Lead UX Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Lead UX Designer Company: Waitwhile Location: Stockholm, Sweden Job Type: Full-Time Category: Product Design / User Experience Date Posted: September 10, 2025 Experience Level: Senior / Lead (8+ years) Remote Status: Hybrid (Office presence expected, remote flexibility offered)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the UX design strategy and execution for Waitwhile's industry-leading queue management and appointment scheduling platform.
• Drive user research initiatives, translating complex user needs into actionable product insights and design solutions.
• Mentor and guide a team of UX designers, fostering a culture of design excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Own the end-to-end design process for critical features, ensuring a simple, intuitive, and impactful user experience across web and mobile products.
• Champion the evolution and application of Waitwhile's design system (QI) to ensure consistency, accessibility, and usability across all product touchpoints.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the posting implies flexibility, the "Beautiful bright office on Kungsgatan 32 in central Stockholm" suggests a strong expectation for on-site collaboration, making this a hybrid role rather than fully remote, despite the mention of a "Remote-friendly culture." The "Lead" title and 8+ years of experience confirm a senior-level, strategic position with significant team influence.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conduct and lead user research activities, including interviews, usability tests, and surveys, to deeply understand user needs and pain points within B2B and SaaS contexts.
• Translate research findings and product data into compelling user stories, wireframes, user flows, and interactive prototypes for both web and mobile applications.
• Champion the design vision and strategy, aligning with product and engineering teams to ensure seamless integration of design principles throughout the development lifecycle.
• Facilitate design critiques and workshops, providing constructive feedback to elevate the quality and impact of design work across the team.
• Own the design for key product features, driving them from initial concept and ideation through to polished UI and final handoff to engineering.
• Contribute to the strategic direction of the product by identifying key user problems and advocating for user-centric solutions that align with business objectives.
• Collaborate closely with product managers and engineering leads to define priorities, manage roadmaps, and ensure smooth, efficient delivery of design initiatives.
• Maintain and evolve the company's design system (QI), ensuring it remains robust, accessible, and a scalable resource for the entire design and development team.
• Partner with engineering teams to ensure the precise implementation of designs, maintaining fidelity and user experience from prototype to production.
• Actively contribute to the development of design operations processes, including documentation standards, review workflows, and best practices for efficient design delivery.

📝 Enhancement Note: The description emphasizes a blend of strategic leadership and hands-on execution. Responsibilities like "running usability tests with enterprise clients" and "tightening a flow in Figma" highlight this duality. The focus on "Design Operations & Systems" indicates a need for process improvement and system thinking beyond individual feature design.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• No specific degree is mandated, but a strong understanding of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), User Experience principles, and design methodologies is expected, often gained through formal education or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in product design and UX design, with a proven track record of shipping successful web and mobile products.
• Demonstrated experience in B2B or SaaS product environments, understanding the unique challenges and user needs of business customers.
• Experience in taking products from an early stage (0 → 1) or working within a fast-growing startup environment is highly advantageous.

Required Skills:

• UX Strategy & Research: Proficiency in planning and conducting qualitative and quantitative user research, including interviews, usability testing, and data analysis (familiarity with Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Looker is a bonus).
• Design Craftsmanship: Expert-level proficiency in Figma for wireframing, prototyping, component creation, and design system management.
• Design Systems: Experience in building, maintaining, and scaling design systems, with a strong understanding of accessibility standards and usability best practices.
• End-to-End Design Process: Ability to manage the entire design lifecycle, from user discovery and ideation to high-fidelity UI design and developer handoff.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Exceptional ability to partner effectively with Product Management, Engineering, and other stakeholders to drive alignment and deliver cohesive product experiences.
• Communication & Facilitation: Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions clearly and lead workshops, critiques, and cross-team discussions.
• Mentorship: Proven experience in mentoring, coaching, or guiding other designers, fostering their professional growth and improving team output.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in service design or complex workflow design.
• Familiarity with front-end development basics (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and an understanding of how design translates into code.
• Curiosity and aptitude for exploring how AI can enhance design and research processes.
• Experience in rapid growth environments or taking products from conception to market launch.

📝 Enhancement Note: The 8+ years of experience requirement, coupled with the "Lead" title, indicates that candidates are expected to possess a comprehensive understanding of the entire product development lifecycle and demonstrate strategic thinking in addition to strong design execution skills. The emphasis on "impact" in the portfolio section suggests a need to quantify design contributions.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A robust portfolio showcasing a minimum of 8 years of product/UX design work is mandatory.
• The portfolio must demonstrate both exceptional design craft (e.g., intuitive UI, elegant user flows) and tangible business or user experience impact. This means highlighting how your designs solved specific problems, improved key metrics (e.g., conversion rates, task completion times, customer satisfaction), or drove business outcomes.
• Include case studies that detail your process from problem identification through to solution implementation and its measured results.
• Showcase experience with B2B or SaaS products, illustrating your understanding of enterprise user needs and workflows.
• Evidence of work on both web and mobile platforms is crucial.

Process Documentation:

• Portfolio case studies should clearly articulate your design process, including:
  • Discovery & Research: How you identified user needs, conducted research (e.g., interviews, usability tests), and synthesized findings.
  • Ideation & Design: Your approach to brainstorming, wireframing, prototyping, and iterating on designs.
  • System Integration: How you leveraged or contributed to design systems (like QI) and ensured consistency.
  • Collaboration: Examples of how you worked with product managers and engineers.
  • Impact & Measurement: Quantifiable results and lessons learned from the implemented design.
• Demonstrate familiarity with documenting design decisions, user flows, and system components in a way that facilitates cross-functional understanding and collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "impact" and "shipped products" in the portfolio requirements suggests that candidates should be prepared to discuss the business outcomes of their design work and provide specific metrics to support their claims. The mention of "QI" implies that experience with or understanding of design system principles is highly valued.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Based on industry benchmarks for Lead UX Designers with 8+ years of experience in Stockholm, Sweden, a competitive salary range is estimated to be between 65,000 SEK to 90,000 SEK per month (approximately 780,000 SEK to 1,080,000 SEK annually). This range can vary based on the candidate's specific experience, skills, and the company's compensation philosophy.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health Insurance: Providing peace of mind and access to quality healthcare.
• ITP Pension Plan: A structured retirement savings plan contributing to long-term financial security.
• Bike Lease Program: Encouraging sustainable commuting and promoting employee well-being.
• Competitive Compensation: Including salary and potential equity or performance-based bonuses.
• Flexible Work Hours: Allowing for better work-life integration and autonomy.
• Remote-Friendly Culture: While the office is central, flexibility for remote work days is offered.
• Well-being Focus: Company culture emphasizes employee well-being and work-life balance.
• Modern Office Space: Access to a beautiful, bright office located centrally on Kungsgatan 32, Stockholm, fostering a collaborative and inspiring work environment.

Working Hours:

• The standard working hours are likely around 40 hours per week, aligning with typical full-time employment in Sweden. The company promotes a remote-friendly culture and flexible work hours, allowing for a degree of autonomy in structuring the workday, provided core responsibilities and collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on publicly available data for similar roles in Stockholm, considering the experience level (8+ years), seniority (Lead), and industry (Tech/SaaS). Benefits such as ITP pension and bike lease are common in Sweden and reflect the company's commitment to employee welfare and local benefits packages.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology / SaaS (Software as a Service), specifically in Queue Management and Appointment Scheduling. Company Size: The description implies a rapidly growing scale-up. While not explicitly stated, companies of this nature often range from 100-500 employees, indicating a dynamic environment with evolving processes. Founded: Waitwhile was founded to address the massive global issue of time spent waiting. This mission-driven approach likely shapes a culture focused on problem-solving and customer impact.

Team Structure:

• The Lead UX Designer will be part of a Product team, working closely with Product Managers and Engineering Leads.
• There is an existing design team, as the role involves "mentoring other designers" and running "critiques and workshops." The Lead UX Designer will likely hold a senior position within this design function, potentially overseeing or guiding a small team of designers.
• Cross-functional collaboration is a core tenet, with designers expected to partner closely with engineering and product to ship work.

Methodology:

• User-Centric Design: A strong emphasis on understanding user needs through research and data, with insights actively shaping product decisions.
• Data-Driven Insights: The role involves digging into product data and using tools like Amplitude or Mixpanel (bonus skills) to inform design.
• Agile/Iterative Development: The mention of "shipping work," "prototypes," and "partnering closely with engineers" suggests an agile or iterative development process where design is integrated throughout.
• Design System Adoption: The QI design system is a key operational tool, ensuring consistency and efficiency in design execution.
• Continuous Improvement: The culture seems to encourage constant refinement of processes ("Improve how we review, document, and ship design work") and user experiences ("removing friction from the customer journey").

Company Website: https://careers.waitwhile.com

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to eliminate waiting time is a strong cultural driver, suggesting a focus on efficiency, customer experience, and innovation. The "awesome culture" mentioned implies a positive, collaborative, and supportive work environment. The presence of a central Stockholm office suggests a commitment to physical collaboration, even with remote flexibility.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned at a Lead level, signifying a senior individual contributor with significant leadership and mentorship responsibilities. It sits above a standard UX Designer and below a Head of Design or Design Director. The role requires not only mastery of UX design craft but also the ability to influence product strategy, shape team processes, and guide the professional development of other designers.

Reporting Structure:

• The Lead UX Designer will report into a Product leadership role (e.g., Head of Product, VP of Product, or potentially a Design Lead if one exists above this role).
• They will work closely with Product Managers and Engineering Leads on specific product initiatives and will mentor a team of UX Designers, providing direct feedback and guidance.

Operations Impact:

• The Lead UX Designer's impact is critical to Waitwhile's mission of eliminating waiting time. By creating seamless and intuitive user experiences, they directly influence customer satisfaction, adoption rates, and operational efficiency for Waitwhile's clients.
• Their work directly contributes to the perceived value and usability of the Waitwhile platform, impacting client retention, expansion, and the company's ability to attract new enterprise customers.
• Strategic design decisions can lead to significant improvements in key business metrics, such as reduced support inquiries, increased feature adoption, and enhanced conversion rates for businesses using the platform.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Expansion: Potential to grow into a formal management role (e.g., Design Manager) as the design team expands, taking on more direct reports and strategic ownership.
• Specialization: Opportunity to deepen expertise in specific areas such as B2B SaaS design, service design, or design operations.
• Strategic Influence: Increased involvement in high-level product strategy, OKR setting, and company-wide design initiatives.
• Mentorship & Skill Development: Continuous learning through coaching junior designers, leading workshops, and staying abreast of emerging design trends, including AI in design.
• Impact Amplification: Contributing to the growth of a fast-moving tech scale-up, with the potential for significant career advancement and impact on a widely used product.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Lead" title in a scale-up environment often presents a unique growth path, blending individual contribution with emerging leadership. Candidates should expect to define many processes and shape the future of design at Waitwhile, offering significant autonomy and influence.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The company has a "Beautiful bright office on Kungsgatan 32 in central Stockholm." This suggests a modern, well-equipped, and potentially collaborative workspace designed to attract talent and facilitate in-person interaction. Office Location(s): The primary office is located at Kungsgatan 32, Stockholm, Sweden. This central location in Stockholm likely offers good accessibility via public transport and proximity to amenities.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The office serves as a central point for team meetings, workshops, critiques, and spontaneous collaboration, fostering a strong sense of team cohesion.
• Tooling & Technology: While not explicitly detailed, it's assumed that the design team will have access to industry-standard design tools (Figma is a requirement) and potentially collaboration platforms.
• Team Interaction: The "remote-friendly culture" combined with a physical office suggests a hybrid model where designers can choose to work from home or the office, facilitating flexible work arrangements while maintaining opportunities for in-person interaction and knowledge sharing.
• Culture of Innovation: The environment likely encourages curiosity, experimentation, and a proactive approach to problem-solving.

Work Schedule:

• While specific hours aren't defined, a 40-hour work week is typical for full-time roles in Sweden. The company emphasizes "flexible work hours" and a "remote-friendly culture," allowing professionals to manage their schedules effectively, provided they meet core responsibilities and collaborate with global teams or stakeholders as needed. This flexibility is beneficial for deep work sessions required for complex design tasks.

📝 Enhancement Note: The combination of a central Stockholm office and remote flexibility points to a hybrid work model. Candidates should expect to spend some days in the office for collaboration and team building, while having the option to work remotely for focused individual tasks.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

1. Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio by a recruiter or hiring manager to assess initial fit.
2. Portfolio Presentation & Design Discussion: A dedicated session where you will present your portfolio, walk through key case studies, and discuss your design process, strategic thinking, and impact. This is a critical stage to demonstrate your craft, leadership potential, and understanding of B2B/SaaS UX.
3. Design & Research Challenge: You may be given a take-home design exercise or a live design problem to solve, simulating real-world scenarios. This will assess your problem-solving skills, design execution, and ability to apply research principles.
4. Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and potentially other designers to assess your collaboration style, communication skills, and ability to integrate into the team.
5. Leadership & Mentorship Discussion: An interview focused on your experience with team leadership, mentorship, design operations, and your vision for shaping design culture.
6. Final Round / Executive Interview: Potentially a meeting with senior leadership to discuss strategic alignment and cultural fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role, your process, the solution, and most importantly, the measurable results (e.g., KPIs improved, user satisfaction increased). Quantify wherever possible.
• Show Your Process: Don't just show final screens; illustrate your journey. Include sketches, wireframes, user flows, research insights, and iterations.
• Tailor to B2B/SaaS: Highlight projects that demonstrate your understanding of complex workflows, enterprise users, and business objectives.
• Figma Proficiency: Be ready to discuss your use of Figma, especially regarding components, prototyping, and design systems.
• Leadership Examples: If possible, include examples of how you've mentored others, led design initiatives, or improved design processes.
• Conciseness: Be prepared to present your most impactful work within a set time limit. Select 2-3 strong case studies that best represent your skills and experience for this role.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Familiarize yourself with Waitwhile's product, their mission, and the challenges in queue management and appointment scheduling.
• Think Strategically: For any problem, consider the user needs, business goals, technical constraints, and potential impact.
• Document Your Process: Even for live challenges, take notes on your thought process, assumptions, and decisions.
• Present Clearly: Practice articulating your design decisions and rationale concisely and persuasively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process emphasizes a strong portfolio, practical design skills, and the ability to lead and collaborate. Candidates should prepare to present their work in detail and discuss how they've driven impact in previous roles.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core design and prototyping tool. Expertise in components, variants, auto layout, prototyping features, and design system management within Figma is essential.
• Design System (QI): Deep understanding and experience with contributing to and utilizing a comprehensive design system for consistency and efficiency.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Amplitude / Mixpanel / Looker: Familiarity with product analytics tools is a bonus. These are crucial for understanding user behavior, identifying pain points, and measuring design impact.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a design tool, understanding how UX design integrates with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) or automation platforms might be relevant for B2B SaaS products, though not explicitly required for this role.

📝 Enhancement Note: Figma is explicitly called out as an expert-level requirement. The mention of Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Looker as bonus skills indicates a strong desire for designers who are data-informed and can quantify their impact.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and serving user needs, aiming to "eliminate the 1 trillion hours people spend waiting."
• Simplicity & Obviousness: Striving to make complex processes feel simple and intuitive for users.
• Collaboration: Working closely with product and engineering to achieve shared goals and deliver cohesive experiences.
• Curiosity & Obsession with Friction: A drive to continuously explore, learn, and relentlessly remove obstacles in the customer journey.
• Practicality: A focus on delivering value and impact through design, rather than just aesthetic pursuits.
• Growth Mindset: Encouraging learning, feedback, and continuous improvement for both individuals and the team.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Designers are expected to be integral parts of product teams, working hand-in-hand with PMs and Engineers.
• Open Feedback Culture: Critiques and workshops are used to foster constructive feedback and elevate the quality of work.
• Data-Informed Decision Making: Collaboration is supported by data and user insights, ensuring that decisions are grounded in evidence.
• Alignment Over Argument: A preference for building consensus and finding common ground to move projects forward effectively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture appears to be mission-driven, collaborative, and focused on tangible user and business outcomes. The emphasis on "removing friction" and "simplicity" highlights a core design philosophy.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Leadership and Execution: Effectively managing time between strategic leadership, mentorship, and hands-on design work.
• Shaping Design Culture: As a lead, you'll be instrumental in defining and evolving the design processes and culture in a growing company.
• Scaling Design Systems: Ensuring the QI design system remains robust, accessible, and usable as the product and team grow.
• Translating Complex Needs: Designing intuitive solutions for potentially complex B2B workflows.
• Driving Impact in a Fast-Paced Environment: Delivering high-quality work quickly while maintaining strategic focus in a scale-up setting.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Opportunities to hone mentoring, coaching, and facilitation skills.
• Strategic Product Influence: Gaining deeper experience in product strategy, roadmap planning, and OKR setting.
• Design Operations Expertise: Building a strong foundation in operationalizing design processes for efficiency and scalability.
• Industry Exposure: Working with enterprise clients and major brands, gaining exposure to diverse business needs and operational challenges.
• Emerging Technologies: Exploring the integration of AI into design and research workflows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to a lead role in a growing company, offering significant opportunities for professional development and impact. Candidates should be prepared for a dynamic environment where they can actively shape processes and contribute to the company's trajectory.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to balance hands-on design work with leadership responsibilities. How did you prioritize?"
• "How would you approach mentoring a junior designer who is struggling with a particular skill or project?"
• "What is your philosophy on design systems, and how would you contribute to or evolve Waitwhile's 'QI' design system?"
• "Walk us through a complex B2B/SaaS product you designed. What were the key user challenges, and how did your design address them?"
• "How do you ensure user research insights directly influence product decisions, rather than just being a report?"
• "Describe a time you had to advocate for a user-centric design decision that faced resistance from stakeholders. How did you build alignment?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of Waitwhile's mission, how would that influence your approach to UX design?"
• "What does a 'remote-friendly culture' mean to you, and how do you ensure effective collaboration in a hybrid environment?"
• "What are your expectations for design's role and influence within a product team?"
• "How do you approach building and maintaining an inclusive and collaborative design culture?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Begin with an overview of your role and the project's goals, then dive into the problem statement, your research and discovery process, design iterations, key decisions, and finally, the measurable impact and outcomes.
• Storytelling: Frame your case studies as narratives. Explain why you made certain decisions and the challenges you overcame.
• Quantify Impact: Be ready with metrics. If exact numbers aren't available, discuss the intended impact and how it was measured or validated.
• Demonstrate Process: Show the evolution of your ideas – sketches, wireframes, prototypes, and user testing feedback.
• Highlight Leadership: If your portfolio includes examples of mentorship, process improvement, or leading design initiatives, be sure to call them out.
• Engage: Be prepared for questions about your process, your decisions, and how you would approach similar challenges at Waitwhile.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, leadership potential, a deep understanding of the design process, and the ability to quantify impact, especially within a B2B/SaaS context.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Lead UX Designer position:

• Submit your application through the Waitwhile careers portal.
• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio is up-to-date and clearly showcases your most relevant work, particularly B2B/SaaS projects with demonstrable impact. Tailor your case study selection to align with Waitwhile's mission and product.
• Resume Optimization: Highlight your 8+ years of experience, leadership responsibilities, UX strategy, research, and Figma expertise. Use keywords from the job description, such as "B2B," "SaaS," "design systems," "mentorship," and "user research."
• Interview Preparation: Practice presenting your portfolio, articulating your design process, and answering strategic questions related to leadership, collaboration, and problem-solving. Prepare specific examples of how you've driven impact and improved user experiences.
• Company Research: Thoroughly research Waitwhile's mission, product, target audience, and recent news. Understand their competitive landscape and identify how your skills can contribute to their continued success.

⚠️ 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.

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