It is natural to not have an immediate grasp of what is expected of a UX designer at the different job levels. It’s perfectly acceptable to have questions or uncertainties about what is expected in order to navigate your career path successfully. Seeking clarity and guidance regarding these expectations is a proactive approach towards staying on the right track in your professional journey.
In this blog post, we will explore what is expected of a UX designer at various stages of their career spanning from junior UX designer to mid-level UX designer to senior UX designer respectively. When you understand UX design levels you will easily identify suitable job opportunities that align with your skill set and professional experience.
In this article
What are the responsibilities of a UX designer?
In general, the primary responsibilities of a UX designer encompass conducting usability tests, gathering and analyzing data, and performing A/B tests to ensure that users have the best possible experience when engaging with a product or service.
Basic Skill Requirements
While acknowledging the significance of other UX design skills, it is important to highlight the essential skills expected of a UX designer, which include:
Problem solving ability
Possessing strong problem solving skills is expected of UX designers. Your ability to effectively solve problems will set you apart during your interview and in the job. Recruiters want to know how you can take a requirement and turn that into a solution, and a solution that makes sense. Now this does not refer to designing the solution. It is your ability to articulate your approach to a problem and presenting tangible solutions that demonstrates your competence.
Interaction design skills
Interaction design skill is also expected of a UX designer. It is the ability to empathize with the user, perceive the problem from the user’s perspective and emotional state, and navigate smoothly from one point to another within the product. By anticipating and addressing potential challenges or issues users may encounter while using the product, this skill facilitates the creation of seamless user experiences that enable them to achieve their goals effortlessly.
Research skills
When newbie UX designers hear the ability to conduct research is expected of a UX designer, long hours and days of research first comes to mind. A research process can be as simple as interviewing a user or casually asking a user if they would feel better or find it helpful if a certain feature was added to a product. Possessing research skills is crucial as it constitutes a significant portion (80%) of the journey towards finding solutions and comprehending human behavior and emotions. These skills encompass the ability to conduct studies, analyze data, and extract valuable insights from the collected information.
What is expected of a UX designer at different Job positions
Junior designer
The junior UX designer role is usually the entry level role. At this level, there is not so much expected of junior UX designers, however, you are expected to get directions from senior UX designers, work closely with them and other members in your team to enhance the overall user experience of products and services.
As a junior UX designer, your understanding of design systems and design tools is as important as your ability to learn fast and collaborate with team members. A junior UX designer can only own lower complexity projects, has limited access to stakeholders and only get and utilize design feedback.
Junior UX designers can level up to mid-level UX designer with these skills
- Advanced user research skills: To Level up in your UX career, you must be adept in conducting more complex user research studies, such as A/B testing and usability testing.
- Advanced wireframing and prototyping skills: Junior UX designers can level up to mid-level when they can create more realistic user flows and simulate user interactions with wireframes and prototypes.
- Advanced visual design skills: As a mid-level UX designer creating user interfaces that are more visually appealing and user-friendly is essential.
- More experience with design tools: Mid-level UX should know how to use more of Sketch’s and Figma’s advanced design functionalities.
- More experience working with cross-functional teams: UX designers can level up to mid-level designers by collaborating effectively with product managers, developers and engineers. Active communication should be prioritized as well as resolving conflicts constructively, collaborating empathetically and willingness to share acquired knowledge.
Mid-level designer
Mid-level UX designers are entrusted with more responsibilities than Junior UX designers because you are more fluent with the UX process. As a mid-level UX designer, you will be involved with the entire design process, will work with cross-functional teams more and be responsible for leading and mentoring junior designers.
A mid-level UX designer can own designs for small medium sized projects, influence a few key performance indicators and articulate design decisions.
Mid-level UX designers can level up to Senior-level UX designer with these skills
- Strategic thinking: As a product/design owner, Senior UX designers are expected to think strategically about the user experience. Understanding the goal a business wants to achieve with its product or service is a must to efficiently design user experiences that support those goals.
- Leadership: Senior UX designers are expected to lead and mentor junior designers. This means you should be great at effectively communicating and providing feedback that will help junior UX designers get better at their jobs.
- Technical expertise: To qualify as a senior UX designer, the technical aspects of user experience design is essential. Deep understanding of design tool, implementing user interfaces and effectively collaborating with developers is a must.
- Business acumen: Senior UX designers have a good understanding of the business side of things. They understand the importance and process involved in marketing products and services, and how user experience can impact the bottom line.
- Communication skills: For senior UX designers, it is crucial to possess strong communication skills that enable effective interaction with both technical and non-technical individuals. To efficiently communicate with non-technical individuals, you should be able to articulate complex ideas in a clear and succinct manner.
Senior+ level designer
A senior+ level designer could be a senior-level designer, team/client project lead or principal designer. Although these positions may be specific in larger companies, whatever the position is, senior-level designers are usually tasked with managing a team of designers, including setting team goals and assigning tasks, having a deep understanding of technical aspects of user experience design, and overseeing the user experience design of a product or service. Senior level designers work one on one with product managers, developers and other stakeholders to ensure user experiences are well implemented.
A senior+ UX designer can own and influence key metrics, combine various inputs and feedback from stakeholders to create a unified approach, has a high level of expertise in UX process and design tools and lead projects from beginning to the end. A senior UX designer is expected to have a strong portfolio of work that showcases their abilities and skills.
Does your career come to an end when you reach the position of Principal UX designer?
No it does not. To stay relevant in the profession, senior designers will need to continue to upskill and stay up to date with the latest industry trends and innovations.
Other ways to remain relevant in the ever changing field of UX design
- Staying connected with and giving back to the ux community: The best way to do this is becoming a mentor to junior UX designers or getting involved with open source projects. This way, you will not only stay connected with the UX community, you will also stay updated with the latest trends and innovations in the UX design industry.
- Becoming a thought leader in UX design: You can become a thought leader by writing articles and participating in online forums and talks relevant to user experience design.
That wraps it up
As you advance in your UX design career, you will encounter varying requirements and expectation at each level of your journey. Do your best to upskill, put in your best work and stay updated with what is expected of a UX designer.
If you’re starting a career in UX design, here’s an important insight: the actual job of a UX designer is much easier compared to the interview process. Once you succeed in navigating the interview stage, you can embark on an exciting journey in your UX career.
If you have not read our blog post on ways to level up your UX design career, now would be a good time to.
