Lead Product Designer

As a senior member of the Engineering leadership team, you'll report to the Head of Product and lead design across the Foods Connected platform. Much of the impact comes through influence rather than headcount. You'll build and develop a small, effective design team, lift the quality and consistency of the experience our customers rely on, and give design a real say in how Product and Engineering make decisions.

Our users work in compliance, procurement, and quality roles, where a wrong call can carry real regulatory and commercial cost, so much of the craft is making difficult work feel clear and under control. This role will suit someone with strong design craft, as we modernise the platform and bring AI into the workflows where it counts.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. These requirements are representative of the general nature and level of work performed by people assigned to the job.  They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities an incumbent may be expected or asked to perform. Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities.

Strategic design leadership

• Own the product design vision and keep it aligned with the roadmap and our commercial goals
• Make design quality and customer experience something that sets us apart, working with the Head of Product and wider leadership
• Set the design principles, standards and ways of working that fit a growing business with demanding customers
• Speak for design and the customer in strategy discussions, and shape what we build and why
• Track the measures that matter — task success, adoption, satisfaction — and keep the team focused on outcomes, not output

 Cross-functional partnership & customer insight

• Build strong relationships with Product, Engineering and Customer Success, and turn real customer problems into good design
• Make genuinely complex areas — audits, supplier management, compliance, costings — straightforward to use
• Bring customer insight into roadmap and prioritisation, and focus the business on the problems worth solving

Design craft, system & AI

• Set the quality bar across the platform's applications and the shared design system, and evolve it alongside Engineering
• Lead how we embed AI into the way users interact with the platform, bringing automation and efficiency with the right guardrails in place
• Put AI tooling to practical use day-to-day, from prototyping to pulling research together
• Lead design through the platform's modernisation, making considered, high-impact decisions that protect continuity and trust for customers
• Make confident, well-judged calls on what's worth adopting as AI capability moves at pace
  

People leadership

• Build and develop a small, effective team, leading from the front by doing the work as well as directing it
• Create a culture where craft, curiosity and learning are the norm
• Coach people, give honest feedback and a clear path to grow
• Hire when it genuinely adds capability, not to grow the team for its own sake
• Keep the team connected to how the business performs commercially
  

QUALIFICATIONS: EDUCATION, TRAINING, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Business, Technology, or related field
• Solid product design experience, including a senior design role (Head, Director or Lead) at a B2B SaaS or product company
• A track record in complex, workflow-heavy or regulated areas — compliance, fintech, healthtech, supply chain — winning the trust of expert users where mistakes carry real cost
• Evidence you can simplify complex systems, shown through results such as task completion, adoption and fewer support tickets, not a portfolio of screens
• People leadership experience, focused on developing individuals rather than adding headcount
• Happy to get hands-on and lead from within the team, with the craft depth to guide, advise and set the quality bar
• Confident with modern design and AI tooling (Figma a given), comfortable prototyping in or close to code with engineers
• Recent, hands-on experience shipping AI-assisted features, able to talk concretely about designing for uncertainty
• An AI-first approach: you build AI into your everyday design process and think ahead as AI capability moves at pace
• Bonus: the food industry or a similarly regulated environment, a legacy-to-modern platform migration, being the first senior design hire, or a PE-backed or growth-stage business

BENEFITS

• Competitive base salary
• Generous holiday package — 25 days + 10 public holidays
• Private medical, dental & vision
• Employee wellness programme and classes
• Flexible model of hybrid working

LOCATION

Derry or Belfast (Hybrid)