At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead design for loyalty experiences, turning challenges into engaging customer journeys.
- Company: Join the UK's largest employee-owned business with a focus on innovation and collaboration.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, flexible working, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Be part of a supportive culture that values diversity and personal growth.
- Why this job: Shape the future of customer engagement while making a real impact in retail.
- Qualifications: Proven design leadership and expertise in creating accessible, user-friendly experiences.
The predicted salary is between 60750 - 74250 £ per year.
About the role
As a Principal Product Designer in Loyalty & Customer Engagement, you will shape and deliver the design vision for experiences that help customers understand, access, and make the most of our brand's loyalty benefits and propositions.
Working within either John Lewis or Waitrose, you will lead design across the end-to-end loyalty experience, ensuring it connects seamlessly with the core shopping journey.
As an expert practitioner and senior individual contributor, you will turn complex, ambiguous challenges into clear opportunities, compelling concepts, and high-quality experiences, guiding work from discovery through to delivery and continuous improvement.
- Expected Salary - Salary up to £80,000, depending on experience
- Contract type - Permanent
- Location - London Pimlico Head Office
Working pattern/flexible working - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work flexibly between the office and home based upon the needs of the business.
The team aims for around 2-3 days a week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings.
Core days will vary.
There will be an expectation to travel to our Bracknell Head Office 1-2 times a month.
Key Responsibilities
- Setting the design vision for loyalty and customer engagement, aligning customer needs, brand direction, and business priorities across relevant product teams.
- Leading complex design challenges to create coherent experiences that help customers discover, understand, and use loyalty benefits.
- Shaping discovery with Product and UX Research, using evidence to challenge assumptions, identify opportunities, and evaluate solutions.
- Delivering hands-on design from journey maps and concepts through to prototypes and detailed interfaces.
- Translating long-term vision into achievable improvements alongside Product and Engineering, balancing customer value, technical constraints, and commercial priorities.
- Partnering with the brand's Design capability to evolve reusable design patterns and improve consistency across loyalty and shopping experiences.
- Aligning stakeholders and coordinating design work across teams through clear storytelling, facilitation, and explicit decisions on priorities and trade-offs.
- Mentoring designers, leading constructive critiques, and sharing learnings to strengthen design craft and practice.
- Using research and performance data to assess and improve benefit understanding, task completion, reward uptake, and engagement.
Essential skills/experience you’ll need
- Design Leadership: Proven experience leading design direction across multiple teams and complex initiatives within a large organisation.
- Expert Portfolio: Evidence of end-to-end product design craft, from early discovery and strategy to delivered interfaces and measurable outcomes.
- Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of interaction/visual design for web and mobile, including systems and service design thinking.
- Inclusive Design: Practical expertise in utilising design systems and delivering accessible experiences.
- Stakeholder Alignment: Strong storytelling, facilitation, and influencing skills to balance customer, commercial, and technical needs.
- Mentorship: A proven track record of mentoring other designers and elevating design practice.
Desirable skills/experience you may have
- Domain Knowledge: Experience designing loyalty, rewards, membership, personalisation, or customer engagement propositions.
- Retail/Ecommerce: Experience in the retail sector, specifically connecting digital and in-store customer journeys.
- Data-Driven: Experience using behavioural data and experimentation to improve experiences.
- In-Store & Motion Design : Experience designing in-store digital products or using motion design to enhance interactions.
- The partnership
We're the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose.
We're not just employees, we're Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world.
As we look to our future, there's never been a more exciting time to join us.
We're ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail.
We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify.
Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.
As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards.
We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.
We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong.
Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we're free to be ourselves and can THRIVE.
Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.
As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.
Important points to note
It's important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates).
If required, you'll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays.
Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.
We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early.
If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.
We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working.
This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible.
Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.
Principal Product Designer in London employer: John Lewis
John Lewis is an exceptional employer, offering a vibrant work culture where every employee is considered a Partner, sharing in the success and responsibilities of the business. With a focus on innovation and personal growth, employees benefit from flexible working arrangements and a supportive environment that encourages creativity and collaboration. Located in the heart of London, the role of Social Community Executive provides a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse community while contributing to a brand that values kindness, respect, and inclusivity.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Product Designer in London
✨Show Off Your Portfolio
In the world of UX/UI design, your portfolio speaks volumes! Make sure it's packed with your best work and showcases your process, not just the final product. We want to see how you tackle design challenges, so consider adding case studies that reflect your thought process and user-centric approach.
✨Get Involved in Design Communities
Jump into local or online design meetups and workshops! Places like UXPA or local design events can be goldmines for networking and learning. Plus, mingling with fellow designers can introduce you to potential job openings that might not be listed elsewhere.
✨Tailor Your Applications
When you find a role that excites you, like the one at John Lewis for a Principal Product Designer, make your application count! Highlight specific projects and skills that directly relate to the job description. Hiring managers are looking for candidates who fit into their specific team, so show them you’re the one!
✨Leverage Social Media
Don't underestimate the power of social media in finding a UX/UI design job! Follow design leaders on platforms like Twitter or Instagram, share your work, and engage in conversations. It’s a great way to get noticed by recruiters and even catch wind of openings at companies like John Lewis before they go live!
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Product Designer in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Showcase Your Design Process:When you're applying for a UX/UI Design role like Principal Product Designer at John Lewis, make sure to include examples that clearly highlight your design process. We want to see not just the final product but also the journey that led you there—wireframes, user personas, and iterations demonstrate your thought process and user-centric approach!
Tailor Your Portfolio:A tailor-made portfolio is crucial for a full-time design role! Curate your best projects that align with the kind of work John Lewis does. We suggest including 3-5 case studies that showcase a variety of skills such as wireframing, prototyping, and user testing to really make your application pop.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter:Your cover letter should not just be a summary of your CV. Use it to express why you’re excited about UX/UI Design and what draws you specifically to John Lewis. Mention any relevant experience, tools you’re proficient in (like Sketch or Figma), and how you can contribute to their projects.
Highlight Collaboration Skills:In the world of UX/UI Design, teamwork is crucial. Make sure to highlight any past experiences where you worked in cross-functional teams. Illustrate how you communicated design decisions and listened to feedback, as this will resonate well with the culture at John Lewis.
How to prepare for a job interview at John Lewis
✨Show Off Your Portfolio
When you're gunning for a full-time UX/UI design role, your portfolio is your best friend! Make sure you've got a solid selection of your work, showcasing not just the final designs, but the process behind them—think wireframes, user flows, and any user research you've conducted. During the interview with John Lewis, be prepared to discuss your design decisions and how they solve specific user problems.
✨Prepare for Design Challenges
Expect to face some practical design tasks during your interview. John Lewis might ask you to tackle a quick design challenge or critique an existing interface. Brush up on your problem-solving skills and try to articulate your thought process as you work through these scenarios. Showing how you approach a design problem is just as important as the final output!
✨Know the Tools of the Trade
Familiarise yourself with the tools commonly used in the industry—figma, Adobe XD, or Sketch should be second nature to you. Be ready to discuss your preferred tools during the interview and how they've shaped your design process at previous positions. This knowledge could give you an edge at John Lewis!
✨Show Passion for User Experience
In a full-time UX/UI design role, having a genuine passion for improving user interactions can set you apart. Be prepared to share instances when you went above and beyond to ensure a great user experience in your previous projects. This will demonstrate that you’re not just a designer, but a user advocate, which is exactly what John Lewis is looking for.
