Head of Design, Digital Strategy & Experience

PA Consulting; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consultancy in the UK is seeking a Head of Design to lead a multidisciplinary team within their Digital Strategy & Experience department. The role calls for a strong design leader who can inspire teams to create impactful experiences, champion innovation, and foster a collaborative culture. This market-facing position focuses on the intersection of design and business, making design a key driver for transformation across various sectors. The ideal candidate will have significant experience in design leadership and a knack for client engagement.

Benefits

Private healthcare

25 days annual leave

Generous company pension scheme

Annual performance-based bonus

PA share ownership

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a senior design leadership role.
• Proven success leading teams through complex projects.
• Ability to translate creative excellence into business results.
• Deep understanding of design as a storytelling medium.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a multidisciplinary design team.
• Create an environment for designers to innovate.
• Collaborate across digital and data teams.
• Champion design as a commercial lever.

Skills

Senior design leadership experience

Creative visionary

Exceptional communication skills

Collaboration across disciplines

Understanding of design as storytelling

Job description

Company Description

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future.

As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity.

Our teams of interdisciplinary experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results.

We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.

Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.

Job Description

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future. We challenge where it matters and own the outcome. We combine strategic thinking, customer‑centric service design and agile engineering practices to accelerate innovation in a tech‑driven world.

Why consider joining our Digital & Data community?

• Join our Digital & Data team working alongside product, design and a wide range of other experts and cross‑disciplinary teams to bring ideas to life through innovative software solutions.
• Grow in a flexible and unique career within a trust‑based, inclusive environment that values excellence, innovation and curiosity. You have the option to progress with us on a technical career track.
• Hybrid working – we aim to be in the office or on client site a minimum of 2 days per week.
• Work on a broad variety of projects and tech stacks for clients across seven sectors – no project is ever the same.
• Join other experts within our supportive and collaborative tech community through knowledge‑sharing and peer‑level support, coaching and mentoring.
• Deepen your expertise through our culture of learning and growth – you’ll have budget to take courses (technical and non‑technical training) and gain certifications.

About the Role

At PAConsulting, design is not decoration – it’s direction. It shapes how the future feels. We’re looking for a Head of Design to lead our team of designers within Digital Strategy & Experience (DS&E) – a creative leader who can inspire, challenge and elevate how design defines transformation across industries.

You’ll guide a multidisciplinary team of product, experience and visual designers who create meaningful, emotionally intelligent and commercially impactful experiences for our clients. You’ll balance craft and consultancy – working closely with strategists, technologists and data scientists to turn insight into invention.

This isn’t an internal studio role; it’s a market‑facing leadership position. You’ll represent design at the most senior levels of client relationships, help win work, grow accounts and position design as a force for transformation across our global client base.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a multidisciplinary design team within DS&E – building a culture where curiosity, experimentation and excellence thrive.
• Create an environment where designers feel safe to break rules, challenge convention and redefine what “great” looks like.
• Nurture both creative craft and consulting confidence – helping designers articulate their value in every client conversation.
• Set the creative direction across projects – ensuring our design work fuses business strategy, human insight and technological possibility.
• Collaborate across DS&E and PA’s broader digital, data and innovation teams to deliver world‑class design outcomes.
• Lead the evolution of our design practice – from the processes we use to the stories we tell in the market.
• Act as a senior design ambassador – building deep, trusted relationships with clients and helping them see design as a commercial lever, not just a creative one.
• Shape proposals, lead pitches and contribute to thought leadership that opens doors and wins new opportunities.
• Play a pivotal role in helping DS&E achieve its growth goals – ensuring design remains a differentiator in every engagement.
• Attract, develop and retain world‑class talent – from strategic thinkers to master craftspeople.
• Create a culture of mentoring and collaboration, where every designer has the space to grow and the courage to experiment.
• Champion diversity of background and thought, ensuring our team reflects the world we’re designing for.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Significant experience in a senior design leadership role within a consultancy, innovation firm or design‑led business.
• Proven success leading teams through complex, high‑impact projects – from vision to execution.
• Experience translating creative excellence into business results and client value.
• Equal parts creative visionary and commercial operator – sees design as a tool for growth, not just expression.
• Deep understanding of design as a storytelling medium where beauty, logic and emotion meet.
• Exceptional communicator who can hold their own in the boardroom and inspire in the studio.
• Rebel with discipline – rule‑breaker with purpose.
• Thrives on collaboration across disciplines and sectors.
• Obsessed with how design, AI and technology can redefine what’s possible.

Additional Information – Life at PA

Life At PA encompasses our people’s experience at PA. It is about how we enrich peoples’ working lives by giving them access to unique people and growth opportunities and purpose‑led meaningful work.

Our purpose guides how we work with our clients and our teams, and support our communities to deliver insight and impact, solving the world’s most complex challenges. We’re focused on building a workplace that values human difference and diverse mindsets, and a culture of inclusion and equality that unlocks the potential in our people so everyone can be their best self.

Benefits

• Health and lifestyle perks with private healthcare for you and your family.
• 25 days annual leave (plus a bonus half day on Christmas Eve) with the opportunity to buy 5 additional days.
• Generous company pension scheme.
• Opportunity to get involved with community and charity‑based initiatives.
• Annual performance‑based bonus.
• PA share ownership.
• Tax‑efficient benefits (cycle to work, give as you earn).

We’re committed to advancing equality. We recruit, retain, reward and develop our people based solely on their abilities and contributions and without reference to their age, background, disability, genetic information, parental or family status, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, political belief, veteran status, or any other range of human difference brought about by identity and experience. We welcome applications from under‑represented groups.

Adjustments or accommodations – Should you need any adjustments to the recruitment process, please contact us at [e-mail].