Senior UI/UX Designer

Job overview

We are seeking a talented and user-centric Senior UI/UX Designer to join our digital team at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. This is a pivotal role in shaping intuitive, accessible, and impactful digital experiences that support both clinical and operational excellence.

As a Senior UI/UX Designer, you will work within a collaborative, agile, and cross-functional environment to design solutions across a range of platforms. Your work will be guided by a deep understanding of user needs, and you will play a key role in driving best practices in interface and experience design.

You will collaborate closely with stakeholders and the Lead Front End Developer to solve complex design challenges, translating strategic ideas into practical, user-friendly digital solutions.

This role offers autonomy and influence, allowing you to uphold high standards of usability and design quality while contributing to the planning and delivery of design work that makes a real difference to patients, staff, and the wider community.

Main duties of the job

Design and Deliver User-Centred Solutions

Create intuitive, accessible, and impactful digital experiences across multiple platforms, always prioritising user needs and aligning with NHS service standards.

Champion UI/UX Best Practices

Promote and apply best practices in user interface and experience design, ensuring consistency, usability, and accessibility in all digital products.

Collaborate in Agile Teams

Work within a supportive, agile, and cross-functional team environment, contributing to sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives.

Prototype and Validate

Lead the creation of interactive prototypes during the discovery phase to support requirement gathering and user testing.

Stakeholder Engagement

Collaborate closely with stakeholders and the Lead Front End Developer to solve complex design challenges and align solutions with organisational goals.

Support Front-End Development

Work alongside developers to translate design prototypes into responsive, accessible, and performant web interfaces, integrating seamlessly with back-end systems.

Ensure Standards Compliance

Uphold NHS Digital Service Standards and accessibility guidelines in all design and development work.

Mentor and Guide

Provide support and guidance to developers and junior designers in modern front-end technologies and design principles.

Contribute to Strategic Initiatives

Play a key role in delivering design work that supports the Trust’s Digital Clinical Strategy and broader transformation programmes.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We're looking for a creative and thoughtful Senior UI/UX Designer with a solid foundation in design principles and a passion for crafting great user experiences. You'll bring both practical experience and a good understanding of how design fits into the software development lifecycle, especially within agile, cross-functional teams.

You enjoy turning complex problems into elegant, user-friendly solutions, and you're confident collaborating with others to bring those ideas to life.

What You'll Bring:

• Significant experience in UI/UX design, backed by a strong portfolio of responsive web projects.
• Proficiency with popular design tools like Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Photoshop, or Illustrator.
• A solid grasp of layout, typography, colour theory, and visual hierarchy.
• The ability to create key design assets—sitemaps, wireframes, user flows, high-fidelity UI designs, and more.
• Experience working with design systems and a component-based approach to design.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, and the confidence to share your ideas clearly with both technical and non-technical team members.

Nice to Have:

• Some familiarity with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—enough to understand how your designs come to life.
• Experience with prototyping tools and working in an iterative, test-and-learn design process.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (like WCAG) and how to run or contribute to user research and testing.

How You Work:

• You're a clear communicator who can explain the "why" behind your design decisions. You enjoy collaborating with developers, stakeholders, and product teams to create meaningful digital experiences. Most importantly, you're passionate about making things better for users, for the team, and for the organisation.