First-Ever Career Path for Fidelity Investment’s 250+ Designers, 30+ Managers, & 30+ Developers
Clarified roles, skills, & impact to improve org talent alignment & individual growth
Screen capture of Mural working document for initial strategy and planning. Video edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Summary of Project & My Role
We were given 100 days by our new Head of UX Design to partner with HR and create career path guidance for 250+ Designers, 30+ Managers, and 30+ UX Developers to support a firm-wide effort to reduce attrition, analyze skill gaps within existing teams, and enable more meaningful career and performance conversations.
We quickly set a strategy, delegated, and began working on problem definition and discovery in dual tracks, with one team focusing on competitive/industry research and the other gathering qualitative and quantitative data from stakeholders and users.
I facilitated discussions with the working team, created Mural boards of our competitive research and empathy interviews, conducted competitive research, gave input on skills and scope for each role, and created this final guide document.
However, the most impactful contribution I made was in change management. Besides successful quantitative measures, it was personally fulfilling to get feedback from designers and managers of all levels that they felt heard, were confident that Fidelity cared about them and their careers, and that they felt they had more control over their careers. These sentiments were a stark reversal of the sentiments we gathered at the beginning of this project, and it felt great to have such a positive impact in such a short amount of time.
Skills
Lean UX, Visioning, Strategy, Change Management, Project Management, Industry & Competitive Research, Piloting, UX & UI Design, Inclusive Design, Accessibility, Writing & Editing, Usability Testing, Skills-Based Talent Development
Tools
Mural, Qualtrics, Figma, Grammarly, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Microsoft Teams, Powerpoint, Yammer
Lean UX Canvas in Mural to set strategy for the team quickly and ensure we were on the same page before swarming to accomplish this within the 100 days that we were given.
Designer IC Track at a Glance shows entire track from Associate UX Designer to VP, UX Design and gives details about the focus of work and what is expected at each level regarding leadership, complexity, impact, scope of influence, relationships, and skills. Designed in Figma
Problems We Aimed to Solve
Lack of consistent career guidance: The absence of clear career guidance led to dissatisfaction and impacted overall morale
Outdated roles and responsibilities: Role descriptions used by HR and recruiting had not been reviewed in over seven years, causing challenges in recruiting qualified candidates and hindering effective performance reviews
Difficulties with employee retention: Research indicated that the lack of clear career guidance was a significant contributor to employee dissatisfaction and attrition, far surpassing concerns related to pay or benefits
Screencast of navigating the UXD Hive to the UXD Career Paths Guidebook, then walking through the Guidebook itself.
Solution & Impact
Comprehensive career paths: Outlined career paths for individual contributor designers (from associate through VP) and design managers (from Director through Executive VP)
Clear expectations: Provided detailed value propositions, scope of influence, major activities, and required skills at each level
Alignment with enterprise talent strategy: Populated the Fuel50 career development tool with relevant skills and expectations for each role within the design org to align to an executive mandate of improving mobility to optimize talent retention and reduce costs
—which resulted in—
Dramatic NPS surge: Net Promoter Score (NPS) of the design organization witnessed a significant improvement, indicating elevated employee satisfaction and engagement
Enhanced management insights: design managers could assess skill gaps within their teams, aiding in informed alignment decisions and strategic hiring choices
Transparent career advancement: designers reported a perception of increased transparency and fairness in promotion and pay decisions, fostering a positive and trusting work environment
Strategic skill development: Aligned skill-building initiatives for the design org with enterprise-wide skill priorities, including AI/ML, cybersecurity, and cryptocurrency, ensuring a strategic alignment with broader company goals