Mid to Senior Product Designer (Hybrid, London)

Full Job Description

Novata is a public benefit corporation created by a unique consortium of foundations and private sector companies bringing together the brightest minds in financial data, private equity expertise, social justice and inclusive capitalism. Our mission is to empower the private markets to build a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism. And we are doing so by building technology and tools that enable private companies and their investors to better collect, analyze, benchmark, and report relevant ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) data. We are a talented, diverse, mission-driven team who are driven by growing a successful company and an opportunity to have impact too. We hope you’ll join us.

Join our Design team as a Mid to Senior Product Designer, bringing exceptional creativity and UI expertise to drive our rapid growth. 

Following onboarding, you'll immerse yourself in your role, collaborating within a selected squad with additional guidance from a Principal Senior Designer and support from the entire design team. 

Your primary focus will be enhancing tools and refining the customer journey for our SaaS platform. Engage closely with Data and Analytics, Metrics, Revenue, Product, and Engineering teams, and directly interact with our customers to understand their needs. Proficiency in agile team environments, collaboration with developers, and interaction with product teams is crucial. 

The ability to translate user-experience journeys into seamless and intuitive interactions remains central to your contributions. Effective communication, adaptability, and a creative, UI-driven mindset are key assets in our dynamic startup environment. While experience in Data Visualization is a plus, emphasis is placed on shaping a compelling user experience on our ESG platform.

Novata is a public benefit corporation created by a unique consortium of foundations and private sector companies bringing together the brightest minds in financial data, private equity expertise, social justice and inclusive capitalism. Our mission is to empower the private markets to build a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism. And we are doing so by building technology and tools that enable private companies and their investors to better collect, analyze, benchmark, and report relevant ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) data. We are a talented, diverse, mission-driven team who are driven by growing a successful company and an opportunity to have impact too. We hope you’ll join us.

We’re a team of around 55 mixed discipline individuals, split into 6 cross-functional squads. We focus on outcomes, not output, hence we like to be quite experimental and study the data to uncover where the real value is for our customers. Squads have the autonomy to decide how they want to work best, but it just so happens that all squads currently work in 2 week sprints, with the goal of delivering a thin vertical slice of value every iteration.

• Conceptualise, design and implement user-centred application experiences
• Create wireframes, site maps, diagrams/schematics, process maps, feature lists, mock-ups, visual specification, working prototypes and other artefacts to describe the intended user experience
• Collaborate with various teams within the organisation, including research analysts, marketing, and communications, to understand their design needs and provide creative solutions.
• Use your design expertise to present data and research findings in a manner that simplifies complex concepts, making them accessible to a broader audience.
• Understand human behaviour and design best practices to underpin your designs
• Be proactive in proposing improvements in design, function and features as well as sharing knowledge, research and experience
• Work alongside the design lead, product team and development to ensure designs are understood, feasible to be developed
• Creating production-standard deliverables (assets, designs, handover notes, updating style guides etc) and assisting QAs to ship the designs into production
• Give and solicit feedback from other designers in order to continually raise our bar for quality.
• Fulfil additional duties as required.

• Minimum 3 years of experience in creative UI Design/Visual Design/Digital Design or a related role, supported by a robust portfolio.
• Proficient in visual design, showcasing expertise in typography, desktop/mobile UI, colour, layout, iconography, and aesthetic sense.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to convey ideas rapidly through sketches, user flows, diagrams, storyboards, mock-ups, wireframes, and rapid prototyping.
• Familiarity with design tools such as Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Figjam, Google Office Tools, Jira/Confluence, and Slack; training provided as needed.
• Agile scrum experience, working in sprints with backlogs, feature sets, and project tracking tools like JIRA.
• Advanced knowledge of usability and design principles for web and mobile development.
• Efficient in a fast-paced environment, with a preference for past startup experience.
• Strong organisational and time management skills, demonstrating the ability to shift gears quickly and effectively.
• Understanding of brand continuity, guidelines, and positioning.
• Experience in building and shipping applications or software, encompassing end-to-end experiences within a well-scoped domain.
• Interaction design expertise, defining how an experience should behave based on user needs and showcasing proficiency in appropriate prototyping tools.
• Clear and succinct articulation of team goals.

• Experience in Data Visualisation (or a strong interest in Data Viz.) 
• Experience of After Effects and SVG Animation (e.g Lottie)
• Experience/Knowledge of React UI Library, CSS preprocessors, emotion/styled-components, and storybook etc
• Solid understanding of front-end, back-end and the software development life cycle would be a great advantage (HTML, CSS, JS)
• Interest/experience in sustainability and ESG initiatives.

• Applicants must be located in and eligible to work in the UK. We can’t currently support or sponsor visa applications
• Applicants are expected to spend at least 1 day per week in a Novata office, although if that doesn’t work for you we do have some flexibility on allowing more remote work

Our interview process comprises three key stages:

• Initial screening call: We'll discuss your recent roles, focusing on your portfolio and career development
• Team interview: Engage with Novata team members, often including leads from Design, Product, and Engineering
• Final stage interview: Meet with a member of our Leadership or Management team

The entire process usually spans 3-4 weeks, but we're flexible and can adjust the timeline to accommodate your schedule.

• Anticipated salary range of £60-85k, reviewed and updated annually
• Company equity, to promote ownership mentality
• 30 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays
• Pension scheme with a 5% contribution from you, and 9% from us
• Comprehensive private medical insurance provided by Bupa
• Access to offices in London, New York or Washington DC