UX Designer

Softwire; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 58,000 - 66,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Profit share

Pension scheme

25 days annual leave

Cycle to work scheme

Eye test

Long service awards

Flexible working

Hybrid working

Job summary

Softwire, a leading UK technology and strategy consultancy, is seeking an experienced Product/UX designer to shape user-focused experiences. You’ll work with researchers, UI/UX and service designers in a fast-growing design team, collaborating with developers to deliver end-to-end experiences across client projects.

You will thrive in ambiguity, craft holistic user journeys, and facilitate workshops to align stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience as Product, Service or UX designer in agency, gov or in-house product environment.
• Knowledge of design thinking methodologies and applying them in practice.
• Portfolio showing discovery to concept prototypes.
• Experience contributing to planning and facilitation of workshops.
• Strategic mindset with ability to see bigger picture beyond a single feature.
• Ability to articulate design decisions and show impact beyond artefacts.
• Experience working within cross-functional teams.
• Ability to align business needs with user needs.
• Hands-on skills producing prototypes and artefacts (sketches, journeys, maps).
• Creativity in choosing methodologies, not just one right way.
• Willingness for qualitative research and user testing, solo or with team.
• Comfort helping scope projects and define milestones.
• Team collaboration to build consensus with senior stakeholders.
• Nice-to-have: experience using or designing with AI.

Skills

5+ years experience

Design thinking

Workshops

Prototyping

Cross-functional

User research

AI familiarity

Job description

We’re looking for someone who loves ambiguity & thrives on painting a picture of the future that helps others see what is possible.

Department

Design

Location

London

plus an average of between
£6,500 in profit share

Do you like looking at a problem from every angle? Do you enjoy pulling apart the pieces of a bigger picture and putting them back together - experimenting with solutions and new concepts as you go?

We’re looking for someone who loves ambiguity & thrives on painting a picture of the future that helps others see what is possible. Someone with experience building delightful, user friendly, engaging experiences, thinking about the whole user journey together with cross functional teams. This role suits someone hands-on, a few years into their career, with some experience using design facilitation skills to create a safe space for great collaborative design to happen.

We value colleagues who have learned as much from failures as from successes and are humble enough to share their learnings without reservations. People who think deeply and have a point of view on everything from workshops to prototypes to work-life balance but are also able to listen to and encourage others to make their own contributions. As you grow with us, you will have real scope to shape your own role within the team.

Our design team is a wonderful mix of researchers, UI, UX and service designers working together with developers to create unique experiences that solve people’s real problems. This is a fast-expanding team within a more established agency, where you’d have the rare opportunity to follow your work across both ends of the design diamond. Unlike most agencies, we don’t stop at innovation, proof-of-concept and early-stage engagements - we have the cross functional teams to deliver the amazing experiences we conceive. We work very closely with our clients in intense, user-focused, prototype-driven sprints that grow into long-term relationships.

We don’t just design. We have impact.

So - does this sound like you?

Experience and qualifications

5+ years’ experience working as a Product, Service or UX designer within an agency, design studio, gov or in-house product environment

Knowledge of and experience of applying design thinking methodology

A portfolio of discovery to concept prototypes

Experience contributing to the planning and facilitation of workshops

A strategic mindset - you see the bigger picture where others see a single feature

Can articulate the thinking behind your design decisions, showing impact over artefacts

Experience working within cross-functional teams

Understanding of how to align and prioritise business need with user needs

Awesome hands-on skills producing prototypes and design artefacts - sketches, story-boards, user journeys, system maps, blueprints, etc

Creativity around methodology - you know there’s no one single "right way!"

Ability and willingness to carry out qualitative research & user testing, solo or with team

Comfortable helping scope projects - defining artefacts and milestones

Work as one with the team to build consensus with senior stakeholders - turning constraints into advantage

A big plus: experience using, experimenting with or designing solutions with AI

About Softwire

Softwire is a leading UK technology and strategy consultancy. From enterprise to government, we help visionary organisations turn strategic ambitions into results at scale. Our practices cover AI transformation, data platforms, systems engineering advanced CX and experience design.

Softwire was founded on one simple idea: be the outstanding place to work for smart, passionate technologists who want to make an impact. Attract the best, create a culture where people thrive, and offer our customers access to capabilities that are truly market leading.

And it seems to be working - We were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards; we employ outstanding people across all capabilities (typical destinations after Softwire include Google, DeepMind, start-up founder, algorithmic trading, and AI research roles); and we have helped our clients deliver some of the hardest, most interesting tech programmes, across private and public sectors.

A big part of this is our culture and values and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:

That if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly

That work should be fulfilling but can also be fun

That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike

That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules

What We Offer

Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance

Base salary is based on experience in role and ranges from £58,100 - £65,600

You can expect to receive an average of £6,500 in profit share depending on your experience and company performance

Pension: Additional 5% of salary

Additional benefits

25 days annual leave (with the option to buy 10 and sell 5)

3.5 days additional days off for company-wide morale activities

AIG income protection

Cycle to work scheme

Enhanced maternity/paternity pay

Time off for charitable activities

Sabbatical available on request

Payroll charity donations

Free annual eye test

Long service awards

Flexible working options and patterns

(Flexible Working: The role is suitable for people who want to work 4dpw)

(Hybrid Working: Generally able to work at least 2dpw from home)

Working at Softwire

Here at Softwire, we are always on the lookout for talented individuals to join our team.

You’ll work with the industry’s smartest people and collaborate on leading-edge projects in a relaxed and informal atmosphere, refreshingly free of bureaucracy.