Lead UX Designer – Life Sciences Product Startup

Have you ever fancied building an automation ecosystem to improve laboratory efficiency, accelerate science and help make the world a better place?

Join a diverse, fun and committed team as we take on the challenge of shaking up the automation industry over the next decade.

As the first UX designer, you will join the Design team responsible for shaping how customers program workflows and control automation solutions consisting of our robots and other third party equipment. The company’s software enables non-technical experts to program the robot through an easy and intuitive low-code platform. This has enabled hundreds of our customers, from labs to SME manufacturers, to get value from their robots, and you’ll be helping in that journey to become a world leader in lab automation.

This role is an individual contributor role initially, with the scope of defining and leading the UX design of the software in partnership with the Product Manager as the company grows. You will need to be able to influence your teammates, as well as colleagues, stakeholders, and key executives, through your use of user-centric design backed by data and research insights.

What will you be doing?

As the first UX Designer in the team, you’ll be the leading voice of product design to ensure ease of use of software products. Your work will directly influence how our users design workflows and interact with the company’s lab automation platform.

Responsibilities

• Conduct customer research interviews and shadow customers using the platform, to gain insight into pain points and opportunities.
• Carry out an audit of the current platform, contextualise it against areas of friction for users and develop a strategy to address these shortcomings.
• Design workflows and wireframes to define how users interact with robots and the platform, balancing ease of use with technical feasibility and speed of execution.
• Work collaboratively within a cross functional team of product managers, front-end and full-stack engineers.
• Make decisions with incomplete information, working autonomously and with accountability for your decisions.
• Conduct usability tests to incorporate user feedback during the design and development process.
• Evangelise good design principles within the company.

What we’re looking for

• A strong portfolio demonstrating your understanding of usability heuristics and design. principles, execution capabilities, and your approach to communicating design intentions to collaborators.
• A demonstrated ability to break down complex problems into strategic, incremental and user-centred solutions that connect to long-term business goals.
• Ability to work on 2-3 projects at the same time, from inception (problem discovery) to release and customer iteration on feedback.
• Comfortable working embedded within engineering teams in an agile manner.
• Prior experience with life-science, automation or other technical software/hardware products not required but of advantage.

Benefits

• Learning & Development £1,000 per year to spend as you wish
• Holiday 25 days per year (PLUS we close the office between Christmas and New Year)
• Private Healthcare Vitality Health is available to all of our permanent employees
• Flexible working Blended approach to office and WFH
• Employee referrals £1,000 per referral hired from your network
• Share Options Scheme Every team member gets a pot of stock option after probation
• Keeping you fed Our kitchen is always stocked and we order lunch in on Fridays
• Dog-friendly offices!