Head of User Experience

About the opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Head of User Experience to define and lead the end-to-end customer experience for a growing financial technology business.

This is an opportunity to shape how businesses and individuals interact with a suite of digital payment products, from initial discovery and onboarding through to activation, everyday usage and ongoing support.

A central focus of the role will be the development of AI-native customer experiences. We are looking for a leader who goes beyond using AI to improve design productivity and can define how AI should fundamentally improve the way customers discover, access and use financial services.

You will establish UX as a strategic discipline within the organisation, combining hands-on design leadership with customer research, product strategy, cross-functional collaboration and measurable business impact.

The role

As Head of User Experience, you will own the experience vision across multiple products, customer groups and digital touchpoints. You will work closely with Product, Engineering, Data, AI, Compliance, Customer Service and Marketing to deliver intuitive, accessible and trustworthy experiences.

Initially, this will be a hands-on leadership position, with the opportunity to build and grow the UX function as the business develops.

Key responsibilities

End-to-end experience strategy

• Define and lead a coherent customer experience across the full lifecycle, from discovery and ordering through onboarding, verification, activation, usage and support.

• Map customer journeys, identify friction points and establish a prioritised programme of experience improvements.

• Ensure that the needs of both business customers and end users are reflected in product decisions.

• Align digital product experiences with brand, communications and relevant physical or offline touchpoints.

AI-native product experiences

• Identify opportunities to use AI to simplify customer journeys and deliver more personalised, proactive and intuitive experiences.

• Design and ship AI-powered experiences, including conversational interfaces, intelligent assistants and guided onboarding.

• Establish principles for AI behaviour, including transparency, tone of voice, user control, escalation and human intervention.

• Work with AI, Data and Engineering teams to define and measure the quality, reliability and effectiveness of AI-powered features.

• Design for uncertainty, failure and edge cases to ensure customers remain informed and in control.

Customer research and insight

• Build a continuous customer research practice involving business customers and end users.

• Conduct interviews, usability testing and research with customers who abandon or struggle with key journeys.

• Translate qualitative and quantitative insights into actionable recommendations for product strategy and prioritisation.

• Develop evidence-based customer segments and journey models to inform product development.

Conversion and business impact

• Improve onboarding and verification completion rates while reducing the time and effort required to get started.

• Increase activation and first-use rates.

• Reduce avoidable support contacts by improving product usability and self-service.

• Establish experience metrics and use analytics, experimentation and customer feedback to measure progress.

• Communicate the commercial impact of UX initiatives to product leadership and senior stakeholders.

Design standards and accessibility

• Establish and maintain the design system, UX standards, content principles and research repository.

• Embed accessibility and inclusive design into the product development process.

• Ensure experiences meet applicable accessibility requirements and accommodate users with different needs, abilities and levels of digital confidence.

• Support localisation and consistent experiences across multiple markets.

Leadership and collaboration

• Establish UX as a recognised and influential discipline within the organisation.

• Partner with Product Managers to shape roadmaps using customer evidence and experience metrics.

• Collaborate closely with Engineering to prototype, validate and deliver solutions at pace.

• Work with Compliance, Legal, Risk and Data Protection teams to balance usability with regulatory obligations.

• Present experience strategy, research findings and investment priorities to senior leadership.

• Develop the foundations for a growing UX team, including research practices, tools, standards and ways of working.

About you

You are an experienced UX or product design leader who combines strategic thinking with strong practical execution. You are comfortable operating in a growing business where processes are still developing and where success depends on influence, collaboration and measurable results.

You are passionate about understanding customer behaviour, simplifying complex experiences and exploring how AI can create genuinely better products.

Essential experience

• At least eight years of experience in UX, product design or user research, including two or more years leading UX across a product or customer journey.

• Proven experience owning end-to-end customer experiences across multiple products, channels or audiences.

• Experience designing and shipping AI-powered customer experiences, such as conversational interfaces, assistants, agents or personalised interactions.

• A track record of influencing product and business decisions through customer research, analytics and evidence.

• Strong customer research skills, including interviewing users, conducting usability testing and investigating journey abandonment.

• Experience using product analytics, conversion funnels and experimentation to evaluate outcomes.

• Confidence presenting to senior stakeholders and connecting design decisions to business objectives.

• Strong knowledge of accessibility and inclusive design, with experience applying relevant standards in shipped products.

• Excellent communication and writing skills.

Desirable experience

• Experience in financial technology, payments or another regulated industry.

• Familiarity with identity verification, business verification, onboarding or other compliance-sensitive journeys.

• Experience designing AI experiences where trust, transparency and user control are essential.

• Prototyping in working code using AI-assisted development tools.

• Experience with B2B and B2B2C products, particularly where the purchaser and end user are different audiences.

• Experience with mobile applications, card activation or digital wallet journeys.

• Experience designing for international markets and multiple languages.

• Experience establishing or scaling a UX function and recruiting design talent.

• A background in behavioural science or psychology.

We recognise that candidates bring different combinations of experience. If you meet most of the essential criteria and are excited by the opportunity, we encourage you to apply.

What success looks like

In the first 90 days, you will:

• Map the end-to-end journeys for business customers and end users.

• Speak with customers who have successfully completed journeys and those who have abandoned them.

• Establish a clear baseline of experience performance.

• Agree on the three highest-priority customer experience challenges with the VP Product.

Within the first year, you will:

• Deliver measurable improvements in onboarding, verification, activation and first use.

• Reduce avoidable customer support demand across redesigned journeys.

• Improve customer satisfaction and the consistency of the overall experience.

• Launch at least one AI-powered customer experience with clearly defined measures of quality and trust.

• Establish the research, design and accessibility standards needed to support future growth.

• Build a clear case for investment in the future development of the UX function.

What the opportunity offers

• Ownership of the customer experience across a growing digital financial services business.

• The opportunity to define and shape an AI-native product experience strategy.

• Direct collaboration with senior product leadership and cross-functional teams.

• The opportunity to establish UX practices and build a team over time.

• Access to research resources, design tools and opportunities for experimentation.

• A competitive remuneration package, benefits and flexible hybrid working.

The recruitment process

The selection process is expected to include:

An introductory conversation with the recruitment team.

An interview with the VP Product focused on experience, leadership and product strategy.

A portfolio presentation covering two projects, including at least one AI-powered experience.

A collaborative working session with cross-functional stakeholders.

A final discussion with senior leadership.

We are committed to an inclusive recruitment process and welcome applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Adjustments are available throughout the hiring process.

To apply: Please submit your CV and a portfolio or summary of relevant work demonstrating your experience in UX leadership, end-to-end product design and AI-powered customer experiences.