Lead Designer - Design Systems

Lead Designer - Design Systems (VP) Location: London (On-site) Employment Type: Permanent Sector: Financial Services / FinTech Contract: 12 Months Rate: up to £700/day Inside

The Opportunity An innovativedigital banking organisation is seeking a LeadDesigner - Design Systems (VP) to play a pivotal role in shaping thefuture of customer experience across its digital products. This is anopportunity to join a highly collaborative, product-led environment wheredesign excellence, accessibility, and innovation are at the heart of everythingdelivered. Working within amature Design & Customer Experience function, you will lead the evolutionof a large-scale design system that powers customer-facing products across weband mobile platforms. You'll partner closely with Product Designers,Researchers, Engineers, and senior business stakeholders to create seamless,consistent experiences used by millions of customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic development and evolution of the organisation's design system.
• Drive consistency, quality, and usability across digital customer journeys.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver customer-centric solutions.
• Align design system initiatives with broader business and product objectives.
• Champion design system adoption and influence stakeholders across the organisation.
• Utilise customer insights, analytics, and research to inform design decisions.
• Define standards, governance, and best practices for scalable design.
• Stay ahead of emerging design trends, tools, and technologies.
• Promote accessibility standards and inclusive design practices.
• Mentor and support designers while fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. Required Experience
• Extensive experience in Product Design and Design Systems within complex digital environments.
• Strong portfolio showcasing end-to-end design thinking and system-led approaches.
• Proven ability to translate customer and business requirements into scalable design solutions.
• Experience working within agile, cross-functional product teams.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Expertise in modern design tools, particularly Figma.
• Experience designing for iOS, Android, and responsive web platforms.
• Knowledge of usability testing, prototyping, and UX research methodologies.
• Strong understanding of accessibility standards, including WCAG 2.2.
• Demonstrated success driving design system adoption across multiple teams. Desirable Experience
• Experience within Financial Services, Banking, or FinTech environments.
• Degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) or a related discipline.
• Experience leading teams, influencing senior stakeholders and scaling design operations.