Director of Product Design - Payments in London
Director of Product Design - Payments

Director of Product Design - Payments in London

London Full-Time 90000 - 120000 ÂŁ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
Airwallex

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead the design of innovative payment solutions for global businesses.
  • Company: Join Airwallex, a pioneering fintech company transforming global payments.
  • Benefits: Hybrid work model, competitive salary, and opportunities for professional growth.
  • Other info: Collaborative culture with a focus on innovation and ownership.
  • Why this job: Shape the future of financial technology and make a real impact.
  • Qualifications: 12+ years in product/UX design with leadership experience.

The predicted salary is between 90000 - 120000 ÂŁ per year.

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 200,000 businesses worldwide with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.

Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 2,000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 billion and backed by world-leading investors, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future.

Attributes We Value

We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking, and you’re motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor. You're humble and collaborative; turn zero‑to‑one ideas into real products, and you “get stuff done” end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you’ll tackle complex, high‑visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking.

We are seeking a visionary, hands-on Director of Product Design to define the future of Airwallex’s payments platform, the global infrastructure that powers how businesses accept payments online and in-person across currencies, methods, and markets. You will own the design strategy and execution of our core payments capabilities, including global e-commerce, point-of-sale, one-click-checkout, and risk and compliance-critical experiences.

You’ll partner closely with product and engineering leaders across Payments and Risk teams, and lead a high-performing team of product designers building powerful payment experiences, APIs, and workflows.

Responsibilities

  • Product & Design Strategy
    • Define a clear, opinionated design strategy for how customers understand and use cash, high-yield, and credit accounts, and inter-account transfers as their organisation grows.
    • Partner with PM leaders to frame problems, prioritise opportunities, and ensure design is embedded early in product strategy, not only at execution time.
    • Establish moving money into, within, and out of Airwallex as a user experience foundation that other product areas can build on top of.
  • Design Leadership & Execution
    • Lead end-to-end experience design: Oversee research, object modeling, interaction design, research and testing, and UI design for your team’s products and features.
    • Raise the quality bar: Set and maintain a world-class standard for UX and UI quality in complex, data-rich screens, ensuring work is robust and polished across desktop, mobile web, and native mobile apps.
    • Drive a rigorous discovery and validation practice: Ensure your teams use research, experimentation, and product analytics to understand customer behaviour.
    • Build a collaborative, growth-oriented design practice: Help shape the rituals, feedback practices, and shared standards that keep designers connected across regions and domains.
    • Integrate with design systems and platform patterns: Collaborate with the design system team to ensure your team’s experiences use and extend shared patterns.
  • People Leadership & Org Building
    • Lead and grow a high-performing design team: Manage and develop senior and staff-level product designers across our London and Singapore design studios, setting clear expectations for impact, craft, and ownership.
    • Create healthy, effective design-product-engineering partnerships: Develop ways of working that make collaboration with PMs and engineers productive, with design engaged from problem framing through to launch and iteration.

Requirements

  • Experience: 12+ years in product / UX design with significant time spent on complex, system-heavy products. 4+ years leading designers, including managing senior designers or design managers.
  • Domain knowledge: Experience in online payments, risk & compliance, or adjacent financial products.
  • Design craft & systems thinking: Deep strengths in interaction design, information architecture, and UX for complex workflows and data-heavy products.
  • Leadership & influence: Proven ability to set vision, align stakeholders, and lead multi-quarter initiatives that cut across multiple domains and teams.
  • Data- and research-informed: Familiar with partnering closely on user research and quantitative analysis to inform decisions, validate designs, and measure impact.
  • Communication & storytelling: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to make complex financial and technical concepts accessible to diverse audiences.
  • Adaptability: Thrives in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with evolving priorities and ambiguous constraints.

Nice to Haves

  • Background working with API products and developer-facing experiences.
  • Degree in Design, HCI, Computer Science, or a related field.

Working at Airwallex

We work in a hybrid model, with teams collaborating in-office and remotely across regions. Airwallex is a high performance, high responsibility, high impact workplace where you’ll be expected to take ownership and ship meaningful work.

If you’re excited to design the financial operating system for modern businesses and lead a pivotal part of that experience, we’d love to hear from you.

Applicant Safety Policy: To protect you from recruitment scams, please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details, sensitive ID numbers, or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @airwallex.com email address. Please apply only through careers.airwallex.com or our official LinkedIn page.

Equal opportunity: Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent.

Director of Product Design - Payments in London employer: Airwallex

Airwallex is an exceptional employer that fosters a high-performance culture where innovation and ownership are at the forefront. With a commitment to employee growth, you will have the opportunity to lead a talented design team in a dynamic hybrid work environment, collaborating with global teams to shape the future of payments. Join us in Melbourne and be part of a mission-driven company that values diversity and empowers its employees to make a real impact in the financial technology landscape.
Airwallex

Contact Detail:

Airwallex Recruiting Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫

We think this is how you could land Director of Product Design - Payments in London

✨Tip Number 1

Network like a pro! Reach out to people in your industry, especially those at Airwallex. A friendly chat can open doors and give you insights that might just set you apart from the crowd.

✨Tip Number 2

Prepare for interviews by diving deep into Airwallex’s products and services. Show us you’re not just a fit for the role but also passionate about what we do. Bring your ideas on how to enhance our payments platform!

✨Tip Number 3

Practice your storytelling skills! When discussing your past experiences, frame them in a way that highlights your impact and how you’ve tackled challenges. We love hearing about real-world examples that showcase your design prowess.

✨Tip Number 4

Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets the attention it deserves. Plus, it shows you’re serious about joining our team at Airwallex.

We think you need these skills to ace Director of Product Design - Payments in London

Product Design
UX Design
Interaction Design
Information Architecture
Design Strategy
User Research
Data Analysis
Leadership
Collaboration
API Design
Communication Skills
Adaptability
Problem-Solving Skills
Stakeholder Management

Some tips for your application 🫡

Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter for the Director of Product Design role. Highlight your experience in product design, especially in payments or financial products, and show us how your skills align with our mission at Airwallex.

Showcase Your Leadership Skills: Since this role involves leading a high-performing design team, don’t forget to share examples of how you've successfully managed and developed designers in the past. We want to see your leadership style and how you foster collaboration!

Be Data-Driven: We love candidates who can back up their design decisions with data. Include any relevant metrics or research that demonstrate how your designs have positively impacted user experience or business outcomes in your application.

Apply Through Our Website: To ensure your application gets the attention it deserves, please apply directly through our careers page. This way, we can easily track your application and get back to you faster!

How to prepare for a job interview at Airwallex

✨Know Your Product Inside Out

Before the interview, dive deep into Airwallex’s payments platform. Understand its features, benefits, and how it stands out in the market. This knowledge will help you articulate your vision for the product design and demonstrate your genuine interest in the role.

✨Showcase Your Design Process

Be prepared to discuss your design process in detail. Highlight how you approach user research, experimentation, and validation. Use specific examples from your past experience to illustrate how you've tackled complex design challenges, especially in financial or payments products.

✨Emphasise Collaboration Skills

Airwallex values teamwork, so be ready to share examples of how you've successfully collaborated with product managers and engineers. Discuss how you’ve built effective partnerships and engaged stakeholders throughout the design process to ensure alignment and success.

✨Prepare for Scenario-Based Questions

Expect scenario-based questions that assess your problem-solving skills and adaptability. Think about potential challenges in the payments space and how you would address them. This will showcase your ability to think critically and make informed decisions under pressure.

Director of Product Design - Payments in London
Airwallex
Location: London

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