Lead Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Lead Designer Company: Inpay Location: Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark Job Type: Full-time Category: Design Leadership / Product Design Operations Date Posted: September 17, 2025 Experience Level: 5-10 Years

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the strategic direction and implementation of product design for Inpay, acting as the crucial link between commercial, product, and development teams.
• Own and advance the Inpay Design System within Figma, establishing it as the definitive source of truth and setting scalable design standards across all products and teams.
• Build and nurture a high-performing internal design team, fostering a strong product design culture and upholding Inpay's core values through effective mentorship and craft standards.
• Champion user-centered design principles and integrate design seamlessly into agile development workflows, ensuring repeatable excellence through well-defined processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is pivotal in transforming Inpay's design function. It requires a blend of hands-on design leadership, strategic vision, and the ability to build and scale a design operation within a growth-stage fintech environment. The emphasis on owning the design system and cross-functional partnership indicates a need for strong process ownership and communication skills.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design System Leadership: Own, evolve, and maintain the Inpay Design System in Figma, ensuring it serves as the single source of truth for all design assets and patterns.
• Design Standards & Scalability: Establish and enforce design standards that promote consistency, scalability, and efficiency across Inpay's product portfolio.
• Systematic Design Processes: Develop and implement systematic approaches for component libraries, design tokens, documentation, and design handoffs to engineering.
• Product Design Strategy: Define and articulate the product design strategy, ensuring alignment with overarching business objectives, market needs, and customer insights.
• User Experience Transformation: Translate strategic vision and customer needs into exceptional, user-centered product experiences.
• Design Team Building & Mentorship: Recruit, build, and lead an internal design team, fostering a culture of design excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Design Craft & Quality: Mentor designers on the team, elevate design craft standards, and ensure the quality and consistency of design outputs.
• Cross-functional Integration: Serve as the primary design representative in leadership discussions, bridging communication gaps between commercial, product, and engineering teams.
• Process Implementation: Create and embed repeatable design processes that ensure seamless integration with agile development workflows and establish effective design review cycles.
• Commercial Impact: Understand business metrics and demonstrate how strategic design decisions contribute to commercial outcomes and revenue growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a need for a leader who can not only execute design but also operationalize it. This includes defining processes for design system maintenance, cross-functional collaboration, and team management, all crucial for scaling design operations in a growing company.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, HCI, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. Experience: 5+ years of progressive design experience with a strong focus on B2B and/or fintech products, demonstrating a proven track record of scaling design operations in growth-stage companies.

Required Skills:

• Figma Proficiency: Expert-level proficiency in Figma, including advanced features for design system management, component creation, and prototyping.
• Design System Expertise: Deep understanding and practical experience in building, scaling, and maintaining comprehensive design systems.
• B2B/Fintech Product Design: Proven experience designing for complex B2B environments, ideally within the fintech or payments sector.
• Design Operations: Demonstrated ability to scale design operations, implement design standards, and create systematic design processes.
• Agile Development: Experience working within agile development methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and managing design handoffs to engineering teams.
• Jira & Workflow Tools: Familiarity with Jira and other development workflow tools for task management and collaboration.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Experience in building, managing, and mentoring design teams of 3 or more designers.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Exceptional ability to partner effectively with product managers, engineers, and commercial stakeholders, influencing without authority.
• Communication & Presentation: Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate design strategy, present to executives, and collaborate effectively across departments.
• User-Centered Design: Commitment to user-centered design principles and a strong understanding of user research methodologies.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to connect design initiatives to business goals and commercial outcomes.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with design tokens and theming systems.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards and best practices.
• Familiarity with A/B testing and user feedback loops for design iteration.
• Experience in a high-growth startup or scale-up environment.
• Understanding of payment processing or cross-border financial services.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 5+ years of experience, specifically mentioning scaling design operations and B2B/fintech focus, indicates a mid-to-senior level role with significant ownership. The emphasis on Figma, design systems, and agile workflows points to a need for a hands-on leader who understands modern product development environments.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Maturity: Showcase a well-developed design system, detailing its structure, governance, component library, and evolution over time.
• Systematic Thinking: Provide examples demonstrating systematic approaches to design challenges, including the creation of reusable components, design tokens, and documentation.
• Strategic Design Impact: Present case studies that clearly articulate the strategic thinking behind design decisions and their measurable impact on user experience and business outcomes.
• Process Improvement: Include examples of how you've improved design processes, team workflows, or collaboration with engineering.
• B2B/Fintech Focus: Highlight projects relevant to B2B or fintech products, demonstrating an understanding of these specific user needs and business contexts.

Process Documentation:

• Design System Governance: Detail your approach to managing and evolving design systems, including version control, contribution guidelines, and communication strategies.
• Workflow Design: Illustrate your process for translating product requirements into user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity designs, including collaboration points.
• Design Handoff: Demonstrate your process for effective design handoffs to engineering teams, ensuring clarity and efficiency.
• Design Reviews: Outline your methodology for conducting design reviews, providing feedback, and ensuring adherence to design standards.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements emphasize not just visual design but also the operational aspects of design: system thinking, process implementation, and measurable impact. Candidates should be prepared to discuss the "how" and "why" behind their design system and process choices, not just the final output.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Given the Lead Designer title, 5-10 years of experience, and a Copenhagen location (a high-cost-of-living city in Northern Europe), a competitive salary range would likely be between DKK 550,000 - DKK 800,000 annually. This range is based on industry benchmarks for senior design leadership roles in major European tech hubs, considering Inpay's focus on fintech and its growth trajectory.

Benefits:

• Strategic Impact Role: Opportunity to shape design culture and strategy at a transforming company.
• Growth & Development: Direct impact on product and business outcomes, with potential for career advancement and leadership growth.
• Competitive Package: Remuneration reflecting the strategic importance and leadership scope of the role.
• Copenhagen Office Environment: Work in a vibrant, central Copenhagen office.
• International Growth Trajectory: Be part of a company with global ambitions.
• Comprehensive Health & Wellness: Likely includes health insurance, possibly mental health support, and wellness programs common in Nordic tech companies.
• Pension Contributions: Standard Danish employment practice includes employer contributions to a pension fund.
• Generous Paid Time Off: Competitive vacation days and public holidays.
• Professional Development: Budget for conferences, training, and skill enhancement relevant to design and leadership.

Working Hours: While not explicitly stated, a full-time role in Denmark typically involves around 37-40 hours per week. There might be an expectation of flexibility to meet project deadlines and leadership responsibilities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is a projection based on typical compensation for similar roles in Copenhagen. Specifics will depend on Inpay's compensation philosophy and the candidate's exact experience and negotiation. The benefits package is inferred from standard offerings in the Danish tech sector and the emphasis on strategic impact.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Cross-border Payments / Fintech. Inpay operates in a dynamic and highly regulated financial technology sector, emphasizing security, compliance, and efficiency in global money movement. Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the role is described as building a design team and scaling design operations, suggesting Inpay is likely in a growth or scale-up phase, potentially ranging from 50-250 employees. This implies a dynamic environment with evolving processes. Founded: 2008. Inpay has a history of over 15 years, indicating stability and established market presence, now undergoing a transformation where design leadership is being centralized.

Team Structure:

• The Lead Designer will likely report into a Head of Product, CTO, or a similar executive role, given their position in leadership discussions.
• This role is responsible for building and leading an internal design team, suggesting the current team may be small or non-existent, requiring the Lead Designer to establish structure and processes.
• Close collaboration is expected with Product Managers, Engineering teams, and Commercial/Sales teams, requiring strong cross-functional partnership skills.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: The company values understanding business metrics and commercial outcomes, implying a data-informed approach to design decisions.
• Agile Development: Integration with agile development processes is a key requirement, suggesting a fast-paced, iterative product development environment.
• Process Optimization: The role is centered around creating repeatable processes and scaling design operations, indicating a continuous improvement mindset.
• User-Centricity: A core value is "Customer First," reinforcing the importance of user needs in all design and product decisions.

Company Website: https://www.inpay.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Inpay's industry and founding date suggest a company that has matured beyond a startup but is now focusing on strategic growth and transformation, making this a potentially exciting time to join and influence its direction. The company values emphasize a proactive, results-oriented, and collaborative approach.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a senior leadership role, positioned as a "Lead Designer." It signifies a move from individual contribution to strategic oversight, team building, and process ownership within the design function. The role is expected to set direction and build a function from the ground up, indicating significant autonomy and impact. Reporting Structure: The Lead Designer will likely report to a senior executive (e.g., Head of Product, Chief Product Officer, or CTO) and will be responsible for building and managing a team of designers. This structure places the role at a key intersection of product strategy and execution. Operations Impact: This role has a direct and significant impact on Inpay's ability to deliver user-friendly, efficient, and scalable products. By owning the design system and processes, the Lead Designer will influence product quality, development velocity, and ultimately, customer adoption and satisfaction, which ties directly to revenue and business growth.

Growth Opportunities:

• Build and Scale a Design Function: The primary growth opportunity is to establish and grow Inpay's internal design team and mature its design operations.
• Define Design Strategy: Opportunity to shape the long-term product design vision and strategy for a growing fintech company.
• Leadership Development: Develop leadership skills in team management, strategic planning, and cross-functional influence.
• Industry Expertise: Deepen expertise in B2B fintech product design and design system management.
• Executive Visibility: Gain significant visibility and influence within the company leadership team through strategic contributions.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a substantial opportunity for an experienced designer to build a function, develop leadership capabilities, and make a tangible impact on a company's trajectory in a competitive industry. The "build from the ground up" aspect is a significant growth driver.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The company mentions a "Copenhagen office environment," suggesting a physical office is the primary work location. Given the emphasis on leadership and team building, a collaborative office setting is implied. Office Location(s): The primary office is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Inpay also has an office in London, but the Lead Designer role is specified for Copenhagen. Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The Copenhagen office likely serves as a central hub for strategic discussions, team collaboration, and cross-functional meetings.
• Tools & Technology: Expect access to modern design tools (Figma), project management software (Jira), and other relevant technologies to support design and development workflows.
• Team Interaction: Opportunities for close interaction with product management, engineering, and commercial teams are integral to the role.

Work Schedule: A full-time schedule is expected, likely around 37-40 hours per week. While flexibility is common in tech, the leadership aspect may require availability outside standard hours for critical meetings or project needs. The emphasis on "Action!" and speed suggests a dynamic pace.

📝 Enhancement Note: The Copenhagen location suggests a work environment that may value work-life balance, but the "Lead" title and focus on transformation imply a demanding, results-oriented role. The physical presence in Copenhagen is key for collaboration.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of CV and portfolio to assess experience, skills, and alignment with the role's requirements.
• Hiring Manager Interview: Discussion focused on leadership experience, design philosophy, and strategic approach.
• Portfolio Presentation & Case Study: A crucial stage where candidates present their portfolio, likely focusing on a relevant design system or strategic design challenge, demonstrating their systematic thinking and impact. This may involve a take-home assignment or a live presentation.
• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and potentially Commercial stakeholders to assess collaboration skills and cross-functional partnership capabilities.
• Team Fit/Cultural Interview: Evaluation of alignment with Inpay's values and team dynamics.
• Executive Interview: Final discussion with senior leadership to assess strategic fit and readiness for the role.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Focus on showcasing the "how" and "why" behind your design decisions, not just the final visuals.
• Design System Depth: Clearly articulate your approach to building and managing a design system, including its structure, governance, and evolution. Highlight challenges and solutions.
• Process & Scalability: Demonstrate your ability to create repeatable processes and scale design operations. Use case studies that show you’ve improved efficiency or consistency.
• Impact & Metrics: Quantify the impact of your work whenever possible. Use metrics to demonstrate how your design efforts contributed to business goals (e.g., improved conversion rates, reduced development time, increased user satisfaction).
• Strategic Narrative: Frame your portfolio pieces as strategic initiatives, explaining the problem, your approach, the solution, and the outcome.
• B2B/Fintech Relevance: Tailor your presentation to highlight experience and insights relevant to Inpay's industry.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design System Strategy: Be prepared to discuss how you would approach building or evolving Inpay’s design system, considering its current state and future needs.
• Process Design: Think about how you would establish design reviews, integrate design with agile, and manage design handoffs effectively.
• Team Building: Consider your philosophy on building and managing a design team, including hiring, mentorship, and fostering culture.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Prepare examples of how you’ve successfully collaborated with product and engineering, and how you handle disagreements or influence stakeholders.
• Company Values: Understand Inpay's values and be ready to discuss how you embody them in your work and leadership.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to assess a candidate's strategic thinking, operational capabilities, and leadership potential. The portfolio presentation is a critical component, requiring candidates to articulate their process, system thinking, and impact in a structured and compelling manner.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The central tool for design system management, UI design, prototyping, and collaboration. Expert proficiency is essential.
• Jira: For managing design tasks, tracking progress, and collaborating with engineering teams within an agile framework.
• Confluence (or similar): Likely used for design system documentation, process guidelines, and knowledge sharing.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Tools (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel, Google Analytics): To understand user behavior, track feature adoption, and inform design decisions based on data.
• User Feedback Platforms (e.g., UserTesting, Hotjar): For gathering qualitative feedback and usability insights.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM Software (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot): While not directly a design tool, understanding how design impacts CRM data and workflows can be beneficial for B2B products.
• Collaboration Tools (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams): For daily communication and team interaction.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma and design system tools is paramount. Familiarity with agile workflow tools like Jira is also critical. Understanding how design integrates with analytics and user feedback mechanisms will be key for a data-informed approach.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer First: A commitment to understanding and prioritizing user needs in all design decisions, ensuring products are intuitive and valuable.
• Raise the Bar: A drive for continuous improvement, setting high standards for design quality, process efficiency, and team performance.
• Accountability: Taking ownership of design outcomes and their impact on the business, moving beyond just delivering tasks to ensuring success.
• Fearless Innovation: Encouraging exploration of new ideas and approaches in design while maintaining a focus on usability and business objectives.
• Together We Can: Fostering a collaborative spirit, building strong partnerships across departments, and sharing knowledge to achieve collective goals.
• Action!: Emphasizing a proactive, execution-oriented mindset, translating strategy into tangible results with speed and precision.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Designs are expected to be deeply integrated with product management and engineering, requiring constant communication and alignment.
• Process-Oriented Feedback: A culture that values constructive feedback through structured design reviews and open dialogue to refine processes and outputs.
• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging the sharing of best practices, learnings, and tools within the design team and across other departments to foster collective growth and efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: Inpay's values are strongly aligned with modern, high-performing tech cultures. They emphasize a blend of user focus, execution excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement, which will be crucial for a Lead Designer building a design function.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building from Scratch: Establishing a design system, processes, and a team culture in a company that may be formalizing its design function.
• Cross-functional Alignment: Effectively influencing and collaborating with product and engineering teams who may have varying levels of design maturity.
• Balancing User Needs with Business Goals: Navigating the complexities of fintech regulations, technical constraints, and business objectives while advocating for user-centricity.
• Scaling Design Operations: Developing processes and infrastructure that can support Inpay's growth and evolving product portfolio.
• Defining Design's Role: Clearly articulating the value of design and its strategic contribution to the broader organization.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Design Leadership Mastery: Opportunities to refine leadership skills in team building, strategic planning, and organizational influence.
• Fintech Industry Insight: Gaining deep knowledge of the payments and fintech sector, its unique challenges, and opportunities.
• System Design & Architecture: Enhancing expertise in the strategic development and governance of large-scale design systems.
• Strategic Influence: Developing capabilities in influencing executive decisions and shaping company-wide product strategy.
• Mentorship: The chance to mentor and develop junior designers, contributing to their career growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenge is the "build" aspect, which also represents the most significant growth opportunity. Candidates should be prepared to tackle ambiguity and actively shape the design function.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach building or evolving a design system for a fintech company like Inpay, considering B2B users and regulatory requirements?"
• "Describe a time you had to influence stakeholders (product, engineering, sales) to adopt a design-led initiative. What was your strategy, and what was the outcome?"
• "How do you balance user needs with technical constraints and business objectives when designing complex products?"
• "Walk us through your process for ensuring design quality and consistency across multiple products and teams."
• "How would you structure and manage a design team to foster creativity, collaboration, and efficient output in an agile environment?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What do you know about Inpay and the cross-border payments industry?"
• "How do Inpay's values, such as 'Customer First' and 'Raise the Bar,' resonate with your own work philosophy?"
• "Describe your ideal collaboration style with Product Managers and Engineers."
• "How do you measure the success and impact of your design work and your team's contributions?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structured Narrative: Begin with a brief overview of your career and design philosophy.
• Case Study Focus: Select 2-3 key projects that best demonstrate your strategic thinking, design system expertise, process optimization, and leadership capabilities. For each case study:
  • Problem: Clearly define the business or user problem you addressed.
  • Your Role: Specify your responsibilities and contributions.
  • Process: Detail your systematic approach, including research, ideation, design system application, and collaboration.
  • Solution: Showcase the final design and explain key decisions.
  • Impact: Quantify the results and business impact.
• Design System Showcase: If a dedicated design system project is available, present its architecture, governance, and evolution. Discuss how you ensured its adoption and maintenance.
• Process Documentation: Be prepared to discuss your documented processes for design handoffs, reviews, and system updates.
• Conciseness: Keep the presentation focused and within the allotted time (typically 30-45 minutes, including Q&A).

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on articulating a strategic vision for design at Inpay, demonstrating a strong understanding of design operations and systems, and showcasing leadership potential through concrete examples and data.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Lead Designer position:

• Submit your resume and a link to your comprehensive design portfolio through the Inpay careers portal.
• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight projects demonstrating design system leadership, B2B/fintech experience, and process optimization. Ensure your best work and relevant case studies are easily accessible.
• Resume Optimization: Clearly articulate your experience in scaling design operations, leading design teams, and implementing systematic design processes. Use keywords from the job description and quantify achievements where possible.
• Interview Preparation: Practice presenting your portfolio, focusing on your strategic approach, process, and the impact of your work. Prepare to discuss how you would build and lead a design function at Inpay.
• Company Research: Thoroughly research Inpay, its products, its market position, and its stated values. Understand the fintech industry and B2B customer needs.

⚠️ 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.