Product Design Lead

Salt; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 320,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Salt in Abu Dhabi seeks a Product Design Lead to guide a small team of designers and shape intuitive, user-centred digital experiences within a complex government environment.

This role goes beyond traditional UX/UI, applying systems thinking, stakeholder management and AI-powered prototyping to simplify problems and improve public digital services.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in Product Design, UX Design or a related field.
• Proven experience leading or mentoring designers.
• Strong expertise in UX problem-solving, user journey mapping and systems thinking.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, negotiation and facilitation skills.
• Experience with complex digital products, government services or large organisations is desirable.
• Familiarity with AI-powered design tools, prompting and rapid prototyping.
• Strong understanding of usability, user research and design systems.
• A portfolio demonstrating problem-solving, design decisions, stakeholder influence, testing and measurable impact.
• Fluency in both Arabic and English is essential.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop a team of approximately three product designers.
• Translate complex business and user problems into intuitive digital experiences.
• Map user journeys, workflows, processes and system interactions.
• Use AI tools and prompting to rapidly build, test and iterate on working prototypes.
• Plan and conduct usability testing, translating insights into actionable improvements.
• Communicate design decisions through clear storytelling and compelling presentations.
• Collaborate with product, technology, business and government stakeholders.
• Facilitate workshops, challenge assumptions and drive decisions in ambiguous environments.
• Promote an outcome-driven design culture focused on usability, simplicity and continuous improvement.

Skills

Team leadership

UX design

Systems thinking

Stakeholder management

AI prototyping

Usability testing

User research

Design systems

Bilingual EN/AR

Tools

AI design tools

Job description

My client is looking for a Product Design Lead to lead a small team of designers and shape intuitive, user-centred digital experiences within a complex government environment.

This is an opportunity for a design leader who goes beyond traditional UX and UI design, using systems thinking, strong stakeholder management and AI-powered prototyping to simplify complex problems and deliver better digital services.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop a team of approximately three product designers.
• Translate complex business and user problems into intuitive digital experiences.
• Map user journeys, workflows, processes and system interactions.
• Use AI tools and prompting to rapidly build, test and iterate on working prototypes.
• Plan and conduct usability testing, translating insights into actionable improvements.
• Communicate design decisions through clear storytelling and compelling presentations.
• Collaborate with product, technology, business and government stakeholders.
• Facilitate workshops, challenge assumptions and drive decisions in ambiguous environments.
• Promote an outcome-driven design culture focused on usability, simplicity and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in Product Design, UX Design or a related field.
• Proven experience leading or mentoring designers.
• Strong expertise in UX problem-solving, user journey mapping and systems thinking.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, negotiation and facilitation skills.
• Experience working with complex digital products, government services or similarly large organisations is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with AI-powered design tools, prompting and rapid prototyping.
• Strong understanding of usability, user research and design systems.
• A portfolio demonstrating problem-solving, design decisions, stakeholder influence, testing and measurable impact.
• Fluency in both Arabic and English is essential.

The Ideal Candidate

A strategic, hands-on design leader who can bring clarity to complexity, influence stakeholders, empower designers and use AI to accelerate the design process. The focus is on making better decisions and delivering meaningful user outcomes, rather than simply producing screens.