UCD Lead (Contract) | Location: Remote UK (with occasional on-site client visits) | Duration: 4 months initially | Rate: £600-700pd
This contract offers the chance to lead impactful, user-centred projects while mentoring teams and applying your expertise in a supportive, collaborative environment. You’ll help shape services and experiences that make a real difference, while developing your own leadership and design practice.
We are looking for a User-Centred Design (UCD) Lead to oversee and guide the delivery of UCD projects across multiple disciplines. This role combines leadership and hands-on design work, ensuring that projects are delivered to a high standard, on time, and aligned with user needs.
The UCD Lead will coordinate resources, support multidisciplinary teams, collaborate with stakeholders, and help resolve delivery challenges. Depending on business needs, you may also take a hands-on role within your own UCD specialism (Service Design, User Research, Interaction Design, or Content Design).
Key Responsibilities
Project Leadership & Delivery
* Lead UCD contributions across projects, ensuring principles and best practices are applied.
* Manage resourcing, supporting delivery teams with the tools and structures needed to succeed.
* Ensure alignment between project objectives, user-centred design, and delivery quality.
* Act as an escalation point for delivery issues and risks, helping maintain momentum.
Design Leadership
* Provide hands-on leadership within your UCD specialism where needed.
* Guide design work from discovery through to implementation.
* Work closely with clients and stakeholders to define scope, deliverables, and success measures.
* Champion user-centred approaches within Agile project cycles.
Stakeholder Management
* Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders at all levels.
* Act as a trusted advisor, providing expert guidance on UCD methods.
* Promote UCD approaches and help upskill colleagues and clients.
* Partner with delivery managers to address risks, blockers, and dependencies.
Experience
* Significant experience leading UCD projects, ideally across multiple disciplines.
* Strong track record in applying UCD methods from discovery through to delivery.
* Experience managing multidisciplinary teams and working with diverse stakeholders.
* Background in consultancy, public sector, healthcare, or complex programme delivery is beneficial.
* Familiarity with design standards and assessment frameworks (e.g. GDS) is desirable.
We will consider perm for the right candidate.