Head of Design and Research

West Midlands, England, United Kingdom

1/6/2025

About the team:

The Head of Design and Research will build and guide multidisciplinary teams dedicated to our Modernisation program which will ultimately transform our customer experience, technology and business processes. This is a brand new pivotal role with the autonomy to shape and embed design thinking across the organisation, reporting directly into Enterprise Transformation Director. Success in this role is the delivery of cohesive, scalable, and brand-aligned user centric design and experience through the building of new customer and colleague platforms across web and mobile applications.

This role is based from our Chatham or Wolverhampton office and works in line with our hybrid policy, and will involve some travel between offices and London.

About us:

The OSB Group is a FTSE 250 specialist mortgage lender, primarily focused on carefully selected segments of the mortgage market.

Our specialist lending is supported by our Kent Reliance and Charter Savings Bank retail savings franchises. Diversification of funding is provided by sophisticated securitisation platforms. OSB's unique cost-efficient operating model is supported by our wholly-owned subsidiary OSBIndia.

Alongside passion for our products and customers, we're passionate about our people and want to continue building a collaborative and engaging environment. Being dedicated to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we encourage differences and recognise that individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences can bring valuable insights and enhance the way we work. This is supported by our Diversity, Community and Environment Employee Engagement Networks and our commitment to the Women in Finance Charter and Women in Leadership Programme.

What you will be doing:

As Head of Design and Research you will build a successful team and support the defining of the end to end user experience and strategy that can be applied across product lifecycle and services. You will create and deliver the vision for developing, communicating and implementing the user experience design for Lending and Savings customers. Collaborative in nature you will work across teams and functions fostering a culture of user-centric innovation and continuous improvement to deliver best in class customer experience and lead a team from the front with your hands on approach.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Establish and manage a multidisciplinary UX and research design teams to creating end to end design experience for customers and colleagues
• Ensure the most appropriate design methodologies are used dependent on the stage of the Product and Transformational Lifecycle
• Guide the team to create effective design systems, component libraries, with the ability to establish and maintain standards and processes to ensure consistency and efficiency
• Ensure there is a research plan for each workstream, compromising of usability testing and data evaluation to inform design choices/decisions and iterate on design solutions based on feedback and behaviour
• Ensure the Groups strategy is implemented and consistently represented across all customer experience touchpoints and that the design system is scalable and harmonious

With a number of exciting opportunities in this role, you will be part of the transformation program which will create a new operating platform for the business. As the company and team grows, so should you!

In return for your commitment:

We offer a base salary up to £100,000 dependent on experience and location and a competitive benefits package including:

• Discretionary annual bonus opportunity of up to 25%.
• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Contributory pension (8% employer 5% employee).
• Life Assurance (4x salary) plus Group Income Protection.
• Access to Private Medical Insurance and Medical Cash Plan.
• Maternity & Adoption Leave - Occupational Maternity/Adoption Pay provided at 100% of salary for the first 26 weeks.
• Paternity Leave - 8 weeks of paid leave to be taken within 12 months of birth or adoption.
• Additional benefits such as Hybrid working, Cycle Purchase scheme, Technology Purchase scheme, Season Ticket Loan, Holiday purchase / sell schemes, Employee Perk Portals, Payroll giving and Save as you Earn scheme.

Could you be the one?

We are looking for talented individuals who have the experience and knowledge set out below:

• A track record of establishing, integrating and improving user-centred design standards and processes across web and mobile application design within an agile environment.
• Excellent leadership skills, managing and coaching design and or research teams, creating a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement within a Transformation Programme
• Experience in utilising a diverse range of qualitative and quantitative user research methods to translate insights into impactful change improvements.
• Extensive senior level stakeholder management, cross-functional collaboration, and experience of working with external partners/suppliers.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards and best practices, to ensure designs are inclusive and have accessible interfaces for users with diverse needs
• Expert proficiency in Figma and knowledge of other tools with the ability to create wireframes, prototypes and high-fidelity designs

We also believe that your career and how you progress is as unique as your individual personality. We continually support our people so they can become the best version of themselves.

What to do next

If this sounds like you, please apply now! For internal applications please visit the internal careers page to apply.

If shortlisted from your initial application we operate a personalised recruitment process. Interviews are a two way street, we aim for them to be relevant and conversational to get the best out of you!

OSB Group are dedicated to diversity in the workplace and committed to treating all our employees and job applicants equally. We embrace equal opportunities and are opposed to discrimination on any grounds.

As part of our public commitment to the Women in Finance Charter, we have introduced our own initiatives to attract, develop and advance senior women in our sector. We don't stop there though, we have broadened our approach to encourage diversity and inclusion at all levels and in all roles. Our leadership and Executive Committee are right behind us, to the extent that our Diversity Champions sit at Board level and on a monthly basis receive updates on our progress.

Whilst we are an organisation that values face-to-face interaction to build and nourish our culture, we also acknowledge that people are not just productive in an office and tied to the 9 to 5. Flexible-working opportunities are important for establishing a healthy work-life balance so if you see a role of interest we are happy to be asked about flexibility and explore together if we can make it work.

All applicants must have rights to work in the UK and be willing to undertake the relevant pre-employment screening checks should your application be successful.

Desired Skills and Experience

design, research, design standards, agile, leadership, qualitative research, quantitative research, change, transformation, modernisation, stakeholder management, accessibility standards, figma, wireframes, high fidelitydesigns,