Design Principal

Bupa; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading health care provider in the UK is seeking a Design Principal to lead a dynamic design team. This full-time, hybrid role involves enhancing customer-centric experiences across various product squads. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in product design, strong leadership abilities, and a passion for mentorship. You will collaborate closely with stakeholders to drive design strategies and be part of a culture fostering growth and innovation. This position offers competitive salary and benefits including flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

25 days holiday pro rata

Enhanced pension plan

Life insurance

Online discounts

Family friendly benefits

Qualifications

• Strong background in end-to-end product design.
• Proven experience in managing and leading large product/UX design teams.
• Expert in mentorship and progression planning for team members.
• Growth mindset and eagerness to learn.

Responsibilities

• Lead direction and improve customer-centric experiences across product squads.
• Define and articulate the product and design strategy for multiple squads.
• Manage and mentor the experience design team.

Skills

End-to-end product design

Coaching skills

Effective communication

Stakeholder management

Collaboration

Visionary storytelling

Tools

Design systems

Human-centered design

Job description

Overview

Design Principal – Fixed Term Contract

Bupa Place M50 3SP or Angel Court EC2R 7HJ – hybrid, office 2 days per week

Fixed Term Contract -12 months

Full time 37.5 hours per week

Salary up to £85K depending on experience + Management Bonus 10%

We're ideally looking for our Design Principal to start in April 2026. We consider all types of flexibility wherever possible, including locations, hours and working patterns.

We make health happen

The role

You’ll belong to a passionate and talented multi-disciplinary experience design team, made up of user researchers, product designers, content designers and design operations, who are focused on creating the best digital experiences for Bupa’s customers in the UK.

You’ll be responsible for leading the direction and improving the quality of customer-centric experiences from concept to launch across multiple product squads. Growing healthy partnerships with a team of product owners, senior stakeholders and scrum masters, you’ll be involved in the strategy to drive the product’s direction creating seamless and connected products and services.

Working with our Head of Design you’ll establish and enhance product design as a vital strategic partner to help our organisation grow. You will contribute to Design Leadership cohort to optimise and improve the performance of our Experience Design team. You’ll also line manage a group of Product Designers and provide mentorship and support to facilitate development, encourage growth and foster a culture of care and candour.

How you’ll help us make health happen

• You'll help define and articulate the product and design strategy and vision for my Bupa across multiple squads. Providing strategic direction and guidance on approach and timescales blending hands on support and leadership to add value where needed.
• You’ll build relationships and collaborate with teams including marketing, product, proposition, technology and delivery building advocacy and evangelising the principles, standards and processes of product design and development.
• Confident mediation across the demands of a business, the needs of the customer and the feasibility of the tech stack to design the right thing and design the thing right.
• Responsible for the timely delivery of projects aligning with business goals and UX metrics.
• Set, track and measure UX metrics for your squads and regularly communicate the impact and value of design. Support post campaign reviews to optimise and improve existing and future work.
• Managing and refining roadmaps and prioritising backlogs across squads with your colleagues always prioritising the most valuable features for customers and the business.
• Design Leadership and People Management. You’ll mentor, coach and inspire other members of the experience design team as a people manager. Helping to maintain and improve the inherent pillars of our team’s culture; psychological safety, celebrating success, and learning from each other. Team size up to 10.
• Drive operational enhancements within the design function, in collaboration with other members of the design leadership team, to improve ways of working and ensure consistency across the wider design function.
• Collaborate closely with product and technology and design leadership to shape and execute Bupa’s overarching strategy and vision across all relevant domains.
• Advocacy for the adoption of the organisation’s Design System, ‘Anatomy’ and contribution to the community.

You

• A strong background in end-to-end product design. You have a track-record of tackling complex problems and delivering simple solutions using human centred design approaches.
• Proven experience in managing, leading and nurturing large product/UX design teams.
• You’re known for your coaching skills and abilities to rally around a team to encourage positive behaviours and influence buy-in.
• Expert one on one mentorship and creator of progression plans for your team members. You champion your team every step of the way and encourage growth.
• Effective communication skills. You have experience communicating future design directions with stakeholders and inspiring positive action within your team to bring the vision to life.
• A visionary storyteller capable of communicating ideas and information that visually inspire, influence and tell a compelling story.
• A collaborative approach. You have experience working closely with other Designers, Engineers and Product Managers. You value feedback and brainstorming ideas.
• Stakeholder management skills. You have experience dealing with broad stakeholder groups and know when to bring the right people together to achieve common goals.
• Strong engineering literacy with experience working with engineers unpacking feasibility and making trade-offs where required.
• A growth mindset. You're eager to learn and develop your skills whilst having fun along the way.
• You set the standard for your peers and the organisation.Your contribution drives teams forward, elevating the standards along the way.
• You have passion and knowledge for how AI and AI tools can drive improvements and efficiencies across design disciplines
• A thought leader across design process, able to influence and drive change ensuring alignment with business objectives and industry best practices.

Benefits

Our benefits are designed to make health happen for our people. Viva is our global wellbeing programme and includes all aspects of our health – from mental and physical, to financial, social and environmental wellbeing. We support flexible working and have a range of family friendly benefits.

• 25 days holiday pro rata, increasing through length of service, with option to buy or sell.
• An enhanced pension plan and life insurance
• Huge range of other benefits and online discounts

Why Bupa?

We’re a health insurer and provider. With no shareholders, our customers are our focus. Our people are all driven by the same purpose – helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives and making a better world. We make health happen by being brave, caring and responsible in everything we do.

We encourage all of our people to “Be you at Bupa”, we champion diversity, and we understand the importance of our people representing the communities and customers we serve. That’s why we especially encourage applications from people with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Bupa is a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. This means we aim to offer an interview/assessment to every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the role. We’ll make sure you are treated fairly and offer reasonable adjustments as part of our recruitment process to anyone that needs them.

Time Type:

Full time

Job Area:

PR , Marketing & Brand

Locations:

Angel Court, London, Bupa Place