Digital Product Lead Designer

Virgin holidays; Crawley; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Virgin Atlantic is seeking a Lead Digital Product Designer to shape one of our key customer journeys. You will lead end-to-end design from discovery through delivery, collaborating with Product, Engineering, and Analytics to deliver intuitive and accessible experiences.

You will explore AI opportunities and mentor peers to raise design standards across the team. This senior IC role focuses on expert design influence, collaboration with cross-functional partners, and advancing our design practice

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading the design of complex digital products or journeys.
• Expertise in UX, UI, interaction design and accessible design.
• Experience applying AI within product design and design workflows.
• Mentoring designers and raising design standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design of a major digital customer journey from discovery to delivery.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Analytics to align customer needs with business goals.
• Explore and integrate AI to improve experiences and ways of working.
• Champion accessible, inclusive, and consistent design through design systems.
• Use research, data, and experiments to validate ideas and measure impact.
• Coach and support designers across the team to raise capability.

Skills

Design leadership

UX design

UI design

Inclusive design

Design systems

Stakeholder management

AI in design

Tools

Figma

Job description

Location: Hybrid - 3 days at VHQ, Crawley

Hours: Full Time, 37.5 hours per week. Monday to Friday

Contract Type:

Salary: Competitive

Closing Date: 4th October 2026

We review applications on a rolling basis and may close the advert early if we receive a high volume of applications.

At Virgin Atlantic Airways, we believe that everyone can take on the world, and it's our vision to become the most loved travel company. As we embark on this next exciting stage of our journey, we’re harnessing our spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation to challenge the status quo.

In a nutshell

At Virgin Atlantic, great digital experiences don't happen by accident - they're designed with purpose. As Lead Digital Product Designer, you'll shape one of our most important customer journeys, creating intuitive, accessible and beautifully crafted experiences that make it easier for our customers to travel with us.

Alongside leading the design of a major digital product journey, you'll help shape the future of our design practice by exploring how AI can improve both the experiences we create and the way we work. Working closely with Product, Engineering, and Analytics, you'll bring together customer insight, creativity and technology to solve complex problems, while championing responsible, human-centred design.

This is a senior individual contributor role where you'll lead through expertise, influence and collaboration - raising the bar for design quality across Virgin Atlantic without direct line management responsibility.

Day to day

• Leading the end-to-end design of a major digital customer journey, from discovery and prototyping through to delivery and continuous improvement
• Partnering with Product Managers, Engineers, and Analysts to turn customer needs and business goals into simple, intuitive digital experiences
• Identifying where AI can genuinely improve customer experiences and design ways of working, ensuring every solution is responsible, trustworthy and adds real value
• Championing accessible, inclusive and consistent design by evolving our design system and maintaining high standards across products and platforms
• Using customer research, behavioural data and experimentation to validate ideas, measure success and continuously improve our digital experiences
• Coaching and supporting fellow designers, sharing best practice and helping grow capability across the wider design team

About you

You're a curious and creative product designer who enjoys solving complex problems, influencing others through evidence and bringing people together to create exceptional digital experiences. You'll be passionate about combining great design with emerging technology while always keeping the customer at the centre of every decision.

• Proven experience leading the design of complex digital products or customer journeys, with a strong portfolio showcasing web and app experiences from concept through to delivery
• Deep expertise in UX, UI, interaction design and accessible, inclusive design, with experience developing and evolving scalable design systems
• Strong collaboration and stakeholder management skills, confident working alongside Product, Engineering, and senior leaders to influence decisions through customer insight and design thinking
• Experience applying AI within product design, whether through AI-assisted design workflows or designing AI-enabled experiences, alongside sound judgement on where AI adds value—and where it doesn't
• A collaborative leadership style, with experience mentoring designers, raising design standards and helping teams embrace new tools, ways of working and continuous improvement

If you're excited by the opportunity to shape the future of Virgin Atlantic's digital experiences while helping evolve how design is practised through thoughtful use of AI, we'd love to hear from you.

Be yourself – Our differences make us stronger

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do our colleagues. That’s why we’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. At Virgin Atlantic, we believe everyone can take on the world - no matter your age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, or beliefs. We celebrate difference and everything that makes our colleagues unique by upholding an inclusive environment in which we can all thrive. So that everyone at Virgin Atlantic can be themselves and know they belong.

To make your journey with us accessible and individual to you, we encourage you to let us know if you’d like a little extra help with your application, or if you have any individual requirements at any stage along your recruitment journey. We are here to support you, so please reach out to our team, ([e-mail]) feeling confident that we’ve got your individual considerations covered.