CX Design Lead

Bring your leadership and vision to Thames Water
Are you a brilliant people leader who can inspire a team of specialists and lead them through a strategy of vision and design excellence? We’re looking for someone who thrives in complex, large-scale organisations—especially those with significant web footprints and a strong focus on customer service. If you’re ready to champion design thinking and elevate digital experiences, this is your opportunity to make a real impact.

What you’ll be doing as CX Design Lead

Team Leadership and Development: Lead and nurture a high-performing team of product designers specialising in both UX and UI. Your leadership will ensure that team members are motivated, supported, and empowered to deliver their best work
Design Vision and Strategy: Setting and clearly communicating a compelling design vision and strategy will be central to your position. You will ensure alignment across the team, fostering a shared understanding of design objectives and long-term goals
Shape the Content Vision: Define and drive a clear, customer-centric content strategy - aligning tone, structure, and messaging with business goals, championing best practices, and ensuring every piece of content delivers measurable impact
Best Practice and Tools: Drive the adoption of design best practices, championing the use of industry-standard tools and methodologies such as Figma, prototyping, user research, and heat mapping. You will promote processes that support excellence and consistency in design outcomes
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborating with content, product, and development teams to deliver seamless, integrated experiences
Championing Customer-Centric Design: Championing customer-centric design in a utility or service-driven environment
Data-Driven Decision Making: Your responsibilities will include leveraging analytics, customer feedback, and usability testing to inform and validate design decisions. This approach ensures that all enhancements are evidence-based and focused on delivering measurable improvements to the user experienceLocation: Hybrid/Reading (minimum one day in the office per week, with flexibility to attend additional days as required for team meetings, projects, or during onboarding)
Working pattern or hours: 36 hours per week (Monday to Friday)

What you should bring to the role

Demonstrated ability to inspire, empower, and motivate teams through effective leadership and people management.
Extensive experience leading design teams within large, complex organisations, particularly in sectors such as utilities, telecommunications, banking, or other customer-focused industries.
Proven capability to navigate and address the unique challenges of organisations with substantial web and digital operations.
A track record of establishing, articulating, and delivering a strategic vision that drives design excellence.
Strong advocate for the adoption of essential design tools—including Figma, prototyping, user research, and heat mapping—by supporting and nurturing team expertise, even without being a technical specialist.
Confident and persuasive communicator, able to build relationships, engage stakeholders at all levels, and deliver compelling presentations to senior audiences.
Skilled in developing and leading high-performing teams, fostering a culture of innovation and driving positive change within the organisation.
Experience in inspiring continuous improvement and innovation across design operations.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, enabling effective collaboration and influence with colleagues and stakeholders at every level.What’s in it for you?

Competitive salary from £62,650 - £70,000 per annum
26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
Car Allowance
Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
Generous Pension Scheme through AON
Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
Private Medical Health Care
Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.Find out more about our benefits and perks

Who are we?
We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water
Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment