Design Lead

Design Lead 

UK 

At Horizontal Digital, we hold ourselves to one key belief: You’re only as good as your worst customer experience. This mantra is what drives our digital consultancy to think beyond the easy answers and instead create websites, apps, portals and other experiences that solve customer needs for leading companies in intuitive and empathetic ways. And we make this lofty standard a reality by fusing strategy, data, design and technology together to arrive at solutions that set the bar higher for everyone. 

We use these values to fuel superior results: 

Lock arms 
We forge relationships that make our impact 1,000x stronger. This means working across departments and engaging both our clients and our communities to deliver the greatest good. 

Show hustle 
We’re not ones to sit on our hands and wait. Instead, we anticipate opportunities, collectively roll up our sleeves and find ways to execute the exceptional. 

Embrace change 
From new technologies to workplace philosophies, we welcome the unexpected and constantly anticipate what’s next. 

Elevate empathy 
We listen before we take action. This means understanding a variety of perspectives and holding ourselves to a higher standard of accountability. 

Never settle 
We motivate each other to push past the easy answers and collectively arrive at bigger, more inspiring ideas. 

 

 
But enough about us. Let’s talk about you… 

We are looking for a dynamic, highly motivated and skilled Design Lead to lead discovery, research, UX Design (UXD), UI design (UID), and definition of Digital Experience solutions for a number of our customers. You will report into the Experience Design Director (UK) as a member of the Horizontal UK Design team which is, in turn, a part of Horizontal EMEA. Initially, you won’t have any direct repots but the expectation would be for management and mentoring of others to be a part of your role in future. 

This is a full-time role based in the UK where we are currently remote-first. You will be expected to travel to client meetings/workshops, collaborative sessions, or events when required. 

What you’ll do: 

• Take the lead on Design aspects of whole projects and accounts and be responsible for developing solutions to the challenges/opportunities our clients face with their digital experiences 

• Work collaboratively with other Leads e.g. Strategy, Tech, Delivery, to ensure every facet of a brief is answered, project objectives achieved, and deadlines met. 

• Continually strive for greater in terms of creativity, difference-making, and performance without losing sight of time, budget, technical, and operational constraints 

• Take responsibility for a wide range of different design deliverables and tasks including experience vision development, design direction, persona, customer journey mapping, storyboarding, site mapping, user flows, wireframing, UI mockups, interactive prototyping, reports/proposal/presentations. 

• Balance the needs and desires of digital experience users with those of the business, brands, and people behind them. 

• Lead other designers within the team by example as well as through oversight of their outputs and, in doing so, help them to deliver effective solutions and work to a high standard

• Help us maintain a constant focus on evidence-backed improvement from both a design and processes/ways of working perspective 

• Build a deep level of trust with clients and teammates in your ability to lead and deliver effective solutions but also as a supportive and reliable collaborator/colleague 

• Ensure best practice use of tools and application of skills in your own work but also in other designers involved in your projects/accounts

• Lead, support and participate in the facilitation of research activities (both user and stakeholder) and workshops with stakeholders and/or colleagues. 

• Work with team members to translate customer insights into tangible strategy for design deliverables within defined timelines 

Who you are: 

• Bold - you understand how to be bold and innovative to push the boundaries of digital. 

• Passionate – You are passionate about understanding and improving the end-to-end digital experience. Your passion and positivity about the work makes everyone around you better. 

• Courageous – You aren’t afraid to fail and are open to feedback. 

• Curious – You have a desire to learn all the things you don’t know and enjoy the research and growth. 

• Collaborative – You seek out collaboration and want to grow by being pushed each day to stretch your capabilities. 

• Proficient – You have the skills and expertise to execute at a high level across the entire design process 

• Connected – You’re taking steps to build a network in the local UX community and are an active seeker of inspiration.

What you bring: 

• A standout portfolio of digital experience design case studies and success stories which showcase your experience of leading and designing large-scale projects for established consumer and corporate brands 

• A varied skillset including (but not constrained to) user research activities, audience definition and experience mapping, site/app-mapping, wireframing, interactive prototyping, functional spec writing, high fidelity UI design, design system creation and maintenance, storytelling, UX copywriting. 

• Deep understanding of responsive design and a strong awareness of accessibility requirements 

• 7-10+ years’ experience as a UX/UI professional, skilled in human centered design; able to demonstrate expertise in digital experience design for component-driven, responsive web and mobile applications. 

• Ability to lead and/or contribute to workshops with team members and clients and ability to help synthesize learnings 

• Experience with using research and data to guide your recommendations 

• Experience with the design of complex and/or task-based applications for content-heavy as well as transactional websites 

• Proficiency with Figma is a must with deep experience/understanding of variables and their application within design systems is highly desired 

• Understanding and experience of best practice use of AI tools, agents, and plugins to accelerate workflows and processes is highly desired

• Growing knowledge of the best practices for UX and interaction design for responsive experiences 

The above description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.