Senior UX Designer / UX Lead - Belfast

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior UX Designer / UX Lead

Company: Citi

Location: Belfast, United Kingdom

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Digital Design Engineering / Management

Date Posted: 2026-06-04

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid (Implied by location and role type, specific office days not defined)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and manage a team of digital design professionals, driving product vision from concept to production.

• Accountable for resource planning, budget management, and the delivery of complex, cross-organizational design solutions.

• Apply in-depth understanding of the business impact of technical contributions, with strong commercial awareness.

• Responsible for the end-to-end delivery of services within a functional area, influencing policy formulation and short- to medium-term planning.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role title "Senior UX Designer / UX Lead" and the responsibilities described indicate a hybrid individual contributor and management role, common in larger organizations for senior operations or design leadership positions. It requires not only deep UX expertise but also significant people and project management capabilities. The "Digital Design Engineer Group Mgr" title in the description suggests a focus on the engineering and execution aspects of digital design, bridging the gap between design and technology implementation.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Drive and support product vision from concept to production, ensuring alignment with business objectives.

• Proactively understand and incorporate customer feedback and data insights to enhance existing products and inform new product development.

• Provide cross-organizational and cross-disciplinary solutions, fostering collaboration across diverse teams.

• Utilize creative process and design thinking methodologies to identify and implement product improvements.

• Support business stakeholders in developing and optimizing marketing campaign strategies and their effectiveness through design.

• Launch, manage, and optimize digital feature enhancements across all channels, closely monitoring and reporting on performance metrics.

• Provide thought leadership through high-quality data analysis and research to inform strategic decisions.

• Evaluate new product concepts for viability, presenting them to senior stakeholders for approval and buy-in.

• Translate ideas into basic wireframes, providing clear direction to UX and UI Designers.

• Effectively negotiate, diplomatically manage conflicting viewpoints, and influence stakeholders to ensure alignment and progress.

• Train stakeholders on new products, interfaces, and customer experience features.

• Manage outside vendors and agencies, ensuring the quality and timely delivery of their work and deliverables.

• Propose and identify ground-breaking, executable solutions once approved by stakeholders.

• Attract and develop senior talent within the design and engineering teams.

• Facilitate understanding of broader organizational tenets and strategic goals for the department.

• Recognize trends for larger-scale development needs and build plans to develop team skills accordingly.

• Share talent development best practices across the organization.

• Audit department goals to ensure alignment with broader organizational goals and ensure accountability for department performance.

• Set high performance standards for the department and plan/advocate for necessary resources.

• Develop and communicate a department vision that supports the broader organizational vision.

• Ensure team culture consistently demonstrates alignment with leadership principles and visibly ties department decisions to these principles.

• Appropriately assess and manage risk in business decisions, with a focus on firm reputation, client assets, and regulatory compliance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities are extensive and touch upon strategic planning, team management, product development lifecycle, stakeholder engagement, vendor management, and risk assessment, typical for a senior leadership role within a large financial institution's technology or digital design group.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s/University degree required.

• Master’s degree preferred. Experience:

• 10+ years of work experience.

• Experience in program management.

• Experience in software development.

• Experience in running high-traffic, distributed, cloud-based services.

• Experience in affecting large culture change.

• Experience leading infrastructure programs.

• Skilled at working with third-party service providers. Required Skills:

• UX Design & Leadership: Proven ability to lead UX initiatives, from conceptualization to execution, and manage a team of designers.

• Design Thinking & Process: Strong proficiency in design thinking methodologies, creative process, and translating ideas into functional wireframes.

• Program & Project Management: Extensive experience in program management, software development lifecycle, and managing complex projects.

• Data Analysis & Insights: Strong analytical and quantitative skills, with a data-driven and results-oriented approach to decision-making.

• Stakeholder Management & Communication: Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to negotiate, influence, and manage diverse stakeholder viewpoints effectively.

• Vendor & Agency Management: Experience in managing external vendors and agencies, ensuring quality and performance.

Preferred Skills:

• Cloud Services Expertise: Experience with high-traffic, distributed, cloud-based services.

• Culture Change Leadership: Demonstrated experience in driving significant cultural change within an organization.

• Infrastructure Program Leadership: Experience specifically leading infrastructure programs.

• Product Vision & Strategy: Ability to define and drive product vision and strategy.

• Financial Services/Banking Domain: Familiarity with the financial services industry and its regulatory landscape.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "10+ years" requirement, coupled with the breadth of responsibilities covering management, strategy, and technical execution, positions this as a senior leadership role. The emphasis on cloud services, distributed systems, and culture change suggests a need for experience in modern, large-scale technology environments.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies of Leadership Impact: Showcase examples of leading design teams to deliver successful products or features, highlighting team management and strategic direction.

• Process Optimization Examples: Demonstrate how you've used design thinking and data analysis to improve existing products or workflows, illustrating measurable outcomes.

• System Implementation Guidance: Provide evidence of guiding UX/UI designers through the implementation of features on complex, cloud-based systems.

• ROI Demonstration: Quantify the impact of your design contributions through metrics such as user engagement, conversion rates, efficiency gains, or cost savings.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Present examples of how you've designed or optimized design workflows, potentially involving cross-functional teams and external vendors.

• Implementation & Automation Methods: Detail your approach to ensuring design specifications are accurately implemented, potentially through clear documentation, collaboration tools, or process automation.

• Measurement & Performance Analysis: Illustrate your methods for tracking, measuring, and reporting on the performance of digital features and enhancements, linking them back to strategic goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role of this seniority, a portfolio should not just display design work but also demonstrate leadership, strategic thinking, process improvement, and the ability to manage complex projects and teams. It should highlight an understanding of the entire product lifecycle and the ability to quantify impact.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

The salary for a Senior UX Designer / UX Lead with 10+ years of experience in Belfast, UK, at a major financial