Staff Experience Designer - Nectar - 9m FTC
At Sainsbury's we believe that the customer should be at the heart of everything we do. Our vision is to create the easiest, most enjoyable experiences that better serve our customers' ever-changing needs. We work across a range of services, products, touchpoints and tools to deliver distinctive, integrated, and consistent experiences for our customers and colleagues across Sainsbury's Group (which includes Sainsbury's Food, Argos, Bank, Nectar, Tu and Habitat).
We drive brilliant experiences across all our brands in-store and online, operating in agile teams and squads, working seamlessly with teams right across the business to make the most of the exceptional knowledge, insight and talent we have.
As a Staff Experience Designer on Nectar you'll lead on some of our most complex design challenges spanning multiple channels to create outstanding customer and colleague experiences. You'll bring together colleagues from different parts of the business to map out strategic design-led approaches and galvanise them around your vision.
As an individual contributor, you'll be a master of your discipline and have the passion and drive to share this with others inside and outside the team, building our capabilities in our craft, and leading on the high standards we set ourselves.
You'll lead and demonstrate thought leadership within your specialism and lead a community of practice to ensure the whole team benefits from your expertise. You'll influence at the highest levels of the business and use excellent storytelling and problem solving skills to influence and drive for outstanding customer experiences..
Within the Customer and Loyalty Experience Design Team, you will have the opportunity to work in a dynamic environment in a sector that is going through unprecedented digital transformation, as well as a commitment to work with you to drive your development. We also offer a collaborative culture, a flexible approach to working and lots of colleague benefits.
What you need to do:
• Identify, define and deliver solutions and opportunities for new propositions, services, products and experience areas that deliver value to customers and colleagues and are directly aligned with Sainsbury's Group vision and KPIs
• Lead all phases of user-centred design through a data-informed, test-and-learn approach
• Champion the voice of the user through your work, organising and conducting user research and user testing to inform concepts and validate designs, and bringing stakeholders on the same journey
• Consider the wider Sainsbury's ecosystem when designing concepts and solutions that are aligned with our strategic vision of allowing our customers to shop whenever and however they want
• Lead and manage stakeholders and project teams through a user-centred design approach whilst balancing business challenges and strategic vision
• Influence senior stakeholders up to director level and negotiate as needed with internal and external teams to ensure alignment on the customer experience vision for your area
• Run workshops with cross-functional teams to inspire user-centred design thinking
• Inspire, coach and motivate junior members of the design community
• Work with the Guidelines team to continuously evolve our design system and guidelines and champion their adoption and implementation
• Consistently embed inclusive design principles in your work and encourage throughout the team
• Work comfortably in or out of product teams, and proactively collaborate with cross-functional teams, championing best practice for design thinking in an agile environment
• Lead a community of practice in your specialism to ensure the whole team benefits
What you need to know and show:
• Track record of influencing at the highest levels of the business
• Excellent storytelling and problem solving skills
• Demonstrate thought leadership within your area of specialism
• You will bring a wealth of knowledge with you as a previous Product, Service, UX or UI designer, ideally for a big brand
• High level of creativity, problem-solving skills
• Adept at collaborating with and influencing stakeholders through a range of agile methods, including workshops – championing the voice of the customer whilst balancing business objectives
• Utilise a broad range of UX tools and techniques with portfolio evidence of these deliverables
• A thorough technical understanding of inclusive design frameworks
• Expert skills with Figma, and rapid prototyping tools
• Knowledge of best practices and emerging digital and retail technologies and trends
• Wide range of experience in user-centred design and usability best practices
• Methods and practices of usability research and confidence in conducting research and interpreting results
• Ability to demonstrate the behavioural competencies of this role, including initiative, flexibility, influencing, negotiating, strong communication skills and ability to deal with ambiguity
• An outstanding portfolio, showcasing your talent, skills, process and experience
• Proactive collaboration with the Head of Experience Design on design strategy
• Proactive collaboration with project teams, the design community and senior stakeholders alike
• Ability to manage multiple, changing priorities, and work with diverse personalities and complex dynamics
What decisions I can make including budget:
• Design decisions that improve the customer's user experience
Directly or indirectly manages:
• This is not a line management role, but you will guide and mentor colleagues in your area of expertise
Essential criteria:
* Extensive industry experience as a UX, Product or Service Designer.
* Ability to collaborate with a broad range of stakeholders to ensure all business requirements are met.
* Skilled in planning and conducting user research and distilling findings into actionable insights.
* Proficient in applying UX fundamentals, including insight gathering, workshop facilitation, information architecture, Interface and interaction design and clearly documented design artifacts.
Support we will provide:
• A thriving design culture, opportunity to discuss and share work with open, collaborative feedback
• A mature design system and set of standards to work with
• Research, accessibility and UX copywriting expertise