Are you looking to hire an Interim UX / User Experience Director or transition into the role yourself? These temporary but crucial positions ensure continuity in product design and development, driving innovation and seizing market opportunities. Whether you’re a client seeking talent or a professional exploring this sector, this guide covers key skills, responsibilities and contract considerations.
The Interim UX / User Experience Director usually reports into the CEO or Chief Product Officer, depending on the business type or structure. They are directly responsible for overseeing the Head of User Experience (UX), as well as responsible for the output and performance of the User Experience team as a whole.
Interim User Experience Director / Interim UX Director roles
If you are looking for an Interim User Experience Director job role or would like to find out how to become an Interim UX Director, what skills you need, and what salaries are on offer, you will find a complete guide below.
If you’re an employer looking to recruit an Interim UX Director position, please see our product design and UX recruitment services, our interim recruitment services page or the full overview of our services to employers. If you need to hire and would like our services, contact us today.
What is an Interim UX Director?
An Interim UX Director is a senior-level role responsible for overseeing and leading the user experience design strategy and initiatives on a temporary basis, usually bridging the gap during a period of leadership transformation.
An Interim UX Director combines a deep understanding of user-design principles with strategic thinking and leadership skills to ensure that products and services meet the needs and expectations of users.
The primary role of an Interim UX Director is to define and execute the overall user experience vision and strategy, ensuring a consistent and seamless experience across various digital platforms and touchpoints.
Interim UX Director responsibilities
Strategic leadership: Defining the long-term vision and strategy for user experience design, aligning it with business objectives and goals. They establish design principles, guidelines, and best practices to guide the development of user-centred products and services.
Team management: Leading and managing a team of UX professionals, providing guidance, mentorship, and support. They ensure the team’s collaboration, growth, and adherence to design processes and methodologies.
User research and insights: Overseeing user research activities to gain a deep understanding of user needs, behaviours, and motivations. They utilize research findings to inform design decisions and validate design solutions.
UX design and prototyping: Providing expertise in user interface (UI) design, interaction design, and information architecture. They oversee the creation of wireframes, prototypes, and visual designs to communicate and test design concepts.
Stakeholder management: Collaborating with cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, and stakeholders, to ensure alignment and a shared understanding of user experience goals.
Usability testing and evaluation: Developing and implementing usability testing strategies to validate design decisions and uncover areas for improvement. They analyse user feedback and metrics to drive continuous improvement in the user experience.
Industry awareness: Staying up to date with the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in user experience design. They provide thought leadership and guidance on emerging UX trends and innovations.
Interim UX Director day rate
In today’s market, a typical Interim Vice President Product Design’s day rate would be in the region of £700 – £900.
Interim UX Director job description
A typical Interim User Experience Director / Interim UX Director job description will read something like the one below:
Job title: Interim User Experience Director
Location: Remote or on-site
Duration: 3-12 months
The Interim UX Director will lead, develop and define the user experience strategy across various digital platforms. A key part of this role is to identify and understand the current and emerging customer behaviour and the latest in technology trends.
The Interim UX Director’s main responsibilities:
- Deliver innovative end-to-end user experiences that meet business objectives and consumer needs
- Contribute to early-stage discovery by understanding the problem, generating design principles, developing models and concepts to fit
- Own the overall UX vision including strategy, wire-frames and prototypes of all product lines
- Lead a team of internal product designers to success, including mentoring, coaching and all development needs
- Design all UX processes allowing the team to function at maximum efficiency and effectiveness
- Lead all consumer testing and experiments to inform and evaluate experiences
- Communicate design decisions, design changes and requirements through presentations and other documentation where required
- Manage and grow the UX team
To be successful in this Interim UX Director role, you will:
- Have 10+ years’ experience as a UX Designer
- Have at least 3 years’ previous experience in leading product design teams, with at least 3 team members
- Experience developing UX strategies across multiple product portfolios
- Experience designing complex, data-intensive applications
- An understanding of design, usability and research best practices
Interim UX Director CV: what are employers looking for?
Here are some examples of achievements that employers value and how they could be effectively displayed on a CV:
Successful UX strategy implementation
– Highlight specific instances where you formulated and executed UX strategies that positively impacted user satisfaction and business outcomes. For example:
“Led the implementation of a data-driven UX strategy resulting in a 30% increase in user engagement and a 20% decrease in customer support tickets.”
“Developed and executed a mobile-first design approach, resulting in a 25% improvement in mobile conversion rates and a 15% increase in app downloads.”
User experience metrics
– Showcase your ability to measure and optimize user experience metrics, such as conversion rates, bounce rates, or customer satisfaction scores. For instance:
“Optimised the onboarding process, reducing user drop-off rates by 40% and increasing user retention by 25% within three months.”
“Conducted usability tests and implemented iterative design improvements, resulting in a 15% increase in average session duration and a 20% decrease in user errors.”
Team leadership and mentorship
– Demonstrate your leadership skills by highlighting instances where you effectively led and mentored design teams, fostering their growth and delivering exceptional results. For example:
“Managed a team of five UX designers, fostering a collaborative environment and achieving a 30% improvement in team productivity and efficiency.”
“Mentored junior designers, providing guidance and support that resulted in their successful career advancements and contributions to award-winning projects.”
Successful product launches
– Showcase your ability to deliver successful user-centred products or features by highlighting their impact on user adoption, revenue, or market share. For instance:
“Led the design and launch of a new e-Commerce platform, resulting in a 20% increase in online sales and a 15% growth in customer acquisition within the first quarter.”
“Collaborated with cross-functional teams to launch a mobile app feature that received a 4.5-star user rating and was featured in top industry publications.”
User research and insights
– Emphasise your expertise in conducting user research and translating insights into actionable design decisions. For example:
“Led user research initiatives, including user interviews, surveys, and usability testing, resulting in the identification of key pain points and the successful redesign of the checkout process, leading to a 25% increase in conversions.”
“Implemented a user-centred design approach based on extensive user research, resulting in a 40% reduction in user errors and a 20% improvement in task completion rates.”
UX Interview questions
View our guide to User Experience interview questions, with 47 example questions that employers normally ask at interview.
Useful resources and tools
As an Interim UX Director, staying updated with the latest resources, tools, and software can greatly enhance your productivity and career development. Here are eight examples of valuable resources and tools that can assist you in your role:
Nielsen Norman Group – A leading authority on user experience research and design, providing extensive resources, articles, and training programs. Visit their website at https://www.nngroup.com/
InVision – A versatile prototyping and collaboration platform that allows UX Directors to create interactive mockups, gather feedback, and streamline the design process.
Miro – An online collaborative whiteboarding platform that facilitates visual thinking, ideation, and team collaboration.
Optimal Workshop – A suite of user research tools, including card sorting, tree testing, and usability testing, to assist UX Directors in conducting effective user research.
Whimsical – A collaborative wireframing and diagramming tool that allows UX Directors to quickly create user flows, wireframes, and mind maps.
UX Design Weekly – A curated newsletter that delivers a collection of valuable UX-related articles, resources, and design inspiration straight to your inbox every week.
DesignBetter.Co – A comprehensive platform offering design podcasts, books, and resources from industry experts, providing valuable insights for UX Directors.
What is the Difference Between an Interim and Fractional User Experience Director?
While both roles are temporary and bring senior-level design expertise, there are key differences:
- Interim User Experience Director: Works full-time and is deeply embedded in the company, overseeing design strategy, team leadership and execution for a defined period. They drive initiatives, align design with business goals and ensure seamless collaboration across teams.
- Fractional User Experience Director: Provides part-time support, often working with multiple companies simultaneously. They focus on high-level strategic guidance rather than day-to-day execution or management.
The right choice depends on your company’s needs. If your business requires hands-on, dedicated design leadership to manage teams, implement processes, and execute a design vision, an interim role is the better fit. For broader, advisory-level input without full-time commitment, a fractional role may be more suitable.
When to hire an Interim User Experience Director?
Here are some of the top scenarios where hiring an Interim UX / User Experience Director can be crucial:
Navigating a period of leadership transition, such as when a permanent User Experience Director is leaving or has already left.
Scaling up product efforts during times of rapid growth or major product launches.
Stabilising and aligning product teams in response to organisational restructuring or a strategic pivot.
Driving critical projects to meet market deadlines or seize strategic opportunities.
Managing complex product portfolios in times of high complexity, such as mergers or partnerships.
Interim User Experience Director FAQs
- How do I become an Interim User Experience Director?
- To be successful in this Interim UX Director role, you will normally require 10+ years’ experience as a UX Designer and have at least 3 years’ previous experience in leading product design teams.
- What is an Interim Director UX?
- An Interim UX Director temporarily oversees the user experience strategy and execution across products or services. They guide UX research, design processes and usability standards, ensuring the team delivers user-centred solutions while aligning with business goals during a transition or transformation phase.
- Why would a company need an interim UX director?
- Companies often bring in an interim UX director when there's a leadership gap, organisational restructuring or a high-stakes product initiative that requires senior UX oversight. It’s also common during periods of rapid scale, M&A activity, or while searching for a permanent UX leader.
- What’s the difference between an interim UX director and a permanent one?
- The interim role is focused on short-term impact, stability and momentum, often prioritising team support, delivery oversight and process tuning. A permanent UX Director typically invests more in long-term vision, team culture, hiring and organisational alignment.
- What skills are essential for an interim UX director?
- Key skills include cross-functional leadership, design thinking, UX research strategy, team mentoring, stakeholder alignment and the ability to drive clarity and quality under time constraints. Interim leaders must also ramp up quickly and thrive in ambiguity.
- How long does an interim UX director usually stay?
- Most interim engagements last 3 to 6 months, depending on the company’s needs. However, some may extend longer, especially if the interim leader is helping recruit and onboard their successor or supporting a critical launch.
