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Funding Circle is a fintech platform that uses data-driven technology to help UK small businesses access funding quickly. The company operates with the energy of a startup combined with the stability of a public company, and is backed by a mission to support the backbone of the UK economy.
In this Director of Product Design role, you will lead a strategic reset of Design's function at Funding Circle. Design will become one of three core voices—alongside Product and Engineering leadership—shaping what the company builds and how it executes. This is a hands-on senior leadership position with significant scope and accountability.
Key responsibilities include:
- Partner with the VP of Product and VP of Engineering to reshape the operating model and take joint accountability for building great customer solutions
- Own the company's most complex experience challenges, working within heavy regulatory and compliance constraints to simplify the lending journey from application through servicing for time-pressured business owners
- Move design upstream into discovery and strategy, ensuring design thinking influences decisions early rather than rendering predetermined choices
- Define and enforce design excellence standards across the organization, establishing formats, cadences, and ownership structures to ensure pride in customer experience
- Build, support, and develop the design team, hiring top talent and evolving design operations
- Act as a hands-on leader who actively steers, shapes, and delivers on strategic priorities
- Drive measurable improvements in how the company solves customer problems and deliver tangible business results
- Identify high-impact AI use cases and implement advanced prompting techniques to automate complex tasks and improve operational efficiency
The role is based in London on a hybrid basis (3 days in office). Funding Circle was recognized as one of The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For 2026.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Proven experience leading design in complex, highly regulated environments (fintech preferred)
- Demonstrated skill in translating dense regulatory, risk, and compliance constraints into simple, intuitive user journeys
- Strong partnership capability with senior Product and Engineering leaders; ability to shape strategy, scope work, and influence roadmaps
- Exceptional hands-on design craft with the ability to recognize and coach others toward excellence
- Commercial mindset: using data and research to connect design directly to business outcomes
- Track record of building and developing design teams while evolving design operations
- Ability to redesign departmental workflows and use AI to automate complex tasks and drive operational efficiency
- Competence in identifying high-impact AI use cases and implementing advanced prompting techniques for multi-layered business challenges
