Director of Design & Research

We are a technology business operating in the global energy sector. ENSEK have become the go-to option for top energy suppliers across the globe. Our technology is a significant step change away from the legacy systems that have historically dominated the market. It’s also massively cheaper to adopt the ENSEK solution, with no loss in customer service or standards. But by far the biggest reason why ENSEK is the best choice in energy supplier software, is because of the people who work here and their endless enthusiasm, energy, and the way they support their colleagues. All our clients comment on what great people we have. Our people are our superpower.

At ENSEK we build products for energy companies that manage and optimise energy solutions. This includes complex energy meter connections with billing, payment and Customer Service Agent journeys for the Energy supplier, but also a highly configurable consumer app managing at home electrification – think solar panels and EVs.

As Director Design & Research you will be focused on leading a UX design team to deliver smart, engaging user experiences and crafting how people interact with ENSEK products. You will work alongside product & technology teams to build, optimise & test reusable UI experiences and components i.e. the ENSEK Design System. We are at an exciting inflection point. Our products are mature but our design practice is evolving. This role exists to elevate design from tactical execution to strategic advantage — establishing design systems, research capabilities, and AI-augmented workflows that will accelerate our product velocity and market differentiation.

The ideal candidate will have a passion for creating compelling experiences which satisfy user goals. You will be comfortable engaging in both design and research and have experience across a broad range of User Centric Design (UCD) methodologies. You’ll have excellent design judgment which you’ll use to directly improve our products, coach and mentor your team, and ultimately level up design thinking in all areas of our business. You will understand where AI can accelerate UX and research positively and will have experience in various AI tools in doing so. You'll be an early adopter and advocate for AI-powered design tools, using them to accelerate research synthesis, generate design variations, and test concepts rapidly. You'll establish best practices for when and how the team leverages AI versus traditional methods.

Initially managing a team of 4 UX designers + 2 Researchers, but with an aim to grow the team to ~10-12 over next 12-24 months. This role is varied in content and individuals successful in this role will think and plan strategically as well as execute tactically while being energetic, passionate and excited about UX and building products that customers love to use. To succeed in this role, you must relish working with passion at pace.

Key accountabilities and responsibilities

• Lead the UX design of ENSEK's entire product suite — from our business tools to consumer app. This includes designing, building and validating a multi persona, multi scenario B2B and B2C web and app-based interfaces.
• Work with Product Management to measure, optimise and demonstrate the performance of the user experience and associated benefits to prioritise a UX/UI roadmap with a focus on identifying user pain points coupled with customer validation.
• Shape our design practice — think design principles, user research capabilities and accessibility practice.
• Further develop our Design system and ensure it is embedded and used across our teams.
• Establish and evolve the team's AI toolkit and practices, evaluating emerging AI design and research tools, defining when to use AI-augmented workflows, and ensuring the team maintains craft quality while leveraging AI for efficiency.
• Partner closely with CPO, CTO, & Engineering & Product teams to align design strategy with business objectives.
• Engage with customers and users to gather insights and validate design direction.
• Manage and grow our design team, mentoring designers and championing their development.

Key outcomes

• Increase product NPS (and Trustpilot where relevant).
• Improve key user task completion rates and reduce time-to-task for critical workflows.
• Reduce customer support tickets related to usability issues by x% (TBD) through improved UX.
• Drive adoption of the ENSEK Design System across all product teams within 12 months.
• Establish regular user research cadence with documented insights feeding product roadmap.
• Achieve 80%+ validation rate for major features tested with users before development begins.
• Create a culture where designers and researchers can thrive and reach their full potential.

Skills, knowledge, experience & qualifications

• Extensive UX and design leadership experience with strong track record in UX, UI, and research.
• You care deeply about solving real user and business problems and about your craft – interactions, accessibility, design systems.
• Hands-on experience with AI design and research tools (e.g., generative UI tools, AI-powered user research synthesis, rapid AI prototyping tools) with ability to critically evaluate AI outputs and know when human judgment is essential.
• Data focused driving decisions through use of data and analytics essential.
• You're a player coach who is equally happy coaching and directing work and jumping into Figma yourself.
• You've built and led design teams, created processes and advocated for design at a senior level.
• You've worked on both consumer-facing and B2B digital products as an advantage.

We offer a flexible, remote first working environment where you can balance work and life while maintaining regular in-person touchpoints at our offices in Nottingham and London.