Experience Design Manager - Nectar & Nectar360 (B2B) - 12m FTC

Job description

Experience Design Manager - B2B - Nectar & Nectar360 - 12m FTC

At Sainsbury’s we believe that the customer should be at the heart of everything we do. Our vision is to create the easiest, most enjoyable experiences that better serve our customers’ ever-changing needs. We work across a range of services, products, touchpoints and tools to deliver distinctive, integrated, and consistent experiences for our customers and colleagues across Sainsbury’s Group (which includes Sainsbury’s Food, Argos, Bank, Nectar, Tu and Habitat).

We drive brilliant experiences across all our brands in-store and online, operating in agile teams and squads, working seamlessly with teams right across the business to make the most of the exceptional knowledge, insight and talent we have.

As an Experience Design Manager (B2B) you’ll lead a team to deliver design concepts and solutions for Sainsbury’s B2B products, services, propositions and experiences across Nectar and Nectar 360 Brands and channels.  This may include our B2B transactional and non-transactional websites, apps, platforms, propositions and services that need to be explored, defined and developed. 

You’ll manage, coach and develop your team, unblocking challenges and setting high standards for the design of our experiences. You'll set out the vision for the products and services within your portfolio and engage with a wide range of stakeholders to shape the design strategy across your area of responsibility. You’ll be hands-on where needed and zoom in and out of problem spaces to create effective solutions.

Within the team you will have the opportunity to work in a dynamic environment in a sector that is going through unprecedented digital transformation, as well as a commitment to work with you to drive your development. We also offer a collaborative culture, a flexible approach to working and lots of colleague benefits.

What you need to do:

• Identify, define and deliver solutions and opportunities for new propositions, services, products and experience areas that deliver value to customers, colleagues and partners and are directly aligned with Sainsbury’s Group vision and KPIs
• Lead all phases of user-centred design through a data-informed, test-and-learn approach
• Lead, manage and influence stakeholders and project teams through a user-centred design approach whilst balancing business challenges and strategic vision
• Champion the voice of the user through your work, organising and conducting user research and user testing to inform concepts and validate designs, and bringing stakeholders on the same journey
• Consider the wider Sainsbury’s ecosystem when designing concepts and solutions that are aligned with our strategic vision of allowing our customers to shop whenever and however they want 
• Run workshops with cross-functional teams to inspire user-centred design thinking
• Inspire, coach and motivate junior members of the design community
• Work with the Guidelines team to continuously evolve our design system and guidelines and champion their adoption and implementation
• Consistently embed inclusive design principles in your work and encourage throughout the team
• Work comfortably in or out of product teams, and proactively collaborate with cross-functional teams, championing best practice for design thinking in an agile environment
• Recruit a diverse and inclusive team

What you need to know and show:

• You will bring a wealth of knowledge with you as a previous Experience Design Manager, ideally for a big brand
• High level of creativity, problem-solving skills
• Experience of managing or mentoring colleagues   
• Strong people and communication skills, 
• Adept at collaborating with and influencing stakeholders through a range of agile methods, including workshops – championing the voice of the user whilst balancing business objectives
• Utilise a broad range of UX tools and techniques with portfolio evidence of these deliverables
• A thorough technical understanding of inclusive design frameworks
• Expert skills with Figma, and rapid prototyping tools
• Knowledge of best practices and emerging digital and retail technologies and trends
• Wide range of experience in user-centred design and usability best practices
• Methods and practices of usability research and confidence in conducting research and interpreting results
• Ability to demonstrate the behavioural competencies of this role, including initiative, flexibility, influencing, negotiating, strong communication skills and ability to deal with ambiguity 
• An outstanding portfolio, showcasing your talent, skills, process and experience
• Proactive collaboration with the Head of Experience Design on design strategy
• Proactive collaboration with project teams, the design community and senior stakeholders alike
• Ability to manage multiple, changing priorities, and work with diverse personalities and complex dynamics

What decisions I can make including budget:

• Design decisions that improve the user experience

Directly or indirectly manages:

• A team of experience designers (up to 6 Designers)

Support we will provide:

• A thriving design culture, opportunity to discuss and share work with open, collaborative feedback
• A mature design system and set of standards to work with 
• Research, accessibility and UX copywriting expertise

Tips and guidance on what we look for in portfolios: https://medium.com/p/1ace9c422d2  

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer, so you’ll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. Around here, there’s always the chance to try something new - whether that’s as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business - and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working. When you join our team, we’ll also offer you an amazing range of benefits. Here are some of them:
 
 Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to get 10% off at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat after 4 weeks. This increases to 15% off at Sainsbury’s every Friday and Saturday and 15% off at Argos every pay day. We've also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover. You'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance-related bonus of up to 20% of salary, depending on how we perform.  
 
 Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy additional holiday. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, interest free car loan of up to £10k, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, pay advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers. And if you ever need it there is also an Employee Assistance Programme, you will also be eligible for private healthcare too.

Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks’ pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks’ pay for paternity leave. 
 
 Please see www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).