About AKQA Leap
AKQA Leap are digital product specialists within the AKQA Group network (WPP), with studios in London and Bristol.
We believe that quality is the fastest path to success. So whether we're launching, fixing or scaling a product, we get it right the first time. Some call it the magic touch. We call it quality at speed.
People-focused. Curious. Always growing. These are just some of the values AKQA Leap upholds to cultivate an open, committed, and inclusive studio where you can be you. From the moment we meet, we’ll do our best to get to know you and understand what drives you. Our goal? To empower you to thrive and develop.
To find out more about us visit https://www.akqa.com/leap/
About the Role
As a Senior Product Designer, you'll play a pivotal role, driving the design vision and design strategy for client projects. You will leverage your extensive expertise in Visual and Experience Design to deliver high-quality, innovative design solutions. You'll lead the crafting of thoughtful design deliverables such as wireframes, user flows, UI, and prototypes, contributing to our commitment to purposeful, human-centred products.
Accountabilities
- Design Delivery: Own end-to-end design execution for client projects, delivering high-quality artefacts including UI designs, assets, flows, and prototypes for web and mobile.
- Independently manage day-to-day workflows, balancing priorities and ensuring timely delivery of milestones.
- Define and execute design solutions, addressing complex user needs while aligning with business objectives and technical constraints.
- Lead reviews, providing strategic feedback and guiding discussions to improve quality.
- Maintain, evolve, and advocate design systems, ensuring consistency and best practices.
- Use advanced tools (e.g. Figma, Miro) for efficient creation, prototyping, and collaboration, ensuring production-ready deliverables.
- Act as senior design representative on client projects, building trusted relationships through confident presentation and clear rationale.
- Lead collaborative sessions (workshops, sprints, and co-creation) to define direction and gather insights.
- Align cross-functional teams (PMs, engineers, designers) on strategies meeting business, user, and technical needs.
- Mentor and provide constructive feedback to designers and juniors, fostering design excellence and improvement.
- Human-Centred Design: Run research (interviews, surveys, usability testing) to gather insights and validate solutions.
- Translate findings into actionable recommendations, ensuring user needs drive product decisions.
- Create and use flows, journey maps, and personas to guide decisions and enhance experiences.
- Design Impact: Design for accessibility and inclusion, meeting standards (e.g. WCAG) and delivering equitable experiences.
- Apply interaction principles, including micro-interactions and motion design, for seamless, engaging experiences.
- Evaluate design impact, aligning outcomes with business goals and showing how design decisions drive success.
- Continuous Learning & Community Contribution: Demonstrate deep expertise in Visual and Experience Design, while expanding capabilities in Method, Research, and other areas aligned to career goals.
- Work with your line manager to define development goals and actively use L&D time and budgets for courses, events, and personal projects.
- Contribute thought leadership by sharing knowledge, presenting in critiques, and authoring content for internal/external channels.
- Engage in the Design Community, joining initiatives, guilds, and Labs projects that push practice and foster growth.
You Should Have
- A portfolio showcasing your design thinking skills and previous projects.
- Extensive experience in creating UX design artefacts and high-fidelity designs for digital products.
- Proven experience leading design projects and collaborating with other designers and developers.
- Experience leading activities that help your team, stakeholders and users align on design routes.
- Experience with running research activities (e.g user testing) and designing with available insights.
- Strong understanding of design systems, brand guidelines, user flows, and wireframing.
- Confidence in presenting design rationale that considers business, user, and technical requirements to clients and team members.
- Minimum 2 years of agency experience.
Ideally Also
- Deep understanding of web/mobile technologies.
- Examples of visual assets such as illustrations, iconography or pictograms.
- Experience with Agile, Sprints, and Lean UX methodologies.
- Leading and supporting other designers with their project work.
- Authored a new design system or design language on a project.
- Supported a team moving from understanding (discovery) and into delivery.
What Happens Next
If this role and AKQA Leap sound like a good fit, please apply, and someone from our People Team will be in touch shortly.
Inclusivity
We want to make our hiring as inclusive as possible; this job description has been reviewed by a range of employees and has passed a neutral language check. We have also reviewed our hiring process to make sure it offers flexibility to candidates who need it.
We welcome you to inform us confidentially at peopleteam@akqaleap.com if you require any accommodations to be able to fully participate in our recruitment process.
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