Software Jobs in Johannesburg, South Africa (Now Hiring) — 122 open — Page 4

The Design Lead provides people leadership, delivery guidance, and quality oversight for designers working within a squad in a Tribe, Domain, or capability. They ensure designers are supported, growing in their craft, delivering high-quality interaction and product design, and collaborating effectively with product and engineering partners.

Their role strengthens delivery excellence and craft maturity by acting as the operational bridge between: Squad-level execution (day-to-day product work); Tribe-level strategic intent (how teams align toward outcomes) & Chapter-level craft leadership (standards, methods, and practice evolution).

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR?

• Bachelor’s degree in Product Design, Interaction Design, UX, Information Design, Communication Design, Service Design, or another experience-design discipline.  Postgraduate studies or specialist leadership training advantageous.
• Essential requirement: The Design Lead must have a background in experience design—Service Design, UX Research, UX Design, Product Design, or UI Design—with deep, hands-on craft experience in at least one discipline. This provides credible people leadership, craft oversight, and aligns with the chapter principle:  Designers report to designers.
• Indicative experience:  5+ years professional experience in design, with at least 2–3 years managing designers and leading design in cross-functional teams.
• Systems and tools: Figma (component libraries, prototyping, reviews, critique); Miro/FigJam (mapping, synthesis, facilitation); Jira / Agile delivery tools; Google Suite, Teams/Zoom & Confluence/Notion (documentation and workflows)

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING?

• Coaches and manages designers, conducts 1:1s, creates growth plans.
• Ensures design outputs meet craft standards and DS patterns.
• Supports designers with planning, sizing, prioritising, and ambiguity.
• Represents design in tribe rituals, planning, and alignment forums.
• Creates an inclusive, supportive environment that encourages learning.
• Ensures design work aligns with tribe and chapter goals; escalates risks.

WHO YOU ARE?

• Manages performance with empathy and clarity
• Be able to review work for usability, clarity, behaviours, interaction patterns, and alignment
• Advocates for design quality, user needs, and discovery activities
• Helps designers break down work, estimate effort, and plan discovery vs delivery
• Understands the broader product ecosystem and dependencies
• Operates effectively in complexity and change