Experience Designer - SmartShop - 12m FTC (Midweight)

hackajob is collaborating with Sainsbury's DTD to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role. We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. Think about the scale it takes to feed the nation. The level of data, transactions and variety involved. Then you’ll realise this is a modern software engineering environment, because it has to be. We’ve made significant investment in the standards and principles that shape how we work. We iterate, learn, experiment and champion ways of working such as Agile, Scrum and XP. So you can look forward to exciting opportunities across everything from AI to reusable tech.

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, touch points and tools to deliver distinctive, integrated, and consistent experiences for our customers and colleagues across Sainsbury’s Group (which includes Sainsbury’s Food, Argos, 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.

Join the team behind one of Sainsbury’s most impactful digital products—SmartShop, our in-store shopping companion that powers over 30% of all in-store transactions. In this role, you’ll focus on evolving the SmartShop handset experience used by millions of customers every day in our stores. Working within a cross‑functional product squad, you’ll lead the design of new features and improvements—from early research and concept development through to prototyping, testing, and final delivery. You’ll spend time in‑store observing and speaking directly with customers and colleagues, gaining first‑hand insight to shape intuitive, seamless experiences that work in real‑world environments. Using a test‑and‑learn approach, you’ll continuously refine ideas based on data, feedback, and experimentation. This is a hands‑on, end‑to‑end design role where your work will directly influence how millions of customers shop—making their experience faster, easier and more enjoyable every day.

What You'll Do

• Planning: Shape and plan your work and understand how it fits with the work of others in your Product team.
• User Research: Conduct user research through interviews, surveys, usability testing, in‑store observations and use analytics to understand the needs, behaviors, and pain points of customers and in‑store colleagues.
• Wireframing and Prototyping: Develop wireframes, prototypes, and user flows to effectively communicate design ideas and interactions.
• Information Architecture: Create and organise site maps, content hierarchies, and navigation systems to ensure intuitive and accessible user experiences.
• Visual Design: Design engaging and cohesive visual interfaces that align with our brand guidelines and enhance the overall user experience.
• Usability and Concept Testing: Plan and conduct testing sessions to gather feedback and iterate on designs based on user insights.
• Design Documentation: Produce and maintain detailed design specifications, guidelines, and documentation to support development and implementation.
• Storytelling & Playbacks: Translate research and design work into clear, compelling presentations that drive alignment, understanding, and confident decision‑making across stakeholders.

Collaboration

• Build collaborative relationships across Sainsbury’s through strong storytelling, communication, and influencing.
• Work closely with cross‑functional teams, including product management, development and the wider design community to ensure design consistency across Sainsbury’s ecosystem and alignment with business goals.
• Run workshops with cross‑functional teams to inspire user‑centered design thinking and bring stakeholders on the same journey.
• Work with the Guidelines team to continuously evolve our design system and guidelines and champion their adoption and implementation.
• Champion inclusive design principles in your work and throughout the organization.
• Support and inspire others in the team. Contribute to an inclusive team environment.

Stay Current

Keep up to date with industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies to continuously improve our design processes.

Skills we expect to see

• Strong visual, interaction, and interface design skills (basic animation skills a plus).
• Solid understanding of UX and experience design principles and methodologies.
• Experience conducting user research and turning insights into design decisions.
• Proficiency with tools such as Figma and working within design systems.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and inclusive design practices.
• Ability to facilitate workshops and collaborate with cross‑functional teams.
• Strong communication, storytelling, and stakeholder management skills.
• Comfortable working in ambiguity and adapting to changing priorities.
• Proactive mindset with the ability to take initiative and drive outcomes.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating your design process and impact.

Essential criteria

• Extensive industry experience as a UX or Product 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.
• Willingness to travel to various store locations across the UK from time to time.

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.
• Mentoring, support and plenty of opportunity to hone your skill and progress in your career.