Hays
Lead Designer - Design Systems (VP)
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Lead Designer - Design Systems (VP)
Location: London (On-site)
Employment Type: Permanent
Sector: Financial Services / FinTech
Contract: 12 Months
Rate: up to £700/day Inside
The Opportunity
An innovative digital banking organisation is seeking a Lead Designer - Design Systems (VP) to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of customer experience across its digital products. This is an opportunity to join a highly collaborative, product-led environment where design excellence, accessibility, and innovation are at the heart of everything delivered.
Working within a mature Design & Customer Experience function, you will lead the evolution of a large-scale design system that powers customer-facing products across web and mobile platforms. You'll partner closely with Product Designers, Researchers, Engineers, and senior business stakeholders to create seamless, consistent experiences used by millions of customers.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the strategic development and evolution of the organisation's design system.
- Drive consistency, quality, and usability across digital customer journeys.
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver customer-centric solutions.
- Align design system initiatives with broader business and product objectives.
- Champion design system adoption and influence stakeholders across the organisation.
- Utilise customer insights, analytics, and research to inform design decisions.
- Define standards, governance, and best practices for scalable design.
- Stay ahead of emerging design trends, tools, and technologies.
- Promote accessibility standards and inclusive design practices.
- Mentor and support designers while fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation.
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Required Experience
- Extensive experience in Product Design and Design Systems within complex digital environments.
- Strong portfolio showcasing end-to-end design thinking and system-led approaches.
- Proven ability to translate customer and business requirements into scalable design solutions.
- Experience working within agile, cross-functional product teams.
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Expertise in modern design tools, particularly Figma.
- Experience designing for iOS, Android, and responsive web platforms.
- Knowledge of usability testing, prototyping, and UX research methodologies.
- Strong understanding of accessibility standards, including WCAG 2.2.
- Demonstrated success driving design system adoption across multiple teams.
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Desirable Experience
- Experience within Financial Services, Banking, or FinTech environments.
- Degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) or a related discipline.
- Experience leading teams, influencing senior stakeholders, and scaling design operations.
Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at hays.co.uk
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