliodesign systemscollaborationvisual finesse

Preferred skills

service designcross-channel experiencementoring

Specializations

digital product designuser experiencebrandingAI tools
Locations

Structured locations inferred from the posting.

New York, NY, USA

Hybrid City