Head of Barclays UK Design - Fixed Term Contract - External / Secondment - Internal

We’re looking for a bold, strategic and customer-obsessed Design Director to lead our team of Product and Service Designers, transforming the way people experience banking every day. In this role, you’ll create the space for design to drive innovation and commercial growth. You’ll lead the direction on how we craft products and services that are not only beautifully designed but make a real impact – for our customers, colleagues, communities and our business.

Key Criteria:

• Lead and inspire a high-performing team of product and service designers, working across digital products, customer journeys and end-to-end service experiences.
• Partner closely with business, product, technology, marketing and CX leaders to shape experiences that are loved by customers and drive measurable results; embedding design as a core lever of value creation, differentiation and growth.
• Drive holistic design thinking and champion service design and systems thinking to improve customer engagement and satisfaction. Ensure design is a key enabler of innovation, customer loyalty, brand value and business growth.
• Responsible for driving the commercial impact of design through the bank’s journeys, services and digital channels; elevate Design as a strategic lever, building trust advocacy across executive and cross-functional teams.
• Define and articulate the design strategy for product and service innovation within the broader context of Business objectives and Agile delivery framework.
• Set high-standards for design excellence, defining standards that drive the commercial value of design with a foundational focus on usability, inclusivity, brand compliance and regulatory adherence.
• Define design operating models, resource planning and quality governance to support scalable design excellence and efficiencies in practice. Embed the use of design systems, tools and frameworks to ensure consistency, quality and scalability.
• Partner with Group Brand & Experience teams, to ensure connectivity and strengthened practice between BUK and wider areas of the organisation.
• Build, inspire and lead a high performing design team with a strong culture of curiosity, innovation, inclusivity and continual learning.
• Influence the strategic development of new propositions and services through design-led thinking.
• Bring together marketing insights and CX insights to ensure design solutions and delivery are highly relevant and resonate with target customer segments.
• Promote design thinking culture across the bank through training and best practice sharing.
• Design talent development, retention of design team talent growth and engagement.
• 10yrs+ in Experience Design with at least 5 years in leadership.
• Proven track record of delivering innovative customer experiences at scale, influencing through enterprise leadership
• Deep understanding of human centred design, behavioural insights, market analysis, agile methodologies, and customer research practice.
• Strong portfolio showcasing strategic thinking, communication skills and influence at senior levels.
• Understanding of brand strategy and marketing, and business transformation in large organisations.
• Exceptional stakeholder management. Has worked in or with complex regulated environments like banking, insurance or health sectors.

Accountabilities

• Need identification and distillation to support the creation of balanced business cases which factor in customer appeal and feasibility and drive positive customer outcomes.
• Delivery of high-quality insight and design outputs across all practice disciplines, any project budgets allocated to Insights and Design, including the management of budget related to research or design agencies or the use of a contingent workforce.
• Problem statement facilitation and prioritisation across the business areas, lead solution discovery, co-ordinate solution/service designs taking accountability for solution integrity across Barclays.
• Evaluation of programme or product risks to mitigate potential risks through iterative design and testing ahead of customer launch. Building a culture that understands the value of customer-focused, human-centric design.
• Customer research, listening, testing and market scanning processes within specific business areas. Monitor market trends including competitor insights and wider macro trends. Incorporate colleague feedback into investigations into service provision. Test designs and experience through prototypes with target customers and colleagues to identify areas for improvement to refine products or service experiences before launch. Enabling identified areas for improvement to be translated into clear customer and commercial benefits.
• Implementation of agile ways of working within teams, enabling greater efficiency across the business and technology.
• Delivering of accurate insight on core CX outcomes and building stronger awareness and engagement around critical customer metrics, enabling the business to better identify new opportunities, amplify existing plans and identify potential risks. Promotes and builds a stronger customer experience culture with stakeholders.

Director Expectations

• To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..
• They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.
• Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
• Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
• Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.
• Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.