Design Lead

ustwo Games; London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative digital product studio is seeking a Lead Product Designer to spearhead complex projects in London. This role requires expertise in guiding cross-functional teams through product development, enhancing client relationships, and leveraging AI tools for creative solutions. The ideal candidate will have a strong user-centered design approach, excellent communication skills, and experience in leading design initiatives that deliver tangible results.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading design teams across end-to-end product builds.
• Comfortable defining process and adapting based on user context.
• Strong point of view and high empathy for user experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead multidisciplinary teams through complex product challenges.
• Frame problems clearly and define paths through ambiguity.
• Drive stakeholder engagement, design direction, and delivery planning.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

AI tools and workflows

User-centered design

Communication

Mentoring

Job description

ustwo is looking for a Lead Product Designer to join our studio. We’re a global team on a mission to shape a more purposeful future through exceptional digital products. Known for our craft and care, we work across the entire product lifecycle, from shaping early visions and defining propositions, through to designing and launching meaningful experiences that deliver measurable value for both users and businesses.

As an AI forward Design lead, you will be instrumental in orchestrating complex digital products and services. You excel at bringing structure to ambiguity, thinking in dynamic systems and fluid experiences rather than static screens. Your expertise lies in simplifying complexity, guiding product direction, and shaping cross-functional work to maintain strong team alignment and momentum.

You are adept at influencing stakeholders and facilitating rapid decision-making. You will lead design across multiple workstreams while maintaining a close connection to the craft. Critically, you possess the ability to ensure design lands effectively, translating bold ideas into clear, actionable plans that propel products forward and deliver tangible impact.

Location

This role will be based in the London studio in Shoreditch at 154-158 Shoreditch High Street E1 6HU. We currently have a hybrid policy in which you are required to be in the studio for two days of the week; our universal day on Tuesdays and either Wednesday or Thursday and are welcome to either work from the studio or from home for the rest of the week. We are keen for you to be involved in studio culture so the more you can get involved in opportunities for in-person social interaction; the better!

What You’ll Do

• Lead multidisciplinary teams through complex product challenges, from 0→1 and beyond, driving value and delight
  
  
• Frame problems clearly and define paths through ambiguity, turning uncertainty into momentum
  
  
• Leverage AI tools and workflows to enhance efficiency, accelerate production, and focus on crafting standout moments
  
  
• Guide the design of dynamic, adaptive systems, information architecture, and product UX strategy, ensuring flow and coherence across teams and contexts
  
  
• Drive stakeholder engagement, design direction, and delivery planning, acting as an arbiter of good taste
  
  
• Mentor senior and mid-level designers in systems-level thinking, high empathy, and confidence-building, fostering strategic specificity and collaborative skills.
  
  
• Support and build strong client relationships by providing clear roadmaps, outlining outcomes, and facilitating confident decision-making as a trusted guide through complexity

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience leading design teams across end-to-end product builds, with a focus on delivering tangible impact and results.
• Comfortable defining process and adapting it based on user context, confidence, and risk, embodying resilience and flexibility.
• Experienced with platform-agnostic design systems, orchestration tools, and hybrid human-AI workflows.
• Excellent communicator with clients, helping them navigate business complexity, make decisions, and progress with clarity and strategic guidance.
• Calm, confident, and decisive under pressure, able to hold the big picture while fine-tuning interactions that truly resonate with users.
• A strong point of view, high empathy, and judgment for what users feel, especially in emotionally sensitive domains.
• Ability to craft user stories, scenarios, and branching emotional arcs across contexts, designing for ever more complex ecosystems of AI interfaces and multi-modal experiences.

Remuneration

Our Lead Design salary bandings are £70,000k - £95,000k depending on experience. Our full benefits package is available to all permanent employees, please see further details here.

Interested but think your experience doesn’t perfectly align with this job description? That’s ok. Research shows underrepresented groups in particular are less inclined to apply for jobs where they don’t meet 100% of the requirements listed. We’d still love to hear from you if you feel passionate about this role! We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for our colleagues, clients, community, and the users of our products. We don’t have all the answers but we’re on a journey, and we are learning together.

About ustwo

ustwo combines expertise in product and service development, ventures and gaming to make a meaningful impact on the challenges companies and individuals face in contemporary culture.

Over the years, we have been carving out a reputation in the space between digital product development and new experience design.

Our deep product development knowledge, our design heritage and our leadership at the edges of technology and culture, means we are capable of providing fresh creative and strategic direction on genuinely new experiences, as well as deep technical expertise on implementation - never disconnecting strategy from implementation.

This combination of capabilities is rare and valuable, particularly in a market that’s seeing ever-increasing convergence of entertainment, gaming, content, commerce, and platforms.