Senior Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer
Company: Civica
Location: Dudley, England, United Kingdom
Job Type: Full-Time
Category: Product Design / User Experience Operations
Date Posted: October 27, 2025
Experience Level: Senior
Remote Status: On-site / Hybrid (with remote flexibility)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the visual design and delivery of high-fidelity, pixel-perfect user interfaces that are both aesthetically pleasing and highly functional, ensuring adherence to accessibility standards and strategic business objectives.
• Foster deep collaboration with cross-functional teams, including product designers, product managers, engineers, and researchers, to drive the end-to-end product lifecycle from concept to implementation.
• Develop and refine high-fidelity prototypes to effectively communicate design concepts, facilitate design reviews, and iterate designs based on comprehensive feedback, user research, and data-driven insights.
• Actively contribute to and leverage the Firefly design system, ensuring consistency, scalability, and adherence to established design principles across all digital products.
• Champion accessibility and inclusive design practices, guaranteeing that all digital experiences comply with WCAG and other relevant international standards.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the job listing indicates "TELECOMMUTE" and "remote_derived": true, the "Work Arrangement" is inferred as On-site/Hybrid due to the specific location (Dudley, England) and the typical nature of senior design roles requiring collaborative on-site presence. The 'remote' flag might indicate flexibility rather than full remote. This role is categorized under "Product Design / User Experience Operations" to reflect its strategic impact on product development processes and user experience optimization.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Visual Design & Delivery: Create visually compelling, pixel-perfect user interfaces that are not only aesthetically engaging but also highly usable, ensuring they meet stringent accessibility standards and effectively align with overarching business goals.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Engage in close collaboration with product designers, product managers, engineers, and researchers, acting as a key contributor throughout the entire product development lifecycle to ensure seamless design integration.
• Prototyping & Validation: Construct high-fidelity prototypes to articulate design ideas clearly, facilitate constructive design reviews, and drive design iterations based on feedback, user research findings, and actionable data insights.
• Design System Contribution: Utilize and actively contribute to the 'Firefly' design system, ensuring a consistent, scalable, and cohesive design language across all digital products, reinforcing established design principles.
• Accessibility & Inclusion Advocacy: Serve as a vocal advocate for inclusive design principles and ensure all delivered designs strictly comply with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and other pertinent accessibility standards.
• Culture & Growth Promotion: Foster a collaborative, positive, and feedback-driven team culture that emphasizes continuous improvement, creative problem-solving, and the pursuit of design excellence.
• Brand Evolution: Ensure designs reflect, evolve, and enhance Civica's brand identity, adapting to the dynamic needs of modern digital experiences and maintaining a cohesive brand narrative.
• Mentorship & Team Development: Provide support, guidance, and inspiration to fellow designers, actively promoting continuous improvement and elevating the overall quality and impact of the design team's work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The core responsibilities have been expanded to detail the operational aspects of design, focusing on process, collaboration, and system contribution, which are critical for a Senior Product Designer role contributing to GTM (Go-To-Market) readiness and product success.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, or a related field is often preferred for senior roles. Equivalent practical experience will also be considered.
Experience: A minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in visual and/or product design roles, with a demonstrated history of successfully delivering high-quality digital products across diverse platforms and industries.

Required Skills:

• Visual Design Expertise: A strong portfolio showcasing exceptional UI design skills, including mastery of typography, color theory, layout principles, and visual hierarchy across web, mobile, and other digital platforms.
• Prototyping & Interaction Design: Proficiency in creating high-fidelity interactive prototypes to effectively communicate design concepts and user flows.
• Design System Proficiency: Experience utilizing and contributing to established design systems to ensure consistency, scalability, and maintainability of design assets.
• Accessibility Standards: Solid understanding of accessibility principles and best practices (e.g., WCAG 2.1 AA) to ensure inclusive design solutions.
• Collaboration & Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions clearly, provide constructive feedback, and collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders.
• Problem-Solving Aptitude: Ability to translate complex user needs and business requirements into intuitive, user-friendly, and visually compelling interfaces.
• Brand Alignment: Capacity to deliver high-quality designs that align with and evolve an established brand identity.

Preferred Skills:

• User Research Integration: Experience working closely with user researchers and integrating user feedback and data into the design process.
• Agile Methodologies: Familiarity with Agile development processes and experience working within cross-functional Agile teams.
• Motion Design: Basic understanding or experience with motion design principles to enhance user experience.
• Design Mentorship: Proven ability to mentor junior designers and contribute to team growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Core Competencies" from the original description have been re-categorized into Required and Preferred Skills, with an emphasis on how these skills directly contribute to operational efficiency and product delivery within a GTM context. The minimum experience level has been inferred from "5+ years" to "Senior."

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Visual Design Excellence: Showcase a minimum of 3-5 diverse projects demonstrating exceptional UI design skills, sophisticated visual aesthetics, and a strong command of digital design principles. Highlight projects where you significantly improved user interface clarity and aesthetic appeal.
• Process & Problem-Solving: Present case studies that detail your design process, including problem definition, user research insights, ideation, prototyping, user testing, and iteration. Emphasize how you approached complex design challenges and arrived at effective solutions.
• System Contribution: Include examples of your work with or contributions to design systems. Detail how you ensured consistency, scalability, and maintainability of design elements and patterns.
• Impact & ROI: Quantify the impact of your design work whenever possible. Demonstrate how your designs led to measurable improvements in user engagement, conversion rates, task completion success, or other key performance indicators relevant to product success.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Examples of how you have documented user flows, wireframes, and interaction specifications to ensure clarity for development teams.
• Design System Implementation: Showcase how you have applied and documented the use of design system components to maintain consistency and accelerate design and development cycles.
• Accessibility Compliance: Provide evidence of how you have ensured designs meet accessibility standards, including annotations or documentation explaining specific accessibility considerations.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section is crucial for a Senior Product Designer. The requirements focus on demonstrating not just design output, but the strategic and systematic approach to design that impacts product operations and efficiency.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers in the UK, particularly in hybrid/on-site roles with 5+ years of experience, a competitive salary range is estimated between £55,000 and £75,000 per annum. This estimate considers the company's industry (Technology, Public Sector Software), location (Dudley, England), and the senior nature of the role.

Benefits:

• Time Off & Work-Life Balance:
  • 25 Days Annual Leave + Bank Holidays: Generous paid time off to ensure work-life balance.
  • Option to Buy Up to 10 Extra Days: Flexibility to tailor your annual leave allowance.
  • Days of Difference: Up to 3 additional days off annually for volunteering activities, promoting community engagement.
• Financial Well-being & Security:
  • Pension Contributions: 5% employer match scheme to support long-term financial planning.
  • Income Protection: Up to 75% salary coverage in the event of long-term illness.
  • Life Assurance: A tax-free lump sum equivalent to 4x your annual salary for beneficiaries.
  • Critical Illness Cover: A £25,000 lump sum payment, with the option to extend coverage to dependents.
• Health & Perks:
  • Private Medical Insurance: Provides rapid access to private healthcare services.
  • Health Cash Plan: Allows claiming back costs for physiotherapy, therapies, and other health-related expenses.
  • Dental Insurance: Coverage for both routine and emergency dental care.
  • Affinity Groups: Opportunities to join employee-led communities based on shared interests or backgrounds.
  • Bounty Bonus: A referral bonus program rewarding employees for successfully referring new hires.

Working Hours: The standard working hours are likely based on a 40-hour week, typical for full-time roles in the UK. While the role is described as on-site/hybrid, there may be flexibility offered around daily start and end times, subject to team and project needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on UK market data for senior design roles. The benefits are directly extracted and detailed to highlight their value proposition. The working hours are inferred from the "FULL_TIME" employment type.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Civica operates within the Technology sector, specifically focusing on software and digital solutions for the Public Sector. This industry context implies a mission-driven approach, a focus on long-term impact, and a need for robust, reliable, and compliant solutions. For a designer, this means creating products that serve citizens and public organizations, often with complex user bases and stringent regulatory requirements. Company Size: Civica is a large organization. While the exact number of employees globally for Civica isn't provided in the input, it's generally known to be a significant enterprise. A large company size for operations roles often means established processes, opportunities for specialization, and potential for cross-departmental influence, but also can involve navigating more complex organizational structures. Founded: Civica was founded in 1994. This history suggests a stable and established company with a long track record in the technology and public sector markets, likely possessing mature operational frameworks and a deep understanding of its customer base.

Team Structure:

• Design Team: The Senior Product Designer will be part of the User Experience team, likely comprising other product designers, UX researchers, and potentially UI specialists. This team will collaborate closely with product management and engineering departments.
• Reporting: The Senior Product Designer will likely report to a Head of Design, UX Lead, or Product Design Manager, who oversees the design strategy and team performance.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: A significant aspect of this role involves working with Product Managers to understand requirements, Engineers to ensure feasibility and implementation, and Researchers to validate designs, all critical for successful Go-To-Market strategies.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: The role emphasizes using data insights and research to inform design decisions, ensuring products are user-centric and aligned with business objectives.
• Agile Development: Collaboration within Agile frameworks is implied, requiring designers to be adaptable and responsive to iterative development cycles.
• Design System Utilization: Adherence to and contribution to a design system ('Firefly') is a core operational methodology, ensuring consistency and efficiency in design delivery.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company context is fleshed out based on Civica's known industry and scale, providing relevant implications for a Senior Product Designer role, particularly concerning user base, regulatory environment, and operational processes.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior-level position within the Product Design function. It signifies a level of expertise where the individual is expected to lead design initiatives, mentor junior team members, and contribute significantly to strategic design decisions that impact product development and Go-To-Market readiness. Responsibilities extend beyond individual contribution to influencing team processes and design quality. Reporting Structure: The Senior Product Designer will likely report into a Design Leadership role (e.g., Head of Design, UX Manager). They will work collaboratively with Product Management and Engineering leads, providing design expertise and direction on product features and roadmaps. Operations Impact: As a Senior Product Designer, your work directly influences the usability, desirability, and effectiveness of Civica's software products. This impact is critical for customer adoption, satisfaction, retention, and ultimately, revenue generation and market competitiveness. High-quality, user-centric design operationalizes the product strategy and enhances the customer experience, directly contributing to business success.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Potential to move into a Lead Product Designer, Design Manager, or Principal Designer role, taking on more strategic responsibilities and managing larger design initiatives or teams.
• Specialization: Opportunity to deepen expertise in specific areas such as UX research, accessibility, design systems, or interaction design, becoming a subject matter expert.
• Cross-Functional Advancement: Develop a strong understanding of product management and engineering workflows, potentially leading to roles with broader product strategy influence.
• Mentorship & Training: Formal and informal opportunities to mentor junior designers, share best practices, and participate in continuous learning through workshops, conferences, and internal training programs focused on design and technology trends.

📝 Enhancement Note: This analysis contextualizes the "Senior" level within operations and design frameworks, highlighting the strategic influence and potential career pathways beyond individual contributor roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is advertised with a "TELECOMMUTE" option and "remote_derived": true, but the primary location is Dudley, England, suggesting a Hybrid Work Model. This typically involves a blend of working from the office and remotely. The office environment at Civica is likely professional and collaborative, designed to support team interaction and focused work. Office Location(s): The primary office location is Dudley, England. Specific details about office amenities, accessibility, and proximity to public transport would need to be confirmed, but given the UK context, standard office facilities are expected. Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: The office is likely equipped with meeting rooms, breakout areas, and potentially open-plan spaces designed to foster collaboration between designers, product managers, and engineers.
• Tools & Technology: Access to necessary hardware, software licenses (e.g., Figma, FigJam), and high-speed internet will be provided to support design work, whether in the office or remotely.
• Team Interaction: Regular opportunities for in-person design critiques, brainstorming sessions, and team-building activities are expected, promoting a strong team dynamic and knowledge sharing.

Work Schedule: A standard 40-hour work week is typical for full-time roles. The hybrid nature of the role allows for flexibility in scheduling work days between the office and home, subject to team coordination and project deadlines. This flexibility is beneficial for managing personal commitments while ensuring effective collaboration and design delivery.

📝 Enhancement Note: Based on the "TELECOMMUTE" flag and location, a hybrid model is inferred, detailing the likely operational aspects of the workspace and schedule relevant to a design professional.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will review your application and portfolio to assess basic qualifications and alignment with the role.
• Portfolio Review & Discussion: Expect a dedicated session to walk through your portfolio. Be prepared to discuss your design process, rationale, challenges, and the impact of your work on specific projects. Focus on how your approach aligns with Civica's user-centric and data-informed methodologies.
• Design Challenge/Exercise: You may be given a take-home design challenge or a live whiteboard exercise to assess your problem-solving skills, design thinking, and ability to work under pressure. This could involve critiquing an existing design, proposing a solution for a hypothetical problem, or sketching out user flows.
• Stakeholder Interviews: Interviews with key team members, including product managers, engineers, and potentially other designers, to evaluate your collaboration style, communication skills, and cultural fit.
• Final Interview: A final discussion with a senior leader or hiring manager to confirm your fit and address any remaining questions.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-5 of your strongest projects that best showcase your visual design skills, problem-solving abilities, and experience with design systems and accessibility.
• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, your process, the challenges you faced, the solutions you devised, and the measurable outcomes. Use visuals effectively to illustrate your points.
• Highlight Operations Impact: Emphasize how your designs contributed to business goals, improved user experience metrics, or streamlined development processes through clear documentation and system contributions.
• Showcase Figma/FigJam Proficiency: Be ready to discuss your workflow within these tools, any custom components or plugins you've used, and how you leverage them for efficient collaboration and prototyping.
• Address Accessibility: Be prepared to discuss your understanding and implementation of accessibility standards within your designs.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Brief: Carefully read and understand the requirements of any design challenge. Ask clarifying questions if needed.
• Focus on Process: Demonstrate your design thinking process, even if time is limited. Articulate your assumptions and how you would validate them.
• Prioritize: If time is short, focus on delivering a core solution rather than trying to perfect every detail. Highlight what you would do next if you had more time.
• Communicate Clearly: Practice articulating your design decisions and rationale concisely and effectively.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section provides actionable advice tailored to a senior design role, emphasizing portfolio content, presentation strategy, and preparation for common design interview components, including operational considerations.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Expected to be the primary tool for UI design, wireframing, and prototyping. Proficiency in its core features, advanced capabilities (e.g., auto-layout, component variants), and collaborative functionalities is essential.
• FigJam: Likely used for brainstorming, whiteboarding, user flow mapping, and collaborative ideation sessions. Familiarity with its features for team collaboration is important.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not explicitly listed, experience with tools that provide user behavior analytics (e.g., Google Analytics, Hotjar, Mixpanel) and the ability to interpret data to inform design decisions would be highly beneficial. Designers often work with product managers and analysts who use these tools.

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly relevant to the Senior Product Designer role, but an understanding of how design impacts user journeys within CRM systems or automated workflows could be advantageous for context.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary tools are directly identified from the job description. The inclusion of analytics and CRM/automation is an inference based on typical cross-functional collaboration for product designers in a tech company.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and serving the needs of users, particularly citizens and public sector organizations, ensuring products are intuitive, effective, and accessible.
• Collaboration & Teamwork: A strong emphasis on working together across disciplines (design, product, engineering) to achieve shared goals, fostering an environment of mutual respect and open communication.
• Continuous Improvement: A mindset focused on iterative development, learning from feedback and data, and constantly seeking ways to enhance product quality and user experience.
• Innovation & Creativity: Encouraging creative problem-solving and the exploration of new ideas to deliver impactful and forward-thinking digital solutions.
• Integrity & Accountability: A commitment to delivering reliable, secure, and compliant solutions, taking ownership of design decisions and their impact.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Designers are expected to be integrated members of product teams, actively participating in sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Feedback-Driven: A culture that encourages constructive feedback on designs and processes, with an emphasis on collective improvement.
• Knowledge Sharing: Active participation in design critiques, workshops, and documentation to share insights, best practices, and learnings across the team and wider organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: These values and collaboration styles are inferred based on typical tech company culture, especially those serving the public sector, and aligned with the responsibilities of a senior role emphasizing teamwork and continuous improvement.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing User Needs with Business Goals: Navigating the complexities of aligning user desires with technical constraints, business objectives, and regulatory requirements inherent in public sector software.
• Scalability of Design Systems: Ensuring the 'Firefly' design system can scale effectively to support a growing product portfolio and diverse user needs.
• Driving Design Adoption: Championing design best practices and advocating for user-centered approaches within a large organization, potentially against competing priorities.
• Evolving Accessibility Standards: Keeping pace with evolving accessibility guidelines and ensuring consistent implementation across all products.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design Techniques: Access to training, workshops, and conferences focused on cutting-edge UX/UI design, interaction design, and visual design trends.
• Design System Mastery: Opportunities to become a subject matter expert in design systems, potentially leading initiatives for its expansion and governance.
• Leadership Skills: Development programs focused on mentorship, team leadership, and strategic planning for design initiatives.
• Industry Exposure: Learning about the unique challenges and opportunities within the public sector technology landscape.

📝 Enhancement Note: Challenges and growth opportunities are framed around the specific context of a Senior Product Designer role within a large tech company serving the public sector, highlighting areas for skill development and career advancement.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Design Process & Rationale: "Walk me through a project in your portfolio where you had to balance conflicting user needs and business priorities. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on demonstrating structured problem-solving and decision-making).
• Collaboration & Influence: "Describe a time you had to influence a cross-functional team (e.g., engineers, product managers) to adopt a particular design solution. What strategies did you use?" (Highlight communication, persuasion, and stakeholder management skills).
• Design System Impact: "How have you contributed to or utilized a design system in a previous role? What were the benefits, and what challenges did you encounter?" (Emphasize understanding of consistency, scalability, and operational efficiency).

Company & Culture Questions:

• Civica's Mission: "What interests you about Civica's mission to improve public services through technology, and how does your design philosophy align with this?" (Research Civica's values and recent projects).
• Team Dynamics: "How do you typically collaborate with product managers and engineers? What makes a successful design-engineering partnership in your experience?" (Showcase your understanding of team collaboration and product development cycles).
• Design Quality & Impact: "How do you ensure the quality and impact of your design work? What metrics do you track?" (Focus on user-centricity and data-driven validation).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Begin with a brief overview of your portfolio and highlight 2-3 key projects that best represent your skills and experience relevant to this role.
• Deep Dive into Case Studies: For each chosen project, clearly articulate the problem, your specific role and contributions, your design process, key decisions made (and why), challenges overcome, and the measurable results or impact.
• Visual Storytelling: Use high-fidelity mockups, interactive prototypes, and clear annotations to illustrate your design solutions. Explain your visual choices and how they serve the user and business goals.
• Demonstrate Tool Proficiency: Be ready to discuss your workflow in Figma/FigJam, showcasing efficient use of components, auto-layout, and prototyping features.
• Address Accessibility & Inclusivity: Explicitly discuss how you incorporated accessibility considerations and inclusive design principles into your work.

📝 Enhancement Note: These interview questions and preparation tips are tailored to a Senior Product Designer role, focusing on strategic thinking, operational impact, and the specific tools and methodologies mentioned in the job description.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Workable link.
• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight projects demonstrating strong visual design, user-centered problem-solving, experience with design systems, and accessibility compliance. Prioritize case studies that show your process and measurable impact.
• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly outlines your 5+ years of relevant experience, highlighting achievements in UI/UX design, collaboration, and any contributions to design systems or process improvements. Use keywords from the job description.
• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process and rationale for key projects. Prepare to discuss how you collaborate with cross-functional teams and your understanding of accessibility standards. Be ready to present your portfolio effectively and discuss your experience with Figma and FigJam.
• Company Research: Familiarize yourself with Civica's mission, its products, and its impact on the public sector. Understand their commitment to technology and citizen services to better align your responses with their values.

⚠️ 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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