Lead Designer, Operating System

Lead Designer, Experience Operating System

End Date:
Friday 16 January 2026

Salary Range: £76,194 - £89,640

Working Pattern:
Hybrid (at least two days per week at a UK office, 35 hours full time)

Location:

Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, Halifax or Edinburgh

Step into a career‑defining role as Lead Designer for our Experience Operating System (Cancara

OS). Your mission is to lead the development of Cancara

OS, powering quality experience we build. This role sits within the Design Delivery Practice and combines strategic leadership with hands‑on expertise. You’ll drive technical excellence, integration and adoption of enterprise‑grade design systems, while influencing strategy and connecting with customers across design, engineering, brand and beyond. You will be our key leader with vision on design tooling strategy, the use of AI in design and championing inclusive design to embed standard process.

• Bringing a product attitude: shape the roadmap and backlog priorities for design systems, language and content initiatives, ensuring alignment with strategic goals.
• Defining strategy and value: define objectives, articulate commercial value and measure impact to visibly demonstrate return on investment.
• Bringing technical expertise: lead the evolution of our enterprise‑grade design systems, ensuring robustness and scalability.
• Integrating cross‑functionally: shape and steer Cancara
  
  OS as a technical platform, aligning design, brand, engineering, personalisation and colleague experiences into a cohesive operating model.
• Developing people: manage and develop the Design Systems, Design Language and Content Design Leads, ensuring clarity of roles and collaboration across teams.
• Driving performance: foster a high‑performing, inclusive team culture that champions craft excellence and delivery impact.
• Getting hands‑on: act as a lead systems designer, contributing directly to component design, Figma libraries and technical documentation to set standards and exemplify procedure.
• Engaging customers: connect with the Design Leadership Team and non‑design collaborators to influence strategy and secure consensus, establishing contribution processes for product teams and external partners.
• Innovating and integrating AI: embed new technologies, including AI capabilities, into design workflows to enhance efficiency and scalability.

• Strategic problem solver with deep expertise in design systems and brand experience.
• Delivery‑focused, with experience in scaling systems and driving adoption.
• Proven experience in line management and leadership of senior design specialists.
• Hands‑on craft leadership in design systems, tooling and AI.
• Skilled in team member engagement and influencing at senior levels.
• Collaborative and visionary, able to unite teams behind shared goals.
• Data‑driven, able to measure and communicate impact and value.

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%.
• An annual performance related bonus.
• Share schemes including free shares.
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping.
• 30 days’ holiday, with bank holidays on top.
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies.

We are committed to building a workforce that reflects the diversity of the customers and communities we serve. We especially welcome applications from under‑represented groups and support reasonable adjustments. Join us to help Britain prosper and make a real difference.

For internal colleagues, please contact Vishal Kapoor for more information.

Want to do amazing work that makes a difference to millions of people? Join us on this exciting journey.