Design Lead

Full-time Product London/ Manchester

Job Description

We're on a mission to protect society from fraud and money laundering. We've already protected over 2 million people through life's big transactions.

Fraud and regulation are rising, costing the UK economy over £100bn every year; this makes it more difficult for businesses to protect themselves and their clients - individuals like you and me - from fraud and money laundering.

Our co-founders Olly and Jack were led to this area when a friend was defrauded of £25K when buying their first property. At the time, anti-fraud technology didn't exist, which meant that completing the anti-fraud checks required in these processes was largely manual. These big life moments should be exciting, but instead are often confusing and scary due to the painful process of completing these paper-based checks and the risk of fraud.

Thirdfort helps businesses to facilitate these anti-fraud checks so that individuals know they can transact safely and seamlessly with professionals during these big transactions. Our anti-fraud platform provides a secure way for professionals in regulated sectors like Lawyers, Estate Agents, and Accountants to transfer funds and verify sensitive information through app-based document checks, facial recognition, and open banking.

Over 1,500 businesses now trust Thirdfort to verify their clients. We are FCA regulated and have raised over $33m in capital from leading Fintech investors Breega and Element Ventures, as well as the founders of Zoopla, Funding Circle, Comply Advantage, Tessian, Fenergo, and Fidel.

Design at Thirdfort

At Thirdfort, we're working to build an outstanding product, design, and engineering culture that empowers our team to do their best work. We have a culture that cultivates an honest and open environment, where everyone's opinions are heard and valued. We are looking for a Design Lead to manage and shape the creative direction of our brand, products, and user experience.

As a strategic partner to the wider Product and Engineering teams, the Design Lead will help define the design approach and ensure the delivery of high-quality, user-centered design solutions across all platforms, whilst leading and inspiring a high-performing design team, and providing hands-on expertise.

This can be an office-based role or a hybrid role, in either our London or Manchester office. It will be working closely with our design, product, and engineering teams which are mostly remote-first, and other teams in the business which do flexible office working.

As a Design Lead, you will:

• Lead and define the strategy for design at Thirdfort:
• Manage, mentor, and inspire a team of designers to deliver excellent experiences
• Demonstrate your capabilities as a senior and technically astute practitioner by taking a hands-on role when required
• Develop and drive the overall design vision and strategy, in keeping with business objectives
• Collaborate with and positively influence executive leadership and cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, Marketing, etc.)
• Champion design thinking across the organization, advocating the importance of design in shaping customer experiences
• Drive user-centered design thinking within the business to drive UX maturity whilst amplifying the voice of the user
• Drive the PR, visibility, and credibility of the design chapter across the whole organization
• Establish the overall standards and direction for design:
• Oversee the design process from ideation to execution, ensuring the creation of visually compelling, user-friendly, and innovative designs
• Define and govern the global design system, ensuring consistency and reusability across all touchpoints and products
• Ensure team output meets both business and user goals, balancing creativity with practicality
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement within the team, whereby products continue to be measured and optimized for maximum impact
• Overall responsibility for the quality and impact of design team output
• Drive a culture of collaboration and communication:
• Foster a collaborative and feedback-driven culture within the design team, encouraging creativity while maintaining high standards
• Partner closely with product managers, engineers, and marketing teams to create seamless user experiences
• Present and defend design concepts to stakeholders, communicating design rationale and aligning with overall business goals
• Keep up to date with industry trends, best practices, and emerging design technologies
• Oversee studio planning and resource management for the entire team, across multiple work streams, in line with future roadmaps
• Optimize our products and ways of working:
• Establish metrics for design success, measuring the impact of design on user experience, business growth, and brand perception
• Identify areas for design process improvement and implement solutions to enhance efficiency and creativity
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and professional growth within the design team, setting objectives and encouraging personal growth
• Attract new talent to the business when required and oversee organizational design, ensuring overall standards are met
• Proficient in all elements of Design Ops to ensure team ways of working are effective, efficient, and visible, implementing new methods when necessary

We're looking for someone who:

• 5+ years of experience in design, with at least 2+ years in a management role
• Proven track record of successfully leading and delivering large-scale design projects across multiple platforms (web, mobile, etc.)
• Experience in building and scaling design teams in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
• Strong portfolio showcasing a diverse range of design work, including product design
• Expertise in tools such as Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, and GA or similar
• Deep understanding of user-centered design principles, design systems, and the end-to-end design process
• Strong knowledge of front-end development processes and technical constraints
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and collaboration skills
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with attention to detail and execution
• A degree in Design, Fine Arts, HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), or a related field is preferred, though significant professional experience is highly valued.

Studies show that women and other less represented groups are less likely to apply for roles unless they meet every requirement. We believe in building a diverse team, valuing different skills and experiences and so if you don't think you have all the requirements listed here but feel this could be a role and environment you'd thrive in, we would still love for you to apply. Life at Thirdfort:

• Driven by our values, our culture promotes a collaborative and open environment where Thirdforters can take ownership, have impact, and feel empowered when it comes to their growth and development. We understand the importance of our team's wellbeing and recognize a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works, that's why we aim to provide the flexibility individuals need to work in the way that suits them and their families best.

We include compensation ranges on our job ads in the spirit of Operating Openly and in an effort to make our interview process more inclusive. We list a range that aligns with our internal banding which is based on varying factors including external benchmarking for our stage and size as a business. In terms of how we decide where an individual fits within the band, we'd take you through the interview process and assess you against our internal performance framework which gives us further clarity. We'll also have open conversations with you throughout the interview process (starting in the first stage call) so we can be as open as possible about compensation as we understand how important it is to ensure we're aligned.

We've created our benefits package to reflect Thirdfort's mission and values. We place a strong focus on Security first given what we do, extending this to our team's physical, mental, and financial security to support them through their big life moments. Our benefits exist to empower our team, ensuring they feel supported and able to work in the way that enables them to do their best work.

When you join Thirdfort, you'll get immediate access to our flexible employee benefits package that aims to support you across these areas:

• Share options for all employees
• Flexible Working Hours
• Enhanced parental leave
• Customisable wellness budget and £250 WFH Budget
• Up to 30 days Working from Abroad
• Uncapped holiday
• Enhanced sick leave
• Private healthcare with our provider, AXA
• Regular company and team socials
• Enhanced employer matching pension scheme with salary sacrifice options
• Access to our Cycle to Work scheme and our Electric Car Scheme