Lead Product Designer

ustwo is seeking a Lead Product Designer to join their Malmo studio. The ideal candidate is a versatile designer who can collaborate across all disciplines involved in the product and service development process. The Design Lead will be responsible for ensuring that designers are learning and developing through role modeling, and will provide guidance and support to individual designers and teams. They will work with multidisciplinary teams on a range of products as the design authority on the project, often managing designers from a range of backgrounds.

• Manage and direct individuals and teams
• Frame and communicate challenges and opportunities to clients and teams, and create alignment on a way forward
• Grow client relationships and contribute to business development
• Be hands-on during projects, working with other designers, developers, and delivery coaches to define, build, and iterate solutions for clients and partners
• Provide guidance and support to individual designers and teams, bestowing vision and direction during projects
• Conduct research, create and validate ideas, create prototypes and make confident recommendations to businesses
• Understand progressive ways of working to drive both commercial and design value and have the ability to simplify complexity
• Help lead teams to create experiences that not only express brands within products but resonate emotionally with audiences
• Multitask and contribute to more than one project at once
• Challenge dominant design perspectives and break new ground where traditional design paradigms didn’t make sense
• Think strategically and systemically about opportunities and challenges, and visualize and prototype concepts fast to communicate ideas
• Have a product mindset and make pragmatic trade-offs while holding a bigger strategic goal in mind as well as having a solid understanding across other disciplines - Brand strategy, Business design, product ownership
• Give and action feedback and input into all aspects of the design process
• Advise on team resourcing for the projects being worked on
• Support line managers with career development, if asked to line manage people
• Develop prototypes, alphas, betas, and live services with the team
• Regularly conduct testing with users, design the methodology for these and turn the output into intelligence
• Carry out client-facing workshops and presentations and help develop accounts being worked on
• Work with the new business team on developing pitches
• Be an expert who is continually learning about your field and help your colleagues improve their design practice
• Participate in regular sprint ceremonies for projects - daily stand-ups, show and tells, retrospectives, sprint planning etc.
• Contribute to progressing & improving the culture and ways of working - offering up new approaches.

• Comfortable, confident and competent at managing and directing individuals and teams.
• Able to frame and communicate challenges and opportunities to clients and teams, and create alignment on a way forward.
• Adept at growing client relationships and contributing to business development.
• A brilliant and accomplished designer with proven experience working on things that exist in the real world, not only as prototypes.
• You take a wide strategic view of problems, seeking multiple inputs and solutions and challenge the thinking of the teams and clients you work with.
• Someone that enjoys being hands-on. We believe lead designers shouldn’t be separated from the reality of making things.
• You'll be well versed in conducting research, creating and validating ideas, creating prototypes and make confident recommendations to our businesses.
• Able to understand progressive ways of working to drive both commercial and design value and have the ability to simplify complexity.
• Successful stories about how you have helped others to develop, both in their craft and soft skills.
• Has proven experience creating and leading brand expressive, effective and emotionally joyful digital experiences.
• The ability to multitask and contribute to more than one project at once.
• Experience in being involved in projects that have not always followed the status quo, and can demonstrate times you have challenged dominant design perspectives and broken new ground where traditional design paradigms didn’t make sense.
• Able to think strategically and systemically about opportunities and challenges & experienced and confident in visualising and prototyping concepts fast to communicate ideas.
• Has a product mindset and is able to make pragmatic trade-offs while holding a bigger strategic goal in mind as well as having a solid understanding across other disciplines - Brand strategy, Business design, product ownership.
• A clear written and verbal communication style and a natural storyteller and presenter who can speak to a range of professionals from different backgrounds.
• Work with multidisciplinary teams on a range of products as the design authority on the project, often managing designers from a range of backgrounds.
• Advocate for the user at all times to drive value for our client businesses. These projects typically range from 6 weeks to a year and vary from early-stage opportunity discovery through to producing products that go into the market through to recommending changes to existing products and services.
• Work very closely with other designers, technologists, coaches and business partners to successfully deliver projects from kick-off through to delivery for our clients. You will own the design process, outputs and integrity of the project(s).
• Give and action feedback and input into all aspects of the design process.
• Advise on team resourcing for the projects you are working on.
• Support your line managers with career development, if you are asked to line manage people.
• Work with the team to develop prototypes, alphas, betas and live services.
• Regularly conduct testing with users, design the methodology for these and turn the output into intelligence.
• Carry out client-facing workshops and presentations and help develop accounts that you are working on.
• Work with the new business team on developing pitches.
• Be an expert who is continually learning about your field and help your colleagues improve their design practice.
• Participate in regular sprint ceremonies for your projects - daily stand-ups, show and tells, retrospectives, sprint planning etc.
• Contribute to progressing & improving our culture and ways of working - offering up new approaches.