Product Design Lead, Zinc Work
£65-70k
Plus Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
2 days a week in office
Automated employee reference and background checking software
Be an early applicant
Automated employee reference and background checking software
21-100 employees
Be an early applicant
£65-70k
Plus Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
2 days a week in office
21-100 employees
Company mission
To change the way people prove their work identity.
Role
Who you are
- If you’re passionate about leading through collaboration, growing others, and designing user-centered solutions that deliver business outcomes—we’d love to hear from you! 🎯
- Drive the entire design process, from discovery through delivery using insights and data to guide high-impact, user-centered solutions
- Lead workshops, unblock challenges, and collaborate closely with product managers and engineers to launch features and deliver team-wide training
- Support the growth of two direct-report designers through mentorship, feedback, and opportunities to shine
- Foster a trusting, ego-free culture focused on learning, development, and celebrating achievements
- Make thoughtful design decisions that align with both user needs and business goals
- Prioritise effectively, communicate clearly, and inspire confidence in direction and execution across your pod
- Champion the role of design within the company
- Lead cross-functional initiatives, coach others in best practices, and stay close to the customer experience to ensure design solutions deliver meaningful impact
- Pragmatism – You balance ambition with feasibility, prioritising high-impact solutions that are achievable and thoughtful
- Empathy – You understand both customers and teammates deeply, leading with care and championing solutions that solve real pain points
- Communication – You’re a strong facilitator, coach, and storyteller. You keep your team and stakeholders aligned and engaged
- Curiosity – You always ask "why"—digging deep into customer needs and continuously seeking better ways to solve problems
What the job involves
- We believe design is at the heart of delivering value to our customers, and we’re looking for a Product Design Lead who thrives as both a strategic thinker and a hands-on contributor
- You’ll be the ultimate player-coach: mentoring and developing two direct-report designers while leading your own 3–4 person development pod
- You’ll balance craft, product thinking, and collaboration to deliver best-in-class user experiences across Zinc’s B2B and B2B2C SaaS platforms
- This is a high-impact opportunity to drive product direction, elevate team performance, and shape how design is embedded across the company
- Zinc designers own the solution, the experience and the visuals of what we choose to build, influenced by devs
- Designers own research, they define the research methods and lead, supported by pms and the feature lead
- Designers have direct contact with all customers facing teams
- Designers own all things experience and visual about Zinc
- Can independently plan and conduct qualitative research, synthesise insights, and turn them into actionable direction. This is core to how we design at Zinc - you’ll both model and coach this skill
- UX/UI Design in Figma – Expert-level proficiency in Figma across UX and UI. You’ll design elegant end-to-end experiences and raise the quality of the team’s work through clear, actionable critique
- Workshop Hosting & Presentation – Skilled in leading engaging collaborative sessions and communicating ideas with clarity and energy. These are critical for alignment, pitching concepts, and co-creating with engineers and product managers
- Design Systems – Knows how to scale design through systems. Able to contribute components, patterns, and documentation in collaboration with engineers, and decide when to flex or reinforce the system
- Strategic Product Thinking – Able to connect design decisions to product strategy and business goals. You bring a long-term perspective while navigating day-to-day trade-offs
- Data Analysis – Comfortable using quant and qual product data to inform decisions, spot patterns, and strengthen design outcomes
Application process
- Video Exchange
- Talent Discovery Call
- Google Meets Interview
- Zinc Referencing Demo
- Final In Person Interview
- Hired
Salary benchmarks
Our take
The existing processes for referencing and background checking suffer from notable inefficiencies, marked by biases, time-consuming procedures, and an intimidating experience for candidates. Addressing these challenges, Zinc Work aims to solve these processes by introducing an automated reference and background-checking solution.
Setting itself apart in the market, ZinC Work focuses on the user-friendly design of its solution, its swift integration into existing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and its high level of customisation. With a vision to offer a solution for background checks, Zinc covers a spectrum from criminal record checks to financial, education, identity, employment, and reference checks.
Recently securing funding, led by esteemed financial services investor AVP (AXA Venture Partners) and supported by Seedcamp, facilitating the launch of groundbreaking industry initiatives. These include the introduction of the first reusable global Right To Work check, the first Employment verification reference integrated with HMRC, and a background check template library collaboratively contributed to by over 40 Zinc Work customers. This financial injection underscored Zinc's commitment to innovation and reinforced its positon as a trailblazer in the realm of automated reference and background chec king solutions.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
43% female employees
Company
Employee endorsements
Team energy
"Team energy is great, there is lots of positivity and support. Because we only come in 2-3 days a week, when we are in everyone is engaged and happy..."
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
Jul 2023
$6.7m
SERIES A
Mar 2022
$1.4m
SEED
Total funding: $8.5m
Company benefits
- 24 days holiday + Bank Holidays + your birthday off
- Apple laptop and latest tech gear for your home workstation
- £1200 annual benefits allowance (ThanksBen, from month 2)
- Early finish Fridays (16:00)
- Yearly company Retreat - this year in 🇫🇷
- Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave (2 months full pay, then statutory)
- Statutory pension with NEST (3% employer, 5% employee)
- Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
- Unlimited access to MoreHappi coaching
Company values
- Empathy: Seeking to understand your perspective first
- Collaboration: We will work teogether to solve problems
- Empowered: Empowering candidates with information and data
- Speed: We will work to deliver at pace
- Integrity: We are truth seekers, providing transparent information
- Pragmatic: We're a solutions oriented team that seeks to solve
Company HQ
London, UK
Articles
Leadership
Charlotte Lucy Hall
(Co-Founder)Previously a Marketing Manager at Superscript, Podcast Producer at Talent Hacks for Scaleups, and a Marketing Executive at ILTM.
Luke Shipley
(Co-Founder)Previously EMEA Head of Technology at Intelletec for 1 year. Has also co-founded stitch Leggings and Lean Lychee.
People progressing
He was a regular soldier in the Army, after leaving and studying he joined Zinc as an SDR (After a spell gold diving in FLorida). Having come in with no experience he has promoted fast through Zinc.
Tiasha joined Zinc way back in 2021, she highlighted that she wanted to work in Account Managment and has worked hard to make this career change happen.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Zinc Work
- We currently do not record LGBTQIA+ status: our team is small, which means data is hard to anonymise.
- As of January 2024, 48% of the Zinc team are Ethnic Minorities.
- We offer flexible working for everyone from day one.
- Accommodations are available for everyone, regardless of status and never need to be justified: this is outlined in our DEI Statement which is accessible to all employees.
- We offer prayer space at our co-working offices, and flexible diary arrangements for employees to keep their faith.
- We’ve created a ‘Manual of Me’ page in our company Notion: to help foster understanding and allow team members to advocate for their communication style and work patterns.
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