Lead Product Designer (Belfast)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Lead Product Designer

Company: TeamFeePay

Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / User Experience

Date Posted: 2026-02-11

Experience Level: 8-10+ years (Senior)

Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days in office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead end-to-end product design and user experience strategy for both mobile and web platforms, ensuring seamless integration with the overall product vision.

• Drive the development of intuitive, user-centric interfaces and journeys that address the specific needs of club officials, coaches, and parents within the grassroots football community.

• Establish and champion robust design practices, encompassing research, discovery, user testing, and iterative refinement, to embed design thinking early in the product development lifecycle.

• Act as a senior design advocate within the Product team, representing design perspectives confidently in cross-functional discussions and contributing to strategic product decision-making.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior, hands-on leadership position within TeamFeePay's product function. The emphasis on "product-led organisation" and "design and experience are central to our mission" indicates a high level of strategic importance for this role. The target user base (grassroots football clubs) suggests a need for deep customer empathy and an understanding of operational constraints.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the overall product design and user experience vision across mobile and web applications, translating strategic objectives into tangible, high-quality user interfaces and workflows.

• Conduct and oversee user research, discovery activities, and usability testing to gather critical insights into customer needs, pain points, and behaviours, ensuring design decisions are data-informed and customer-led.

• Design, prototype, and iterate on user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity mockups, balancing strategic thinking with hands-on design execution to deliver impactful user experiences.

• Establish and maintain a consistent design system and quality standards across all product touchpoints, ensuring usability, accessibility, and brand alignment.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and Go-To-Market teams to ensure a cohesive and integrated user experience from concept through to launch and beyond.

• Champion and embed strong design practices, including design thinking methodologies, user-centred design principles, and iterative development cycles, within the broader product team.

• Provide design leadership and mentorship to foster design capability within the organization, setting clear expectations for quality, collaboration, and outcomes.

• Represent design effectively in cross-functional and senior leadership discussions, articulating design decisions in terms of customer impact, trade-offs, and delivery implications.

• Drive design decisions forward, ensuring concepts translate into shipped product outcomes and contributing actively to product strategy discussions around sequencing and prioritization.

• Continuously review and improve the design delivery process, adapting methodologies as the product and team scale.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic leadership and hands-on execution. The emphasis on "outcome-driven, customer-led and empathetic" and designing for "users who care deeply but have limited time" indicates a need for a designer who can translate complex needs into simple, effective solutions. The requirement to "embed design early in product thinking and delivery" suggests a proactive, integrated approach to the product development lifecycle.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: [While no specific degree is mentioned, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, HCI, Computer Science, or a related field is typically expected for a senior role. Equivalent practical experience will also be considered.]

Experience: Proven experience leading product design and UX within a SaaS or platform environment, typically 8–10+ years, or equivalent demonstrated expertise.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead design initiatives, set design direction, and influence product strategy.

• User Experience (UX) Design: Expertise in the full spectrum of UX design, including user research, journey mapping, wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing.

• SaaS/Platform Design: Experience designing for complex Software-as-a-Service or platform products, understanding the nuances of ongoing development and user lifecycle.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven ability to collaborate effectively with Product Management, Engineering, and Go-To-Market teams at a senior level.

• Customer Empathy: Deep understanding and ability to apply customer empathy in design, particularly for users with specific constraints (e.g., limited time, volunteer roles).

• Prototyping & Iteration: Proficiency in creating interactive prototypes and a strong track record of iterative design based on feedback and data.

• Design Systems: Experience in establishing or working with design systems to ensure consistency and scalability.

• User Research & Testing: Competence in conducting qualitative and quantitative user research and translating findings into actionable design improvements.

Preferred Skills:

• Complex Workflows Design: Experience designing for intricate workflows, critical for managing club operations.

• Multi-Persona Product Design: Ability to design for products that serve multiple distinct user types with varying needs and priorities.

• Compliance-Heavy Environments: Experience in designing for regulated or compliance-intensive sectors is a significant advantage.

• Interest in Sport/Football: A genuine interest in sports, particularly football, and an understanding of the grassroots community's operational landscape.

• Data Analysis Integration: Ability to synthesize qualitative insights with product data to inform design decisions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience level (8-10+ years) points towards a senior individual contributor or a potential people manager role, with a strong expectation for strategic impact. The "complex workflows, multi-persona products or compliance-heavy environments" preference is highly relevant given the domain of club management software.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Product Design Case Studies: Showcase at least 2-3 comprehensive case studies detailing your involvement in the entire product design lifecycle, from initial concept and research to final shipped product and post-launch iteration.

• Demonstration of Leadership and Impact: Clearly articulate your role in leading design efforts, influencing product strategy, and the tangible business or customer outcomes achieved through your design work. Highlight how you drove design decisions forward.

• User-Centricity and Empathy: Provide evidence of how you incorporated deep customer empathy and user insights into your design process, particularly for users with time constraints or specific operational needs.

• Process Improvement Examples: Illustrate instances where you identified and solved complex design challenges, improved existing workflows, or contributed to the evolution of design practices within a team.

• Collaboration Evidence: Showcase examples of effective collaboration with Product and Engineering teams, demonstrating your ability to translate technical constraints and business requirements into user-friendly designs.

Process Documentation:

• Design Process Clarity: Clearly outline your personal design process, including methodologies for research, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration, emphasizing how you integrate these phases.

• User Research & Insight Integration: Document how you gather, synthesize, and apply user research and product data to inform and validate design decisions.

• Cross-Functional Workflow Integration: Provide examples of how your design process integrates with engineering and product development workflows, ensuring efficient handoffs and collaborative problem-solving.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Lead Product Designer role, the portfolio is critical. It needs to demonstrate not just design skill, but also strategic thinking, leadership, and the ability to deliver measurable business impact within a SaaS environment. The emphasis on "shipped outcomes, not just concepts or artefacts" means case studies should clearly show the journey from idea to deployed feature.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Lead Product Designers in the UK with 8-10+ years of experience in SaaS/tech, and considering Belfast's cost of living, a competitive salary range is estimated between £60,000 - £85,000 per annum. This range is subject to negotiation based on experience, skills, and specific qualifications.

Benefits:

• Competitive Salary: Reflecting the senior nature of the role and your expertise.

• Hybrid Working Model: Offering a blend of in-office collaboration (3 days/week) and remote flexibility to support work-life balance.

• Influence and Impact: The opportunity to shape product experience and contribute significantly to a mission-driven organization.

• Professional Development: Potential for ongoing learning, training, and career advancement within a growing product-led company.

• Collaborative Culture: Work within a supportive and product-focused team environment.

• Pension Scheme: Standard company pension contributions.

• Holiday Allowance: Generous annual leave entitlement.

Working Hours: Standard 40-hour work week, with flexibility expected to meet project deadlines and collaborative needs. The hybrid model allows for some autonomy in structuring the work week.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary estimates for Lead Product Designers in Belfast, UK, are derived from market data for similar roles in tech and SaaS companies in the region, considering the experience level and hybrid work arrangement. Benefits are inferred from typical offerings for senior tech roles in the UK, focusing on aspects relevant to professional growth and work-life balance.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology (SaaS / Platform) focused on Sports Management & Finance for Grassroots Football.

Company Size: [TeamFeePay's LinkedIn profile indicates a company size likely between 50-200 employees, suggesting a growing, agile environment where individual contributions are highly visible.]

Founded: [TeamFeePay was founded in 2016, indicating a company with established operations and a track record, now in a growth and scaling phase.]

Team Structure:

• Product-Led Organization: Design and Product are central to the company's mission and strategy.

• Cross-Functional Teams: The Lead Product Designer will work closely with dedicated Product Managers, Engineering teams (likely organized into squads or feature teams), and Marketing/Go-To-Market professionals.

• Reporting: The role will likely report into a Head of Product, Director of Product, or potentially a CTO, depending on the organizational structure. Design leadership will be a key aspect of the role.

Methodology:

• Outcome-Driven: Focus on delivering tangible results for customers and the business.

• Customer-Centric: Deep empathy for users, particularly volunteers in grassroots sports.

• Data-Informed: Utilizing both qualitative insights and quantitative product data to guide decisions.

• Agile & Iterative: Embracing a flexible and iterative approach to product development.

Company Website: https://teamfeepay.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to "help communities build sustainable grassroots football clubs" and its focus on "people-first technology" suggests a culture that values impact, community, and user-centricity. The "product-led organisation" framing means design is not an afterthought but a core driver of strategy and execution.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a senior-level individual contributor role with significant design leadership responsibilities. It sits at the cusp of senior individual contributor and potential team lead, focusing on driving product vision and design excellence. The role demands both strategic thinking and hands-on execution.

Reporting Structure: The Lead Product Designer will likely report to a Head of Product or Director of Product. They will collaborate daily with Product Managers and Engineering Leads, providing design direction and ensuring design quality across product initiatives.

Operations Impact: The Lead Product Designer will have a direct and profound impact on the user experience of TeamFeePay's platform. By shaping intuitive and efficient interfaces, they will directly contribute to user adoption, retention, operational efficiency for clubs, and ultimately, the company's revenue growth and market position. Their work will be central to the product's success and its ability to fulfill its mission.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership Expansion: Potential to grow into a Head of Design or Design Manager role as the company scales, leading a team of designers.

• Product Strategy Influence: Deeper involvement in shaping the overall product roadmap and long-term vision.

• Domain Expertise: Becoming a subject matter expert in the unique challenges and opportunities within grassroots sports technology.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Opportunities to lead design initiatives across broader product areas or new feature development.

• Skill Development: Continuous learning in areas like advanced UX research methodologies, design systems at scale, and product analytics.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Lead" title signifies a stepping stone into broader leadership or a highly specialized senior individual contributor path. The emphasis on "shaping how design operates and delivers value" suggests opportunities for process improvement and establishing best practices, which are valuable for career advancement.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model, requiring 3 days per week in the Belfast office. This suggests a modern, collaborative office space designed to facilitate teamwork and innovation.

Office Location(s): 17 Catalyst Innovation Centre, Queens Road, Belfast, BT3 9PT, Northern Ireland. This location within an innovation centre often implies a dynamic, tech-focused environment with good amenities and networking opportunities.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The 3 days in the office are intended for focused collaboration, brainstorming, design reviews, and team building with Product, Engineering, and other key stakeholders.

• Technology & Tools: Access to modern design software, prototyping tools, and collaborative platforms essential for high-quality product design.

• Innovation Ecosystem: Being located in an innovation centre may provide access to a wider tech community and resources.

Work Schedule: A standard 40-hour work week is implied, with flexibility to accommodate project needs. The hybrid arrangement allows for a balance between structured office time and focused remote work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The location within the Catalyst Innovation Centre is a significant detail, often indicating a vibrant startup/scale-up ecosystem. The hybrid model is a key aspect of the work environment, balancing the need for in-person collaboration with the benefits of remote work flexibility.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A brief call with HR or a recruiter to assess general fit and interest.

• Hiring Manager Interview: Discussion with the Head of Product/Hiring Manager to delve into experience, leadership style, and understanding of the role's strategic objectives.

• Portfolio Review & Design Challenge: A dedicated session to present and discuss your portfolio, likely including a practical design exercise or case study presentation to assess design thinking, problem-solving skills, and communication. This is where you'll demonstrate how you address complex workflows and customer empathy.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Product and Engineering to evaluate collaboration skills, technical understanding, and cultural fit.

• Final Interview: Potentially with a senior leader or CEO, focusing on strategic alignment and overall contribution to the company's mission.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Leadership & Impact: Clearly articulate your role in leading design initiatives, influencing product strategy, and the measurable outcomes your designs achieved. Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for each case study.

• Showcase Process & Empathy: Walk through your design process, emphasizing user research, customer empathy, and how you translated insights into user-centric solutions for complex problems.

• Focus on SaaS/Platform Context: Tailor your examples to demonstrate experience with iterative development, scalability, and the unique challenges of SaaS products.

• Prepare for a Design Exercise: Be ready to tackle a hypothetical design problem related to club management, demonstrating your problem-solving approach, ideation, and ability to articulate trade-offs.

• Tell a Story: Structure your portfolio presentation as a narrative, explaining the "why" behind your design decisions and the impact they had.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the User: Research the typical user personas for TeamFeePay (club officials, coaches, parents) and their pain points in managing grassroots football.

• Focus on Simplicity & Efficiency: Given the user base, any design challenge will likely prioritize intuitive design, ease of use, and efficiency gains.

• Articulate Trade-offs: Be prepared to discuss design decisions, acknowledging potential trade-offs between features, user experience, and technical feasibility.

• Demonstrate Collaboration: Think about how you would involve Product and Engineering in solving the challenge.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is expected to be rigorous, with a strong emphasis on portfolio presentation and a practical design challenge. Candidates should prepare to articulate their strategic thinking and leadership capabilities, not just their design skills.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (highly probable, industry standard for collaborative design), Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop).

• Prototyping Tools: InVision, Principle, Axure RP (depending on complexity needs).

• User Research Platforms: UserTesting.com, Maze, Hotjar, or similar tools for remote testing and analytics.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, or similar platforms to understand user behaviour and measure design impact.

• Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI, or built-in dashboarding tools within analytics platforms for reporting on key UX metrics.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM: While not directly a design tool, understanding how CRM systems (like Salesforce, HubSpot) integrate with product features can be beneficial for context.

• Project Management/Collaboration: Jira, Trello, Asana for tracking design tasks and working with engineering.

• Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams for daily team communication.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma is almost a given for a modern Lead Product Designer. Understanding how design interfaces with product analytics and project management tools is crucial for effective collaboration and demonstrating impact.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and serving the needs of grassroots football clubs, emphasizing empathy for volunteers and their challenges.

• Impact-Driven: Focus on delivering technology that makes a real difference in the sustainability and success of these clubs.

• Collaboration & Pragmatism: Working effectively across teams with a practical, delivery-focused approach to problem-solving.

• Continuous Improvement: A culture that embraces iteration, learning, and refining processes and products based on feedback and data.

• Passion for Sport: A shared enthusiasm for football and the community it fosters.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Expect close, daily collaboration with Product Managers and Engineers, fostering a shared sense of ownership for product outcomes.

• Open Communication: A culture that encourages open feedback, constructive debate, and transparent communication regarding design decisions, trade-offs, and challenges.

• Iterative Design Reviews: Regular design critiques and feedback sessions within the design team and with broader stakeholders to refine work and ensure alignment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission strongly influences its values. A candidate who can demonstrate genuine empathy for the target user and a passion for community impact will likely resonate well with TeamFeePay's culture.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing User Needs with Business Goals: Effectively translating the needs of time-poor, often volunteer-led club users into a scalable, sustainable SaaS product that meets business objectives.

• Evolving Design Practices: As a growing company, there will be an ongoing need to refine and mature design processes, potentially establishing new standards and workflows.

• Complex Workflow Design: Simplifying and optimizing intricate operational processes for club management within an intuitive interface.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent understanding and prioritization of design initiatives across Product, Engineering, and Go-To-Market teams.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Opportunities to hone leadership skills in design strategy, team mentorship, and process improvement.

• Industry Expertise: Deepening knowledge in the sports tech and non-profit/community organization sectors.

• Advanced Design Methodologies: Exploring and implementing cutting-edge UX research, design thinking, and product strategy frameworks.

• Strategic Product Influence: Greater involvement in high-level product roadmap planning and business strategy discussions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to a growing SaaS company in a niche market. The opportunities are geared towards evolving from a senior individual contributor to a more strategic and potentially managerial role within the product organization.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing a new feature for club finance management, considering users with limited accounting experience?" (Focus on empathy, simplification, and data integration).

• "Describe a time you had to balance conflicting priorities between design, engineering, and product. How did you resolve it?" (Focus on collaboration, negotiation, and outcome-driven decision-making).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you most about TeamFeePay's mission and our focus on grassroots football?" (Show genuine interest and understanding of the domain).

• "How do you see yourself contributing to a product-led organization where design is central?" (Demonstrate understanding of the role's strategic importance).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Case Studies: For each project, clearly outline: The Problem, Your Role, The Process (Research, Ideation, Design, Testing), The Solution, and The Impact/Outcomes (quantifiable where possible).

• Emphasize Leadership: Explicitly state where you led design efforts, made key decisions, or influenced the direction of the product.

• Showcase Empathy: Highlight specific instances where you deeply understood user needs and translated them into design solutions.

• Be Ready for Questions: Anticipate questions about your design choices, trade-offs, and how you handled challenges.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, leadership, and a deep understanding of user-centric design within a SaaS context, especially for a mission-driven company.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Lead Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Freshteam link.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in SaaS product design, design leadership, user research, and cross-functional collaboration. Use keywords from the job description such as "Product Design," "UX," "SaaS," "Design Leadership," and "Customer Empathy."

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio is up-to-date, showcases relevant case studies (ideally from SaaS/platform environments), and clearly articulates your role, process, and impact. Be ready to present and discuss your work in detail.

• Research TeamFeePay: Understand their product, mission, target audience, and recent developments. This will help you tailor your application and prepare for interview questions.

• Practice Your Pitch: Be ready to articulate your experience, design philosophy, and why you are a strong fit for TeamFeePay's culture and the specific requirements of this Lead Product Designer role.

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

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