Principal Designer (UI Design, Branding, Digital Product Design)

Principal Product Designer (UI Design & Digital Product Design)

£650 per day | Inside IR35
6-month contract
London – Hybrid (2 days per week onsite)

Overview
We're looking for an exceptional Principal Product Designer to play a key role in building a large-scale digital platform from the ground up.

This is a rare greenfield opportunity to define the visual identity, interaction patterns and design standards for a suite of modern digital products. Working closely with Product, Engineering and senior stakeholders, you'll create outstanding user experiences while establishing a scalable design system that will underpin the platform for years to come.

This role is ideal for a highly experienced designer with exceptional UI and interaction design skills, a strong portfolio of shipped products, and a passion for creating elegant, intuitive experiences at scale.

Role & Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the visual design language across multiple digital products.
• Create high-fidelity UI designs, interactive prototypes and detailed design specifications.
• Lead the development and governance of a scalable design system, including reusable components, design tokens and documentation.
• Define interaction patterns that deliver intuitive, accessible and consistent user experiences.
• Work closely with engineers to ensure pixel-perfect implementation and design quality.
• Translate complex business and technical requirements into simple, engaging interfaces.
• Champion accessibility, usability and responsive design best practices.
• Help shape design standards and establish UI governance across the wider organisation.

Skills & Experience

• Significant experience as a Principal Product Designer, Product Designer, UI Designer, Interaction Designer or Design Systems Designer.
• Outstanding portfolio demonstrating exceptional UI, visual and interaction design across complex digital products.
• Proven experience building and scaling design systems, component libraries and reusable design patterns.
• Expert-level proficiency with Figma and modern prototyping tools.
• Strong understanding of accessibility (WCAG), responsive design and front-end implementation considerations.
• Experience working closely with engineering teams throughout the full product lifecycle.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence both technical and non-technical audiences.

Desirable Experience

• Experience defining design system strategy within greenfield environments.
• Working knowledge of HTML, CSS and modern front-end frameworks.
• Experience designing enterprise-scale platforms and complex user journeys.
• Background delivering products within regulated, public sector or highly governed environments.
• Experience contributing to product strategy while remaining hands-on with design delivery.

Contract: 6 months
Rate: £650 per day (Inside IR35)
Location: London (Hybrid – 2 days per week onsite)