Lead UI Designer

Location: Barcelona, Spain (hybrid)

Contract: Full-time, minimum 6 months (possibly up to 9 months)

Day rate: Circa €550/day, with some flexibility for exceptional candidates

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The Opportunity

We’re recruiting a Lead Visual / UI Designer for a major technology organisation undertaking a significant evolution of its design system.

The organisation already has a mature design system, supported by a substantial team spanning design, engineering, accessibility, patterns and guidance. The underlying system and engineering capability are strong, but its visual language has remained largely unchanged for more than five years.

The opportunity is to change that.

You’ll take creative ownership of the visual evolution of the design system, establishing a modern visual direction that elevates what already exists and feels at home alongside contemporary digital products.

This is not a ground-up reimagining or an exercise in rebuilding the design system. It is about bringing a fresh, highly considered visual perspective to an established and technically sophisticated system.

The Role

Initially, you’ll focus on establishing the creative direction: exploring concepts, defining the visual language and building alignment around a clear vision. The organisation wants to see progress quickly, so you’ll be expected to get strong ideas in front of people early.

From there, the remit will expand into areas where the existing system has less maturity, particularly AI experiences, motion and micro-interactions.

You won’t be expected to build or codify the system yourself. An established team of designers, architects and engineers will translate the direction into the design system.

A significant part of the role, however, will be bringing the organisation with you.

You’ll work directly with VPs and senior UX, product and design leaders across multiple parts of the business. We’re therefore looking for someone with genuine gravitas and executive presence: a designer who can establish credibility quickly, articulate and defend a creative point of view, navigate differing perspectives and take senior stakeholders on the journey from early concepts through to an agreed direction.

You need to be as comfortable influencing the room as you are producing the work.

What We’re Looking For

Exceptional visual and UI design craft is the number one requirement. Beyond that, we’re looking for someone who:

• Has previously led the creative visual redesign or significant evolution of a design system.
• Can demonstrate outstanding visual/UI work through a strong portfolio and relevant case studies.
• Has the gravitas to operate credibly with VP-level and other senior stakeholders.
• Can communicate the thinking behind a creative direction and build genuine organisational support for it.
• Is comfortable challenging constructively and holding a strong design point of view when appropriate.
• Can create alignment without unnecessarily compromising the quality or ambition of the work.
• Is comfortable working on reasonably technical digital products.
• Can move quickly from ambiguity into tangible concepts and direction.

Years of experience are less important than the calibre of your work and evidence that you have successfully tackled this kind of challenge before.

Particularly Interesting Experience

Any of the following would be valuable, but they are not prerequisites:

• Designing AI experiences, interfaces or interaction patterns.
• Motion design and micro-interactions.
• Product-led or consumer-facing design systems.
• Experience in high-growth