Head of UX and Design

Head of UX and Design

London (Hybrid)
£100,000 + Bonus and Benefits

Built your craft in a boutique agency? This is the next step.

If you’ve grown up in a boutique design or digital agency, you’ll know how it works: you pitch, you win the work, you deliver it, and you help shape what the studio sells next. This role keeps all of that and adds bigger clients, bigger programmes and the backing of an established consultancy.

Our client works with major private and public sector organisations across a wide range of industries. Their design and experience function brings together customer experience, user research and UX/UI design, backed by data and technology. They’re now building out an AI offering and want a design leader to help shape it.

The Role

As Head of UX, you’ll lead and grow the UX, user research and service design practice. You’ll be at the front of new business: shaping pitches, running discovery, presenting to senior clients and turning wins into well-run delivery.

You’ll be partly billable, with most of your impact coming through pitches, paid discovery, mobilisation and senior advisory work. You’ll also play a central part in developing the firm’s AI proposition, working out where AI improves design and research and how to package that for clients.

What You’ll Do

Win work: Lead the design side of pitches and proposals. Shape value propositions, scope, estimates and delivery models, and present the story in the room. Work with sales and transformation leaders to qualify opportunities, and with the bids team on written tenders.

Build the AI offering: Help define and develop the firm’s AI proposition from a human-centred design point of view. Explore AI-assisted design and research, test new ways of working, and turn what works into repeatable services clients will buy.

Lead the practice: Set the standards for quality, methods and ways of working across UX, research and service design. Embed end-to-end service design, including journey orchestration and service blueprinting. Coach and manage senior practitioners, and own hiring and capability planning.

Deliver for clients: Be the senior design advisor and escalation point on client work. Lead or support complex delivery, assure quality, and run senior workshops.

Shape the firm’s voice: Develop points of view, frameworks and thought leadership that set the firm apart in the market.

What You’ll Bring

• Senior design leadership experience, ideally from a boutique or independent agency, design studio or digital consultancy
• A strong track record in pitching and winning new business, from shaping the idea to presenting it
• Experience leading service design and end-to-end journey design, including service blueprinting
• Hands-on depth in user-centred design, accessibility and research methods
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and managing senior practitioners
• Commercial awareness: scoping, estimation, utilisation, risk and margin
• Curiosity about AI in design and research, and ideas about how to turn it into a client offering
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and facilitation skills

Nice to have: public sector bid experience, work in regulated or enterprise settings, experience building new propositions or practices, and published thought leadership.

Why Make the Move

• Keep the pace and pitch energy of agency life, with larger clients and bigger programmes
• Help build an AI offering from an early stage, not inherit one
• Real scope to shape a practice and influence how the business wins and delivers work
• Clear, merit-based progression and a personal development plan
• Dedicated time for innovation and training, both internal and external
• Hybrid working, currently up to three days a week in the office
• Bonus, pension, health and wellbeing schemes and flexible benefits

Sound like your next move? Apply now.