Director of UX

About Brightpath Technologies Routeware is the industry leader in providing software and data analysis that enables public and private enterprises to improve the effectiveness of their waste and recycling programs. Our solutions help organizations save time and money, increase efficiency, improve safety and help make our world a greener place. Based in Portland, Oregon, the company employs a distributed team across North America and the UK. Our brands, products, and services provide an all-in-one platform to municipal and private waste haulers and other fleet services. As part of an essential and growing industry, we seek solution-oriented team players who want to positively impact the environment. Our work environment is collaborative, dynamic, fast-paced, and fun with a strong appreciation for innovation and initiative. Our Mission: Transform waste collection to drive a better future for generations to come. Our Values: Adaptability - The waste industry and technology are ever-changing, and the Routeware team never stops adapting to be at the forefront of technology innovation, supporting our customers to stay ahead. Mission-driven - At Routeware, it matters to us that our work has a lasting positive impact on our customers' outcomes, our fellow team members' well-being, and the long-term sustainability of our environment. Human-first - While technology drives our products; the real, live, caring people at Routeware are the true drivers of meaningful outcomes for our customers. POSITION OVERVIEW Routewarehas grown through both product development and acquisition, and our portfolio —ReCollect,Recyclist, Compliance Publishing,RouteOptix, and theRoutewarePlatform — reflects that history. Each product has its own UX heritage, conventions, and visual language. Our customers (municipalities, haulers, and the residents they serve) increasingly touch more than one of these products, and the seams show. We’rehiring a Director of UX to lead the unification of that experience. This is a player-coach role: equal parts strategic leader and hands-on practitioner.You’llinherit one designer and own the maturity of UX as a function — design system, research practice, accessibility standards, and how UX integrates into our agile SDLC across five product lines. You’llpartner closely with Product, Engineering, and Customer Success, andyou’llhave a real seat at the table shaping roadmap and prioritization through a UX lens. Ifyou’reenergized by building the function — not just running one that already exists — this is the right scope. RESPONSIBILITIES UX Strategy & Portfolio Unification: Define and leadRouteware’smulti-year UX strategy across the product portfolio, with an explicit prioritization framework for where to invest first. Drive convergence of visual language, interaction patterns, and information architecture across acquired and native products. Design System & Standards: Build and own a scalable design system (components, tokens, patterns, accessibility primitives) usable by all product squads. Establish UX, UI, and accessibility standards (WCAG 2.2AA minimum) and the governance to keep them enforced as products evolve. UX in the SDLC: Operationalize UX inside our agile process: discovery, research, prototyping, validation, and release readiness — without becoming a bottleneck. Define how PMs, engineers, and designers collaborate at each phase, including lightweight rituals like design reviews, critique, and handoff. Team Leadership: Directly manage and grow our existing UX designer. Mentor, develop, and unblock. Build the hiring plan and org design for the function as the team scales. User Research & Customer Insight: Establishscalable, lightweight research practices the team can runwith:usability testing, journey mapping, and customer feedback synthesis. Partner with PMs to ensure product decisions are grounded in real customer behavior, not assumption. Data-Driven UX: Define and own UX-specific success metrics (task completion, time-to-value, usability scores, onboarding friction). Co-own product adoption and retention metrics withProduct, anddrive continuous UX improvement through experimentation. AI-Enabled Design Practice: Use AI tooling fluently to accelerate the team’s work — prototyping (Figma AI, v0, similar), research synthesis, content generation, and design QA.Identifyopportunities for AI-driven personalization and adaptive experiences within our products. Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with Product Management on roadmap prioritization, with Engineering on feasibility and design system implementation, and with Customer Success on real-world adoption barriers.CommunicateUX strategy, trade-offs, and recommendations clearly to executive stakeholders. QUALIFICATIONS Required 8+ years in UX, Product Design, or Human-Centered Design, with progressive scope and impact. Experience leading or mentoring designers; comfortable as a player-coach with at least one direct report. Demonstrated success building or sign