UX Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: UX Designer

Company: Sword Group

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Job Type: Full-time

Category: User Experience (UX) Design / Product Design

Date Posted: February 16, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid (On-site with flexible arrangements)

🚀 Role Summary

• This role is crucial for embedding user-centered design principles within complex energy and infrastructure programs, ensuring digital solutions meet genuine user needs and deliver measurable value.

• The UX Designer will lead the entire UX process, from initial discovery and user research to prototyping and validation, within multidisciplinary delivery teams.

• The position requires translating research insights into actionable design decisions that enhance usability and effectiveness for digital products and services.

• A key aspect of this role involves actively promoting adherence to accessibility standards and usability best practices across all projects.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "telecommute" location type combined with the description mentioning "flexible working arrangements" suggests a hybrid model, where some on-site presence in Edinburgh is expected, but with flexibility. The role is clearly focused on enterprise-level UX within specific sectors (Energy, Public, Finance), indicating a need for experience in structured, corporate environments rather than fast-paced startups.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conduct comprehensive user research activities, including in-depth interviews, collaborative workshops, direct observation, and rigorous usability testing to gather crucial user insights.

• Develop detailed user personas, intuitive journey maps, and comprehensive service blueprints that accurately reflect user behaviors, pain points, and interaction flows.

• Analyze and synthesize research findings into clear, actionable insights that effectively inform and shape the direction of digital product development and delivery.

• Plan and facilitate design sprints, iterative prototyping sessions, and validation activities to ensure user needs are met and design solutions are refined.

• Analyze usability test results and user feedback to identify areas for improvement and seamlessly feed these insights back into live projects and ongoing program development.

• Support the definition, refinement, and ongoing management of both business requirements and user needs, ensuring alignment between technical capabilities and user expectations.

• Champion and ensure adherence to established accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG), usability best practices, and relevant governance processes across all design outputs.

• Contribute actively to the ongoing development, refinement, and implementation of the organization’s User Experience Framework, enhancing design consistency and quality.

• Provide expert UX guidance and support across multiple concurrent projects and large-scale programs, managing diverse stakeholder needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a full-spectrum UX role, from foundational research to ongoing optimization and framework development. The emphasis on "complex energy and infrastructure programmes" and "structured, enterprise environments" suggests that candidates familiar with large-scale, regulated, or critical systems will be highly valued.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design, Psychology, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: 5-10 years of proven experience as a UX Designer, with a significant portion spent in complex organizational settings and enterprise environments, demonstrating a track record of successful UX implementation on large-scale projects.

Required Skills:

• Proven experience as a UX Designer in complex organizational settings, with a strong portfolio showcasing end-to-end UX project lifecycles.

• Deep understanding of UX methodologies, encompassing discovery, user research, information architecture, interaction design, prototyping, and validation.

• Demonstrated experience in planning and facilitating engaging workshops, intensive design sprints, and effective usability testing sessions.

• Ability to produce high-quality, insightful UX artifacts, including detailed user personas, comprehensive journey maps, and clear service blueprints.

• Proficiency with industry-standard prototyping and design tools such as Figma, Axure, Adobe XD, or equivalent, demonstrating the ability to create interactive prototypes.

• Solid knowledge of accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG 2.1 AA) and core usability principles, with a commitment to inclusive design.

• Excellent facilitation, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions and influence stakeholders at various levels.

• A collaborative, inquisitive mindset with the confidence to challenge assumptions and advocate for user needs effectively.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience working within the Energy, Public, or Finance sectors.

• Familiarity with user research platforms and tools for remote usability testing.

• Experience with design systems and contributing to their development or maintenance.

• Basic understanding of front-end development principles (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to better collaborate with developers.

• Experience with qualitative and quantitative data analysis to inform design decisions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements emphasize practical, hands-on experience in structured environments, rather than just theoretical knowledge. The mention of "enterprise environments" and "structured, detail-oriented approach" indicates a need for candidates who can navigate corporate processes and deliver within defined frameworks.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a minimum of 3-5 distinct projects that demonstrate a full UX lifecycle, from initial concept and research to final design and validation.

• For each project, clearly articulate the problem statement, your specific role and contributions, the methodologies and tools used, key design decisions, and the measurable outcomes or impact.

• Include examples of UX artifacts such as user personas, journey maps, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and usability testing reports.

• Highlight projects conducted within complex organizational settings or enterprise environments, demonstrating your ability to handle scope, stakeholders, and governance.

Process Documentation:

• Provide clear documentation of your UX process, detailing how you approach research, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration.

• Illustrate how you manage and document design decisions, ensuring traceability and stakeholder buy-in.

• Show examples of how you have contributed to or utilized UX frameworks, standards, or design systems.

• Detail your approach to incorporating accessibility and usability best practices throughout the design and development lifecycle.

📝 Enhancement Note: A robust portfolio is critical for this role, as it needs to prove experience in complex, enterprise-level projects. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their processes in detail and demonstrate how they integrate user needs with business objectives within structured environments.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a UX Designer with 5-10 years of experience in Edinburgh, Scotland, the estimated salary range is £50,000 - £70,000 per annum. This estimate considers the cost of living in Edinburgh, the company's industry (business technology solutions), and the specified experience level.

Benefits:

• Personalized Career Development: A tailored development plan with a variety of learning and development opportunities to support individual goals and aspirations.

• Flexible Working: Flexible work arrangements are offered to support work-life balance, with a willingness to discuss individual preferences where feasible.

• Generous Annual Leave: A competitive annual leave allowance to ensure adequate time for rest and personal pursuits.

• Enhanced Family Friendly Benefits: Support for employees with family responsibilities.

• Pension Scheme: A comprehensive pension scheme to support long-term financial security.

• Private Health Insurance: Access to private healthcare services for employees.

• Well-being Schemes: Programs and resources designed to support employee mental and physical well-being.

• Insurance Schemes: Various insurance coverage options to provide additional security.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours, likely around 40 hours per week, with flexibility in arrangement as per the benefits.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimation based on typical UK market rates for this role and experience level in a major city like Edinburgh. Specific compensation will depend on the candidate's exact experience, skills, and negotiation. The benefits package is comprehensive, emphasizing professional growth and work-life balance.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Business Technology Solutions, Consulting, with a strong focus on the Energy, Public, and Finance sectors. Sword Group leverages proven technology, specialist teams, and domain expertise to build technical foundations across platforms, data, and business applications.

Company Size: Sword Group is a significant player in the industry, likely falling into the mid-to-large enterprise category (given the complexity of projects mentioned). LinkedIn company data indicates a company size of 1,000-5,000 employees.

Founded: Sword Group was founded in 2000. This long history suggests a stable, established company with deep industry experience and a mature organizational structure.

Team Structure:

• The UX Designer will be part of multidisciplinary delivery teams, working alongside service owners, business analysts, developers, and product leads. This implies a collaborative, project-based team structure.

• There may be a dedicated UX/Design team or function within Sword Group, from which the UX Designer contributes to various projects, indicated by the need to "Contribute to the ongoing development of the organisation’s User Experience Framework."

Methodology:

• Data-driven decision-making is a core tenet, with a focus on translating research insights into actionable design.

• User-centered design principles are paramount, ensuring solutions are grounded in genuine user needs.

• Agile and iterative development methodologies are likely employed, given the mention of "design sprints" and "iterative prototyping."

• Emphasis on structured processes, governance, and adherence to best practices in complex environments.

Company Website: https://www.sword-group.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture at Sword Group appears to be a blend of professional, structured execution within specific industry sectors, combined with a supportive environment for personal and professional growth. The emphasis on "domain expertise" suggests a deep understanding of client challenges within their target industries.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a mid-to-senior level individual contributor role (5-10 years experience). It requires not just execution but also leadership in UX methodology, stakeholder engagement, and contributing to the broader UX framework. The role is positioned to influence design strategy within complex programs.

Reporting Structure: The UX Designer will report into project leadership within multidisciplinary teams and potentially to a Design Lead or Head of UX within Sword Group. This structure allows for direct project impact while benefiting from specialized design leadership.

Operations Impact: The UX Designer's impact is directly tied to the success of digital solutions within critical sectors like energy and infrastructure. By ensuring solutions are usable, effective, and meet user needs, the role contributes to:

• Increased user adoption and satisfaction.

• Improved operational efficiency for clients.

• Reduced development rework due to early validation.

• Enhanced client trust and partnership through successful digital transformations.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in specific UX areas (e.g., user research, interaction design, information architecture) or within the Energy/Public/Finance sectors.

• Leadership: Progress to a Senior UX Designer, Lead UX Designer, or UX Manager role, overseeing teams and strategy.

• Cross-functional Advancement: Transition into Product Management, Service Design, or Program Management roles, leveraging UX expertise.

• Framework Development: Take on a more significant role in shaping and evolving Sword Group's UX Framework and best practices.

• Continuous Learning: The company explicitly invests in training and career development, suggesting opportunities for certifications, workshops, and advanced skill acquisition.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role offers significant potential for growth within a structured consulting environment. Candidates seeking to deepen their expertise in enterprise UX and contribute to organizational best practices will find this role appealing.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is described as "Hybrid" with "Flexible working arrangements." While based in Edinburgh, it implies a mix of remote work and on-site presence at Sword Group's Edinburgh office or client sites as needed. This suggests a modern office environment designed for collaboration and focused work.

Office Location(s): Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. Specific office details would need to be confirmed, but Edinburgh is a major hub for technology and business in Scotland.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The emphasis on multidisciplinary teams and client engagement means the workspace supports collaboration, brainstorming, and client presentations.

• Tools & Technology: Access to industry-standard UX design and prototyping tools (Figma, Axure, Adobe XD) will be provided. The environment likely supports robust IT infrastructure for handling complex projects.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities to interact with a diverse range of professionals, including business analysts, developers, project managers, and client stakeholders, fostering a dynamic work atmosphere.

Work Schedule: While standard full-time hours are expected (approx. 40 hours/week), the "flexible working arrangements" suggest some autonomy in structuring the workday, provided project deadlines and team collaboration needs are met. This flexibility is key for balancing on-site and remote work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature of the role requires candidates to be comfortable with both remote collaboration and in-person interaction. The company's commitment to flexible working suggests a modern approach to employee experience.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of CV and portfolio to assess experience, skills, and alignment with role requirements.

• First Interview: Likely a discussion with a hiring manager or HR representative to gauge overall fit, motivation, and salary expectations.

• Technical Interview/Portfolio Review: A more in-depth session with senior UX professionals or team leads. This will involve a detailed walkthrough of your portfolio, focusing on your process, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities. Expect questions on specific projects and your approach to UX challenges.

• Design Challenge/Case Study: A practical exercise, potentially a take-home task or a live design challenge during an interview, to assess your skills in action. This might involve analyzing a problem, proposing solutions, or creating a small prototype.

• Final Interview: Potentially with a senior leader or cross-functional team members to assess cultural fit, strategic thinking, and overall suitability for the role and company.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure for Impact: Organize your portfolio to clearly present 3-5 of your strongest, most relevant projects. For each, detail the problem, your role, process, solutions, and outcomes.

• Highlight Enterprise Experience: Emphasize projects undertaken in complex, structured environments. Discuss how you navigated stakeholder landscapes and adhered to governance.

• Demonstrate UX Process: Clearly articulate your methodology for research, ideation, prototyping, and validation. Show how you arrive at your design decisions.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, include metrics or qualitative feedback that demonstrate the success and impact of your designs.

• Tool Proficiency: Be ready to discuss your proficiency with tools like Figma, Axure, or Adobe XD and explain why you chose specific tools for particular tasks.

• Accessibility Focus: Ensure you can speak to your understanding and application of accessibility standards.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Context: If given a case study, thoroughly research Sword Group and its target sectors (Energy, Public, Finance) to understand potential user needs and business constraints.

• Focus on Process: For any practical exercise, emphasize your thought process and problem-solving approach over simply delivering a polished final design.

• Time Management: Be mindful of time constraints, whether for a take-home task or an in-interview challenge. Prioritize key deliverables.

• Communication: Be prepared to clearly articulate your approach, design rationale, and any assumptions made.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is likely to be thorough, with a strong emphasis on portfolio review and practical application of UX principles in complex settings. Candidates should prepare to showcase their ability to work within structured environments and deliver impactful UX solutions.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Prototyping & Design: Figma, Axure, Adobe XD (Proficiency in at least one is essential).

• User Research & Testing: Tools for conducting interviews, surveys, and usability tests (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms).

• Collaboration & Documentation: Confluence, Jira, Miro, Mural (for workshops, design sprints, and documentation).

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Experience with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and workflow automation tools is less critical for a pure UX role but can be advantageous for understanding the broader business context and user journeys within these systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The core technical skills revolve around UX design and prototyping software. Familiarity with collaboration and documentation tools is also important for effective teamwork in an enterprise setting.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and advocating for user needs in all design decisions.

• Excellence & Quality: A drive to deliver high-quality, well-crafted design solutions that meet rigorous standards.

• Collaboration: A belief in working effectively within multidisciplinary teams and with diverse stakeholders to achieve shared goals.

• Continuous Improvement: A dedication to ongoing learning, process refinement, and adapting to new technologies and methodologies.

• Integrity & Professionalism: Upholding high ethical standards and demonstrating a structured, detail-oriented approach to work.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Working closely with business analysts to define requirements, developers to ensure feasibility, and product leads to align with strategic vision.

• Iterative Feedback: Embracing a culture of constructive feedback, both giving and receiving, throughout the design process.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively participating in sharing UX best practices, insights, and learnings across teams and contributing to the organizational UX Framework.

• Proactive Communication: Maintaining open and regular communication with all stakeholders to ensure alignment and manage expectations.

📝 Enhancement Note: Sword Group's values emphasize professionalism, user advocacy, and collaborative execution within complex project environments. Candidates should demonstrate how their work ethic and collaboration style align with these principles.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating Complex Systems: Designing for intricate energy and infrastructure programs requires understanding complex technical constraints, legacy systems, and stringent requirements.

• Stakeholder Management: Balancing the needs and expectations of multiple stakeholders across different departments and client organizations can be challenging.

• Translating Research to Action: Effectively translating raw user data into actionable design insights that drive tangible improvements can be difficult.

• Promoting UX in Enterprise: Ensuring consistent adherence to UX best practices and accessibility standards across large, established organizations requires persistence and strong advocacy.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced UX Techniques: Opportunities to deepen expertise in areas like advanced user research methodologies, interaction design patterns, or inclusive design.

• Industry-Specific Knowledge: Gaining in-depth understanding of the Energy, Public, and Finance sectors, which can lead to specialized UX consulting roles.

• Leadership Development: Potential to grow into leadership roles, managing UX initiatives or teams, and contributing to strategic design direction.

• Framework Contribution: Playing a key role in refining and expanding Sword Group's UX Framework, impacting design quality across the company.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role presents opportunities to tackle challenging, impactful projects and grow within a structured professional services environment. Candidates should be prepared for the complexities inherent in enterprise-level consulting.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to influence stakeholders to adopt a user-centered design approach. What were the challenges, and how did you overcome them?" (Focus on your communication, persuasion, and advocacy skills in a corporate context).

• "Walk me through your process for designing a complex feature within an enterprise system. What were the key user research insights, and how did they shape your design decisions?" (Prepare to detail your end-to-end UX process with a specific, relevant case study).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Sword Group and our work in the Energy, Public, and Finance sectors?" (Research the company's recent projects and values).

• "How do you approach collaboration within a multidisciplinary team, particularly with developers and business analysts?" (Emphasize your teamwork and communication style).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Tell a Story: Frame each project as a narrative with a clear beginning (problem), middle (your process, challenges, solutions), and end (outcomes, learnings).

• Focus on Your Role: Clearly delineate your specific contributions, especially if working on team projects.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals effectively – sketches, wireframes, prototypes, user flows, personas – to illustrate your work.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your design rationale, the trade-offs you made, and how you validated your solutions.

• Connect to Sword Group: Briefly explain how your experience and approach align with the company's focus and the requirements of this specific role.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating a structured, user-centered approach within an enterprise context. Be ready to articulate your process, justify your decisions, and showcase your ability to collaborate and influence.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this UX Designer position:

• Submit your application through the Workable application link provided.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight projects that demonstrate experience in complex organizational settings, enterprise environments, and ideally within Sword Group's target sectors (Energy, Public, Finance). Ensure clear articulation of your UX process and impact.

• Resume Optimization: Update your resume to prominently feature keywords from the job description, such as "User-Centered Design," "UX Research," "Prototyping," "Figma," "Axure," "Adobe XD," "Accessibility Standards," "Stakeholder Engagement," and experience in "complex organizational settings." Quantify achievements where possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice walking through your portfolio projects, focusing on explaining your thought process, design decisions, and the outcomes. Prepare answers to common UX interview questions and behavioral questions related to collaboration and problem-solving.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Sword Group's website, recent news, and their approach to technology solutions. Understand their core values and the industries they serve to articulate your interest and fit during the interview process.

⚠️ 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.