UX Lead & Design Manager

Company: Acuity Brands
Location: Costa Mesa
Posted on: March 23, 2026

Job Description:

Atrius® is a team of innovative and ambitious people creating cutting-edge cloud applications that collect, analyze, and mobilize data to make buildings more efficient, sustainable, and easier to navigate. From the world’s largest airports and enterprise campuses to cutting-edge venues, building owners and operators leverage Atrius technology to optimize energy resources, reach their sustainability goals, and deliver digital precision over physical spaces. Atrius is part of Acuity Intelligent Spaces, a division of Acuity Inc. revolutionizing spaces to sense, think, and act. Acuity Inc. (NYSE: AYI) is a market-leading industrial technology company. We use technology to solve problems in spaces, light and more things to come. Through our two business segments, Acuity Brands Lighting (ABL) and Acuity Intelligent Spaces (AIS), we design, manufacture, and bring to market products and services that make a valuable difference in people’s lives. We achieve growth through the development of innovative new products and services, including lighting, lighting controls, building management solutions, and an audio, video and control platform. We focus on customer outcomes and drive growth and productivity to increase market share and deliver superior returns. We look to aggressively deploy capital to grow the business and to enter attractive new verticals. Acuity Inc. is based in Atlanta, Georgia, with operations across North America, Europe and Asia. The Company is powered by approximately 13,000 dedicated and talented associates. Job Summary As the UX Lead and Design Manager, you will shape the next generation of indoor mapping and wayfinding experiences, guiding how travelers and visitors discover spaces, understand context, and navigate with ease. You’ll define high impact design strategy, lead hands-on product design, and mentor a team working across complex, multi-modal solutions that span maps, routing, POI search, accessibility, localization, and spatial data visualization. You will partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Cartography teams to bring clarity, cohesion, and innovation to every touchpoint in the Atrius Wayfinder solutions. As the UX Lead and Design Manager for Atrius Wayfinder, you will own the end-to-end UX for our indoor maps and navigation solutions. You’ll frame spatial experience challenges, lead design sprints, produce prototypes, validate solutions with users, and deliver high-fidelity UI and interaction patterns for web, mobile SDKs, kiosk interfaces, and venue management tools. Your work will directly influence accessibility (WCAG 2.2), multilanguage localization, Blue Dot indoor positioning UX, routing clarity, and map layer usability. You will also lead designers working on cartography aligned interfaces, spatial data tools, and venue management workflows—ensuring cohesive, scalable, and brand flexible solutions. Key Tasks & Responsibilities (Essential Functions) Design Leadership Lead the UX vision for indoor navigation and mapping experiences across devices (mobile SDK, web, kiosk, VMS interfaces, smart watches etc). Drive concept development, prototyping, usability testing, and design execution for spatial interfaces including POI search, routing states, accessible paths, multilingual map labeling, and real-time data overlays (e.g., flight status, wait times). Define and evolve a multi-modal design system that supports maps, navigation UI, spatial visualization, and modular venue management components. Team Leadership & Collaboration Manage and mentor UX/UI designers on the Wayfinder team, providing regular feedback, career development guidance, and performance evaluations. Partner closely with Product Managers, Engineering, and the Cartography team to ensure UX quality and technical feasibility. Advocate for accessibility, inclusive design, and WCAG compliant flows, especially for airports and public venues. Product & Strategy Influence Lead UX discovery around spatial interaction patterns, Blue Dot indoor positioning experiences, AR wayfinding exploration, and multimodal routing. Contribute to broader AIS spatial experience initiatives and innovation programs focused on faster feature delivery, multi-modal cohesion, and performance improvements. Translate complex stakeholder needs (airport operations, retail partners, enterprise customers) into intuitive, scalable design solutions. Execution & Quality Deliver developer ready design specifications, interaction models, and UI patterns rooted in cartographic clarity and spatial comprehension. Ensure alignment with Atrius solution capabilities including localization, accessibility, data integrations, and venue management workflows. Support cross functional feature launches through QA reviews, design support, and iterative refinements. Education (minimum education required) Bachelor of Arts Preferred Education (i.e. type of degree) Master of Fine Arts Skills and Minimum Experience Required A portfolio demonstrating expertise in complex systems UX, mapping/spatial interfaces, or multimodal product ecosystems. 7 years in UX/Product Design, ideally with significant work in navigation, location based services, data visualization, or enterprise tools. 3 years leading or mentoring designers. Expertise in Figma, prototyping tools, and usability testing methods. Strong understanding of accessibility, responsive design, localization, and information architecture for global audiences. Experience collaborating with engineering teams building SDKs, APIs, or multichannel UI delivery systems. Ability to translate ambiguous spatial problems into elegant, intuitive interaction models. Excellent communication and stakeholder alignment skills. Physical Requirements Sedentary Work Travel Requirements 1-20% The range for this position is $104,000 to $187,500. Placement within this range may vary, depending on the applicant’s experience and geographic location. Acuity offers generous benefits including health care, dental coverage, vision plans, 401K benefits, and commissions/incentive compensation depending on role. We value diversity and are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regards to race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity or national origin, disability, pregnancy, religion, covered veteran status, protected genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Keywords: Acuity Brands, Highland , UX Lead & Design Manager, IT / Software / Systems , Costa Mesa, California