Head of Design

Overview Job title: Head of Design (cinch) Salary: Competitive Location: Coimbra, Hybrid working & occasional trips to UK office. Job Status: Permanent WHO WE ARE Constellation Automotive Group is Europe's largest vertically integrated digital car marketplace, combining leading digital brands across C2B, B2B, and B2C segments, with an annual Gross Merchandise Value exceeding £20 billion. cinch is the market leading online used car dealership in the UK. cinch aims to take the faff out of buying a used car, offering the consumer a friendly way to search for and buy a quality-checked used car fully online. The Constellation Technology Team provides technology products and services in various domains, including technology operations, cybersecurity, and engineering, across the UK and Europe. We are excited to expand our team at our brand-new Tech Hub in Coimbra, where you will have a unique opportunity to influence the development and culture of this innovative hub. About the role We’re cinch, a fresh kind of service making life easier for motorists by removing the faff from buying and selling cars online. We’re part of the Constellation Automotive retail group and our mission is simple: remove the hassles and hold-ups that make changing cars trickier than it needs to be. We work very closely with our partner brands particularly Marshall to ensure we can share and leverage leading edge technical capabilities in the future. This is your chance to lead a growing, ambitious team where you’ll play a big role in shaping design at cinch. We’re looking for a visionary Head of Design to lead our product design function, providing strategic direction and drive operational efficiency. Your leadership will help shape our long-term strategy, ensuring that we have the right talent, processes and culture to succeed, while ensuring we deliver on our immediate commitments. You’ll be responsible for developing a high-performing, user-centered design culture that directly supports our commercial goals. You’ll embed structured design processes, evolve our design system, advocate for accessibility, and ensure we deliver exceptional experiences that drive conversion, loyalty, and brand love. You’ll also work closely with senior leadership, product management, engineering, and marketing, to ensure design is a true strategic partner in cinch’s growth. What you’ll be doing Team leadership Manage, mentor, and develop a team of UX designers, setting clear objectives, progression paths, and growth opportunities. Build a collaborative, inclusive team culture where ideas can thrive. Provide ongoing feedback, coaching, and support to help your team do their best work. Design strategy and operations Establish, document, and continuously improve design processes, ceremonies, and best practices. Align design activities with cinch’s wider business strategy and commercial goals. Prioritise and balance design workload to deliver against key initiatives. Design quality Own and evolve our design system in collaboration with Engineering and product to ensure a consistent, high-quality experience at scale. Champion strong design standards, including usability, accessibility, and brand alignment. Drive adoption of the design system across teams, ensuring efficient and effective delivery. Collaboration and influence Lead the strategic and iterative improvement of digital products and services based on user insights and data. Ensure accessibility is embedded in everything we design and build Champion the role of research and evidence in shaping design decisions Facilitate workshops, discovery sessions, and playback of insights to ensure alignment and shared understanding Culture and community Contribute to and grow a thriving UX and design culture at cinch Encourage open-mindedness, curiosity, and continuous learning Promote diversity and inclusion within the team and in the experiences, we design What we’re looking for in you Team leadership Significant experience in UX design leadership roles, ideally in complex organisations. Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop designers with a focus on growth, quality, and collaboration. Strong generalist design expertise with depth in user-centred design processes, service design thinking, and systems design. Experience establishing and evolving design systems. Expertise in facilitating workshops, discovery, and cross-functional alignment. Excellent storytelling and communication skills—you can present clear, compelling narratives to a range of stakeholders. Commitment to accessibility and designing for all users. Ability to balance user needs with commercial objectives, making pragmatic, data-informed decisions. Comfortable working in agile, multidisciplinary teams. Passionate about building an open, inclusive, faff-free design culture. Please note that only applications submitted in English will be considered. Our policy is to employ the best qualified people and provide equal opportunity for the advancement of employees including promotion and training and not to discriminate against any person because of gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief or disability #J-18808-Ljbffr