UX/Service Designer

RM plc; Abingdon; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading educational technology company based in Abingdon is seeking an experienced UX Designer to enhance user experiences in their assessment portfolio. The role involves conducting user research, designing intuitive interfaces, and collaborating with product teams. Candidates should be proficient in Figma and possess strong communication skills. This is a fantastic opportunity to influence design culture and drive impactful product initiatives.

Benefits

Hybrid working options

Private medical healthcare

Performance-related bonus

Qualifications

• You must have proven experience working as a UX designer or product designer.
• Experience collaborating effectively across teams is essential.
• Strong communication skills are mandatory.

Responsibilities

• Conduct user research and validate solutions.
• Design intuitive interfaces for core products.
• Collaborate with product managers and engineers.

Skills

User research

Interaction design

Collaboration

Figma

Prototyping

Service design

Tools

Figma

Design systems

Job description

Overview

Would you like to help enrich the lives of learners around the world?

At RM, we’ve been pioneers of education technology since 1973. We provide technology and resources to the education sector, supporting over 10 million students worldwide. We work with over 28,000 schools, nurseries, and education trusts in 115 countries to deliver customer‑centric solutions that improve education outcomes.

What we do helps learners at all stages of their lives, from preschool to higher education and professional qualification; we partner with schools, examination boards, central governments and other professional institutions to enrich the lives of learners.

RM Group operates through three businesses: Technology (Managed Services, Software and Infrastructure for Schools), Assessment (Software and Services), and TTS (Educational Resources).

Within the assessment market we are experts in providing solutions for online exam testing and marking and the management and analysis of educational data. We work with government ministries, exam boards and professional awarding bodies for high stakes assessment such as GCSEs, ALevels, and professional qualifications. Each year our software is used globally to conduct hundreds of thousands of on‑screen tests and to mark millions of paper‑based scripts. For over a decade we have been partnering with the world’s leading awarding bodies to deliver intuitive, secure, and reliable e‑marking solutions.

Visit our website to find out more: www.rm.com/assessment

We have an award‑winning portfolio of products and services that deliver digital assessment solutions for organisations globally in the general qualification, professional qualification, and higher education sectors.

We are looking for a seasoned UX Designer who has end‑to‑end UX skills in the product development lifecycle, and the versatility and adaptability to meet the needs of different business areas. You understand the principles of continuous discovery and product iteration, are comfortable with ambiguity, and have a strong bias for action. You actively seek out opportunities to conduct user research and gather data at all stages of the design process. You are known for your initiative, pragmatic approach to design, and expertise in balancing user needs with business objectives.

You think strategically about driving business impact, and have a track record of delivering successful products that delight users and move key metrics.

You will execute hands‑on design for one of our large, core products that is used by global leaders in the education sector. You will advocate for and work to the design strategy, and design customer journeys that link across our digital assessment portfolio. You will collaborate with product managers, engineers, support teams, account teams, etc. to support them across all stages of the design process.

You will report directly to the Head of Design and work closely with them to implement the design strategy.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone looking to be part of an ambitious, purpose‑led company looking to transform learning and assessment.

Portfolio Context

You will be responsible for the end‑to‑end user experience of a core product that is central to our Assessment portfolio. This is a high‑impact role where you will have the opportunity to drive key product initiatives, build credibility for design, and collaborate closely with cross‑functional partners.

You will present design strategies and recommendations, and advocate for the user’s perspective. Your work will directly influence the product direction and help shape the overall design culture.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include conducting user research, shaping the product vision and roadmap, designing intuitive interfaces, and validating solutions with users. You will build strong relationships with product management, engineering, and other stakeholders to ensure the successful delivery of impactful features as well as larger, end‑to‑end assessment propositions.

Excellent communication and collaboration skills are a must, as you will be working closely with diverse partners, including offshore engineering and delivery teams, to ensure successful implementation.

You should have a strong grasp of interaction design principles, be proficient with industry tools like Figma, and have some familiarity with content design. But beyond just technical skills, you should bring a user‑centric mindset, creativity, analytical thinking, and a bias for action. You may need to wear multiple hats and collaborate with other disciplines like marketing and customer success. You should be comfortable working autonomously and taking initiative to drive projects forward.

Our product context is an inter‑modular SaaS platform, which means you need to gain deep expertise in how your product is affected by other products and the interactions between them on a technical, UX, and operational level. You must have a strong willingness to deeply understand the technical aspects of your product, and be able to map that to the user experience at the level of the product and the platform.

Given this, service design skills and experience in large enterprises with matrix environments would be highly advantageous.

• Lead the UX strategy and roadmap for a core product in our Assessment portfolio. Bring stakeholders and product team members to a shared understanding of this and demonstrate progress proactively.
• Define and map the end‑to‑end user experience across the platform for 1‑2 core user groups, with a deep understanding of the experience particular to your assigned product. You will explore and document the current‑state experience. You will also conduct user research and work with internal SMEs to understand, define, and blueprint a future‑state experience.
• Lead the design and prototyping of ideas and solutions, always focusing on user needs.
• Regularly sync with offshore development teams to get early feedback, align on feasibility, conduct design reviews, and ensure the user‑centricity of final implementations.
• Plan and conduct user research and evaluation activities, turning raw research data into insights.
• Work directly with customers and users to understand their needs and translate them into tangible solutions.
• Collaborate with development and product teams to turn prototypes into working products.
• Facilitate and lead workshops.
• Produce design assets such as user journeys, workflows, personas, wireframes, and prototypes – and know which ones are right for the job.
• Engage with senior leaders to understand the business value of your product, inform your design, and to advocate for the value of great user experience.
• Be an active member of the design community, sharing best practices and tools with the team and wider business.

Experience

You have proven experience working as a UX designer or product designer within cross‑functional teams, taking a user‑centric approach to design and collaborating effectively to build high‑quality software products or services.

• UX/Product design excellence.
• Laser focus on user centricity – you enjoy working directly with customers and users, and actively seek opportunities to do so.
• Has generalist end‑to‑end UX skills.
• UI skills are a given but for this role they are only a baseline; you must have experience converting a business need into research objectives, then turning insights into designs that address both business and user needs.
• Strategic design skills are a must; you know how to uncover and define the business value of your design and how your contributions influence the product and business strategy.
• Proven ability to apply design frameworks in your work, such as the Design Council double diamond, and can contribute on all stages of design and product development.
• Proficient in Figma or similar tools, and has experience in using and contributing to design systems.
• Champion for accessibility.
• Ownership of design.
• Comfortable leading on design activities across a range of different projects and with a high level of autonomy.
• Must be able to passionately and pragmatically advocate for the value and inclusion of design in product roadmaps, particularly when there are competing priorities.
• Proven experience adapting design approach to different project contexts.
• Apply UX metrics and interpret data to gauge if product goals and objectives are being met.
• Communication skills.
• Able to communicate the rationale, value, and next steps of designs.
• Can negotiate trade‑offs and priorities within cross‑functional product teams.
• Excellent in written and verbal communication skills. Storytelling skills are a must.
• Experience in presenting work at various stages of the design process to different levels within an organisation, and to non‑design stakeholders.
• Produce quality designs to communicate ideas, concepts, and solutions.
• Can solicit, receive, and action feedback.
• Collaborative, strategic approach.
• Proactively engage with internal stakeholders, teams and customers.
• Attend monthly workshops for in‑person collaboration and fostering strong working relationships.

While we’re looking for a generalist UX/product designer with strategic design skills, it would be advantageous if you’re T‑shaped and have expertise in one or more of the following: service design, content design, visual design, creating design systems.

This Is The Role For You If

• You have previous experience as the sole designer or lead designer in a product team, and have experience setting the design direction for a product or team.
• You have significant experience executing on design work in a matrixed, in‑house environment. Ideally you have experience working within a SaaS platform environment.
• You’re looking for a broad remit. You know how to navigate ambiguity, have a well‑honed design instinct, and love shaping your own delivery plan in line with the business priorities. You’re comfortable with frequent changes in product scope.
• You are a proactive communicator and problem solver. You are known as much for your technical skills as well as your power skills. You’re a team player who knows how to get to shared accountability and high‑quality product outcomes.
• You are pragmatic, and are willing to compromise on or adapt your designs to meet business needs. Beyond this you can demonstrate how you influenced a product roadmap to prioritise design and user‑centricity.
• Understanding how one product works is not enough; you want to understand the broader system context and design experiences to seamlessly connect with upstream and downstream products.
• You know that good UI is based on good UX, and you excel at both.
• You prefer working on longer‑term projects with cumulative impact, and know product legacy systems are always in the mix. You know how to define a North Star and phase designs to get there.
• You view design as a collaborative, cross‑functional effort. You enjoy gaining deep expertise in new domains and attaining technical knowledge in order to collaborate with technologists and engineering teams.
• You advocate for discovery activities to ensure product design and development is informed by data and user insights, and you know how to integrate these into your work.
• You’re willing to challenge assumptions, even when it means pushing back against stakeholders.
• You’re excited about continuous learning and adapting your skills to new challenges.

What’s in it for you?

At RM we have My Work Blend @RM which provides office‑based colleagues with multi‑location and hybrid working options. As well as your office base, you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process.

As well as a competitive salary and our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available, some roles are also eligible for a performance‑related bonus. There are lots of voluntary benefits too. You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign up for a health assessment, or take part in our cycle to work scheme. You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.

To better reflect the society that we serve, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. To achieve this, we create teams of talented people from different backgrounds and experiences and strive to be a business where our people can bring their whole selves to work, we also want to make the recruitment process as inclusive as possible for everyone. Should you require additional support with your application or through the interview process, please contact us at [e-mail].

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.