Job Description:
Location: Sandton (Hybrid)
Employment Type: 12 month contract
Job Purpose
The Product Design Lead will collaborate with business and technical stakeholders to ensure the delivery of innovative, high-quality design solutions. By aligning design initiatives with business goals, the Product Design Lead will take ownership of the customer experience, lead a multidisciplinary design team, and drive measurable improvements in the customer journey.
Key Responsibilities
Project Scoping and Delivery
- Partner with business stakeholders to define project needs, scope, creative briefs, and plans in collaboration with the Head of Product Design.
- Oversee the day-to-day execution of the design project plan, ensuring quality and alignment with customer experience goals at each stage.
- Act as the key liaison between business and technical stakeholders, ensuring the project addresses their requirements while prioritizing customer experience.
- Constructively challenge business and technical decisions to advocate for optimal customer outcomes.
Team Leadership and Collaboration
- Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary project team, including designers, prototype engineers, copywriters, and other contributors, ensuring alignment and collaboration.
- Foster a positive and productive team environment by supporting goal setting, removing obstacles, and encouraging creativity.
- Build and maintain cross-functional relationships to enhance collaboration and project efficiency.
Customer-Centric Design
- Deliver creative, innovative, and high-quality design solutions that contribute to a world-class customer experience.
- Apply design thinking and best practices to develop and refine solutions that meet user and business needs.
- Utilize data and insights from user research, market analysis, and customer feedback to guide design decisions and enhance user satisfaction.
- Produce design scenarios, mock-ups, and prototypes, iterating as necessary to achieve the best results.
- Ensure all design outputs align with brand guidelines and provide a seamless user experience across the ecosystem.
Building Design Capabilities
- Actively coach and mentor designers to develop their skills and expertise.
- Promote a team culture that fosters engagement, collaboration, and continuous learning.
- Stay up-to-date with external design trends and best practices to maintain cutting-edge expertise.
- Share insights, lessons, and feedback across projects to contribute to the growth of the broader design team.
Required Qualifications and Experience
- A relevant degree or diploma in Design, User Experience, Interaction Design, or a related field.
- 8+ years of experience in product design, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
- Strong expertise in design thinking, user-centred design, and prototyping methodologies.
- Demonstrated experience delivering customer-focused design solutions that drive measurable business impact.
- Proficiency in design tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, or equivalent platforms.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with a proven ability to influence and collaborate with stakeholders at all levels.