Head of UCD and UX.

Head of User Centred Design and UX

London: £100,000 - £130,000  

Are you someone who thrives on shaping strategy, inspiring others, and championing customer-first thinking?

This is an exciting opportunity for a seasoned design leader who has successfully led large-scale design functions and is ready to take on a strategic leadership role in a dynamic, customer-focused environment. Whether your background is in a regulated industry or a creative agency, if you're passionate about User Experience (UX) and User-Centred Design (UCD) and excited to drive innovation at scale, we’d love to hear from you.

A bit about the job:

As a key member of the Digital Leadership Team, you’ll lead Aviva’s User Centred Design function—overseeing a team of 70+ designers and researchers across UX, UI, service design, and user research. You’ll define and drive the vision and strategy for design across our digital journeys, ensuring customer needs are at the heart of everything we build.

You’ll collaborate closely with senior stakeholders across Customer & Marketing and the wider business to embed design thinking, champion accessibility, and deliver high-quality, insight-driven experiences. This is a pivotal role that blends strategic leadership, team development, and hands-on influence across our digital portfolio.

Skills and experience we’re looking for:

• Proven track record of leading large design functions within complex enterprise organisations.
• Deep expertise in UX and User-Centred Design (UCD), with a strong focus on accessibility and inclusive design.
• Demonstrated success in developing capability and growing high-performing Design and Research teams.
• Confident communicator with experience presenting to senior leadership, including Director and ExCo forums.
• Strong commercial awareness, creative problem-solving skills, and a customer-first, data-informed mindset.

Due to this being a role in scope for Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) it is a prerequisite that you are not currently bankrupt and do not have an unspent conviction for a serious criminal offence, in applying for this role you are certifying that you satisfy both of these requirements.

What you’ll get for this role:

Our purpose - with you today, for a better tomorrow – is a promise we make to our colleagues too.  And one of the ways we live up to that promise is by investing in you.  We have so much to offer when it comes to being an Aviva colleague.

• London salary £100,000 - £130,000 (depending on location, skills, experience, and qualifications)
• Bonus opportunity – 25% of annual salary Actual amount depends on your performance and Aviva’s.
• Generous pension scheme - Aviva will contribute up to 14%, depending on what you put in.
• 29 days holiday plus bank holidays, and you can choose to buy or sell up to 5 days
• Make your money go further - Up to 40% discount on Aviva products, and other retailer discounts
• Up to £1,200 of free Aviva shares per year through our Matching Share Plan and share in the success of Aviva with our Save As You Earn scheme
• Brilliantly supportive policies including parental and carer’s leave
• Flexible benefits to suit you, including sustainability options such as cycle to work
• Make a difference, be part of our Aviva Communities and use your 3 paid volunteering days to help others
• We take your wellbeing seriously with lots of support and tools

Take a look to learn more.  Put a salary into this calculator to see what your total Aviva Reward could be.

Aviva is for everyone:

We’re inclusive and welcome everyone – we want applications from all backgrounds and experiences. Excited but not sure you tick every box? Even if you don’t, we would still encourage you to apply. We also consider all forms of flexible working, including part time and job shares.

We flex locations, hours and working patterns to suit our customers, business, and you. Most of our people are smart working – spending around 50% of their time in our offices every week - combining the benefits of flexibility, with time together with colleagues.

To find out more about working at Aviva take a look here

We interview every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Once you’ve applied, please send us an email stating that you have a disclosed disability, and we’ll interview you.

We’d love it if you could submit your application online. If you require an alternative method of applying, please give Harjot Kaur a call on +44 7353 138456 or send an email to harjot.kaur@aviva.com