Head of User Experience & Design

ENGINEERINGUK; London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job description

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Sector: Media and Publishing

Role: Senior Manager

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: Full Time

PORTFOLIO LINK
Please submit your portfolio link to your resume when applying as we will be reviewing these as part of applications.

PACKAGE DESCRIPTION
Job Reference: 22322
Band: F
Salary: £110,000 - £120,000, depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience plus London Weighting Allowance £5,319 and 25% bonus. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
Location: Office Base is London TVC. This is a hybrid role and the successful candidate will balance office working with home working.

ABOUT BBC STUDIOS
BBC Studios is a world-renowned content studio and channels & streaming business, powered by British creativity, with a reach that touches audiences in every corner of the globe. We work with outstanding creative talent who are responsible for platform-defining shows from Strictly Come Dancing to Eastenders, Prehistoric Planet to Planet Earth III. The range and quality of our content is unsurpassed, creating critical and commercial successes and global phenomena. From BAFTAs to RTS Awards, BBC Studios is Britain's most awarded production company and the only producer with three of the top ten shows on IMDB; we're the home of bbc.com, the widest-read English language news website in the world; and the UK's largest distributor of British content.

ABOUT STUDIOS PRODUCT GROUP
Studios Product Group is a growing function dedicated to crafting and delivering exceptional, customer-centric products. Our collective drive fuels growth and operational excellence at BBC Studios. United in our commitment to quality, we relentlessly strive to exceed customer expectations, lead change, and shape the future of our business. Our diverse portfolio is fully focused on supporting our global business - whether through direct-to-consumer offerings or internal tools that empower our teams. Our products include marquee brands such as BBC.com, Top Gear, and Bluey.

THE ROLE
We are seeking a strategic and experienced Head of UX & Design to shape and elevate our user experience capabilities across a diverse portfolio of products and services. This role is pivotal in defining and executing the UX and Service Design vision and strategy, ensuring our audience-centric approach is embedded across BBC Studios platforms and experiences. The Head of UX & Design will champion user-centred design, leading teams of UX Designers, UI Designers, and Service Designers. They will be responsible for embedding best practices, advancing our design maturity, and collaborating with senior leaders to foster a culture of high performance, innovation, and product excellence. This is a high-impact leadership role with the autonomy to influence product experiences at scale, establish design principles, and ensure alignment across public service and commercial teams.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define and drive the overarching UX and Service Design strategy across a diverse portfolio, ensuring alignment with business and audience needs.
• Champion and integrate service design thinking into product development to deliver seamless, end-to-end user experiences.
• Collaborate with business and product leaders to shape the vision and roadmap while ensuring a best-in-class user experience.
• Advocate for accessibility, inclusivity, and ethical design practices, ensuring our products serve all audiences effectively.
• Engage with the broader UX function within public service, aligning design principles, processes, and governance where relevant.

Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of UX Designers, UI Designers, and Service Designers.
• Foster a collaborative, innovative culture that drives sustained excellence in design and user experience.
• Implement best practices in UX leadership, including career development, coaching, and succession planning to nurture future design leaders.
• Create an environment that encourages experimentation, learning, and cross-functional collaboration.

Portfolio & Design Maturity

• Oversee UX operations, ensuring teams are effectively resourced and working within budget.
• Develop a robust UX measurement framework, defining success metrics to track the impact of design improvements.
• Drive continuous improvements in design processes, tooling, and methodologies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Advocate for design systems, information architecture, and scalable UI frameworks that improve consistency across our digital ecosystem.

Stakeholder Engagement & Product Culture

• Work closely with peer functions - Product, Engineering, and Delivery - to embed UX principles into the product development lifecycle.
• Build strong relationships with peers in Product, Engineering, and Data to ensure alignment and shared accountability for delivering user value.
• Act as a thought leader in UX and service design, representing BBC Studios internally and externally at industry events and discussions.
• Foster a culture of high performance and design excellence, ensuring that user experience remains central to decision-making.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE?

Essential Criteria:

• Significant experience leading UX and Service Design within a complex, multi-platform organisation.
• A proven track record of developing and executing UX strategies that have delivered measurable impact.
• Deep expertise in user-centred design, usability, accessibility, and service design methodologies.
• Experience scaling design teams, mentoring senior practitioners, and developing UX leadership capabilities.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across business and technology teams.
• A user-centric mindset with the ability to balance business goals with audience needs.
• Experience implementing and scaling design systems across multiple products and platforms.
• A strong grasp of design governance, ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards.
• Background in news media, audio, video, or other content-rich digital experiences.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience working in both B2B and D2C digital environments.
• Familiarity with emerging technologies such as AI, voice interfaces, and immersive experiences.
• Experience working within agile, cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality digital products.

LIFE AT BBC STUDIOS
We don't focus simply on what we do - we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you've read about our values and behaviours here. The BBC is committed to building a culturally diverse workforce, that represents the audiences we serve, and encourages applications from candidates from any background, especially people from diverse communities. Equity of opportunity is important to us, and we endeavour to make our processes equal, fair and meritocratic for everybody. More information on our D&I plan can be found here. BBC Studios puts sustainability at the heart of everything we do both onscreen and offscreen, including delivering against the BBC Group's science-based Net Zero targets. More information on sustainability at BBC Studios can be found here.

WHAT WILL YOU GAIN FROM WORKING AT BBC STUDIOS

• We offer a competitive salary package
• Flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance
• 26 days holiday (plus an additional day which is a Corporation Day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days
• Parental leave for new parents, regardless of gender, of up to a year with 18 weeks fully paid
• A defined contribution pension scheme with employer contributions up to 10%; and life assurance (at 4 times annual salary), eligibility for discounted dental, health care, gym and much more through salary sacrifice
• Excellent career progression - access to courses, webinars, workshops and the opportunity to work in different areas of the organisation

NEXT STEPS
We appreciate your interest in this position and understand how important this opportunity is to you. Due to the high volume of interest we may need to close the application period earlier than anticipated. This step is necessary to ensure we can provide a high level of attention and service to all applicants. Thank you for your understanding.

Please note: If you were to be offered this role, the BBC will conduct Employment screening checks which include Reference checks; Eligibility to work checks; and if applicable to the role, Safeguarding and Adverse media/Social media checks. Any offer made is conditional on these checks being satisfactory.