Lead Product Designer

Motorway; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Equity scheme - we all share in Motorv

25 days holiday

Flexible working (2 days a week in our

Private medical insurance via BUPA

Life assurance

Pension scheme (we contribute 5%)

Enhanced family leave (e.g. 26 weeks)

24/7 Employee Assistance Programme

EV leasing scheme

Cycle to work scheme

Nursery salary sacrifice scheme

1 paid volunteering day a year

Job summary

Motorway is seeking a Lead Product Designer in London to shape product strategy, raise the bar on craft, and mentor a growing design team. You’ll own complex design challenges across discovery to delivery, collaborating with product, engineering and data to drive bold impact and scalable workflows.

You’ll champion the user with research, usability testing and data insights, while advancing AI-driven design practices and a builder mindset that bridges design and code.

Qualifications

• Proven Leadership: track record as Senior or Lead Product Designer shipping digital products.
• Builder’s instinct: hands-on with code or tools, shipping high-fidelity prototypes.
• Versatile experience: strong consumer journeys across web and mobile.
• An AI-forward mindset: thoughtful integration of AI to accelerate work.
• Commercial acumen: connect design to business outcomes and strategy.
• Modern toolkit: proficient in design/prototyping tools and research methods.
• Bonus: experience improving journeys via experimentation or marketplace context.

Responsibilities

• Design Execution: create flows, wireframes, prototypes and accessible UI.
• Collaboration: partner with PMs, engineers and data analysts through lifecycle.
• Stakeholder communication: articulate decisions and present design work.
• Mentorship: guide junior and senior designers, share best practices.
• Driving design culture: run rituals, workshops and cross-functional events.
• Continuous improvement: evolve design principles and stay current with tools.

Skills

Leadership

Builder's instinct

B2C/B2B experience

AI in design

Commercial awareness

Design tools (Figma etc.)

UX research

Tools

Figma

Claude

Kiro

Job description

About Motorway

Motorway is the UK's largest online car-selling platform. We connect private sellers directly with over 8,000 dealers nationwide. Our online platform helps sellers achieve great prices for their cars while giving dealers fast, reliable access to the stock they want for their dealerships. Founded in 2017, our award-winning, technology-led approach has redefined the experience of selling a car. Motorway is backed by some of the world’s leading technology investors, having raised £143 million in Series C funding.

This is a unique opportunity to join a fast-growing scale-up at a crucial phase of growth and help change an industry for the better.

The Opportunity

As a Lead Product Designer at Motorway, you won't just be producing great design - you'll be raising the ceiling for everyone around you. You'll shape how the team works, set the standard for craft and rigour, and bring a clear point of view on where design is heading.

You'll take ownership of our most complex design challenges, working across the full product lifecycle from discovery to delivery. You'll be a trusted voice in cross-functional conversations, a mentor to other designers, and someone who actively shapes the culture and ways of working within the design team.

This is a role for someone who thinks deeply, builds boldly, and leads by doing.

What You'll Be Doing

This isn't a role for a pixel-pusher. We want a visionary with a builder’s soul. You will step into an environment where your work has immediate, massive scale, and your leadership directly influences the future of our product ecosystem.

• Tackling the Big Stuff: You’ll own our most complex, ambiguous product challenges, transforming messy problems into elegant, crystal-clear user experiences from discovery to deployment.

• Pioneering AI in Design: You won't just use AI tools—you’ll write the playbook for them. You'll spearhead how our team thoughtfully integrates AI to supercharge our workflows while keeping human judgment and craft at the center.

• Designing Beyond the Screen: You'll bring a "builder mindset" to the table, collaborating seamlessly with engineering because you speak their language—whether that’s through code, complex prototypes, or building your own tools.

• Championing the User: You will be the fierce advocate for our users, leveraging deep research, continuous usability testing, and sharp data insights to validate every move we make.

• Scaling Design Culture: You'll run high-impact workshops, level up weekly team rituals, and foster an environment where diverse perspectives thrive and designers do the best work of their careers.

Responsibilities

• Design Execution: Produce high-quality design deliverables including user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity mock-ups for mobile and web applications, ensuring solutions meet accessibility standards and set the bar for inclusive design across the team.

• Collaboration & Commercial Awareness: Work in close partnership with product managers, engineers, and data analysts throughout the product development lifecycle. Connect user insights to product opportunities and broader business goals. You have strong commercial awareness and can articulate the business case for design decisions.

• Stakeholder Communication: Establish strong relationships across product, engineering, and the wider organisation. Communicate clearly at all levels, lead online and offline sessions to validate design decisions, and represent product design with confidence and authority.

• Mentorship & Guidance: Provide mentorship to junior and senior designers alike - sharing best practices, supporting their growth, and helping create an environment where designers can do the best work of their careers.

• Driving Design Culture: Help foster a strong design culture by contributing to weekly team rituals, running workshops, planning design-focused events, and encouraging diverse participation. You love bringing people together around ideas.

• Continuous Improvement: Explore and encourage continuous learning across the team, playing an active role in developing our core design principles and keeping the team sharp on emerging tools, patterns, and practices.

What You'll Bring (Requirements)

Our team comes from a diverse range of backgrounds, and team fit matters immensely to us. We are looking for a passionate advocate for craft and user experience who can check off several of these boxes:

• Proven Leadership: A deep track record as a Senior or Lead Product Designer, successfully shipping impactful digital products across web and mobile ecosystems.

• A Builder’s Instinct: You don’t stop at the design file. You love getting your hands dirty and have experience shipping code, building your own products, or spinning up functional, high-fidelity tools and prototypes.

• Versatile Experience: A strong grasp of consumer journeys, ideally with experience navigating both B2C and B2B product landscapes.

• An AI-Forward Mindset: A highly considered approach to AI in design. You understand how to strategically use it to accelerate work, when to rely on human judgment, and how to guide a team through this evolving landscape.

• Commercial Acumen: The ability to see the bigger picture, connect design execution directly to business outcomes, and confidently shape broader product strategy.

• Modern Toolkit & Research Rigour: High proficiency in design and prototyping tools (like Figma, Claude, Kiro), combined with strong user-centered design methodologies, accessibility standards, and research synthesisation.

• Bonus Points: Experience optimizing user journeys/conversion funnels via experimentation, or experience working within a fast-paced, two-sided marketplace.

BENEFITS

We've got your back, in life's biggest moments and the everyday ones too.

• Competitive salary

• Equity scheme - we all share in Motorway's success

• 25 days holiday

• Flexible working (2 days a week in our London office, with socials and snacks galore)

• Private medical insurance via BUPA

• Life assurance

• Pension scheme (we contribute 5%)

• Enhanced family leave (e.g. 26 weeks full pay for maternity or adoption)

• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme

• EV leasing scheme

• Cycle to work scheme

• Nursery salary sacrifice scheme

• 1 paid volunteering day a year