Senior Manager, UX Design at NCBA Group

Job Purpose Statement

The Senior Manager, UX Design is responsible for defining and safeguarding LOOP's digital experience vision. The role exists to articulate what exceptional wallet experience means for the organization, translating the platform strategy into clear design principles and ensuring that every product decision strengthens, rather than fragments, the customer's relationship with their money.

As the strategic design lead, the role influences what the organization builds and why, providing executive-level guidance on experience coherence and long-term platform integrity. Working closely with the CEO and executive leadership, the Senior Manager, UX Design shapes strategic direction by challenging product and technology decisions that undermine a unified customer experience.

The role also leads and develops a small team of designers, embedding design as a strategic discipline within the organization. It ensures that design moves beyond visual execution to platform thinking—guiding teams to build integrated, coherent experiences rather than isolated features. Success in this role is reflected in executive reliance on design insight to diagnose experience gaps, prevent incoherent releases, and continuously elevate the standard of LOOP's digital experience.

Key Accountabilities (Duties and Responsibilities)


Define and articulate LOOP's overall design philosophy and ensure a coherent wallet experience across credit, payments, and engagement
Challenge product, technology, and commercial decisions that weaken user experience, using clear frameworks and evidence
Translate platform vision into actionable design principles and mental models for product and engineering teams
Present and defend design strategy in executive forums, linking design decisions to commercial impact
Serve as the organization's design authority, preventing the release of incoherent or misaligned experiences
Lead, manage, and develop the in-house and outsourced design teams
Strengthen the team's strategic thinking, focusing on end-to-end journeys rather than isolated features
Establish quality-driven design rituals such as critiques, reviews, and portfolio assessments
Position design as a strategic function within Product, influencing how cross-functional teams collaborate
Define the end-to-end wallet experience architecture and user mental models
Develop and maintain consistent design standards across app, USSD, and other channels
Identify and resolve fragmented or broken user experiences through roadmap improvements
Balance user needs, business goals, regulatory requirements, and technical constraints in all design decisions


Job Specifications

Academic



At least an undergraduate degree



Essential


7+ years in product or UX design, with at least 3 years operating at a strategic level
Proven ability to define and drive a clear design vision and philosophy, supported by a portfolio demonstrating strategic thinking
Experience in fintech, payments, or digital financial services, with strong understanding of regulated environments and complex user journeys
Demonstrated ability to challenge and influence senior stakeholders, including C-suite and product or tech leads, with evidence of successfully defending design decisions
Strong foundation in user research, interaction design, information architecture, and visual design, with the ability to critique and coach across these areas
Experience managing small design teams (2 - 10 people), focused on building capability rather than just task coordination
Exceptional communication skills, able to clearly articulate complex design concepts to non-designers, executives, and boards


Highly Desirable


International design experience where design is embedded as a strategic discipline
Experience designing wallet, super-app, or platform-based products rather than single-feature applications
Track record of building or transforming a design function and culture
Experience working in African markets, with understanding of connectivity, literacy, trust, and regulatory contexts
Background in service design, design systems, or design operations