Senior Product Designer

Date: 16 Sept 2026

Location:

Cape Town, Western Cape, ZA

Company: Sanlam Group

Who are we?

Sanlam was established as a life insurance company in South Africa but has since transformed into a diversified financial services group that operates across the African continent, India, Malaysia and selected developed markets, with listings on the Johannesburg, A2X and Namibian Securities Stock exchanges. In 2018 the Group celebrated its centenary as well as 20 years since demutualisation and listing in South Africa and Namibia. Sanlam is one of the largest internationally active insurance groups in the world with a presence in 27 countries and has the biggest non-banking financial services footprint on the African continent.

The Group's four business clusters (Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz and Santam) house the Group's business operations. The Group Office provides strategic direction and support to the four clusters, assisting them in realising their strategies and meeting their business objectives. The Group Office is responsible for governance and for the Group's centralised functions, which include: Group Tecnhnology, Finance, Actuarial, Risk and Balance Sheet Management, Strategy, Human Capital, Brand, Marketing and Corporate Affairs. The Group Office ensures cohesive management across the organisation.

Position Overview

Sanlam Fintech x is a small business unit within the Sanlam Group and it's looking to fill the role of Senior Product Designer, reporting into a Head of Design. As part of the central Digital Product & Design function within SFTx, the role will be responsible for designing key parts of the product experience of SFTx's digital products and channels. The role will support relevant stakeholders, leveraging innovative design outcomes to give customers confidence during any digital engagements and experiences of their financial services.

What will you do?

As a Senior Product Designer, you will be expected to:

Craft & Execute

Use and apply current and relevant design methodologies, tools, frameworks, and practices to solve for, and design experiences that enable and support Sanlam's customers.
Define interactions and services based on relevant business, technical, and design considerations.
Conduct user research and usability testing to ensure validated design solutions, capturing insights and testing data, packaged for distribution and feedback sessions.
Own the UX and Interaction Design deliverables as agreed upon during performance contracting.

Project & Team

Make design ideas tangible for the project team and stakeholders through visual storytelling, UX and interaction design techniques.
Present, explain and discuss design decisions eloquently, and give design feedback.
Execute product design tasks and maintain a high quality of deliverables.
Collaborate with UX Architects, Service Designers, BA's, Product Managers and other stakeholders to understand objectives and key business outcomes, user needs and behaviours to inform the design solutioning.
Collaborate with Front End Developers, Product teams, the Design System team, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that final product code delivery is representative of the most feasible and preferred design solution

Qualifications and Experience

Bachelor of Design (Product Design) with experience / exposure to Interactive and UX Design.
At least 8 years of experience in the discipline of Product Design across varied customer personas, business problems and devices, including mobile.

What will make you successful in this role?

Experience with UX design for mobile is required.
Experience working in cross-functional product teams as a senior product designer, UX designer or comparable role.
Experience with multimedia.
Experience designing for financial products and markets.

Required Behavioural Competencies

SFTx's 6 Leadership Principles:

Ownership Mindset – Looking for ways to do, instead of reasons not to. Being accountable for actions and decisions, owning both successes and mistakes, and learning and growing from each experience.
Growth Mindset – Always learning and improving, getting better each time. Embracing challenges and failures as opportunities for growth.
Customer Centricity – A deep understanding of the customer seen in everything you do. Being led by customers, their feedback and their behaviours.
Innovation (Jugaad) – Where some see impossible, seeing a way. Doing more with less, applying creativity to turn obstacles into opportunities, chance into change.
Velocity – Moving fast and fixing things. Working iteratively to deliver customer value without sacrificing long-term value for short-term results.
Inclusion – Seeking out and valuing different perspectives. Believing that when we change how we look at things, how things look for us also changes, making tomorrow not just different, but better.

Overview of Role Responsibilities

Digital Channels and Technology Management
Support digital channel management through use of front-end interactive technologies, encompassing usability, design, user interface, and device strategy. Facilitate an understanding of engagement metrics and provide regular performance analysis.

Design and Conceptualization
Produce multiple concepts and prototypes to design digital products/services.

Customer Experiences Implementation
Design and coordinate implementation of differentiating customer experience initiatives, tools, and processes.

Customer Needs/Experience Research
Complete research and analyze data to develop and/or support a sound understanding of customer segments, trends, needs, and expectations.

Customer Experience Mapping
Lead implementation and performance of techniques, such as voice of the customer initiatives, journey mapping, and qualitative touchpoint analysis, to identify customer pain points, challenges, and hurdles; advise on approaches to eliminate negative experiences and enhance customer interactions.

Required Skills

User Experience Design Techniques - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to direct user behavior by providing accessibility and desirability in the interaction with a product. Typically works independently and provides guidance.

Creative Design - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to produce design concepts and visualize them, oversee design changes and improvements, integrate technical and visual solutions into a concept and assist with prototype development. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

Graphical User Interface Development - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to use systems and software to design and build user interfaces for computer applications. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

Media Management and Utilization - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to assess and utilize media channels and opportunities in order to gain maximum benefit for the brand, product or service. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

Document and Model User Requirements - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to utilize the appropriate modeling tool(s) to diagram the requirements from data and state changes, process and process improvements, as well as use cases and user stories. Typically works independently and provides guidance.

Data Collection and Analysis - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to determine and analyze trends from data that is collected to assist in compiling reports that will help in decision-making. Typically works independently and provides guidance.

General Experience

Experience enables job holder to deal with the majority of situations and to advise others (Minimum 8 years)

Managerial Experience

Managerial experience not required but should be able to lead cross functional projects with teams.

The Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embraces diversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace as we believe that these are key components to ensuring a thriving and sustainable business in South Africa. The Group's Employment Equity plan and targets will be considered as part of the selection process.

Apply now »