About the position
Role Overview
The Head of UI/UX is responsible for defining and executing the digital experience strategy across the bank's digital ecosystem, including mobile banking, online banking platforms, internal tools, and digital customer journeys.
This role provides design leadership, vision, and governance while ensuring all digital products deliver exceptional, accessible, and secure customer experiences aligned with business objectives and market trends.
The position oversees the design function, design systems, research practices, and UX strategy, working closely with product management, engineering, marketing, and business leadership.
Key Responsibilities
1. UX & Design Leadership
- Define and lead the UX/UI vision and strategy across all digital banking products.
- Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing design team including UI designers, UX researchers, and design system specialists.
- Establish design principles and standards aligned with the bank's brand and customer experience strategy.
- Champion customer-centric design thinking across the organization.
- Represent UX in executive-level decision-making and product strategy discussions.
2. Product & Digital Experience Strategy
- Partner with Product and Technology leaders to ensure UX is embedded in the product development lifecycle.
- Translate business goals into intuitive digital customer journeys.
- Own the experience strategy for mobile banking apps, web banking platforms, and digital onboarding flows.
- Guide the design of complex financial workflows such as:
- Account opening
- Payments and transfers
- Lending journeys
- Investment platforms
- Fraud prevention experiences
- Ensure experiences balance usability, compliance, and security requirements.
3. Design Governance & Standards
- Establish and maintain a design system and component library used across all digital products.
- Define design frameworks and UX best practices.
- Introduce design quality metrics and UX performance indicators.
- Ensure consistency across channels including:
- mobile
- web
- customer service tools
- ATM interfaces
- internal banking tools.
4. Customer Insights & Market Intelligence
- Lead UX research programs to understand customer behaviour and needs.
- Analyse industry trends across digital banking and fintech.
- Benchmark experiences against competitors such as:
- FirstRand
- Standard Bank
- Absa Group
- Identify opportunities to improve digital adoption and customer satisfaction.
- Translate research insights into actionable design improvements.
5. Cross-Functional Collaboration
Work closely with:
- Product Management
- Engineering / Technology
- Marketing & Brand
- Compliance & Risk
- Data & Analytics
- Customer Support
Responsibilities include:
- Facilitating design workshops and discovery sessions
- Aligning UX roadmaps with product strategies
- Ensuring design feasibility with engineering teams.
6. Digital Transformation
- Drive design maturity within the organization.
- Introduce modern design practices and tooling.
- Promote design thinking methodologies across business units.
- Help modernize legacy banking experiences.
Team Leadership Responsibilities
- Hire and develop top design talent.
- Establish career paths for designers.
- Conduct performance reviews and mentorship.
- Create a collaborative design culture.
- Manage external design agencies and vendors when required.
Typical team size:
- 16 in the direct team and about 70+ within the business space.
Key Deliverables
The Head of UX/UI will oversee:
- Enterprise design system
- UX research programs
- Customer journey maps
- Experience strategy frameworks
- Usability testing processes
- Design standards and governance
- Digital accessibility compliance
- Design innovation initiatives
Required Experience
Minimum
- 10+ years' experience in UX/UI or product design
- 5+ years in design leadership or management
- Experience working in large-scale digital platforms
- Proven track record delivering consumer digital products
Preferred
- Experience in banking, fintech, or financial services
- Experience managing multi-disciplinary design teams
- Experience designing complex transactional systems
Required Skills
Design & Product
- UX strategy
- Interaction design
- Design systems
- Information architecture
- Customer journey mapping
- Service design
- Usability testing
- Accessibility standards
Leadership
- Team leadership
- Stakeholder management
- Executive communication
- Design advocacy
- Organizational change management
Business & Strategy
- Market and competitor analysis
- Data-driven design decisions
- Product strategy alignment
- Customer experience optimization
- ROI measurement for design initiatives
Banking UX Challenges the Role Will Solve
- Simplifying complex financial workflows
- Improving digital onboarding conversion
- Reducing friction in payment journeys
- Increasing mobile banking engagement
- Ensuring compliance while maintaining usability
- Creating trust in digital financial interactions
Education
Preferred qualifications:
- Bachelor's or Master's in:
- Interaction Design
- Human Computer Interaction
- Product Design
- Graphic Design
- Computer Science
- Psychology / Behavioural Science
Desired Skills:
- UI
- UX
- Data Analytics
- Leadership
- Stakeholder engagement
