Head of Design

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Head of Design

Company: Orbital

Location: London, England, United Kingdom

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Design Leadership / Product Design

Date Posted: 2026-08-12

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and scale the design function within a rapidly growing B2B SaaS company focused on AI-powered legal tech for real estate transactions.

• Drive product strategy and user experience for an AI-native product, focusing on trust, explainability, and agentic UX for expert professional users.

• Collaborate closely with product, engineering, and legal teams to translate business objectives into impactful design solutions that enhance adoption, retention, and revenue.

• Build and mentor a high-performance design team, establishing clear ownership, standards, and a culture of craft, research, and rapid iteration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role of Head of Design at Orbital is positioned as a strategic leadership opportunity rather than a purely execution-focused design role. The emphasis is on influencing product and business strategy, building a team, and defining the AI-native design ethos for a complex B2B domain. This requires a candidate with strong commercial acumen and a proven ability to operate at the intersection of product, technology, and business outcomes.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Directly influence product strategy by participating in commercial, strategic, and product leadership conversations, bringing a design-first perspective.

• Set the design agenda and priorities based on product strategy, user insights, and business goals, focusing on areas like information architecture, interaction design, and AI interface patterns.

• Define and champion "AI-native design" principles at Orbital, addressing critical challenges such as user trust in AI outputs, presenting complex AI analysis, and managing agentic AI behavior for professional users.

• Lead user research initiatives to gather deep insights into expert professional user needs, pain points, and workflows within the real estate legal domain.

• Develop and evolve the company's design system to ensure consistency, improve team velocity, and support scalability across UK and US markets.

• Build, mentor, and manage a small, high-performing design team, fostering their professional growth and establishing clear responsibilities and development paths.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, product management, legal engineering, and AI teams to ensure seamless integration of design into the product development lifecycle.

• Pressure-test product decisions against user realities, identifying bottlenecks in information architecture, interaction patterns, or visual clarity.

• Ensure design practices align with business growth ambitions and the AI-first operating model of the company.

• Advocate for user-centered design principles and best practices across the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a proactive approach to design leadership. The Head of Design is expected to set the agenda rather than merely execute a predefined one, with a strong emphasis on defining the unique design challenges and opportunities presented by an AI-native product serving expert professional users. The role demands not only design craft but also strategic thinking, business acumen, and team-building expertise.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, or a related field is typically expected, though extensive equivalent professional experience will be considered.

Experience: Minimum of 10+ years of progressive experience in product design, with a significant portion spent in leadership roles at scaling B2B tech companies.

Required Skills:

• Senior-level Product Design Leadership: Demonstrable experience leading design functions within scaling B2B SaaS environments.

• AI-Native Product Design: Proven experience designing products where AI is a core component, not an add-on, with deep understanding of explainability, trust, agentic UX, and confidence signals.

• Expert Professional User Design: Expertise in designing for domain experts who possess deep knowledge in their field, requiring a nuanced approach that avoids condescension or oversimplification.

• Commercial Acumen: Strong understanding of how product design impacts business outcomes, including adoption, retention, and revenue. Ability to connect design decisions to business objectives.

• Design Strategy & Influence: Proven ability to translate product context and business goals into a cohesive design strategy and to influence product and business decisions at a leadership level.

• Team Scaling & Management: Experience scaling design teams through high-growth phases, understanding the necessary processes, structures, and leadership styles for each stage.

• Information Architecture & Interaction Design: Deep expertise in structuring complex information and designing intuitive, efficient user interactions.

• User Research: Proficiency in conducting user research to uncover user needs, validate design hypotheses, and inform product direction.

• Design Systems: Experience in building or significantly evolving design systems to enhance team velocity and ensure product consistency at scale.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with engineering, product, legal, and AI teams.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience within the legal tech, fintech, or compliance tech sectors, where precision and professional accountability are paramount.

• Direct experience navigating a Series B to Series C growth trajectory.

• Prior experience building a design function from an early-stage base rather than inheriting an established one.

• Experience building or significantly evolving a design system that demonstrably improved team velocity at scale.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements emphasize a blend of deep design craft, strategic leadership, and specific experience with AI and expert users. The "must-haves" clearly indicate a need for a seasoned leader capable of shaping both the product experience and the design organization itself within a high-growth, technically complex environment.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstration of AI-Native Product Design: Showcase case studies that clearly illustrate your approach to designing AI-powered products, highlighting challenges related to trust, explainability, and user control over AI outputs.

• Expert User Design Case Studies: Present examples of designing for sophisticated professional users, detailing how you balanced domain expertise with user-friendliness and efficiency.

• Design Leadership & Team Scaling: Include examples of how you've led design teams, scaled design functions, and implemented processes (e.g., design systems, research frameworks) to improve team velocity and output quality.

• Strategic Design & Business Impact: Showcase instances where your design leadership directly influenced product strategy, business decisions, or key metrics like adoption, retention, or revenue.

• Problem-Solving Approach: Detail your process for identifying design challenges, conducting research, iterating on solutions, and measuring success, particularly for complex B2B SaaS products.

Process Documentation:

• Design Strategy Formulation: Examples of how you have translated business objectives and product context into actionable design strategies and roadmaps.

• User Research Methodologies: Documentation of your approach to user research, including methods used, insights gained, and how those insights informed design decisions.

• Design System Development & Governance: Evidence of establishing or evolving design systems, including their architecture, documentation, and adoption strategies.

• Cross-functional Collaboration Frameworks: Descriptions of how you facilitate collaboration between design, product, engineering, and other departments to ensure alignment and efficient execution.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are geared towards demonstrating strategic impact and leadership, not just visual design output. Candidates must be prepared to articulate their thought process, leadership approach, and the tangible business outcomes of their design initiatives, especially concerning AI-driven products for professional users.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Head of Design role in London with 10+ years of experience, leading design at a Series B funded B2B SaaS company, the estimated base salary range is £90,000 - £130,000 per annum. This estimate accounts for the seniority, strategic impact, and leadership responsibilities of the role, as well as the cost of living and competitive landscape in London.

Benefits:

• Equity Options: Generous stock options in a fast-growing startup, offering potential for significant financial upside.

• Holiday Allowance: 25 days of annual leave plus all UK bank holidays, providing ample time for rest and rejuvenation.

• Personal Development Budget: A dedicated budget for professional development, including courses, conferences, workshops, and learning resources to support continuous skill enhancement.

• Subsidized Meals & Late Nights: Free lunch provided on Wednesdays and a Deliveroo budget for team members working late, fostering team cohesion and supporting demanding work periods.

• Cycle-to-Work Scheme: A government-backed initiative to encourage cycling by allowing salary sacrifice for bicycle purchases, promoting health and sustainability.

• Comprehensive Health & Well-being: While not explicitly detailed, companies of this stage typically offer competitive health insurance and other well-being programs.

• Team Events & Socials: Regular team off-sites, social events, and shared lunches contribute to a strong, collaborative company culture.

Working Hours: While the role is full-time, Orbital emphasizes flexibility. However, the hybrid model requires multiple days in the office per week for in-person collaboration. The standard working hours are approximately 40 per week, with an understanding that occasional flexibility may be needed to meet business demands.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on common compensation structures for senior design leadership roles in London's tech sector, particularly for startups that have secured significant funding (Series B). The benefits package is comprehensive, reflecting a commitment to employee well-being, professional growth, and a positive work environment. The hybrid expectation is clearly defined.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Orbital operates within the Legal Tech and PropTech (Property Technology) sectors, specifically focusing on AI solutions for commercial real estate law. This industry is characterized by high stakes, a need for precision, and the adoption of advanced technologies to streamline complex, often manual processes.

Company Size: Orbital is a scaling startup, having recently raised a $60m Series B. This suggests a company size likely in the range of 50-200 employees, characterized by rapid growth, evolving processes, and a dynamic, entrepreneurial environment.

Founded: Founded with a mission to modernize real estate transactions, Orbital's founding is driven by a deep understanding of the inefficiencies in current legal practices, aiming to leverage AI to bridge this gap. The company's early traction with leading firms like Goodwin and BCLP indicates a strong product-market fit and a commitment to quality.

Team Structure:

• The design team is currently small, consisting of three designers, with the Head of Design reporting directly to the CTO.

• Collaboration is highly cross-functional, involving close partnerships with engineering, product management, legal engineering, and AI specialists.

• The culture encourages ownership and impact from day one, with a fast-paced, iterative approach to product development. Methodology:

• AI-First Operating Model: The company's core strategy is built around AI, meaning design and development processes are fundamentally shaped by the capabilities and challenges of artificial intelligence.

• Data-Driven Iteration: A strong emphasis is placed on experimentation, rapid learning, and iterating quickly based on real user feedback and performance data.

• Focus on Professional Users: Design decisions are deeply informed by the needs of expert real estate legal professionals, requiring a focus on accuracy, trust, and efficiency.

Company Website: https://www.orbital.tech/

📝 Enhancement Note: Orbital is positioned as an innovative, well-funded startup addressing a significant pain point in a large, traditional industry. The culture is likely to be fast-paced, collaborative, and highly focused on product-led growth and technological innovation, particularly in AI. The Head of Design will be instrumental in shaping both the product experience and the design function within this context.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a senior leadership position, equivalent to a Director or VP level within a design organization. It is the highest-level design role within the company, responsible for defining the vision, strategy, and execution of all design initiatives. The scope includes not only product design but also team building, process development, and influencing company-wide product strategy.

Reporting Structure: The Head of Design reports directly to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). This close proximity to technology leadership underscores the strategic importance of design and its integration with engineering and product development. It also implies a collaborative relationship with other C-suite executives.

Operations Impact: The Head of Design will have a profound impact on Orbital's success by:

• Enhancing Product-Market Fit: Ensuring the product's user experience is intuitive, trustworthy, and highly effective for its target audience of legal professionals.

• Driving User Adoption & Retention: Creating a seamless and valuable user experience that encourages widespread adoption and long-term engagement.

• Shaping Brand Perception: Contributing to the company's reputation as a leader in AI-driven legal tech through superior design quality and innovation.

• Accelerating Growth: Directly influencing product strategy and execution to support the company's ambitious UK/US expansion and revenue goals.

• Building a High-Performing Team: Developing a design function that is a strategic asset to the company, capable of tackling complex challenges.

Growth Opportunities:

• Shape the Design Function: Opportunity to build and define the design team's structure, processes, and culture from a foundational stage.

• Strategic Influence: Direct involvement in high-level product and business strategy discussions, with the ability to significantly influence the company's direction.

• Pioneer AI-Native Design: Lead the charge in defining best practices and innovative solutions for AI-native products in a critical professional domain.

• Career Progression: Potential to grow into a VP of Design or Chief Product Officer role as the company scales, or to expand the design organization to encompass broader user experience functions.

• Industry Leadership: Become a recognized expert in designing for AI and professional users in the legal tech space.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a unique opportunity for a design leader to have a substantial impact on a rapidly scaling company within a niche but critical industry. The blend of strategic leadership, team building, and cutting-edge AI design challenges makes it a high-growth potential role for the right candidate.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Orbital operates with a hybrid work model, balancing the benefits of remote flexibility with the necessity of in-person collaboration for strategic and team-building purposes. The company has a physical office presence in London.

Office Location(s): The role is based in the company's London office. Specific details about the office amenities, accessibility, or neighborhood would need to be confirmed directly, but London locations typically offer excellent public transport links.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model emphasizes in-person days for strategic discussions, design critiques, team building, and fostering a strong company culture. Expect a dynamic environment where cross-functional teams regularly interact.

• Tools & Technology: As a tech-forward company, the workspace is expected to be equipped with modern tools and technology to support design and development workflows. This includes access to necessary software, hardware, and collaboration platforms.

• Team Interaction: The expectation of multiple days in the office per week facilitates direct interaction with engineering, product, and other design team members, crucial for brainstorming, problem-solving, and mentorship.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, with an estimated 40 working hours per week. While flexibility is valued, the hybrid model and the nature of a scaling startup mean that commitment and presence during key collaborative periods are important. The focus is on balancing autonomy with the need for team cohesion and project velocity.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid work environment at Orbital is designed to foster both focused individual work and robust team collaboration. The London office serves as a hub for this interaction, emphasizing that while remote work is accommodated, in-person presence is key for strategic alignment and team development.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your application, resume, and portfolio to assess alignment with the role's core requirements, particularly experience in AI-native design, B2B SaaS leadership, and team scaling.

• Hiring Manager Interview (CTO): A deep dive into your leadership philosophy, strategic thinking, experience with AI products, and vision for building and scaling a design function. This stage will likely involve discussing your approach to influencing product strategy and business outcomes.

• Portfolio Presentation & Case Study Review: You will be asked to present specific case studies from your portfolio, demonstrating your process, problem-solving skills, and the impact of your design work. This is where you'll articulate how you've tackled complex design challenges, especially those related to AI and expert users.

• Team Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders, potentially including engineering leads, product managers, and existing design team members. This assesses your collaboration style, cultural fit, and ability to integrate into the existing team.

• Final Round / Executive Interview: Potentially with the CEO or other senior leaders to discuss strategic alignment, long-term vision, and overall fit with Orbital's mission and culture.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Prioritize case studies that clearly demonstrate the business impact and user value of your design work. Quantify results wherever possible (e.g., increased adoption, improved efficiency, reduced errors).

• Showcase AI & Expert User Experience: Dedicate sections of your portfolio to your experience designing AI-native products and products for expert professional users. Detail the unique challenges and your innovative solutions.

• Highlight Leadership & Strategy: Include examples of how you've led teams, scaled design processes, and influenced product strategy. Articulate your leadership philosophy and your approach to building and mentoring design talent.

• Explain Your Process: Clearly articulate your design process, from problem definition and research to ideation, iteration, and implementation. Emphasize your strategic thinking and how you make trade-offs.

• Tailor to Orbital: Research Orbital's product, mission, and target audience thoroughly. Frame your case studies to highlight how your experience and skills directly address their specific challenges and opportunities.

Challenge Preparation:

• AI Design Scenarios: Be prepared to discuss hypothetical scenarios related to designing for AI trust, explainability, and agentic behavior in a legal context.

• Product Strategy Discussion: Think about how you would approach setting the design agenda for Orbital, given their product strategy and AI-first model. Consider how you'd identify key design challenges and opportunities.

• Team Scaling Scenarios: Prepare to discuss your approach to growing a design team, hiring talent, establishing processes, and fostering a strong design culture in a high-growth environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to evaluate not just design skills but also strategic leadership, AI product experience, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, scaling startup. A well-curated portfolio that highlights relevant case studies and a clear articulation of leadership philosophy will be crucial.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma is the industry standard for collaborative design and prototyping in B2B SaaS companies. It's highly likely Orbital uses Figma for UI/UX design, wireframing, and creating interactive prototypes.

• Design Systems: Tools for managing and scaling design systems, which could include Figma's component features, Storybook (for code-based components), or dedicated design system management platforms.

• User Research Platforms: Tools for conducting user interviews, usability testing, and surveys. This could range from video conferencing tools (Zoom, Google Meet) integrated with note-taking apps to specialized platforms like UserTesting.com, Lookback, or Maze.

• Project Management & Collaboration: Tools like Jira, Asana, Trello, or Monday.com are common for managing design tasks, tracking progress, and collaborating with engineering and product teams. Slack is almost certainly used for day-to-day communication.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Tools such as Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Pendo are essential for understanding user behavior within the product, tracking feature adoption, and identifying areas for improvement.

• Data Visualization/BI Tools: While not directly owned by design, familiarity with tools like Tableau, Power BI, or Looker (now part of Google Cloud) might be beneficial for understanding data insights that inform design decisions.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Salesforce or HubSpot are common in B2B SaaS for managing customer interactions and sales pipelines. Design may interact with or inform features related to customer onboarding or support.

• Internal Documentation: Confluence or Notion are likely used for documenting design processes, research findings, and team knowledge.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the specific stack isn't detailed, the role implies proficiency in modern design tools, a strong understanding of user analytics for data-informed design, and the ability to collaborate effectively within a technology-driven environment. Figma is a near-certainty for design and prototyping.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• AI-First & Innovation: A core value is leveraging AI to revolutionize real estate transactions, encouraging a culture of experimentation and pushing technological boundaries.

• Precision & Trust: Given the legal domain, there's an inherent value placed on accuracy, reliability, and building deep trust with professional users. Design must reflect this by being meticulous and transparent.

• User-Centricity for Experts: The company values understanding and serving the unique needs of expert professional users, designing solutions that empower them rather than oversimplify their complex work.

• Collaboration & Ownership: A strong emphasis on teamwork, cross-functional collaboration, and individual ownership, encouraging proactive contributions and shared responsibility for success.

• Speed & Iteration: A culture that embraces rapid learning, quick iteration cycles, and adapting based on real-world feedback to drive continuous improvement.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Design is not siloed; it's deeply integrated into product, engineering, and legal discussions from the outset. Collaboration is expected to be proactive and strategic.

• Open Feedback Loops: A culture that encourages constructive feedback, open dialogue, and continuous improvement through regular design critiques and cross-team reviews.

• Knowledge Sharing: Practices that promote sharing insights, best practices, and learnings across teams, especially concerning AI design challenges and user research findings.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture at Orbital appears to be a blend of a fast-paced startup environment with the rigor and precision required by its target industry. Values are strongly tied to innovation, user trust, and collaborative execution, particularly in the context of AI product development.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building Trust in AI: The primary design challenge is translating AI outputs into something real estate lawyers can fully trust and stake their professional reputation on. This requires innovative approaches to explainability, confidence signals, and user control.

• Designing for Expert Users: Adeptly designing for highly knowledgeable professionals without oversimplifying or patronizing them, ensuring the tool enhances their expertise rather than replacing it.

• Scaling the Design Function: Growing the design team from a small unit to a robust, high-performing function that can support rapid product expansion and innovation, while maintaining quality and consistency.

• Translating Product Context to Design Strategy: The absence of a predefined design backlog requires the Head of Design to proactively define the design agenda based on broader product and business goals, a significant strategic undertaking.

• Balancing Innovation with Professional Rigor: Ensuring that cutting-edge AI features are implemented in a way that meets the stringent demands for accuracy and accountability in legal practice.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI Design Specialization: Deepen expertise in designing for AI, including areas like generative AI interfaces, human-AI collaboration, and ethical AI design considerations.

• Legal Tech Domain Expertise: Gain profound knowledge of commercial real estate law and the specific workflows and pain points of legal professionals.

• Leadership & Team Building: Develop advanced skills in scaling and managing design teams, fostering talent, and building a strong design culture in a high-growth startup.

• Product Strategy & Business Acumen: Enhance strategic thinking and business impact by working closely with executive leadership on company-wide goals.

• Industry Exposure: Potential to attend industry conferences, engage with legal tech communities, and become a thought leader in AI-driven legal solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are significant and directly related to the unique nature of Orbital's product and market. These challenges also present substantial growth opportunities for a leader looking to make a tangible impact and develop expertise in a cutting-edge field.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach setting the design agenda for Orbital, given our AI-first product strategy and focus on expert professional users, without a predefined design backlog?" (Focus: Strategic thinking, prioritization, proactive leadership)

• "Describe your experience designing for AI-native products. What were the key challenges you faced regarding trust, explainability, or agentic UX, and how did you address them?" (Focus: AI design expertise, problem-solving, real-world experience)

• "How do you ensure a design function scales effectively during high-growth phases, and what are the critical processes or structures you implement to maintain quality and velocity?" (Focus: Team scaling, process implementation, leadership) Company & Culture Questions:

• "How would you foster a culture of innovation and rapid iteration within the design team while maintaining the precision and trust required for legal tech?" (Focus: Cultural alignment, balancing competing priorities)

• "What is your approach to collaborating with engineering, product, and legal teams to ensure design is integrated effectively into the product development lifecycle?" (Focus: Cross-functional collaboration, communication style)

• "How do you measure the impact of design on business outcomes like adoption, retention, and revenue, especially in a B2B SaaS context?" (Focus: Data-driven design, business acumen, ROI articulation) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: For each case study, clearly outline the problem, your role and responsibilities, the process you followed, the solutions you designed, and the resulting impact (quantified if possible).

• AI & Expert User Focus: Ensure at least one case study heavily features your experience with AI-native products or designing for expert professional users. Detail the specific challenges and your innovative solutions.

• Leadership & Strategy: If possible, include a case study that demonstrates your leadership in driving design strategy or scaling a design team.

• Visual Storytelling: Use clear visuals (mockups, prototypes, user flows) to illustrate your design thinking and solutions. Explain your design decisions verbally, focusing on the 'why' behind them.

• Orbital Relevance: Connect your experiences and case studies back to Orbital's mission, product, and challenges. Show how your skills are directly applicable to their needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic leadership, deep understanding of AI design challenges for expert users, and a proven ability to scale design functions within a fast-paced environment. The portfolio is a critical tool for showcasing this experience.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Head of Design position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby, ensuring to include your resume and a link to your online portfolio.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight case studies demonstrating your experience with AI-native products, designing for expert professional users, and scaling design functions in B2B SaaS environments. Emphasize strategic impact and leadership.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your leadership experience, years of relevant design and management experience, and specific achievements related to product strategy, AI design, and team growth. Use keywords from the job description.

• Interview Preparation: Thoroughly research Orbital, its product, and its mission. Prepare to discuss your leadership philosophy, design strategy, and how you would tackle the unique challenges of designing AI-native products for legal professionals. Practice presenting your portfolio case studies.

• Company Research: Understand Orbital's market position, competitors, and recent funding rounds. Be ready to articulate your vision for the design function and how it will contribute to the company's ambitious growth plans.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.