Lead UX/UI Designer (SFIA 5) in Cardiff

Zaizi is looking for a UX/UI Designer to work in a delivery-focused, agile environment, working with government clients. You’ll play a key role in translating user needs and business requirements into clear, usable designs that development teams can effectively implement. Working across end-to-end user journeys, you’ll define and guide the creation of prototypes and user‑centred design artefacts that uncover user motivations, behaviours, and service interactions. You’ll also support and mentor other User Experience Designers, contributing to their growth while ensuring high standards across the team’s work.

At Zaizi, a UX/UI Designer works within a multidisciplinary team and is responsible for planning, leading, and coordinating user‑centred design efforts. You’ll collaborate closely with Product Managers, Solution Architects, Developers, Testers, and other Designers to ensure design outputs are clearly communicated and effectively shape ongoing development.

Requirements

• Expert knowledge and experience of user interfaces such as Figma
• Communicate and evangelise user needs to the team and wider stakeholders
• Create prototypes to feed into development
• Work with team members to design and conduct workshops
• Building relationships with clients and stakeholders
• Able to elicit requirements from ambiguous user needs
• Be the go-to person in this area of expertise
• Provide guidance and best practice on accessible design
• Work with team members (Developers in particular) to bring designs to life in production

You will oversee and support the creation of workshops, prototypes and other design artefacts to inform decision making and drive actions. You will help to define the user‑centred design approaches and methodologies for projects and initiatives and help with the planning of user‑experience activities.

Core skills & competencies:

• Experience with a range of user‑centred design and service design techniques and practices.
• Able to break down designs and communicate them to developers and testers
• Excellent knowledge and experience of prototyping and interaction design.
• Setting design objectives and choosing appropriate tools and techniques.
• The ability to plan user‑centred design activities and define protocols.
• Theming and synthesis outputs from raw research to produce strategic insights
• Communicating information to stakeholders and your team
• Being able to work in an agile and flexible way across a number of agile projects

You don’t meet all the requirements? Studies show that women and black, Asian and minority ethnic people are less likely to apply for a job unless they meet every qualification. So if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with the job description, we’d love you to still apply. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role here at Zaizi.

We actively welcome applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, neurodivergent individuals, parents, carers, and those from lower socio‑economic backgrounds. If you need any accommodations to support your specific situation, please feel free to let us know. For candidates who are neurodiverse or have disabilities, we are happy to make any adjustments needed throughout the interview process—just ask!

SC Clearance:

Zaizi works with UK Central Government departments on a range of projects. To be able to work on our customer projects, employees must be Security Cleared to a standard acceptable to our Government customers. Due to this restriction we can currently only recruit candidates who have the right to work in the UK without sponsorship and who have lived in the UK for the last 5+ years continuously.

Interview Process:

• 1st stage: Initial phone screening done by a member of the recruitment team
• 2nd stage: Technical interview, this stage evaluates your technical expertise and problem‑solving abilities, especially if you’re applying for a technical role.
• Final Stage: 10‑15 min presentation and a panel interview where multiple people from different departments ask you questions.

Benefits

• Compensation: Salaries reviewed annually to ensure they reflect your performance and market value.
• Loyalty Pension: We invest in your future. Starting at a 5% employer contribution, we increase this by 0.5% every year after your third anniversary, up to a maximum of 8%.
• Protection: Comprehensive Group Life Assurance for peace of mind.

Purpose & Culture

• Real Impact: Work on mission‑critical projects that secure and improve the UK’s digital infrastructure.
• Autonomy: A culture that empowers you to make decisions, prototype rapidly, and iterate towards success.
• Service & Community: We support those who serve. 10 paid days for Reservist Military Service.

Work / Life Balance

• Time Off: 25 days annual leave +