Principal User Experience Designer - Chicago - Expedia, Inc.

Description

Why Join Us?

To shape the future of travel, people must come first. Guided by our Values and Leadership Agreements, we foster an open culture where everyone belongs, differences are celebrated, and we know that when one of us wins, we all win.

Principal User Experience Designer – AI Experiences

Are you looking to be part of a world‑class enterprise design team dedicated to crafting incredible user experiences? Would you like to drive impactful work that helps millions of people see and enjoy more of the world? Are you passionate about solving hard problems and creating order out of uncertainty?

Team Description

We're a multidisciplinary design team shaping the future of travel through human‑centered, AI‑powered experiences. Our mission is to help travelers imagine, plan, book, and manage every part of their journey across Expedia Group's family of brands and platforms — with clarity, delight, and confidence.

Business Impact

This role drives measurable business impact by translating AI strategy into inspiring, customer‑centered experiences that increase engagement, conversion, and loyalty. Through visionary design and prototyping, it helps identify new revenue opportunities, streamline customer journeys, and improve operational efficiency. By defining the design standards for AI‑powered travel, this role advances both customer satisfaction and Expedia Group's competitive differentiation.

In this role, you will:

• Translate strategic vision into high‑impact visual stories and prototypes that clarify, align, and accelerate the future of AI‑driven travel experiences across Expedia Group.

• Lead through making: use exceptional visual design and prototyping skills to rapidly explore, validate, and communicate ideas.

• Push the boundaries of AI and next‑generation interfaces, envisioning new paradigms for conversational, multimodal, and adaptive experiences.

• Design for agentic and mixed‑initiative interactions, crafting clear mental models and user feedback mechanisms for uncertain or probabilistic systems.

• Evolve Expedia's design system to support AI‑native patterns, adaptive layouts, and intelligent interaction logic.

• Integrate data‑informed design principles, ensuring that personalization, prediction, and automation are seamlessly expressed through the system.

• Create visual frameworks that promote accessibility, consistency, and trust across all surfaces and contexts.

• Evangelize the value of AI experience design within the organization—connecting creative ambition with practical outcomes.

• Foster a culture of open critique, inclusion, and curiosity where design excellence and learning coexist.

• Collaborate across disciplines to align on strategy, share insights, and collectively raise the quality bar for AI‑driven design.

• Champion the traveler's voice in every AI interaction, ensuring experiences remain transparent, empathetic, and empowering.

• Partner with research and data teams to understand behavioral patterns, context, and intent—translating insights into adaptive design strategies.

• Embed responsible AI design principles that prioritize fairness, explainability, and user trust.

• Exceptional visual and interaction design craft with fluency in prototyping tools and methods.

• Deep expertise in AI, conversational, and agentic experience design—including multimodal and adaptive paradigms.

• Strong foundation in data‑informed design, using metrics and behavioral signals to guide decisions.

• Proven ability to lead through influence, mentorship, and cross‑functional collaboration.

Minimum qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant professional experience

• Bachelor's degree in Human‑Computer Interaction, User Experience Design, Cognitive Science, or related design or technical field; or equivalent related professional experience

• Demonstrated thought leadership and domain expertise in designing complex, AI‑driven systems and experiences.

• Mastery in visual design and prototyping and strong proficiency in UX design, system design, and motion design.

• Deep understanding of AI and conversational design tools and methods, including prototyping with LLMs, prompt engineering, data‑informed interaction design, and expert knowledge of modern design and prototyping platforms such as Figma.

The total cash range for this position in Austin is $224,000.00 to $313, Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $358,500.00, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role. The total cash range for this position in New York is $242,000.00 to $338, Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $387,000.00, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role. The total cash range for this position in Chicago is $208,000.00 to $291, Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $333, The total cash range for this position in Seattle is $224,000.00 to $313, Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $358, The total cash range for this position in San Jose is $242,000.00 to $338, Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $387,000.00.

Starting pay for this role will vary based on multiple factors, including location, available budget, and an individual's knowledge, skills, and experience. Pay ranges may be modified in the future.

Benefits

We provide a full benefits package, including medical/dental/vision, paid time off, an Employee Assistance Program, wellness and travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and an International Airlines Travel Agent (IATAN) membership. View our full list of benefits.

Accommodation requests

If you need assistance with any part of the application or recruiting process due to a disability or other physical or mental health conditions, please reach out to our Recruiting Accommodations Team through the Accommodation Request.

Expedia is committed to creating an inclusive work environment with a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. This employer participates in E‑Verify. The employer will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee's I‑9 to confirm work authorization.