User Experience Lead

Snr. Lead UX/UI

📍 Location: UAE

📁 Department: Digital & Artificial Intelligence

🧭 Reports to: Head of Product & Design

🎯 Job Purpose

The Snr. Lead UX/UI is the authority for user experience and interface design across a large-scale government digital ecosystem.

This role provides leadership, governance, and strategic direction for the design and usability of all digital platforms and services. The objective is to ensure digital touchpoints are inclusive, accessible, visually consistent, and aligned with national digital transformation goals.

The role is accountable for shaping UX/UI standards, embedding user-centered design principles, and driving design maturity across multiple departments while collaborating with Product, Service Design, and Customer Experience teams.

This position also plays a key role in influencing senior stakeholders to ensure seamless digital experiences for citizens, employees, investors, and visitors.

🧭 Key Responsibilities

1. UX/UI Strategy & Governance

• Define and lead UX/UI vision and design strategy across all digital services
• Establish and govern a centralized design system ensuring scalability, consistency, and accessibility
• Ensure compliance with bilingual (Arabic/English) and global accessibility standards (WCAG)
• Represent UX/UI function in executive governance and decision-making forums

2. Design Leadership & Delivery

• Provide executive oversight for UX/UI across all digital initiatives
• Define UX/UI standards for agile and lean delivery environments
• Ensure design outcomes are measurable through adoption and user satisfaction KPIs

3. Usability & Research Governance

• Institutionalize user research, usability testing, and feedback systems
• Promote data-driven UX decision-making using analytics and research insights
• Benchmark digital experience against global best practices and design maturity models

4. Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Align senior stakeholders across Product, CX, and Service Design teams
• Facilitate cross-functional governance forums for consistency and shared learning
• Act as senior advisor for embedding UX/UI into policy and execution frameworks

5. Innovation & Design Excellence

• Drive innovation in UX/UI including personalization, automation, and emerging interaction models
• Mentor senior leaders and build UX capability across teams
• Promote a culture of design excellence across the organization

🎓 Qualifications & Experience

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human-Centered Design, Interaction Design, or related field
• Minimum 5+ years of experience in UX/UI or product design leadership roles
• Proven experience defining UX vision and influencing executive stakeholders
• Strong expertise in design systems, accessibility, and usability governance

Preferred

• Master’s degree in UX/UI Design, Service Design, or Digital Transformation
• Experience in design maturity frameworks and international benchmarking
• Certifications in Agile, Design Thinking, or UX methodologies

🧠 Core Competencies

• Visionary UX/UI Leadership
• Strategic Thinking & Executive Influence
• Customer & Citizen-Centric Design
• Cross-Department Stakeholder Management
• Change & Transformation Leadership
• Design Innovation & Global Benchmarking
• Inclusive & Accessible Design Leadership
• Organizational Capability Building

🌍 Work Environment

• Full-time, office-based role (UAE government digital environment)
• Collaboration across multiple government departments and external vendors