Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer

Company: DC Thomson

Location: Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom (Hybrid)

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / User Experience

Date Posted: 2026-04-16

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid (1 day per month in London office)

🚀 Role Summary

• This role is centered around end-to-end product design for the Findmypast platform, focusing on enhancing user discovery, engagement, and retention across B2C and B2B products.

• The Product Designer will be instrumental in translating complex data, content, and user needs into intuitive and scalable digital experiences for web and app.

• A key aspect of the role involves collaborating closely with Product, Engineering, Data, and Research teams to contribute to product strategy and direction.

• The position requires a strong product thinker who can balance user needs with business objectives, utilizing qualitative and quantitative insights to drive impactful design decisions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Product Designer" title, combined with the responsibilities involving "discovery and research," "delivery," and "product strategy," clearly places this role within the core of UX/Product Design. The mention of "B2C and B2B product experiences," "subscriptions," "content," and "data-rich products" suggests a focus on a complex platform with diverse user needs and business models. The requirement for hybrid work with occasional London office visits indicates a company with a distributed workforce but a commitment to in-person collaboration for strategic initiatives.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and shape complex design problems, breaking down high-level objectives into actionable design tasks and user flows.

• Lead or significantly contribute to the entire design lifecycle for product features, from initial user research and problem definition through to polished, production-ready solutions.

• Design intuitive, scalable, and user-centered experiences across web and mobile applications, ensuring cohesive user journeys rather than isolated screen designs.

• Actively participate in shaping the overall product direction by collaborating strategically with Product Managers, Engineers, Data Analysts, and User Researchers.

• Leverage both qualitative user insights (e.g., interviews, usability testing) and quantitative data (e.g., analytics, A/B test results) to inform design decisions and rigorously evaluate the impact of implemented solutions.

• Explore and present multiple viable solution directions, effectively balancing the need for speed in delivery with the importance of maintaining high quality and long-term product coherence.

• Drive improvements in key product metrics such as user activation, ongoing engagement, and customer retention through thoughtful and data-informed design interventions.

• Design across a variety of critical product areas, including core search and discovery workflows, user onboarding and activation funnels, subscription management and value communication, and engaging content and storytelling experiences.

• Contribute actively to the evolution and maintenance of the design system, ensuring consistency, scalability, and adherence to established design patterns across the product suite.

• Foster a strong design culture by openly sharing work, providing constructive feedback to peers, and actively participating in design critiques and knowledge-sharing sessions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly outline an end-to-end design ownership, from "problem definition" to "delivery," which is standard for mid-to-senior level Product Designers. The emphasis on "shaping product direction," "balancing user needs with business goals," and improving "activation, engagement, and retention" points to a strategic role rather than purely execution-focused. The mention of "design system" and "scalable experiences" highlights the need for a designer who thinks about long-term product health and consistency.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent practical experience and mastery of design principles is expected.

Experience: 5-10 years of progressive experience in digital product design, with a proven track record of shipping successful web and/or mobile applications.

Required Skills:

• End-to-End Product Design: Demonstrable experience in owning or significantly contributing to design projects from initial problem definition and user research through to final delivery and iteration.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively within agile, cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, Data, Research), actively contributing to product strategy and decision-making.

• Data & Research Informed Design: Proficiency in using qualitative (user research, usability testing) and quantitative (analytics, A/B testing) data to inform design hypotheses, decisions, and outcome evaluation.

• Design Systems: Experience in designing within, contributing to, or evolving a design system, with a strong understanding of scalable and consistent design patterns.

• Interaction & Visual Design: Strong skills in interaction design, information architecture, and visual design, with a keen eye for detail, usability, and aesthetic quality.

• Problem Solving & Ambiguity Navigation: Ability to tackle ambiguous problem spaces, define unclear challenges, and translate complex requirements into clear, user-centered solutions.

• User Behavior & Commercial Outcomes: Understanding of how design decisions impact user behavior and key commercial metrics such as activation, engagement, and retention.

• AI Tool Application: Experience applying AI tools within design workflows, understanding their appropriate use cases and potential benefits in enhancing product experiences.

Preferred Skills:

• Subscription & Data-Rich Products: Prior experience designing for subscription models, content-heavy platforms, or complex data-rich applications.

• B2C & B2B or Platform Experience: Experience working across both consumer-facing (B2C) and business-facing (B2B) products, or in a platform-based business serving multiple user types.

• SaaS or Platform Business Background: Previous experience in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or a platform-based business environment.

• Mentorship: Experience supporting and mentoring junior designers, contributing to team growth and skill development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The AI-derived experience level of "5-10 years" aligns well with the responsibilities of "shaping product direction," "owning end-to-end design," and potentially "mentoring." The explicit mention of "AI tools" as a required skill indicates a forward-thinking approach by DC Thomson. The distinction between essential and desirable experience is crucial for candidates to understand their fit.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Case Studies: A robust portfolio showcasing 2-3 detailed case studies that illustrate your process from problem definition and user research through to final design solutions and their measured impact.

• Process Documentation: Clearly articulate your design process, including user research methodologies, ideation techniques, wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing approaches.

• System Thinking: Demonstrate experience with design systems, showcasing examples of how you've maintained consistency, scalability, and component reusability.

• Impact & Metrics: Quantify the impact of your design work, using metrics to demonstrate improvements in user engagement, activation, retention, or other relevant business outcomes. Include A/B test results or data analysis where applicable.

• Collaboration Evidence: Highlight instances of successful collaboration with Product, Engineering, and other stakeholders, showing how you navigated feedback and influenced product direction.

Process Documentation:

• Discovery Phase: Evidence of how you identify and define user needs and business problems, including examples of research plans, user interviews, and competitive analysis.

• Ideation & Solutioning: Showcase your methods for exploring multiple design directions, including wireframes, user flows, and low-fidelity prototypes, emphasizing iterative design.

• Delivery & Iteration: Demonstrate how you prepare designs for development, including detailed specifications, collaboration with engineers, and post-launch analysis and iteration based on performance data.

• Design System Contribution: Examples of how you have contributed to or leveraged a design system, including component design, style guides, and pattern libraries.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Product Designer role, a portfolio is paramount. The emphasis on "end-to-end case studies," "quantifiable impact," and "collaboration evidence" are critical for demonstrating strategic thinking and execution capability beyond just visual aesthetics. Highlighting experience with design systems and data-informed decision-making is key.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on the experience level (5-10 years), location (Dundee, Scotland, UK), and the nature of the role (hybrid, full-time Product Designer in a well-established company), a competitive salary range is estimated between £45,000 - £65,000 per annum. This estimate is derived from industry benchmarks for similar Product Design roles in the UK, considering regional cost of living differences and the hybrid work model.

Benefits:

• Hybrid Working Model: Flexibility to work remotely with structured in-office days for collaboration.

• Pension Scheme: Company contributions to a pension plan.

• Generous Annual Leave: Competitive holiday entitlement.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for training, workshops, and conference attendance to enhance design skills and stay current with industry trends.

• Health & Wellbeing Programs: Access to employee assistance programs and other wellness initiatives.

• Life Assurance: Company-provided life insurance cover.

• Employee Discounts: Potential discounts on DC Thomson products and services.

Working Hours: The standard working hours are 40 hours per week, with flexibility often available. The hybrid model requires approximately 1 day per month in the London office, with the remainder of the week being remote.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on UK market data for experienced Product Designers in regional hubs like Dundee, factoring in the hybrid nature and the company's established presence. A comprehensive benefits package is typical for full-time roles in established organizations like DC Thomson.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Media & Publishing / Genealogy & Family History Technology. DC Thomson is a diversified media company with a strong heritage, now increasingly focused on digital platforms and data-driven services like Findmypast.

Company Size: DC Thomson is a large, established organization with a significant employee base across its various divisions. Findmypast, as a department, likely operates with considerable autonomy within this larger structure.

Founded: DC Thomson was founded in 1905, bringing a long history and stable foundation to its operations. Findmypast itself has a history dating back to 2003, establishing it as a leader in its niche.

Team Structure:

• The Product Designer will report to a Design Manager within the Findmypast department.

• They will be part of a cross-functional product team, working closely with Product Managers, Engineers (frontend and backend), Data Analysts, User Researchers, and potentially other Designers.

Methodology:

• Agile Development: Teams likely operate within an Agile framework, emphasizing iterative development, sprint planning, and continuous feedback loops.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: A strong reliance on user data, analytics, and research findings to guide product development and design choices.

• User-Centric Design: A core philosophy of understanding and meeting user needs through research, testing, and iterative design improvements.

• Collaborative Design Process: Encouragement of open communication, feedback exchange, and shared ownership of design challenges across disciplines.

Company Website: https://www.dcthomson.co.uk/ and https://www.findmypast.co.uk/

📝 Enhancement Note: Understanding DC Thomson's heritage and Findmypast's focus on data-rich genealogy services is key. The "large company" context suggests established processes and resources, while the "hybrid" and "cross-functional" team structure implies a modern, collaborative, and potentially fast-paced working environment.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as an experienced Product Designer, likely mid-level to senior, given the 5-10 year experience requirement and the expectation of owning end-to-end design processes, contributing to product strategy, and potentially mentoring.

Reporting Structure: The Designer will report to a Design Manager, indicating a clear line of management and support. They will also be a key individual contributor within cross-functional product teams, collaborating with peers and product leadership.

Operations Impact: The role has a direct impact on user acquisition, engagement, and retention metrics for Findmypast. Design decisions will influence user experience, product adoption, subscription conversions, and overall customer satisfaction, directly contributing to the business's commercial success in the genealogy market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Skill Specialization: Opportunity to deepen expertise in specific areas like user research, interaction design, design systems, or data visualization within the genealogy domain.

• Leadership Potential: Progression towards Senior Product Designer roles, lead design positions on major projects, or potentially Design Management roles if management aspirations are pursued.

• Cross-Functional Acumen: Enhanced ability to influence product strategy and collaborate effectively across diverse disciplines, becoming a more strategic partner.

• Mentorship: Opportunity to mentor junior designers, developing leadership and coaching skills.

• Industry Exposure: Working on a well-established, data-rich platform provides valuable experience in a specific, yet significant, digital niche.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth opportunities are framed around developing specialized design skills, potential leadership paths, and increasing strategic influence within the product development lifecycle, which are typical for experienced designers in established tech companies.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid. The role allows for remote work for a significant portion of the week, with a requirement for occasional in-person collaboration at specific office hubs.

Office Location(s): Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, or London, UK. This provides geographical flexibility for candidates within the UK. The requirement for 1 day per month in the London office (Fleet Street) suggests a central hub for strategic meetings and team cohesion.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hubs: The office locations serve as hubs for team meetings, workshops, and collaborative design sessions, fostering in-person synergy.

• Remote Work Infrastructure: Expectation of a well-equipped remote work setup supported by company-provided tools and platforms for seamless collaboration.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for regular interaction with design peers, product managers, engineers, and researchers through virtual meetings, Slack/Teams, and scheduled in-office days.

Work Schedule: A standard 40-hour work week is expected, with potential for flexible working arrangements to accommodate personal needs, provided core responsibilities and collaboration requirements are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature with specific office hubs and a London requirement is a key characteristic of the work environment, indicating a blend of remote autonomy and planned in-person collaboration.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your CV and portfolio to assess alignment with the role's requirements and experience level.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: A dedicated session where you will present 1-2 key case studies from your portfolio, discussing your process, decisions, and impact. Prepare to answer in-depth questions about your work.

• Cross-functional Interview: Interviews with members of the Product, Engineering, and potentially Data/Research teams to evaluate your collaboration skills, product thinking, and technical understanding.

• Design Manager Interview: A discussion with the Design Manager focusing on your design philosophy, problem-solving approach, team fit, and career aspirations.

• Final Interview: Potentially with a senior leader to assess strategic alignment and cultural fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select case studies that best demonstrate end-to-end ownership, problem-solving, data-informed decisions, and measurable impact relevant to Findmypast's domain (e.g., complex data, subscriptions, user journeys).

• Tell a Story: Structure your case studies to clearly articulate the problem, your process, the challenges faced, your design solutions, and the outcomes achieved. Use visuals effectively.

• Highlight Collaboration: Showcase how you worked with cross-functional teams and incorporated feedback.

• Quantify Impact: Be ready to discuss the metrics and data that demonstrate the success of your designs. If direct metrics aren't available, discuss hypotheses and potential impact.

• Showcase Design System Work: If applicable, detail your experience with design systems and how you ensure consistency and scalability.

• Be Prepared for AI Questions: Given the mention of AI tools, be ready to discuss your experience or perspective on using them in design.

Challenge Preparation:

• Product Thinking Exercise: You might be given a hypothetical design problem or asked to critique an existing feature, requiring you to demonstrate your problem-solving process, user empathy, and strategic thinking.

• Design System Scenario: A question about how you would extend or maintain a design system, or how you'd handle design inconsistencies.

• Collaboration Scenarios: Questions designed to assess how you handle disagreements, integrate feedback from diverse stakeholders, or influence product direction.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process emphasizes a strong portfolio review and cross-functional evaluation, typical for experienced design roles. Candidates should prepare to articulate their process, demonstrate impact with data, and discuss collaboration and strategic thinking.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping Software: Proficiency in industry-standard tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, or similar for wireframing, UI design, and interactive prototyping.

• User Research Platforms: Familiarity with tools for conducting user interviews, surveys, and usability testing (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze, SurveyMonkey).

• Collaboration Tools: Experience with platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Confluence for team communication, project management, and documentation.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Web Analytics: Experience with tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or similar to understand user behavior and track product performance.

• Data Visualization Tools: Familiarity with tools like Tableau, Power BI, or Looker for exploring and presenting data insights.

CRM & Automation:

• While not explicitly a CRM role, understanding how product design integrates with user acquisition, onboarding, and retention funnels, which are often managed through CRM and marketing automation platforms, is beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: Specific design software (Figma, Sketch) and user research platforms are critical. Familiarity with analytics tools is also important for a data-informed designer. The mention of AI tools suggests potential exploration of AI-assisted design or research applications.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and advocating for the user, ensuring their needs are at the forefront of design decisions.

• Collaboration: Valuing teamwork and open communication, working effectively with diverse disciplines to achieve shared goals.

• Data-Informed: A belief in using evidence, research, and analytics to guide decisions and measure impact, rather than relying solely on intuition.

• Curiosity & Learning: Encouraging a mindset of continuous learning, exploration, and adaptation to new technologies and design approaches.

• Ownership & Accountability: Taking responsibility for design challenges from inception to resolution, driving projects to successful completion.

• Excellence & Craftsmanship: A dedication to producing high-quality, polished, and effective design solutions with attention to detail.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Disciplinary Partnership: Active engagement with Product Managers, Engineers, Data Analysts, and Researchers, fostering a shared understanding of goals and challenges.

• Constructive Feedback Culture: An environment where feedback is openly given and received with the aim of improving the product and design craft.

• Iterative & Experimental: Embracing an iterative approach to design, with a willingness to experiment, learn from failures, and refine solutions based on insights.

• Transparency: Open sharing of design work, processes, and rationale to ensure alignment and facilitate collective problem-solving.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values emphasize collaboration, data, user advocacy, and continuous improvement, which are hallmarks of modern, effective product design teams.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing User Needs with Business Goals: Navigating the inherent tension between delivering optimal user experiences and meeting commercial objectives (e.g., subscription targets, revenue growth).

• Designing for Complex Data: Effectively simplifying and presenting complex genealogical data and research workflows in an intuitive and engaging manner.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent understanding and buy-in on design direction and priorities across multiple departments and stakeholders with potentially differing objectives.

• Adapting to Evolving Technologies: Staying abreast of new design tools, methodologies, and emerging technologies like AI and integrating them effectively into workflows.

• Remote Collaboration: Maintaining strong team cohesion and effective communication in a hybrid work environment across different locations.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design Skills: Deepen expertise in areas like information architecture, interaction design patterns, user research methodologies, or advanced prototyping techniques.

• Product Strategy Acumen: Develop a stronger understanding of business strategy, market dynamics, and how design contributes to overarching company goals.

• Mentorship & Leadership: Opportunities to mentor junior designers, lead design initiatives, and potentially pursue leadership roles.

• Industry Trends: Exposure to emerging technologies such as AI in design, and their application within the genealogy and digital publishing sectors.

• Cross-functional Exposure: Gaining deeper insights into the challenges and processes of Product Management, Engineering, and Data Science.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges highlight the complexities of a data-rich product in a hybrid environment, while the growth opportunities focus on deepening expertise, strategic influence, and leadership development.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to balance conflicting stakeholder requirements. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on negotiation, prioritization, and communication skills.)

• "How do you approach defining a design problem when the brief is ambiguous or incomplete?" (Demonstrate your problem-definition framework, research methods, and ability to clarify requirements.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about working for Findmypast and DC Thomson specifically?" (Research the company's mission, products, and recent news. Connect your skills and interests to their goals.)

• "How do you contribute to a positive and collaborative design culture?" (Discuss your approach to feedback, knowledge sharing, and team dynamics.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly outline the problem, your role, the process you followed (research, ideation, design, testing), the key decisions you made, the final solution, and most importantly, the measurable impact or learnings.

• Focus on "Why": Be ready to explain the rationale behind your design choices. Why did you choose a particular solution? Why this layout? Why this interaction pattern?

• Quantify Everything Possible: Use data, metrics, and user feedback to support your claims about the success of your designs.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Interviewers may ask detailed questions about specific aspects of your work, so know your projects inside and out.

• Engage Your Audience: Present with enthusiasm and clarity. Be open to questions throughout or at the end, depending on the interviewer's preference.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating end-to-end process, data-driven decision-making, collaborative problem-solving, and strategic thinking, all tailored to the context of Findmypast's business.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the Workable application link provided.

• Tailor Your CV: Highlight experience and skills most relevant to end-to-end product design, data-informed decision-making, design systems, and cross-functional collaboration. Use keywords from the job description naturally.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 strong case studies that best showcase your process, problem-solving abilities, and impact. Ensure they demonstrate your skills in designing for complex data, user journeys, and commercial outcomes.

• Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Briefly explain your interest in the role and Findmypast, and how your experience aligns with the key responsibilities and requirements.

• Prepare for the Interview: Anticipate questions about your design process, decision-making, collaboration, and impact. Practice presenting your portfolio case studies clearly and concisely, focusing on quantifiable results. Research DC Thomson and Findmypast to understand their mission and products.

⚠️ 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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