Design Lead

We are X, bigly labs, Dis-Chem’s high-performance innovation hub; a place where bold ideas meet data, design, and radical customer focus to reimagine what healthcare can be.

Our mission is to power the future of healthcare by lowering costs, unlocking new possibilities, and improving access to healthcare for all South Africans. We do this through cutting-edge digital solutions that deliver smarter, more human, and truly patient-focused experiences. Here, your work is not limited to a whiteboard; it becomes real. It drives decisions, shapes experiences, and moves healthcare forward. We are driven by one big question: How do we use data and today’s technology to build breakthroughs to better health?

There’s only one question left: are you ready to make healthcare smarter, and actually mean it?

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

Our values show up in how we think, build, and make choices that make an impact. We are building a culture that drives progress; one that fixes friction, chases what changes, and owns the outcome. We design with tomorrow in mind, ask sharper questions, and answer them with care, urgency, and systems that scale.

Think you’ve got energy, curiosity, and guts? Come hold the space, make it matter, and own a breakthrough.