UX Design Operations Specialist

About Us 

SharkNinja is a global product design and technology company, with a diversified portfolio of 5-star rated lifestyle solutions that positively impact people’s lives in homes around the world. Powered by two trusted, global brands, Shark and Ninja, the company has a proven track record of bringing disruptive innovation to market and developing one consumer product after another has allowed SharkNinja to enter multiple product categories, driving significant growth and market share gains. Headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts with more than 4,100 associates, the company’s products are sold at key retailers, online and offline, and through distributors around the world. 

AI at SharkNinja

At SharkNinja, we’re building an AI-native culture. We’re not waiting for the future; we’re creating it. Our people are expected to experiment boldly, adopt new tools, and continuously raise what’s possible to create meaningful impact for our consumers. If you believe the best way to do your job hasn’t been invented yet, you’ll fit right in.

We're looking for a Design Operations Specialist to join the UX team as the person who makes the team run better, not just look better. This role sits at the intersection of design process, tooling, and AI adoption — someone who looks at how the design team works today, identifies friction and inefficiency, and modernizes the way work gets done. This is not a traditional design ops administrator role: we need someone with real design experience who understands the craft well enough to improve it, and who's genuinely excited about applying AI tools to speed up and elevate design work. This person will also work hands-on to help build product SKUs, staying close enough to the work to know where the process actually breaks.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Audit and map current UX/design workflows end-to-end — intake, ideation, review, handoff, production — to find bottlenecks, redundant steps, and inconsistent practices.
• Design and implement modernized processes, systems, and standards that help the design team move faster without sacrificing quality.
• Act as the team's go-to person for AI tools in design: evaluate, pilot, and roll out AI-assisted workflows (e.g., generative design, image/asset production, documentation, QA) across the team.
• Build internal playbooks, templates, and design system / file-management standards that scale across projects and SKUs.
• Partner with design, product, engineering, and marketing to streamline cross-functional handoffs and reduce rework.
• Help manage the design team's tool stack — evaluate new software and AI platforms, support licenses/rollouts, and train the team on adoption.
• Contribute hands-on design work to help build and finalize product SKUs, applying real design judgment rather than operating purely as a process observer.
• Track team capacity, project timelines, and delivery metrics; report on process health and improvement impact to leadership.
• Champion change management — introducing new tools/processes in a way the team actually adopts, not just tolerates.

WHAT YOU BRING

• 2-3+ years of experience in a design role (UX/UI, product, industrial, or graphic design) with real hands-on design chops — not process experience alone.
• Prior experience in design operations, program management, or a similar hybrid role is a strong plus.
• Genuine fluency with AI tools relevant to design and productivity (e.g., generative image/design tools, AI copilots, workflow automation) and a track record of applying them practically.
• A demonstrated ability to look at a messy or inefficient process and redesign it — you get energized by systems, not just deliverables.
• Strong cross-functional communication skills; comfortable influencing without direct authority.
• Experience working on physical product development / SKU creation is a plus (packaging, product design, or similar CPG/consumer hardware background).
• Familiarity with design tools (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite) and project/workflow tools (Asana, Jira, Notion, or similar).
• A builder's mindset: equally comfortable writing a new process doc, testing a new AI tool, and jumping into a live design deliverable.

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

As the design team scales and the pace of product development accelerates, this role is critical to making sure our processes, tools, and use of AI keep up. You'll have direct influence over how the entire design team works day-to-day, and the freedom to modernize things from the ground up.