Senior Product Designer: Financial Wellness

Old Mutual; Durban; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Old Mutual seeks a Senior Product Designer dedicated to leading experience design strategy and execution. The ideal candidate will enhance customer experience through a deep understanding of user needs, driving design excellence and collaboration within cross-disciplinary teams. Key responsibilities include overseeing design projects, integrating various design functions, and aligning design outputs with business objectives. Applicants should bring a wealth of experience, strong leadership skills, and a passion for user-centered design.

Qualifications

• 6+ years working in product design, with 2+ years in leadership roles.
• Proficient in user research methodologies and UX/UI principles.
• Strong ability to translate user insights into actionable design solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead design strategy ensuring alignment with business goals.
• Conduct user research and guide testing activities.
• Collaborate closely with product managers and engineers.

Skills

Adaptive Thinking

Creative Design

User Experience (UX) Design

Education

Bachelor's Degree in design or related field

Tools

Sketch

Figma

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

Let's Write Africa's Story Together!

Old Mutual is a firm believer in the African opportunity and our diverse talent reflects this.

Job Description

As a Senior Product Designer, the individual is accountable for leading the experience design strategy and design execution within a product owner led design environment. This could be for a platform, such as App or Web, or for a key journey or proposition stream. This role is pivotal in shaping the customer experience by ensuring every design decision is informed by a deep understanding of customer needs, backed by rigorous research, aligned with business objectives, and customer needs.

You are responsible for leading the multi-disciplinary design team in this environment across UX, UI, Content, Research, Testing, Service Design, Systems Thinking and Customer Experience towards delightful and value generating user experience designs for the product. While UX and UI are directly executed by the individual and the product designers in their team, many of the other capabilities will require partner integration with other Old Mutual design areas to execute delivery through shared resources.

Design Leadership

• Lead the design strategy and vision for the product, ensuring alignment with business goals and user needs.

• Lead cross-functional workshops and ideation sessions to foster creativity and reinforce a unified design vision.

• Direct and oversee the execution of design projects, from concept to delivery, ensuring high-quality outcomes.

• Integrate the multi-disciplinary design team towards a unified, efficient and effective design environment that can deliver to business and customer outcomes.

• Conduct and guide user research and testing activities to gain insights and inform design decisions. Present these with impact across stakeholder levels.

• Collaborate closely with product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders to define requirements and prioritise features.

• Drive the creation of user-centred design solutions, including wireframes, prototypes, and visual designs.

• Advocate for design excellence and experience best practices within the product team and broader portfolio.

• Stay abreast of methods, tools, technology and platforms within the product space and their associated experience design principles and best practices.

Design Quality & Delivery Management

• Create a clear understanding of the drivers of design quality within the product, as they pertain to strategic alignment, business case, customer and business requirement and design standards.

• Establish quality management within the product design team to ensure quality standards are checked and met appropriately.

• Represent the design stream within the team, and collaborate with the Product Owner and Agile Management Structures to ensure that we are delivering within time, quality and budget controls.

• Report appropriately to the Design CoE on performance and governance requirements, ensuring compliance and supporting collaboration across teams.

Design Team & Stakeholder Management

• Build and sustain effective relationships with key stakeholders, including product owners, digital marketing, and technical teams, to ensure design objectives are aligned with overarching business goals.

• Present design concepts, progress, and performance metrics to senior leadership, highlighting the role of design in driving business outcomes.

• Lead the collaboration of cross-functional teams to incorporate feedback into design iterations, keeping stakeholders engaged throughout the project lifecycle.

• As a leader, emphasise mentorship and personal growth by dedicating time to teaching, guiding, and fostering the development of the design team, building a positive, engaging and progressive culture within the team.

Design Execution

• Support the design team in crafting user-centred, visually compelling, and highly functional designs that elevate the customer experience.

• Ensure consistency and coherence across all aspects of the product design, including interaction patterns, visual style, and brand identity.

• Execute product design personally at a high-level of quality and efficiency, modelling delivery to the team and stakeholders.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS/ EXPERIENCE (REQUIRED FOR THE JOB)

Working Experience & Qualifications

• NQF Level 4: Grade 12 or equivalent

• 6+ years working in the field of product design, 2+ within roles that involved product design leadership.

• Experience working in an Omni-Channel Digital and Agile environment, with cross-functional collaboration, working with product, engineering, and business teams.

• Proven track record of delivering high-performance team and quality outcomes across complex, omni-channel design environments.

Technical Expertise

• Proficiency in user research methodologies, including interviews, surveys, and usability testing.

• Deep understanding of UX/UI methodologies, including user research, wireframing, prototyping, usability testing, accessibility and visual design.

• Strong expertise in design tools (e.g., Sketch, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite) and front-end development principles (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).

• Strong ability to translate user insights into actionable design solutions, such as sitemaps, wireframes, and prototypes.

• Strong ability in visual design and management of the relationship between UX and UI activities within a project.

• Expertise in developing workflows, interaction flows, information architecture, and navigational flows.

• Up-to-date with industry trends and emerging technologies.

• Experience in senior design leadership, motivating teams to excel, mentoring and coaching teams towards high performance and integrating with executive business stakeholders towards the achievement of business goals.

• Experience with agile methodologies and working collaboratively in cross-functional teams.

• Deep appreciation and experience with the application of, and contribution to, design systems and component libraries.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE (PREFERRED)

• Bachelor's Degree in design (Interaction, Graphic, Industrial), marketing, technology, business administration or a related field. With an Honour’s or Master’s degree as an additional plus.

• Experience with emerging technologies (e.g., AR/VR, AI).

• Background in cognitive psychology or human factors.

• Familiarity with accessibility standards and guidelines.

• Experience with service design and design thinking.

• Track record of published work or speaking at industry events

• Experience designing for multiple platforms, including web, mobile, and desktop.

COMPETENCIES REQUIRED

• Delivery Focus: Leads teams to effective and efficient delivery with a focus on time, quality and budget.

• Collaboration: Ability to bring many inter-connected disciplines, roles and processes together through excellence in facilitating collaboration towards shared and integrated outcomes.

• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, capable of presenting to senior stakeholders.

• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with a passion for solving complex design challenges.

• Coaching and Mentorship: A commitment to developing and nurturing talent through regular feedback and professional development.

Skills

Adaptive Thinking, Business Requirements Analysis, Commercial Acumen, Creative Design, Current State Analysis, Customer Analytics, Market Analysis, Negotiation, Oral Communications, Presentation Preparations, Presentation Techniques, Presenting Solutions, Product Development, Strategic Planning, User Experience (UX) Design

Competencies

Education

Closing Date

23 June 2025 , 23:59

The appointment will be made from the designated group in line with the Employment Equity Plan of Old Mutual South Africa and the specific business unit in question.

The Old Mutual Story!