Principal UX Designer

About Marcura

Marcura is a global leader in maritime technology and operations, supporting nearly one‑third of the world's seaborne commodity trade. Our trusted platforms, which span software, data intelligence and payments, sit at the centre of digital transformation across the maritime industry.

This role is responsible for the end‑to‑end quality of the Martrust experience, across design and user research. You will set the design direction across all customer and internal journeys, while ensuring research is well integrated into how teams discover problems, test ideas, and learn over time.

You will be a hands‑on design leader and people manager, supporting designers and researchers across the organisation and the bar for how user‑centred work happens day to day.

• Formal education in design, human‑computer interaction, psychology, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience
• Ongoing learning in user‑centred design, accessibility, and inclusive design practices

• An accomplished design leader with a portfolio of high‑quality design work that demonstrates your ability to craft high impact products
• Significant experience designing and shipping digital products in complex or regulated environments
• Experience working across multiple product teams, influencing direction without relying on hierarchy
• Proven experience leading design for large, interconnected product surfaces or platforms
• Experience line managing designers and supporting their growth and progression
• Experience collaborating closely with product management, engineering, and research
• Deep hands‑on research capability — from framing the right questions to delivering insights that directly shape product bets and company strategy

• Experience working in B2B experiences – payments/fintech, SaaS or enterprise companies

• Strong ability to set a clear design direction and maintain coherence across a broad product ecosystem
• Confidence reviewing work, giving constructive feedback, and helping teams improve outcomes
• Pragmatic judgement about when to go deep and when "good enough" is the right answer

• Strong understanding of qualitative and quantitative user research methods
• Experience integrating research into product discovery and delivery, not treating it as a separate phase
• Ability to set direction and priorities for a research function, even when operating at small scale
• Hands‑on experience running research projects from crafting the right questions to delivering actionable insights

• Deep understanding of user‑centred design methods, from discovery through to delivery
• Strong interaction and service design skills across end‑to‑end journeys
• Ability to balance user needs, business goals, and technical constraints

• Experience designing within and evolving design systems
• Ability to think in patterns and platforms, not just individual screens
• Strong grasp of accessibility, usability, and consistency at scale

• Clear communicator who can explain design decisions simply and calmly at all levels — e.g. to the CEO or engineer
• Comfortable facilitating workshops, critiques, and cross‑functional discussions
• Able to influence without over‑polishing or overselling

• Experience line managing designers, including goal setting, feedback, and career development
• Ability to create a supportive, high‑trust environment where designers can do their best work

• Own design quality across Martrust; set and maintain a high bar for design across customer‑facing and internal experiences
• Set direction, not just solutions; help teams understand the problems they’re solving and guide them toward clear, coherent outcomes
• Work closely with product and engineering; partner with PMs and engineers to shape strategy, prioritisation, and delivery — balancing usability, risk, and scale
• Support and develop the design and research team; support growth, performance, and progression through regular feedback, coaching, and clear expectations
• Embed research into how teams work; ensure research is planned early, focused…