UX Design Principal (Mat Cover 10 Months Contract)

Job Title: UX Design Principal

Location: Hybrid - Manchester 3 days in office, 2 days remote

Salary From: £64,000

Who we are: 

interactive investor is an award-winning investment platform that puts its customers in control of their financial future. We’ve been helping investors for nearly 30 years. We’ve seen market highs and lows and been resilient throughout. We’re now the UK’s number one flat-fee investment platform, with assets under administration approaching £75 billion and over 500,000 customers. 

Purpose of the Role

The Principal UX Designer leads the design of complex, high-impact customer experiences, helping shape product strategy, influence organisational direction, and elevate UX maturity across the business. You'll join a highly collaborative, supportive, and talented UX team with a strong culture of partnership, continuous learning, and shared success, where great ideas can come from anyone and design excellence is achieved together.

Working across multiple squads and initiatives, you will provide leadership through expertise, coaching, and strategic influence. You'll collaborate closely with UX Research, UX Writing, Product, Engineering, Analytics, and the Design System team to deliver intuitive, accessible, and effective digital experiences that meet customer and business needs.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in a significant user-centred transformation within a leading financial services organisation.

Key Responsibilities

UX Strategy & Leadership

• Partner with the UX Design Manager to define and drive UX strategy across products, platforms, and customer journeys.
• Help evolve the UX discipline by shaping standards, practices, and ways of working.
• Identify opportunities to improve customer outcomes and business performance.

Design Excellence

• Lead the design of complex, strategically important initiatives spanning multiple products, teams, and journeys.
• Drive end-to-end design activities from discovery through to delivery and optimisation.
• Create and contribute to journey maps, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs.
• Set the benchmark for design quality, craft, and execution across the UX team.

Standards, Accessibility & Design Systems

• Champion UX best practices, accessibility, and inclusive design throughout the product lifecycle.
• Support the adoption and evolution of the Design System to ensure consistency and scalability.

Mentoring & Influence

• Act as a role model for UX, sharing expertise and helping grow capability across the team.
• Communicate design strategy and rationale to stakeholders at all levels.
• Influence decisions through customer insight, evidence, and design expertise.
• Advocate for user-centred design and help strengthen a customer-focused culture.

Must Have

• Significant experience in a Principal, Lead, Staff, or equivalent senior UX design role.
• Proven track record designing complex digital products, platforms, and customer journeys.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating strategic thinking, design leadership, and measurable impact.
• Expertise in UX design, interaction design, information architecture, and complex problem solving.
• Experience leading large-scale or strategically important design initiatives.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and presentation skills.
• Strong understanding of accessibility, inclusive design, and WCAG standards.
• Experience working with and championing Design Systems.

Desirable

• Experience within regulated industries, particularly financial services.
• Experience leading transformation programmes or strategic design initiatives.
• Experience influencing organisational change and design maturity.
• Understanding of end-to-end customer journeys across multiple channels.
• Experience using AI-powered tools to support research, ideation, and design delivery.

Benefits 

• Group Personal Pension Plan – 8% employer contribution and 4% employee contribution 

• Life Assurance and Group Income Protection 

• Private Medical Insurance – Provided by Bupa 

• 25 Days Annual Leave, plus bank holidays 

• Staff Discounts on our investment products 

• Personal & Well-being Fund – Supporting your physical and mental wellness 

• Retail Discounts – Savings at a wide range of high street and online retailers 

• Voluntary Flexible Benefits – Tailor your benefits to suit your lifestyle 

Please Note: We will do our utmost efforts to respond to all applicants. However, due to the high volume of applications we're currently receiving, if you haven't been contacted within 30 days of application, please consider unsuccessful. 

interactive investor operates in accordance with the UK Equality Act 2010. We welcome applications from individuals of all ages, disabilities, gender identities, marital status, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We are committed to treating all applicants fairly and making reasonable adjustments where needed to support disabled applicants. We actively prevent all forms of discrimination, harassment, and victimisation—whether direct, indirect, associative, or perceptive