Wenco International Mining Systems (www.wencomine.com), a subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM), provides industry leading, innovative technologies to customers in the mining and material movement sectors, enabling sustainable and safe operations.
You will own the UX function: set direction, establish the design system, define how design works with product and engineering, and build the practice for the next phase of the company. The work is almost entirely greenfield — we are building new applications on a clean canvas, including a major new platform project starting this year, rather than retrofitting legacy products.
The role is explicitly a player-coach. In practice, that means roughly half your time on hands-on design and design-system work, and roughly half on leading the team, shaping the practice, and working with product and engineering leadership. You will not be a manager who stopped designing, and you will not be a senior IC with management bolted on as an afterthought. Both sides of the role are real.
You will work directly with the CTO, product leadership, and senior engineering. The designers you inherit are capable and motivated; they need a leader who can raise the ceiling on the craft and build the system around them.
Why this role is unusual: Mining software is complex, high-stakes, and historically underserved by good design. You will be designing for dispatchers running 24/7 control rooms, heavy equipment operators on remote sites, and supervisors making decisions with real safety and production consequences. The problems are genuinely hard — real-time data, safety-critical workflows, harsh operating environments, multi-user coordination across sites — and the opportunity to improve the lived experience of the people using this software is significant. Good design here has operational consequences.
Months 1–3: Get deep on the domain. Spend time with dispatchers, operators, and engineers. Audit the current state of design across products. Form a point of view on the design system architecture and the biggest UX risks in the platform project.
Months 3–6: Ship the first version of the design system and component library. Establish the UX standards and working model with product and engineering teams. Hire your next designer.
Months 6–12: Lead design on the new platform project through its first major release. Mature the design system through real product use. Grow the team. Make the case for further UX investment with evidence from shipped work.
No specific design tools are prescribed. The existing team works in Figma; bring your own workflow on top of that.
Base salary of $120,000 - $150,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications.
Wenco advances the efficiency and safety of the world’s surface mining equipment through our fleet management systems. We are committed to providing a stable yet exciting work place environment for individual employees to build and grow their career with the Company.
Wenco is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Disclaimer
The information in this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. It is not intended as an employment contract. Job descriptions are subject to change, which may not necessarily affect compensation.
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As our team experiences high volumes of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. To be considered, please ensure a resume is attached.
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