Principal Design Consultant in Leeds

Hippo is a rapidly growing AI‑enabled digital consultancy passionate about building and delivering transformative digital solutions for a diverse range of Public and Private sector clients. We are recruiting for a Principal Design Consultant to support our mission. You will be a strategic design leader and an experienced practitioner. Your scope extends beyond individual products, services or delivery teams; you will shape user strategy across programmes or organisations, define design standards, and help drive the successful delivery of valuable, user‑centred outcomes at scale. You will lead design in complex environments, influence organisational strategy, and ensure user‑centred thinking is embedded across disciplines. You will mentor and guide senior and lead design practitioners, contribute to the development and evolution of our design capability, and act as a visible leader within both Hippo and our client organisations.

Responsibilities

• Be part of the leadership of our most complex and strategically important client engagements, driving a user centred approach across all projects and adding design value across a programme or account.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders, including executive leadership, using data, insight and design methodologies to influence decision‑making and shape long‑term service strategy to support better outcomes for service users.
• Lead teams to design services that meet the needs of all users and adhere to GDS (where appropriate, accessibility and other relevant standards).
• Evolve Hippo’s approach to design, promoting and evolving the profession internally and externally.
• Be part of the leadership team of Hippo’s design profession and provide thought leadership in your profession.
• Recruit, lead and mentor Senior and Lead design practitioners, strengthening capability within Hippo’s design community and fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Support business growth through pre‑sales activity, shaping product propositions, contributing to bids, and helping clients understand the value of user‑centred delivery.
• Represent Hippo’s design capability internally and externally, contributing to thought leadership, community engagement, and the ongoing evolution of our design practice.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in design at a principal level across a range of complex delivery environments, and with a range of clients.
• Experience working effectively within and leading multidisciplinary teams using user‑centred design approaches throughout the product or service lifecycle.
• Confidence operating in technical environments, translating complex concepts into clear design direction that delivers measurable outcomes.
• Advanced consultancy and leadership skills, and confidence in exploring problem spaces with clients to determine the most appropriate way forward.
• Confidence operating within complex organisations and adapting quickly to new environments and ambiguous asks.
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams and dependencies while maintaining clarity of design direction.
• Proven ability to lead and mentor designers, building team capability and supporting long‑term growth.
• Working knowledge of the GDS Digital Standard and how to prepare for a GDS assessment, or extensive experience of delivering design projects in the private sector.
• Experience providing continuous thought leadership within your profession.

Benefits

• Contributory pension scheme (Hippo 6% with employee contributions of 2%).
• 25 days holiday plus UK public holidays.
• Perkbox access for a wide range of discounts.
• Critical illness cover.
• Life assurance and death in service cover.
• Volunteer days.
• Cycle‑to‑work scheme for the avid cyclists.
• Salary sacrifice electric vehicles scheme.
• Season ticket loans.
• Financial and general wellbeing sessions.
• Flexible benefits scheme with options of: private health cover, private dental cover, additional company pension contributions, additional holidays (up to an extra 2 days), wellbeing contribution, charity contributions, tree planting.

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Hippo

At Hippo, we’re dedicated to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace that works for everyone. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups including women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent and people with disabilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process that reflects our workplace culture.

Location

Hippo is headquartered in Leeds and has offices across the UK in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London and Bristol. Candidates should be located within reasonable travelling distance from one of our offices. Work may require on‑site presence at a Hippo office or client location and may involve occasional travel. A relocation support package of up to £8k is available.