Job Description
WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands.
We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth.
We have been building the world’s most valuable brands for 50 years and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise.
Our people are the key to our success. We’re committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.
For more information, visit WPP.com.
Why we’re hiring:
The Product Design Lead is an experienced, craft-led role within our product design team, responsible for leading design execution and quality across complex workstreams on our digital platform, WPP Open. Reporting to the Head of Design / Design Director, the Product Design Lead will work closely with cross-functional teams, champion user-centred design practices, and contribute positively to the growth and craft of the wider design team.
Key Responsibilities:
Design Ownership & Execution
- Take full end-to-end ownership of complex design workstreams, from discovery through to delivery, demonstrating a strong product mindset and a high degree of independence.
- Translate complex product requirements and user needs into clear user flows, wireframes, prototypes, high-fidelity designs, and detailed design specifications.
- Ensure all design deliverables are thorough, well-structured, and developer-ready — with clear specifications, consistent naming conventions, annotations, and supporting documentation.
- Consistently produce design work that meets a high bar for craft, usability, and accessibility, setting a quality standard for the wider team.
UX Vision & Design Direction
- Defines, owns, and evangelises the North Star for their product area
- Proactively identify usability gaps, friction points, and experience opportunities within their workstream, surfacing well-considered recommendations to the Product Design Lead.
- Contribute informed, evidence-based input that helps shape design direction at the workstream level, feeding insights upward to influence broader product experience decisions.
Research & Insight
- Lead evaluative research activities within their workstream, including usability testing, concept testing, and synthesis of findings, using insights to validate and iterate on design solutions.
- Develops and evolves comprehensive B2B personas and end-to-end customer journey maps
- Apply a rigorous, hypothesis-driven approach to design, ensuring decisions are grounded in user evidence and clear rationale.
Design Systems & Standards
- Oversees design system quality and consistency across their product area; collaborates with Design System team
- Identify and flag gaps, inconsistencies, or opportunities for improvement in the design system to the appropriate team.
- Advocate for and uphold usability and accessibility standards (WCAG) across all workstreams, embedding inclusive design practices into everyday ways of working.
Collaboration & Communication
- Act as an internal consultant and design evangelist across the organisation by working closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and other cross-functional partners to align on priorities, ensure feasibility of design solutions, and maintain the integrity of design through to implementation.
- Communicate design rationale clearly and confidently to cross-functional team members and product stakeholders, explaining decisions in terms of user needs, business goals, and design principles.
- Often leads Agile ceremonies; manages design debt and dependencies proactively
Mentoring & Team Contribution
- Formally manages and mentors a team of designers; responsible for team growth and performance by Supporting the development of more junior designers through informal guidance, sharing of knowledge, and leading by example in craft and ways of working.
- Contribute positively to team culture, helping to raise the collective bar for design quality and collaborative practice.
Skills & Qualifications:
- 8+ years of experience in UX/UI or product design with demonstrated experience owning complex design workstreams independently and delivering high-quality outcomes.
- A strong portfolio showcasing design craft, rigorous UX thinking, and evidence of working across the full design process — from research and discovery through to high-fidelity delivery and design specification.
- Expert-level proficiency in Figma, including component management and advanced prototyping, and strong working knowledge of collaboration tools such as Miro and usability testing platforms.
- Deep understanding of human-centred design principles, interaction design best practices, information architecture, and usability.
- Extensive experience working with and contributing to design systems, with a strong eye for consistency, scalability, and adherence to established patterns.
- Solid knowledge of usability and accessibility guidelines (WCAG), with practical experience applying these in real product contexts.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to translate high-level business strategy and enterprise objectives into experience vision
- Proven ability to work autonomously in fast-paced, ambiguous environments, managing priorities and delivering high-quality work within Agile sprint cycles.
- Experience working in Agile teams, contributing meaningfully to ceremonies and iterative delivery processes.
Bonus Skills:
- Familiarity with service design concepts or ecosystem mapping.
- Strong preference for experience designing for SaaS or enterprise platforms at scale is important
- Experience with or strong interest in data visualisation or AI-enhanced user experiences.
- Actively sought — important for platform direction demonstrating an understanding of mobile-first or app-native interaction patterns.
- Additional knowledge of accessibility standards beyond WCAG baseline requirements.
- Familiarity with Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, or Photoshop.
Who you are:
You’re open : We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are open-minded: to new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.
You’re optimistic : We believe in the power of creativity, technology and talent to create brighter futures or our people, our clients and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.
You’re extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.
What we’ll give you:
Passionate, inspired people – We aim to create a culture in which people can do extraordinary work.
Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.
Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?
#LI-Hybrid
We believe the best work happens when we’re together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That’s why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.
WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
