Lead Product Designer

Job at a glance

We’re looking for an exceptional Lead Product Designer — someone who blends strategic thinking with extraordinary craft.
 As a Lead, you’ll define the vision for your stream of work, shaping how our products feel, function, and evolve. You’ll lead through design — driving impact, influencing direction, and inspiring teams to reach new levels of excellence.

This is a high-seniority individual contributor role, where leadership is measured by influence, clarity, and quality of execution — not by the number of direct reports. You’ll work alongside Product Directors, Engineering Leads, and Researchers to define focus areas, unlock opportunities, and deliver experiences that set new standards for Stepstone and the industry.

Your responsibilities:

• Lead design for a core product area, defining end-to-end experiences that are simple, intuitive, and high-impact.
• Elevate craft and quality. Set and maintain a high bar for interaction, visual, and system design.
• Drive product thinking. Partner with Product and Engineering leaders to define strategy and shape the roadmap through design insights.
• Work in the open. Share progress transparently, gather feedback early, and align teams around clear stories.
• Mentor and inspire. Coach designers across the org to refine their thinking, storytelling, and execution.

  Your skills and qualifications: 

• Proven experience shipping impactful, user-centered products at scale.
• A portfolio that shows both systems thinking and craft excellence — thoughtful details, strong storytelling, and clear product reasoning.
• Demonstrated ability to influence product direction through design, strategy, and narrative.
• Comfort operating across altitudes — from framing vision to hands-on delivery.
• Expertise in prototyping as a storytelling tool, bringing ideas to life and inspiring others through interaction.

Your benefits 

We’re a community here that cares as much about your life outside work as how you feel when you’re with us. Because your job shouldn’t take over your life, it should enrich it. Here are some of the benefits we offer: 

• 29 days holiday allowance + bank holidays   
• Private medical and dental healthcare   
• Pension contribution up to 10%   
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme 
• Life Assurance Cover  
• Cycle to work scheme   
• Hybrid working model   
• Volunteering days   
• and you can bring your dog to the office!   

Our commitment 

Equal opportunities are important to us. We believe that diversity and inclusion at The Stepstone Group are critical to our success as a global company, so we want to recruit, develop, and keep the best talent. We encourage applications from everyone, regardless of background, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, ethnicity, belief, age, family or parental status, and any other characteristic.  

As a global business we further our DEI and sustainability progress by working with national and international bodies and are proud to have been recognised for our work — both locally and internationally, including:  

• Armed Forces Covenant: Bronze Award, Employer Recognition Scheme 
• EcoVadis: Bronze Award 
• Fertility Friendly Employer, accredited by Fertility Matters at Work 
• RIDI (Recruitment Industry Disability) Awards: Inclusive Technology Award 2024 
• Stonewall: Gold Award 
• Stonewall: Top 100 Workplace Equality Index (85)