Lead Design Program Manager - Investment Banking - London - Onsite

Who We Are

We are a consultancy operating within Robert Walters, the world's most trusted talent solutions business. Across the globe, we deliver recruitment, outsourcing, and talent advisory services for businesses of all sizes, opening doors for people with diverse skills, ambitions, and backgrounds.

The Role

We have an exciting new opportunity for a Lead Design Program Manager to join Robert Walters as a Consultant.

As a Consultant, you will benefit from permanent employment with Robert Walters and will be deployed on an assignment with one of our clients, a leading US Investment Bank. In return, we will provide you with the opportunity to develop your skills with ongoing training and professional support.

Role Overview

Leveraging your expertise in design, program management and digital product development, you will be a strategic partner to the Head of Design and their team, with a focus on operational effectiveness, driving alignment to business goals and enabling continuous improvements in ways of working to accelerate impact. You will stay at the forefront of emerging technologies and techniques, including AI, to identify opportunities that enhance design operations and expedite delivery. You will collaborate across design, product, and technology partners, and leverage tools, methods, and processes to help translate design deliverables into measurable business outcomes. Your effective communication across teams will reinforce design as a critical business driver and by utilising data-driven insights, you will contribute to fostering alignment across teams, enhancing outcomes, and ultimately improving our client's experience of the products and services.

Job responsibilities

• Organise programs and portfolio/s with rigour and efficiency, translating business needs into actionable plans, ensuring that investment, resources and deliverables are aligned with the highest priority business initiatives.
• Create, own, and execute the Design Operating Model for the group, including documentation for design processes, guidelines, and best practices.
• Build trusted partnerships to understand needs and priorities.
• Utilise data-driven insights, collaboration, and facilitation methods to understand business problems and define opportunities to drive value, impact and foster a deeper understanding of design's contribution to business outcomes.
• Where applicable, oversee projects, track progress and ensure deadlines are met, while managing project timelines, budgets, and resource allocation.
• Create and deliver effective leadership and partner reporting, as well as leadership updates on resource utilisation and forecasts.
• Facilitate communication and collaboration across distributed design and partner teams. Share and leverage insights from the broader design program management network to drive efficiencies at scale.
• Lead improvements in agile ways of working, in design and with cross-functional partners, that have measurable and scalable business impact. Drive continuous process improvements that accelerate delivery by enabling teams with the tools, methods, and metrics that drive empowerment and productivity. Provide guidance and support to teams to drive quality and speed.
• Research and recommend new tools, technologies and ways of working to enhance the design process, including AI-powered tools and automation opportunities that can drive operational efficiency. Share best practices and templates from other teams.
• Identify and implement opportunities to leverage AI and emerging technologies to streamline design operations, enhance workflow automation, and improve design delivery at scale.
• Assess risk controls and procedures relative to team health, productivity, resourcing, program delivery, and financials. Facilitate optimal escalation and resolution.
• Organise retrospectives and workshops to facilitate feedback systems for gathering insights and actioning improvements.
• Drive innovation and continuous improvement in design processes, supporting special projects, offsite organisation, and content creation.

Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills

• Experience creating and implementing effective operating models that drive measurable business efficiency and productivity.
• The ability to communicate effectively with senior leadership to elevate the perceived value of UX as a critical business driver.
• A confident facilitator, communicator, and cross-connector of people, information, and ideas.
• Experience in Design Program Management, User Experience Design, Design Operations, Product Delivery, or Operations role dedicated to improving design delivery within a cross-functional, cross-location, agile product delivery environment.
• Experience navigating complex Matrix organisations, anticipating and resolving blockers, and influencing at all levels.
• Knowledge of the end-to-end product design process, design and delivery workflows, design systems, tools (Figma, Jira, Confluence), and agile delivery methods.
• Strong technical acumen with the ability to evaluate and integrate new technologies, including AI-assisted design tools, into design operations and workflows.
• A growth mindset with enthusiasm for scaling design delivery and enabling data-driven decision-making through innovation, experimentation, and design thinking.

Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills

• Professional qualification in Lean Project Management, Agile/Scrum Certification, or Product Management.
• Knowledge and understanding of design and product development processes, workflows, and tools.
• Knowledge of service design principles, research methods, systems thinking, and experimentation practices is a significant advantage.
• Experience leveraging AI tools and technologies to enhance design operations, improve productivity, or automate repetitive tasks in design delivery.
• Familiarity with emerging AI capabilities in design tooling and their practical application to drive operational effectiveness.

We are committed to creating an inclusive recruitment experience. If you require support or adjustments to the recruitment process, our Adjustment Concierge Service is here to help. Please feel free to contact us at (see below) to discuss how we can support you.

This position is being recruited on behalf of our client through our Outsourcing service line. Resource Solutions Limited, trading as Robert Walters, acts as an employment business and agency, partnering with top organizations to help them find the best talent. We welcome applications from all candidates and are committed to providing equal opportunities.