Senior Product Designer - Engine by Starling

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer - Engine by Starling

Company: Starling

Location: London, England, United Kingdom

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / UX/UI

Date Posted: April 08, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the entire product design lifecycle for mobile SDKs and web portals within the Engine by Starling SaaS offering, ensuring high-quality, polished, and strategically sound product outcomes.

• Drive the design and evolution of our multi-brand design system, maintaining consistency and enabling rapid client configuration and adoption of digital banking features.

• Collaborate closely with product owners, tech leads, and cross-functional stakeholders to solve complex, ambiguous problems, and champion best-in-class design principles internally and externally.

• Own the discovery, design, and delivery phases for product domains such as payments, lending, savings, onboarding, and cards, directly impacting business goals and desired client outcomes.

• Foster an open and collaborative team environment by actively seeking and giving feedback, sharing work, and contributing to process improvements for enhanced team efficiency and design maturity.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is specifically for an operations-focused product designer within a B2B SaaS context, requiring a blend of strategic product thinking, hands-on design execution, and a deep understanding of how design impacts client adoption and business scalability in the FinTech sector. The emphasis on "Engine by Starling" as a separate SaaS business serving other banks highlights a unique B2B product design challenge.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Spearhead design initiatives across multiple product verticals within the Engine platform, tackling complex and ambiguous challenges in partnership with Product Owners and Tech Leads, while proactively identifying and mitigating risks.

• Take full ownership of the product design lifecycle, from initial discovery and user research through to final delivery, ensuring that all design outputs align with and contribute to the achievement of domain-specific goals and desired business outcomes.

• Design the intuitive visual and functional user experiences for our mobile Software Development Kits (SDKs), focusing on key banking functionalities like payments, lending, savings, customer onboarding, and card management.

• Actively adopt, refine, and contribute to the development of our multi-brand design system, ensuring a cohesive and consistent user experience across all client implementations while facilitating exceptional client configuration capabilities.

• Contribute to the continuous improvement of team processes and ways of working, proactively suggesting and implementing simplifications and optimizations to enhance overall team efficiency and workflow.

• Ensure all product designs and supporting documentation are meticulously crafted to a standard that facilitates rapid client adoption, straightforward implementation, and meaningful customization by our diverse client base.

• Act as a vocal advocate for design excellence, both within the Engine team and in external client engagements, effectively demonstrating the transformative power of superior design in reshaping the banking landscape.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize end-to-end ownership, strategic problem-solving, and a focus on client enablement through design, which are critical for a Senior Product Designer in a B2B SaaS environment. The mention of "multi-brand design system" and "client configuration" points to a need for adaptability and a strong understanding of scalable design solutions.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), or a related field, or equivalent professional experience in product design.

Experience: Minimum of 5+ years of progressive experience as a UX/Product Designer, with a proven track record in designing and delivering complex digital products.

Required Skills:

• Extensive experience (5+ years) working with established design systems, utilizing design tools, and leveraging research platforms such as Figma and user testing methodologies.

• A robust portfolio showcasing thoughtful, accessible, and inclusive user experiences for customers, demonstrating tangible positive impacts for both end-users and businesses.

• Demonstrated high-quality visual design capabilities, with the ability to evolve and elevate the company's existing design language and aesthetic.

• Proven experience in planning, executing, and analyzing various user research methods to effectively test, validate, and iterate on design concepts and product ideas.

• Exceptional ability to proactively communicate complex design decisions and strategies persuasively to a wide range of audiences, including senior stakeholders, and to anticipate and challenge design decisions that may conflict with established principles or user safety.

Preferred Skills:

• Prior experience in a Product Design role within a FinTech company or a Software Startup/Scaleup environment, with a particular emphasis on mobile design experience.

• Demonstrated ability to navigate and resolve conflicting requirements between end-users and enterprise clients, making pragmatic design trade-offs that effectively satisfy both user needs and business viability.

• Practical experience in driving the adoption, alignment, and maturity of a design system, extending its application beyond basic UI components and Figma files.

• Strong visual craft skills, including expertise in illustration, iconography, and motion design, coupled with a passion for defining visual standards that empower the broader design team to maintain high-quality output.

• Experience in leading internal 'communities of practice' focused on enhancing specific areas of design maturity, such as research methodologies, accessibility standards, or design system development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements emphasize a blend of user-centric design, technical proficiency with design tools, and business acumen, particularly in handling B2B client needs and driving design system adoption. The "5+ years" suggests a mid-to-senior level role.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio that clearly articulates the entire product design lifecycle for at least 2-3 significant projects, showcasing the journey from initial problem definition and user research to final execution and impact.

• Detailed case studies demonstrating how you have leveraged design systems and established design principles to create consistent, scalable, and user-friendly experiences.

• Evidence of your ability to conduct and apply user research findings to inform design decisions, with clear examples of how research translated into tangible product improvements.

• Examples of strong visual design craft, including polished UI mockups, interactive prototypes, and potentially examples of illustration or motion design that align with the company's brand aesthetic.

Process Documentation:

• Showcase your approach to documenting design processes, including user flows, wireframes, and interaction specifications, ensuring clarity for engineering implementation.

• Provide examples of how you have contributed to or improved team design processes, focusing on efficiency, collaboration, and quality assurance.

• Demonstrate your understanding of how design outputs integrate into broader product development workflows, including agile methodologies and release cycles.

• Illustrate your methods for gathering feedback on designs, both from internal teams and potentially from clients or end-users, and how this feedback was incorporated into iterative improvements.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Senior Product Designer role, the portfolio should emphasize end-to-end ownership, strategic thinking, and measurable impact. The focus on design systems and B2B client needs is crucial. The prompt specifically asks for "case studies of a project from start to finish," so candidates should be prepared to detail their process, collaboration, and craft.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers in London with 5-10 years of experience in a FinTech/SaaS environment, the estimated salary range is £70,000 - £95,000 per annum. This range accounts for the seniority of the role, the specific demands of FinTech product design, and the cost of living in London.

Benefits:

• Generous Holiday Allowance: 33 days of holiday per year, including public holidays, with flexibility in timing. An additional day off for your birthday. Annual leave increases with length of service. Option to buy or sell up to five extra days off.

• Paid Volunteering: 16 hours of paid time off per year dedicated to volunteering activities.

• Retirement Savings: Company-enhanced pension scheme with salary sacrifice options.

• Financial Security: Life insurance coverage at 4x your salary and group income protection.

• Health & Wellness: Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth, offering comprehensive coverage including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include exclusive discounts.

• Family Support: Generous family-friendly policies to support work-life balance.

• Referral Program: Incentives through a 'refer a friend' scheme.

• Perkbox Membership: Access to a comprehensive benefits platform offering retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks.

• Lifestyle & Commuting: Initiatives such as Cycle to Work scheme, salary-sacrificed gym partnerships, and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing options.

  **