Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer

Company: abrdn

Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / Service Design

Date Posted: 2026-03-30

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive end-to-end product and service design strategy, from initial discovery and research to final delivery and implementation.

• Lead customer and adviser research initiatives, synthesizing findings to identify strategic opportunities and shape product development.

• Collaborate extensively with cross-functional teams, including Operations, Sales, Marketing, Product, and Technology, to ensure holistic service design.

• Act as a strategic partner to senior stakeholders, translating design thinking into tangible business outcomes and driving evidence-based decision-making.

• Champion customer understanding across the organization through workshops, shared research, and fostering a culture of customer-centricity.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Senior Product Designer with a strong emphasis on Service Design and strategic involvement in shaping problems for cross-functional teams. The description highlights a need for someone who can operate across the full design process, from discovery to delivery, and influence business outcomes. The focus on financial advice firms and collaboration with Operations, Sales, and Marketing suggests a GTM (Go-To-Market) enablement aspect to the role, requiring a deep understanding of business processes and stakeholder needs within a regulated environment.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead comprehensive discovery phases by planning and conducting regular customer and adviser interviews, synthesizing research findings into clear opportunity spaces, and ensuring research actively shapes strategic decisions.

• Map and analyze end-to-end service journeys across digital, operational, and human touchpoints to identify critical gaps, inefficiencies, and strategic opportunities for improvement.

• Collaborate closely with Operations, Sales, and Marketing teams, alongside Product and Technology, to design and enhance interconnected products and services that span the entire service layer, not just digital interfaces.

• Contribute significantly to proposition design by actively participating in framing how new products and services are structured, prioritized, and aligned with business objectives.

• Serve as a strategic partner to senior stakeholders, effectively connecting design thinking and methodologies to measurable business outcomes and strategic goals.

• Facilitate the embedding of customer understanding beyond the immediate design team by organizing workshops, sharing research insights, and cultivating habits of evidence-based decision-making across relevant departments.

• Apply strong craft and attention to detail in design delivery, producing high-quality interaction design and UI mockups that set a high standard, while also demonstrating flexibility to work at the service and systems level as required by project demands.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a proactive and strategic approach to design, extending beyond traditional UI/UX. The inclusion of "shaping problems" and "contributing to proposition design" indicates a senior-level role with significant influence on product strategy and business direction. The emphasis on cross-functional collaboration with Operations and Sales is critical for GTM success, requiring the designer to understand and optimize processes that impact revenue and customer acquisition/retention.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, HCI, Psychology, Business, or a related field is typically expected for a Senior level role. Equivalent practical experience will also be considered.

Experience: 5-10 years of progressive experience in product design, with a significant focus on service design, strategy, and research. Experience within financial services or similarly regulated industries is highly preferred.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated expertise in leading customer and adviser discovery, including planning and executing interviews, and synthesizing findings into actionable insights.

• Proven ability in mapping and analyzing complex end-to-end service journeys across multiple touchpoints (digital, operational, human).

• Strong understanding of proposition design principles and experience in contributing to product/service structuring and prioritization.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to articulate design rationale in terms of business outcomes and engage effectively with senior leadership.

• Proficiency in systemic thinking, understanding how people interact with an organization beyond just digital interfaces.

• Advanced proficiency in Figma and experience working with or contributing to design systems.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in regulated industries such as financial services.

• Ability to facilitate workshops and drive customer understanding across diverse teams.

• Experience in interaction design and delivering high-fidelity UI mockups.

• A strong portfolio showcasing impact across discovery, service design, and UI.

• Mentorship or team development experience, fostering a collaborative and learning-oriented environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements strongly emphasize a blend of strategic thinking, research acumen, and practical design skills. The preference for candidates with experience in regulated industries and financial services suggests the need for an understanding of compliance, risk, and complex organizational structures, which are critical for GTM roles in this sector. The portfolio requirement explicitly mentions impact across discovery and service design, indicating that a strong foundation in user research and strategic problem-definition is as crucial as UI execution.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase end-to-end design process, from initial problem definition and discovery through to detailed interaction design and UI delivery.

• Include detailed case studies demonstrating impact on business outcomes, such as improved customer experience, increased efficiency, or enhanced proposition value for financial advice firms.

• Highlight specific examples of service journey mapping and analysis, clearly articulating the insights derived and the strategic opportunities identified.

• Provide evidence of collaboration with cross-functional teams (Operations, Sales, Marketing, Product, Tech) and how design solutions integrated with broader business processes.

Process Documentation:

• Case studies should clearly outline the research methodologies employed, including customer interviews, JTBD analysis, and continuous discovery practices.

• Detail the process of mapping and analyzing service journeys, illustrating how identified pain points and opportunities were addressed through design interventions.

• Illustrate how design thinking was applied to proposition design and product/service structuring, linking these to business objectives.

• Showcase the process of stakeholder engagement and communication, demonstrating how design thinking was translated into evidence-based decision-making and business value.

• Document the creation and use of design systems and high-fidelity UI/interaction designs, emphasizing consistency and scalability.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are heavily geared towards demonstrating strategic impact and process ownership. For a role influencing GTM enablement and service design within financial services, the portfolio must go beyond aesthetics to showcase how design directly contributes to business objectives, operational efficiency, and stakeholder alignment. Demonstrating experience with regulated environments and cross-functional collaboration is key.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers in Edinburgh, UK, with 5-10 years of experience, the estimated annual salary range is £60,000 - £85,000. This estimate considers the seniority of the role, the specific skills required (service design, strategy, financial services experience), and the cost of living in Edinburgh.

Benefits:

• 40 days’ annual leave, providing excellent work-life balance.

• 16% employer pension contribution, a strong retirement savings benefit.

• Discretionary performance-based bonus, offering potential for additional compensation tied to individual and company performance.

• Private healthcare, ensuring comprehensive health coverage.

• Range of flexible benefits, including:

  • Gym discounts, promoting employee well-being.

  • Season ticket loans, assisting with commuting costs.

  • Access to an employee discount portal, offering savings on various goods and services. Working Hours: Approximately 40 hours per week, with a blended working approach combining office-based collaboration and remote flexibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on general market data for senior design roles in the UK. The specific figure would depend on the candidate's experience, interview performance, and the company's internal compensation structure. The benefits package is robust and aligns with what is expected for senior roles in established financial institutions, emphasizing well-being and financial security. The 40 days of annual leave is a significant perk.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Services (Wealth & Investments). abrdn operates as a leading UK Wealth & Investments group, with a focus on direct and advised wealth platforms and specialist asset management. This industry context implies a need for a design approach that prioritizes trust, security, clarity, and compliance.

Company Size: abrdn is a large, established financial institution. This size suggests a structured environment with established processes, multiple departments, and a significant customer base, requiring designers to navigate complexity and influence change within a large organization.

Founded: abrdn has a long history, tracing its roots back through various mergers and acquisitions, with its current form established relatively recently. This history suggests a blend of traditional financial services practices with a forward-looking strategy focused on growth and adaptation, particularly through entities like interactive investor.

Team Structure:

• The Senior Product Designer will be embedded in a cross-functional team focused on products and services for Financial Advice firms.

• They will report directly to the Head of Product Design, indicating a clear reporting line and access to design leadership.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision-Making: Emphasis on using customer research, interviews, and synthesized findings to shape strategic decisions and product development.

• Service Design & Journey Mapping: A core methodology for understanding and optimizing the end-to-end customer experience across all touchpoints, including operational and human interactions.

• Agile & Cross-functional Collaboration: Working within cross-functional teams, likely adopting agile methodologies, to deliver integrated products and services.

• Proposition Design: Strategic input into how new products and services are structured and prioritized to meet client demand and business objectives.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company context is crucial for a Senior Product Designer. abrdn's position as a large financial services group implies a need for designers who can handle complexity, understand regulatory environments, and contribute to strategic initiatives that impact a broad client base. The specific focus on Financial Advice firms suggests the designer will be instrumental in enabling GTM strategies by improving the tools and services used by financial advisers.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Product Designer role, indicating a level of autonomy, strategic influence, and responsibility for complex projects. It sits above mid-level designers and potentially below design leads or managers. The role requires not just execution but also leadership in discovery, strategy, and process improvement.

Reporting Structure: The designer reports to the Head of Product Design, providing a direct line for mentorship, career development guidance, and strategic alignment. This structure ensures visibility to design leadership and facilitates career progression within the design function.

Operations Impact: The role is positioned to have a significant impact on the success of the Adviser business by improving products and services for Financial Advice firms. This impact is achieved by enhancing adviser efficiency, client satisfaction, and the overall value proposition, which directly supports abrdn's GTM strategy in this segment.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization in Service Design & Strategy: Deepen expertise in complex service design challenges within the financial services sector, becoming a go-to expert for strategic initiatives.

• Leadership in Cross-functional Teams: Develop skills in leading design efforts within cross-functional product teams, potentially taking on informal leadership or mentorship roles.

• Advancement to Lead/Principal Designer: Progress to roles with greater scope, such as Lead Product Designer or Principal Service Designer, managing larger projects or a portfolio of services.

• Contribution to Design System Evolution: Play a key role in evolving and maintaining the design system, ensuring its scalability and adoption across multiple product lines.

• Mentorship and Team Development: Contribute to raising the design baseline of the teams they work with, potentially mentoring junior designers and fostering a culture of design excellence.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth opportunities are framed around deepening expertise in specialized areas like service design and strategy, as well as progressing into leadership roles. For a GTM-focused role, growth could also involve a deeper understanding of sales enablement through design, or strategic partnerships with business development teams.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: abrdn employs a "blended working" approach, combining face-to-face collaboration in offices with the flexibility of remote work. This suggests a modern, hybrid work environment designed to balance in-person interaction with individual flexibility.

Office Location(s): The primary location mentioned is Edinburgh, United Kingdom. This city offers a vibrant professional environment within the financial services sector. Specific office details would likely be available upon inquiry or during the interview process.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The blended working model emphasizes opportunities for in-person collaboration, coaching, and team connection within the office setting.

• Tools and Technology: Proficiency in Figma and familiarity with design systems are expected, indicating that the design team utilizes industry-standard tools for efficiency and consistency. Access to relevant research and analytics tools would also be typical.

• Cross-functional Interaction: The role necessitates frequent interaction with Product, Technology, Operations, Sales, and Marketing teams, fostering a dynamic and integrated work environment.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, with an approximate 40-hour work week. The blended working model allows for flexibility in structuring the work week, balancing required office presence with remote work days.

📝 Enhancement Note: The blended working model is a key aspect of abrdn's culture. For a Senior Product Designer, this means needing strong self-management skills for remote work and excellent communication for in-office collaboration, especially when working with Operations and Sales teams who might have different working patterns.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a review of CV and portfolio by a recruiter or hiring manager to assess experience and fit.

• Portfolio Review & Discussion: A dedicated session to walk through key portfolio projects, focusing on the design process, strategic thinking, problem-solving, and impact. Expect questions about discovery, service design, stakeholder management, and collaboration.

• Cross-functional Team Interview: Discussions with members of the cross-functional team (Product, Engineering, Operations, Sales) to assess collaboration style, communication, and understanding of business needs.

• Stakeholder Interview: Meeting with senior stakeholders or the Head of Product Design to evaluate strategic thinking, business acumen, and ability to influence outcomes.

• Potential Design Challenge: A case study or practical exercise related to service design or problem-solving for financial advice firms may be presented, requiring presentation and defense of proposed solutions.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase Strategic Impact: Prioritize projects demonstrating how your design work directly influenced business outcomes, improved operational efficiency, or enhanced the value proposition for financial advice firms.

• Detail the Process: Clearly articulate your role in each project, focusing on the discovery, research, and strategic thinking phases. Explain why certain decisions were made.

• Highlight Service Design: Dedicate specific sections or case studies to your experience in service journey mapping, identifying pain points, and designing holistic experiences across touchpoints.

• Demonstrate Collaboration: Provide examples of how you collaborated with Operations, Sales, Product, and Technology teams, explaining how you integrated design solutions with broader business processes.

• Quantify Results: Whenever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your work (e.g., improved conversion rates, reduced operational costs, increased user satisfaction scores).

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Business Context: Research abrdn's business, particularly its Adviser segment, its target audience (financial advisers), and the challenges they face in the financial services industry.

• Service Design Frameworks: Be prepared to apply service design principles and methodologies, such as journey mapping, stakeholder mapping, and opportunity identification, to a given problem.

• Business Acumen: Frame your solutions in terms of business value, ROI, and alignment with strategic objectives.

• Communication: Practice articulating complex ideas clearly and concisely, and be ready to defend your recommendations with evidence and rationale.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a senior role like this will be rigorous. Emphasis will be placed on strategic thinking, problem-solving within a complex business context, and the ability to collaborate effectively to drive GTM success. The portfolio is critical for demonstrating these capabilities.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Explicitly mentioned as a required proficiency for UI design, interaction design, and contribution to design systems.

• Design System Tools: Experience with creating, maintaining, or working within established design systems.

• Prototyping Tools: Likely includes Figma's prototyping capabilities or other standard tools for creating interactive mockups.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Customer Research Platforms: Tools for conducting interviews, surveys, and synthesizing qualitative data (e.g., Dovetail, UserTesting.com, Qualtrics).

• Analytics Tools: Familiarity with web analytics (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) and potentially product analytics tools to understand user behavior and measure impact.

• Data Visualization Tools: Experience with tools for creating reports and dashboards to communicate insights to stakeholders.

CRM & Automation:

• While not explicitly mentioned for the designer, an understanding of CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and sales/marketing automation platforms is beneficial given the collaboration with Sales and Marketing teams, and the focus on financial advice firms. The designer may need to consider how their designs integrate with these systems to support GTM processes.

• Project Management Tools: Familiarity with Agile project management tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for tracking tasks and collaborating on development sprints.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack emphasizes design execution and collaboration tools. For a role that interfaces with Operations and Sales, understanding how design outputs feed into wider business systems and processes is a significant advantage, even if direct use of CRM/automation tools isn't a primary requirement.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer-Centricity: A strong emphasis on understanding and prioritizing the needs of customers and advisers, driving evidence-based decision-making.

• Collaboration: Valuing teamwork across departments (Product, Tech, Ops, Sales, Marketing) to deliver integrated solutions.

• Excellence & Craftsmanship: A commitment to high-quality design execution, from strategic problem-framing to detailed UI delivery.

• Continuous Improvement: A culture of learning, adaptation, and striving to raise the baseline of design and customer understanding across the organization.

• Impact-Driven: Focusing design efforts on achieving measurable business outcomes and making a positive difference for stakeholders.

Collaboration Style:

• Partnership: Working as a strategic partner to senior stakeholders, connecting design thinking with business realities and outcomes.

• Embedded in Cross-functional Teams: Actively participating within agile, cross-functional teams, contributing design expertise to all stages of product development.

• Knowledge Sharing: Generously sharing research, insights, and design expertise to develop the people around them and elevate the overall design maturity of the teams.

• Holistic Approach: Collaborating across the full service layer, integrating digital product design with operational processes and human touchpoints.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture emphasizes a blend of strategic thinking, collaborative execution, and a commitment to continuous improvement. For a Senior Product Designer working with GTM-focused teams like Sales and Operations, the ability to foster strong working relationships and translate design concepts into actionable improvements for these departments is key.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating Ambiguity and Organizational Nuance: Working within a large, established financial institution requires adaptability and skill in navigating complex organizational structures, processes, and stakeholder landscapes.

• Balancing Strategic Vision with Delivery: Effectively translating high-level service design strategies into tangible, high-fidelity UI and interaction designs that meet both user needs and business objectives.

• Embedding Customer Understanding: Successfully shifting organizational habits towards evidence-based decision-making and embedding deep customer understanding beyond the immediate design team.

• Designing for Regulated Environments: Ensuring design solutions comply with financial services regulations while still delivering an intuitive and effective user experience.

• Integrating Digital and Non-Digital Touchpoints: Designing cohesive end-to-end service journeys that seamlessly connect digital interfaces with operational processes and human interactions.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deepening Service Design Expertise: Gaining extensive experience in complex service design within the financial sector, leading large-scale service transformation initiatives.

• Strategic Influence: Developing skills in influencing senior leadership and shaping business strategy through design thinking and robust research.

• Cross-functional Leadership: Leading design efforts within diverse teams and potentially mentoring junior designers or contributing to the growth of the broader design function.

• Industry Knowledge: Expanding understanding of the wealth management and financial advice landscape, including market trends, regulatory requirements, and adviser needs.

• Blended Working Dynamics: Mastering effective collaboration and productivity within a hybrid work environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are typical for senior roles in large, regulated industries. The growth opportunities are well-defined and align with career progression in design, particularly in strategic and leadership capacities. For a GTM context, growth could also involve understanding sales enablement strategies and how design can directly support sales efforts.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Problem Framing: "Describe a time you led discovery to understand a complex user problem. How did you synthesize your findings, and how did that shape the problem you ultimately aimed to solve?" (Focus on your process, research methods, and strategic output).

• Service Design & Systems Thinking: "Walk me through a project where you mapped an end-to-end service journey. What were the key insights, and how did you design solutions that addressed both digital and non-digital touchpoints?" (Highlight your ability to see the bigger picture and connect different parts of the user experience).

• Stakeholder Management & Business Impact: "How do you ensure your design work is framed in terms of business outcomes? Describe a situation where you had to influence senior stakeholders with design recommendations." (Emphasize your communication skills, ability to speak business language, and demonstrate ROI).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "How does your approach to service design align with abrdn's goal of being a leading Wealth & Investments group, particularly for our Financial Advice firms?" (Show you've researched the company and understand its strategic priorities).

• "This role requires close collaboration with Operations, Sales, and Marketing. How do you typically approach working with these non-design functions to ensure successful product and service delivery?" (Demonstrate your cross-functional collaboration skills and understanding of GTM enablement).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your role, the process you followed, the key decisions you made, the solutions you designed, and the impact achieved.

• Emphasize Strategy and Discovery: Dedicate significant time to explaining your discovery process, how you synthesized research, and how it informed your strategic recommendations.

• Showcase Service Design: Visually represent journey maps, service blueprints, and the integration of digital and operational touchpoints. Explain the "why" behind your design choices for these complex systems.

• Quantify Impact: Use data and metrics to demonstrate the tangible results of your work. If exact numbers aren't available, articulate the expected business value clearly.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Expect questions about specific design choices, trade-offs made, and how you handled constraints or challenges.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, deep understanding of the design process from discovery to delivery, and the ability to collaborate effectively across departments to drive business outcomes. The emphasis on financial services and adviser-specific products means showing an understanding of this domain is crucial.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the abrdn careers portal.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 key projects that best showcase your experience in service design, strategic discovery, and impact within complex organizations. Prioritize case studies demonstrating collaboration with Operations, Sales, or Marketing teams.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience in financial services, regulated industries, service design, journey mapping, stakeholder management, and proficiency with Figma. Quantify achievements wherever possible.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice walking through your portfolio projects, focusing on your strategic approach, problem-solving methodology, and the business impact of your work. Be ready to articulate your process clearly and concisely.

• Research abrdn: Understand their business model, particularly the Adviser vector, their strategic goals, and their commitment to blended working. Familiarize yourself with their existing digital presence and any public information about their customer experience initiatives.

⚠️ 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.