How to hire a senior user experience designer

How to hire a senior user experience designer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior user experience designer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior user experience designer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior user experience designer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior user experience designer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a senior user experience designer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A senior user experience designer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, senior user experience designers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of senior user experience designers.

   Type of Senior User Experience Designer	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior User Experience Designer	Graphic designers create visual concepts, using computer software or by hand, to communicate ideas that inspire, inform, and captivate consumers. They develop the overall layout and production design for various applications such as advertisements, brochures, magazines, and corporate reports.	$38-73
   Graphic Designer Internship	In a graphic design internship, one of the primary responsibilities is to accomplish tasks while under the supervision of more experienced colleagues. An aspiring graphic designer may use this opportunity to observe and participate in designing for various industries, handle different clients, participate in creative meetings, and learn strategies from experts... Show more	$12-22
   Designer	A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences... Show more	$21-46

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Sketch
   • User Experience
   • User Research
   • UI
   • Visual Design
   • Interaction Design
   • Invision
   • Human Centered Design
   • XD
   • Prototyping
   • Html Css
   • UX
   • Design Solutions
   • Design Principles

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead brainstorming sessions with stakeholders to explore feathers and better understand their audience.
   • Lead a cross-discipline innovation team focuse on rapidly prototyping new products.
   • Support the development teams with front end HTML and CSS production for all projects.
   • Design business applications using web technologies like HTML, XHTML, and CSS base on the W3C standards.
   • Redesign and maintain existing internal web application utilizing HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, JQUERY, Angular.JS, and D3 JavaScript.
   • Complete user testing and usability analysis with wire-framing and prototyping tools such as InVision.

   More senior user experience designer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the senior user experience designer job description is a good way to get more applicants. A senior user experience designer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a senior user experience designer in Idaho may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level senior user experience designer. Additionally, a senior user experience designer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average senior user experience designer salary

   $111,933yearly

   $53.81 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior user experience designer salary

   $81,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 19, 2025

   Average senior user experience designer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$149,590	$72
   2	Washington	$142,711	$69
   3	Massachusetts	$116,790	$56
   4	New York	$115,238	$55
   5	District of Columbia	$112,868	$54
   6	New Jersey	$108,723	$52
   7	Oregon	$105,168	$51
   8	Virginia	$103,650	$50
   9	Arizona	$101,481	$49
   10	Pennsylvania	$99,105	$48
   11	Texas	$98,827	$48
   12	Utah	$95,005	$46
   13	Colorado	$92,367	$44
   14	Illinois	$92,097	$44
   15	North Carolina	$91,193	$44
   16	Michigan	$91,118	$44
   17	Minnesota	$89,751	$43
   18	Maine	$86,666	$42
   19	Florida	$86,292	$41
   20	Georgia	$86,177	$41

   Average senior user experience designer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Netflix	$170,510	$81.98	12
   2	Roku	$169,716	$81.59
   3	Zenefits	$167,186	$80.38
   4	Chegg	$165,784	$79.70
   5	Apple	$161,837	$77.81	50
   6	Google	$160,698	$77.26	180
   7	PayPal	$160,130	$76.99	29
   8	Pure Storage	$153,628	$73.86
   9	Sharecare	$151,939	$73.05
   10	Zoox	$150,847	$72.52	5
   11	Microsoft	$149,876	$72.06	83
   12	VMware	$149,118	$71.69
   13	Reddit	$148,072	$71.19
   14	First Republic Bank	$145,601	$70.00
   15	Palo Alto Networks	$145,248	$69.83	13
   16	Survios	$145,221	$69.82
   17	Bloomberg	$145,108	$69.76	6
   18	NVIDIA	$144,262	$69.36	3
   19	Evernote	$142,286	$68.41
   20	Lord Abbett	$142,213	$68.37

4. Writing a senior user experience designer job description

   A senior user experience designer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a senior user experience designer job description:

   Senior user experience designer job description example

   Visualization is critical to discovering data-driven insights and effectively communicating that knowledge to others. Designers at NVIDIA work to create experiences that work together, work the same, and work for our customers. NVIDIA is looking to hire a Sr. UX Designer to the NVIDIA Cloud User Experience team. The mission of this team is to quickly prototype, build and test new technologies, bringing them out of the abstract and into the world. This team comprises extraordinary developers and designers, and product managers who work closely with members of the Deep Learning & AI community.
   
   As a Sr. UX Designer, you will help in defining the user experience, flows, interaction patterns, and the interface for internal and external facing products. You will collaborate across engineering, research, and product management to assure the solutions align with user needs and business goals. An optimal candidate should be passionate, curious, and a self-driven team player who has a strong collaboration ethic. We are looking for an eager Sr. UX Designer who is excited to work in a fast paced and fluid environment within a global multi-disciplinary team.
   What you'll be doing:
   Compile user flows, wireframes, mockups, and other UX artifacts Create interactive no-code prototyping for a variety of devices Interpret user research insights and translate into tangible solutions Collaborate heavily across engineering and product teams Uphold our brand and usability standards, and ensure our products remain consistent, sleek and elegant
   
   What we need to see:
   Bachelor's degree in a Design field (e.g., interaction, graphic, visual communications, product, industrial, etc), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent experience5+ years of relevant experience End-to-end design experience, from concept to product launch Use of design systems Excellent communication and presentation skills Figma, or equivalent design application experience Ability to work across multiple tracks of work Must be able to provide examples of user experiences authored that take complex problems and flows and distill them into simple, usable, and intuitive flows
   
   NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world's most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us. If you're creative, self-motivated and enjoy having fun, then what are you waiting for apply today!
   
   The Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act requires that NVIDIA provide the compensation range and benefits offered for this position if performed in Colorado. The base salary range for this position in Colorado is $118,800.00 - 163,350.00 USD.
   NVIDIA also offers a comprehensive benefits package. We provide health care coverage, dental and vision, 401(K), including company matching and after tax contributions, Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), company paid holidays, paid sick leave, vacation leave, professional time off, life and disability protection. Employees in eligible sales and positions may also be eligible for commission.
   
   Base pay is based on market location and may vary based on factors including experience, skills, education, and other job-related reasons.
   
   NVIDIA is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find senior user experience designers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any senior user experience designers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level senior user experience designers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   To find senior user experience designer candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dribbble, authentic jobs, working not working, coroflot.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with senior user experience designer candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior user experience designer

   Once you've found the senior user experience designer candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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