Senior Lead UX/UI

Job location

Ras Al Khaimah, UAE (onsite)

Job role

The senior lead of UX/UI is the authority for user experience and interface design across the organization’s digital and digital ecosystem. This role provides leadership, governance, and vision for the design and usability of all government digital platforms and services. The role ensures that digital touchpoints are inclusive, accessible, visually consistent, and aligned with government brand and national digital transformation objectives. The senior UX/UI lead is accountable for shaping the organization’s digital standards, embedding user-centered design principles, and driving design maturity across departments. The role collaborates with product, service design, and CXM teams while influencing senior executives to ensure experience excellence for citizens, employees, investors, and visitors.

Communication & authority

External interfaces (sharing information, building relationships, negotiating)
Local government departments
Federal government departments
National government departments
Vendors

Key accountabilities & responsibilities

Strategic UX/UI vision & governance
Define, communicate, and oversee the UX/UI vision and design strategy for all digital services at a government-wide level.
Establish and govern a centralized design system ensuring scalability, accessibility, and consistency across all platforms.
Ensure compliance with bilingual (Arabic/English) and global accessibility standards (WCAG) across digital services.
Represent UX/UI priorities in executive decision-making forums and governance councils.

Quarterly design leadership & delivery
Provide executive oversight for UX/UI across digital programs, ensuring design excellence in all major initiatives.
Set standards and guidelines for UX/UI integration into agile and lean delivery practices across departments.
Oversee the design of high-impact services, ensuring outcomes are measurable against adoption and satisfaction KPIs.

Usability & research
Govern the institutionalization of user research, usability testing, and feedback loops across services.
Champion the use of design data, analytics, and research insights in executive decision-making.
Benchmark the organization’s digital experience against international best practices and publish annual design maturity reports.

Collaboration
Influence and align senior stakeholders across product, CXM, and service design to ensure seamless citizen and employee journeys.
Facilitate cross-government design governance forums to drive consistency and shared learning.
Act as senior design advisor for inter-departmental programs, ensuring UX/UI is embedded at policy and execution levels.

Innovation and design excellence
Drive innovation in UX/UI through pilots in personalization, automation, and emerging interaction models.
Shape a culture of design excellence.

Qualifications & experience

Educational qualification: Minimum bachelor’s degree in human-centered design, interaction design, or related field.

Experience
Preferred master’s degree in UX/UI design, service innovation, or digital transformation.
5+ years’ experience in design.
Proven track record of setting design vision and influencing executive stakeholders.
Expertise in large-scale design systems, accessibility compliance, and usability governance.
Experience in international benchmarking and design maturity frameworks.

Certifications: Certifications in agile, design thinking, or UX/UI methodologies are a plus.

Behavioural competencies

• Visionary UX/UI leadership
• Strategic orientation & executive influence
• Customer and citizen-centric decision making
• Cross-government stakeholder management
• Change and transformation leadership
• Design innovation & global benchmarking
• Organizational capability building in design
• Human diversity & inclusive design leadership

Special requirements

English language (written and spoken) – essential