UX Designer

In brief

Some wait for the future. We design it. Do you like looking at a problem from every angle? Do you enjoy pulling apart the pieces of a bigger picture and putting them back together - experimenting with solutions and new concepts as you go? We’re looking for someone who loves ambiguity & thrives on painting a picture of the future that helps others see what is possible. Someone with experience building delightful, user friendly, engaging experiences, thinking about the whole user journey together with cross functional teams. This role suits someone hands-on, a few years into their career, with some experience using design facilitation skills to create a safe space for great collaborative design to happen.

We value colleagues who have learned as much from failures as from successes and are humble enough to share their learnings without reservations. People who think deeply and have a point of view on everything from workshops to prototypes to work-life balance but are also able to listen to and encourage others to make their own contributions. As you grow with us, you will have real scope to shape your own role within the team.

Our design team is a wonderful mix of researchers, UI, UX and service designers working together with developers to create unique experiences that solve people’s real problems. This is a fast-expanding team within a more established agency, where you’d have the rare opportunity to follow your work across both ends of the design diamond. Unlike most agencies, we don’t stop at innovation, proof-of-concept and early-stage engagements - we have the cross functional teams to deliver the amazing experiences we conceive. We work very closely with our clients in intense, user-focused, prototype driven sprints that grow into long-term relationships.

We don’t just design. We have impact.

So - does this sound like you?

Experience and qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience working as a Product, Service or UX designer within an agency, design studio, gov or in-house product environment
• Knowledge of and experience of applying design thinking methodology
• A portfolio of discovery to concept prototypes
• Experience contributing to the planning and facilitation of workshops
• A strategic mindset - you see the bigger picture where others see a single feature
• Can articulate the thinking behind your design decisions, showing impact over artefacts
• Experience working within cross-functional teams
• Understanding of how to align and prioritise business need with user needs
• Awesome hands-on skills producing prototypes and design artefacts - sketches, story-boards, user journeys, system maps, blueprints, etc
• Creativity around methodology - you know there’s no one single “right way!”
• Ability and willingness to carry out qualitative research & user testing, solo or with team
• Comfortable helping scope projects - defining artefacts and milestones
• Work as one with the team to build consensus with senior stakeholders - turning constraints into advantage
• A big plus: experience using, experimenting with or designing solutions with AI

About Softwire

Softwire is a leading UK technology and strategy consultancy. From enterprise to government, we help visionary organisations turn strategic ambitions into results at scale. Our practices cover AI transformation, data platforms, systems engineering advanced CX and experience design.

Softwire was founded on one simple idea: be the outstanding place to work for smart, passionate technologists who want to make an impact. Attract the best, create a culture where people thrive, and offer our customers access to capabilities that are truly market leading.

And it seems to be working - We were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards; we employ outstanding people across all capabilities (typical destinations after Softwire include Google, DeepMind, start-up founder, algorithmic trading, and AI research roles); and we have helped our clients deliver some of the hardest, most interesting tech programmes, across private and public sectors.

A big part of this is our culture and values and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:

• That if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly
• That work should be fulfilling but can also be fun
• That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike
• That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules

What We Offer

Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance

• Base salary is based on experience in role and ranges from £58,100 - £65,600
• You can expect to receive an average of £6,500 in profit share depending on your experience and company performance
• Pension: Additional 5% of salary

Additional benefits

• 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy 10 and sell 5)
• 3.5 days additional days off for company-wide morale activities
• AIG income protection
• Travel card loan scheme
• Zero emission car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Enhanced maternity/paternity pay
• Time off for charitable activities
• Sabbatical available on request
• Payroll charity donations
• Headspace plus
• Free annual eye test
• Long service awards
• Flexible working options and patterns (Flexible Working: The role is suitable for people who want to work 4dpw)
• (Hybrid Working: Generally able to work at least 2dpw from home)

Working at Softwire

Here at Softwire, we are always on the lookout for talented individuals to join our team. You’ll work with the industry’s smartest people and collaborate on leading-edge projects in a relaxed and informal atmosphere, refreshingly free of bureaucracy.