CX Design Lead

Job title CX Design Lead  Division Retail Location Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB
, Hybrid - Walnut Court - SN2 8BN
Contract type Permanent Full/Part-time Full-time Salary Offering between £62,650 - £70,000 per annum dependent on experience plus car allowance, bonus and healthcare Job grade C Closing date 05/12/2025

Bring your leadership and vision to Thames Water!
Are you a brilliant people leader who can inspire a team of specialists and lead them through a strategy of vision and design excellence? We’re looking for someone who thrives in complex, large-scale organisations—especially those with significant web footprints and a strong focus on customer service. If you’re ready to champion design thinking and elevate digital experiences, this is your opportunity to make a real impact.

• Team Leadership and Development: Lead and nurture a high-performing team of product designers specialising in both UX and UI. Your leadership will ensure that team members are motivated, supported, and empowered to deliver their best work.
• Design Vision and Strategy: Setting and clearly communicating a compelling design vision and strategy will be central to your position. You will ensure alignment across the team, fostering a shared understanding of design objectives and long-term goals.
• Shape the Content Vision: Define and drive a clear, customer-centric content strategy - aligning tone, structure, and messaging with business goals, championing best practices, and ensuring every piece of content delivers measurable impact.
• Best Practice and Tools: Drive the adoption of design best practices, championing the use of industry-standard tools and methodologies such as Figma, prototyping, user research, and heat mapping. You will promote processes that support excellence and consistency in design outcomes.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborating with content, product, and development teams to deliver seamless, integrated experiences
• Championing Customer-Centric Design: Championing customer-centric design in a utility or service-driven environment
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Your responsibilities will include leveraging analytics, customer feedback, and usability testing to inform and validate design decisions. This approach ensures that all enhancements are evidence-based and focused on delivering measurable improvements to the user experience.

Location: Hybrid/Reading (minimum one day in the office per week, with flexibility to attend additional days as required for team meetings, projects, or during onboarding)

Working pattern or hours: 36 hours per week (Monday to Friday)

• Demonstrated ability to inspire, empower, and motivate teams through effective leadership and people management.
• Extensive experience leading design teams within large, complex organisations, particularly in sectors such as utilities, telecommunications, banking, or other customer-focused industries.
• Proven capability to navigate and address the unique challenges of organisations with substantial web and digital operations.
• A track record of establishing, articulating, and delivering a strategic vision that drives design excellence.
• Strong advocate for the adoption of essential design tools—including Figma, prototyping, user research, and heat mapping—by supporting and nurturing team expertise, even without being a technical specialist.
• Confident and persuasive communicator, able to build relationships, engage stakeholders at all levels, and deliver compelling presentations to senior audiences.
• Skilled in developing and leading high-performing teams, fostering a culture of innovation and driving positive change within the organisation.
• Experience in inspiring continuous improvement and innovation across design operations.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, enabling effective collaboration and influence with colleagues and stakeholders at every level.

• Competitive salary from £62,650 - £70,000 per annum
• 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company…