Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer

Company: Cambridge Intelligence

Location: Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design / UI/UX Design

Date Posted: January 30, 2026

Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the design of highly visual software products focused on interactive data visualisations, contributing significantly to the company's award-winning JavaScript libraries.

• Collaborate with multiple development teams, influencing the user flow and design of core visualisation features, SDK sites, demonstration platforms, and documentation.

• Leverage a 70-30 split between UI and UX responsibilities to craft compelling, usable, and beautiful designs that enhance user experience and product appeal.

• Act as a design expert within a small, agile team, contributing to the definition of efficient design processes and adopting industry best practices to drive innovation.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a mid-level Product Designer, requiring a blend of UI and UX expertise. The emphasis on "award-winning JavaScript libraries" and "interactive data visualisations" suggests a focus on sophisticated graphical user interfaces and complex data representation within a technical software context. The hybrid model with initial office-based onboarding indicates a need for strong team integration and collaboration in the early stages.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design and develop user interfaces (UI) for software development kit (SDK) sites, showcase demonstrations, and documentation, ensuring a high standard of visual appeal and usability.

• Conduct user experience (UX) research and analysis to inform design decisions, ensuring features are intuitive, efficient, and meet user needs.

• Translate complex data into clear and engaging visualisations, working closely with development teams to implement these features within JavaScript libraries.

• Define and document user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity mockups using Figma, ensuring design consistency across all product touchpoints.

• Collaborate with product managers and engineers to understand project requirements, technical constraints, and business objectives, providing expert design recommendations.

• Proactively identify opportunities for design improvements and contribute to the evolution of the company's design system and processes.

• Present design concepts and solutions to stakeholders, clearly articulating the rationale behind design choices and their expected impact on user experience and business goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: The 70-30 UI/UX split highlights a strong emphasis on the visual execution and aesthetic quality of the product, while still requiring solid UX principles for user flow and usability. The responsibility for SDK sites and documentation suggests a need to design for developers as users, in addition to end-users of the visualisation features.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong foundational understanding of design principles, human-computer interaction, and visual communication is expected, often gained through relevant academic programs or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: A minimum of 2-5 years of professional experience in a design role within a software or technology company is required. This should include demonstrable experience in both UI and UX design, with a focus on visually rich applications or data-driven products.

Required Skills:

• Figma Proficiency: High level of expertise and practical experience with Figma for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration is essential.

• UI Design: Strong understanding of UI principles, including layout, typography, colour theory, and visual hierarchy.

• UX Design: Experience with user-centered design methodologies, including user flow mapping, wireframing, and usability testing.

• Data Visualisation Design: Proven ability to design effective and engaging data visualisations.

• Portfolio of Work: A strong, diverse portfolio showcasing UI design, website design, or data visualisation projects, demonstrating visual acuity and problem-solving skills.

• Software Design Experience: Previous experience designing for software products or complex applications.

• Attention to Detail: Meticulous approach to design, ensuring accuracy and polish in all deliverables.

• Collaboration Skills: Ability to work effectively within a cross-functional team environment.

Preferred Skills:

• Front-End Development Awareness: Familiarity with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, enabling better collaboration with developers and understanding of implementation constraints.

• Usability Testing: Experience conducting or participating in usability testing sessions to gather user feedback.

• Graphic Design: A background in graphic design can be beneficial for creating compelling visual assets.

• Design Systems: Experience contributing to or working with design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma as "especially" important, combined with the 70-30 UI/UX split, indicates that proficiency in this tool and strong UI execution are paramount. The preference for front-end knowledge suggests the company values designers who understand technical feasibility.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies: A curated selection of 3-5 detailed case studies demonstrating your design process from problem definition to final solution.

• UI/UX Deliverables: Showcase a range of UI designs, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and user flow diagrams that highlight your design thinking and execution.

• Data Visualisation Examples: Specific examples of data visualisation designs, illustrating how you've translated complex data into accessible and insightful visuals.

• Figma Workflows: Evidence of your proficiency in Figma, perhaps through examples of component libraries, collaborative design files, or interactive prototypes built within the tool.

• Impact Metrics: Where possible, include quantitative or qualitative metrics demonstrating the success or impact of your designs (e.g., improved user engagement, reduced task completion time, positive user feedback).

Process Documentation:

• Design Process Explanation: Be prepared to articulate your personal design process, including how you approach problem-solving, user research, ideation, iteration, and final delivery.

• Tool Proficiency Demonstration: Be ready to discuss your experience with design tools, particularly Figma, and how you leverage them for efficiency and collaboration.

• Workflow Design: Demonstrate an understanding of designing intuitive user workflows and how to optimize them for clarity and efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Product Designer role, the portfolio is critical. It needs to clearly articulate the candidate's design process, showcase their visual design skills, and ideally, demonstrate an understanding of how their designs impact users and business objectives, particularly in the context of data visualisation and software development kits.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Product Designer with 2-5 years of experience in Cambridge, UK, the estimated annual salary range is £40,000 - £60,000. This estimate considers the cost of living in Cambridge, the company's industry (technology/software), and the specific requirements of the role, including a strong emphasis on UI and data visualisation.

Benefits:

• Pension: Up to 6% employer contribution, providing long-term financial security.

• Medical and Dental Insurance: Comprehensive coverage through BUPA, ensuring employee health and well-being.

• Hybrid Working: Flexible arrangement allowing 1-2 days in the Cambridge office per week after onboarding, balancing collaboration with personal flexibility.

• Discretionary Bonus: Up to 12% of salary, rewarding individual and company performance.

• Annual Leave: 25 days of paid time off per year, promoting work-life balance.

• Professional Development: 5 days of paid time off for professional development activities, fostering continuous learning and skill enhancement.

• Death in Service Benefit: Financial support for beneficiaries in the unfortunate event of an employee's passing.

• Flexible Holiday Benefits: Options for managing annual leave to suit individual needs.

• Cycle Scheme: Fully company-funded cycle-to-work scheme, promoting sustainable commuting and employee health.

• EV Scheme: Electric vehicle scheme available, subject to specific conditions, supporting eco-friendly transportation.

Working Hours: The role is full-time, with standard working hours typically around 40 hours per week. The hybrid model offers flexibility in how these hours are structured when not in the office.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on typical compensation for this role in the UK tech sector, specifically in a city like Cambridge. The benefits package is comprehensive and reflects a company that invests in employee well-being, development, and work-life balance. The hybrid model's initial 3-day requirement for onboarding is a key detail for candidates to note.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology / Software Development, specifically focusing on data visualisation libraries and tools. Cambridge Intelligence operates within a niche but critical segment of the software industry, serving clients who need to represent complex data in intuitive graphical formats.

Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the mention of a "small team of designers" and a "small team" generally suggests a company size that is likely in the range of 50-250 employees. This often translates to a more agile, collaborative, and less bureaucratic environment.

Founded: Founded in 2001, Cambridge Intelligence has a substantial history in the software industry, indicating stability, established expertise, and a proven track record in developing sophisticated visualisation technologies.

Team Structure:

• Design Team: A small, focused team of designers who have significant autonomy in shaping their own processes and methodologies. This implies a flat hierarchy within the design function.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: The Product Designer will work across multiple development teams, requiring strong communication and collaboration skills with engineers and potentially product managers.

• Reporting: While not explicitly stated, designers in smaller teams often report to a Head of Design, Design Lead, or a Product Manager.

Methodology:

• Agile Design Processes: The company values efficiency and has the freedom to adopt or adapt industry design trends, suggesting an agile and iterative approach to design.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Given the company's focus on data visualisation, it's highly probable that design decisions are informed by data analysis and user feedback.

• User-Centricity: The emphasis on creating "compelling, usable and beautiful designs" and the mention of UX responsibilities indicate a commitment to user-centered design principles.

Company Website: https://www.cambridge-intelligence.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's long history (since 2001) and specialization in data visualisation suggest a deep level of technical expertise and a mature product offering. The autonomy granted to the design team is a significant cultural indicator, pointing towards a trust in individual expertise and a flexible approach to workflow.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a Mid-Level Product Designer, offering a significant opportunity to deepen expertise in UI/UX design, specifically within the complex domain of data visualisation. It's a role where an individual is expected to contribute independently and influence design direction.

Reporting Structure: The Product Designer will likely report into a design lead or manager, working in close collaboration with multiple development teams. This structure allows for both focused design work and broad exposure to different product areas.

Operations Impact: The Product Designer's impact will be directly tied to the visual appeal, usability, and effectiveness of Cambridge Intelligence's core visualisation features and SDKs. By creating intuitive and beautiful interfaces, they will enhance the developer experience for SDK users and improve the overall adoption and satisfaction with the company's products. This role directly contributes to the company's reputation for technically sophisticated and visually compelling software.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialisation: Deepen expertise in data visualisation design, becoming a subject matter expert in this niche and high-demand area.

• Leadership: Progress towards a Senior Product Designer or Lead Designer role, potentially mentoring junior designers and taking ownership of larger design initiatives.

• Skill Expansion: Further develop UX research methodologies, explore front-end development principles, or gain experience in broader product strategy.

• Process Improvement: Contribute to the evolution of the company's design processes and potentially influence the adoption of new design tools or methodologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role offers substantial growth potential, moving beyond execution to influencing design strategy and potentially leadership, especially within the specialized field of data visualisation. The autonomy of the design team suggests that proactive individuals can carve out significant influence.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is hybrid, requiring a presence in the Cambridge city centre office. This suggests a modern office environment designed to foster collaboration, innovation, and team cohesion.

Office Location(s): Cambridge city centre, CB2 1JP, United Kingdom. This location is known for its vibrant tech and academic ecosystem, offering good accessibility and a stimulating work environment.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: The office is likely equipped with meeting rooms and common areas conducive to brainstorming sessions and cross-functional team interactions.

• Design Tools & Technology: Access to industry-standard design software (primarily Figma) and necessary hardware will be provided.

• Team Interaction: The hybrid model, with initial higher office presence, is designed to build strong working relationships with fellow designers and development teams.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, with a hybrid arrangement typically requiring 3 days in the office during onboarding and 1-2 days thereafter. This allows for focused work at home while ensuring regular in-person collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "Cambridge city centre" implies a desirable location with good amenities. The hybrid model with a structured onboarding phase is key for integrating new team members effectively into the company's collaborative workflows.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Application Review: CV and portfolio screening to assess foundational skills, experience, and alignment with the role's requirements.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: A session where the candidate presents their portfolio, discusses their design process, and elaborates on specific case studies. This is a crucial step to gauge design thinking, problem-solving abilities, and communication skills.

• Technical/Skills Interview: May involve design challenges, Figma exercises, or discussions about UI/UX principles, data visualisation concepts, and technical constraints.

• Team/Cultural Fit Interview: Meeting with potential team members (designers, developers) to assess collaboration style, cultural alignment, and how the candidate embodies company values.

• Final Interview: A concluding discussion, likely with a senior leader, to confirm fit and discuss terms.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Selectively: Choose 3-5 of your strongest, most relevant projects that showcase your UI design, UX process, and data visualisation skills.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the process you followed, the decisions you made, and the outcomes. Use visuals effectively to illustrate your journey.

• Highlight Figma Expertise: Demonstrate your mastery of Figma, showcasing your ability to create robust designs, prototypes, and potentially design systems.

• Focus on Data Visualisation: If you have specific data visualisation projects, highlight how you approached complexity, clarity, and user engagement.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, include metrics or user feedback that demonstrate the positive impact of your designs.

• Tailor to Cambridge Intelligence: Research the company's existing products and visual style. If possible, subtly tailor your presentation to show how your skills align with their specific needs.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design Thinking Exercises: Be prepared for tasks that might involve sketching user flows, creating low-fidelity wireframes, or ideating solutions to a given design problem.

• Figma Proficiency Test: Expect a hands-on exercise to assess your proficiency in Figma, such as creating a component, building a small interactive prototype, or iterating on a given UI element.

• Data Visualisation Challenge: A potential exercise could involve conceptualising a visualisation for a specific dataset or improving an existing visualisation.

• Communication Practice: Rehearse explaining your design decisions clearly and concisely, focusing on the "why" behind your choices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio review is central to this application. Candidates should be ready to deep-dive into their process and demonstrate practical skills, particularly in Figma and data visualisation design. The hybrid nature of the role also means that demonstrating strong remote collaboration skills will be important.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration. Mastery is essential.

• Design Systems: Experience working with or contributing to design systems for consistency and scalability.

Analytics & Reporting:

• User Analytics Tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Mixpanel): Familiarity with these tools can help inform design decisions based on user behaviour data.

• Data Visualisation Libraries/Tools: While not a development role, understanding the capabilities and limitations of libraries like D3.js (which underpins many JavaScript visualisation tools) can be beneficial.

CRM & Automation:

• (Not directly applicable to this design role, but awareness of how design outputs integrate with broader product development pipelines is valuable.)

📝 Enhancement Note: Figma is explicitly highlighted as a primary tool. While this is a design role, understanding how design data feeds into analytics and how visualisations are built using libraries will provide a significant advantage in collaborating with development teams.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Passion for Visuals: A deep appreciation for aesthetics, colour palettes, page layouts, and the power of visual communication in software.

• User-Centricity: A commitment to creating designs that are not only beautiful but also highly usable, intuitive, and effective for the end-user.

• Efficiency & Pragmatism: The freedom to choose efficient design processes and adopt industry trends, reflecting a practical and results-oriented approach.

• Expertise & Autonomy: Treating designers as experts in their field, empowering them to lead design initiatives and make informed decisions.

• Collaboration: A strong emphasis on working effectively with development teams and contributing to a fair, respectful, and welcoming company culture.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Close working relationships with development teams, ensuring seamless integration of designs into the product.

• Open Communication: A culture where design processes are straightforward and decisions are made collaboratively within the design team.

• Knowledge Sharing: Likely an environment where designers share insights, best practices, and feedback openly to foster continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture appears to value design expertise, autonomy, and a pragmatic approach to process. The emphasis on "making a real difference" with visual software suggests a team that is driven by impact and quality.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing UI and UX: Effectively managing the 70-30 UI/UX split to ensure both aesthetic appeal and functional usability.

• Designing for Developers: Creating effective designs for SDK sites and documentation, which requires understanding the needs and workflows of a technical audience.

• Complex Data Visualisation: Translating intricate datasets into clear, engaging, and accurate visual representations.

• Agile Process Adaptation: Thriving in an environment where design processes can be fluid and are decided by the team, requiring adaptability and proactivity.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Specialised Data Visualisation Expertise: Becoming a go-to expert in designing sophisticated data visualisations.

• Front-End Understanding: Gaining deeper insight into front-end development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to enhance collaboration and design feasibility.

• Usability Testing Mastery: Developing advanced skills in planning and conducting usability tests to gather actionable user feedback.

• Contribution to Design Systems: Potentially playing a key role in evolving or establishing design system components for the company's libraries.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are directly tied to the unique aspects of the role—designing complex visualisations and for a technical audience. The growth opportunities are significant for a designer looking to specialise and gain exposure to cutting-edge software development.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your process when designing a new feature for a complex software product, particularly one involving data visualisation." (Focus on your UI/UX split, Figma usage, and how you handle complexity.)

• "How do you balance aesthetic appeal with user functionality, especially when dealing with a 70-30 UI/UX split?" (Prepare examples of trade-offs and your decision-making process.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Cambridge Intelligence and our focus on data visualisation?" (Research their products, technology, and market position.)

• "How do you approach defining and improving design processes within a team?" (Relate this to their mention of choosing efficient processes.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Begin with an overview of your background and career focus. Then, present 3-5 curated projects, dedicating 5-7 minutes per project. For each, cover: Problem, Role, Process, Solution, and Outcome/Impact.

• Visuals: Use high-quality screenshots, mockups, and interactive prototypes. Ensure your Figma work is clearly represented.

• Narrative: Emphasise your design thinking, problem-solving approach, and how you arrived at your solutions. Explain your UI choices and UX considerations.

• Data Visualisation Focus: If applicable, dedicate a segment to how you approach designing effective data visualisations, explaining your rationale for chart types, colour usage, and interactivity.

• Q&A Readiness: Anticipate questions about your Figma proficiency, your understanding of front-end constraints, and your approach to user testing.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should be prepared to demonstrate not just visual design skills but also a structured approach to problem-solving, a deep understanding of user-centred design, and the ability to articulate their process and decisions effectively, particularly concerning data visualisation.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Cambridge Intelligence Teamtailor portal.

• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio is readily accessible (via a link) and showcases your best work, with a particular emphasis on UI design, data visualisation, and your proficiency with Figma. Curate case studies that highlight your design process.

• Resume Optimization: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in software design, UI/UX principles, data visualisation, and proficiency with relevant tools like Figma. Quantify achievements where possible.

• Prepare for Portfolio Presentation: Rehearse explaining your design process, key projects, and rationale behind your design decisions. Be ready to discuss your approach to UI/UX balance and collaboration with development teams.

• Company Research: Familiarise yourself with Cambridge Intelligence's products, technology, and any recent news or announcements to demonstrate genuine interest and cultural fit. Understand their focus on data visualisation libraries.

⚠️ 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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