Lead Software Product Designer

Lead Software Product DesignerBased: High Wycombe / London / HybridTerm: Permanent, Full timeSalary: Dependant on experience + excellent benefitsThe Role:Focusrite / Novation is seeking an exceptional Lead Software Product Designer to join our Design team.In this role you’ll take the lead in shaping end-to-end software design, guiding projects from discovery through delivery, to create experiences that balances both user needs and business goals. You'll collaborate closely with product managers, engineers, researchers, and fellow designers to deliver compelling solutions which land in the sweet spot between desirability, feasibility, and viability. If you want to join a passionate and creative team in an exciting company that is committed to growth and evolution, we would love to hear from you.Who you are:You care about why and how people create their content. You understand that all people are at a different point in their journey. You are passionate about music and audio and have a good understanding of audio production and music creation workflows.You are empathetic and deeply customer-focused. You seek to learn from our customers through research and testing, and you have them at the forefront of your mind for each decision you make.You are curious about why products, services, and objects have been designed the way they have. You seek to understand the designer's intent, and how well the solution meets the needs of the customer.You bring strong visual design skills and an appreciation for balancing consistency with creativity — details like hierarchy, colour, and typography matter to you. You also stay up to date on the latest design practices.You can think differently, and practice both divergent and convergent thinking at the appropriate points in the design process.You can discern when to explore new ideas and introduce novelty versus when existing solutions or established paradigms already meet user needs.You enjoy collaborating with multi-disciplined teams and can clearly communicate your ideas through sketches, wireframes, and interactive prototypes to ensure that stakeholders at all levels understand the design approach.You can objectively assess your own designs and appreciate the importance of different perspectives. You enjoy participating in peer review sessions and can both give and receive constructive critiques of work. You’re able to facilitate and resolve differing perspectives on design directions.You have a strong ability to see the full user journey and how software interactions connect seamlessly with hardware experiences.You are always looking to improve your skills and working practices to help drive the capabilities of the Product Design Team.What you’ll do:Collaborate with the Product Design, Product Management, Engineering & Marketing teams to help conceptualise and deliver outstanding and award-winning software products and services.Create and execute user research strategies (both primary and secondary), which yield critical insight and help shape project direction.Advocate for the end user, ensuring your team’s work is influenced from a deep understanding of users’ goals, needs, pain points, behaviours and contexts.Develop user stories and use cases, taking user needs and converting them to product requirements.Design/Ideate both collaboratively and individually.Lead and participate in design critiques, ideation sessions, and design workshops.Develop wireframes & interactive prototypes.Regularly perform UX testing and use both qualitative and quantitative insights to refine the design.Present your work to your team and project stakeholders.Work with the team to measure the impact of designs on customers and business goals.Responsible for maintaining and evolving our software design systemsAct as a mentor and design partner to other designers – offering guidance and elevating the craft, process, and design thinking across the team.Skills and experience required:7+ years’ experience within UX/Product Design working on software (desktop, mobile or web)Degree or relevant qualification in Product Design, User Experience, User Research, Human Computer Interaction, Visual Design or a related field.Strong portfolio that clearly demonstrates your skills and process.Excellent visual design skills and attention to detail.Typography, iconography, and component-based design systems would be beneficial.Understanding of front-end principles (HTML, CSS, React components) is a plus.Knowledge of accessibility (WCAG), and platform guidelines (Web, iOS, Android).Using multiple data sources and research methods (e.g., usability tests, Analytics, A/B testing) to help measure KPI’s to support design decisions.Setting and measuring performance metrics/KPI’s for the User Experience.Balancing Design with Scrum/Agile methodologies.Highly proficient in Figma for interface design, prototyping, and collaboration. Familiarity with Adobe Creative Cloud tools (e.g., Illustrator, Photoshop), Axure, or Framer is a plus.Growth mindset, self-motivated, adventurous, and naturally collaborative.About UsFocusrite plc is a global music and audio group that develops and markets music technology products. Used by audio professionals and amateur musicians alike, our solutions facilitate the high-quality production of recorded and live sound. Our audio technology brands stand together, seeking to enrich lives through music by removing barriers to creativity – ‘we make music easy to make’.The Focusrite Group trades under thirteen established and rapidly growing brands: Focusrite, Focusrite Pro, Novation, ADAM Audio, Sequential, Oberheim, Martin Audio, Optimal Audio, Ampify Music, Linea Research, Sonnox, OutBoard and TiMax. With a high-quality reputation and a rich heritage spanning decades, its brands are category leaders in the music-making industry.Music technology is an enriching space to work in and we enjoy a Group-wide open-door culture which encourages innovation. This culture, combined with a passion for the inspirational solutions we create, has led to the group winning numerous accolades, including six Queen's Awards, the AIM Company of the Year Award 2021 and regular appearances in 'The Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For’.The Focusrite Group is dedicated to building a great place to work and as an equal opportunity employer we are committed to Diversity and Inclusion. The group mission is to cultivate an equitable culture, internally and externally, where all people feel they are welcome, safe and positively represented, because at Focusrite they truly are. Equally, we recognise the major impact that climate change is having on our world and work every day towards being industry leaders in a carbon neutral future.Benefits include flexible/hybrid working, company pension, life insurance, private healthcare, Health Cash Plan, enhanced Maternity and Paternity pay, employee purchase scheme, group bonus scheme, company music events, offsite company parties and free lunch in the canteen. We arrange company training sessions and encourage personal development. #J-18808-Ljbffr