Jay Hughes
My work history
Here are my most recent employment placements. In addition, feel free to view my Notion CV.
Why hire me?
Strategic, user-centred Product Designer with 17+ years' experience across product innovation, UX leadership, and design systems. I’ve led high-impact projects for startups and enterprise clients, improving engagement, reducing churn, and mentoring teams toward better delivery. I’m now seeking a leadership role where I can continue to shape impactful, sustainable product strategies.
Key Achievements
- Trusted with promotions and specialist roles across multiple organisations, I’ve consistently adapted to evolving product needs and team structures.
- Conducted user interviews and translated insights into strategies that enhanced all major pillars of product development.
- Designed and launched features adopted by 90% of target users, significantly improving engagement.
- Mentored cross-functional teams in lean UX practices, improving opportunity quality and reducing delivery lead times.
- Pioneered scalable design systems in Figma for multi-platform applications.
TransferRoom
Senior Product Designer
June 24 - Present
- Designed and delivered key features across native mobile and web platforms, consistently exceeding adoption, engagement, and retention goals.
- Led remote and in-person research aimed at reducing churn by ~15%, contributing to the first product-led £70k SaaS sale.
- Developed tailored prototypes for diverse archetypes, ensuring scalable product designs for varying user needs.
- Delivered end-to-end—from ideation and stakeholder alignment to refinement and release.
- Managing junior designers and contractors.
Marks & Spencer
Lead Product Design - 101 Ways
Mar 23 - Dec 23
- Discovered, defined, designed and delivered a new OS launcher for an Android handset to be rolled out nationwide to staff
- Improved usability and implemented a single sign-on journey
- Designed initial design system in Figma and focussed on colleagues as well as templates for UX methods
- Coached and worked with parallel cross-functional teams in design, product and UX
- User Research conducted throughout all stages of the product process
- Reduced the number of lost devices by implementing tracking software and increasing accountability
Case Study: M&S
I started working at M&S via 101 Ways in March 2023. My initial objectives were to help review the product strategy and approach and look at aspects of design and user experience - for the M&S staff, which they call ‘Colleagues’. So, from the initial outset, one of
Jay Hughes
Instinct Digital
Head of Product & Design
Aug 22 - Feb 23
- Built and executed a product vision, resulting in measurable improvements across content delivery and UX.
- Managed and mentored a team, implementing frameworks that improved workflow efficiency by ~20%.
- Defined the core value proposition for a new product suite, securing stakeholder buy-in.
Springer Nature
Lead Product Designer - 101 Ways
Oct 21 - Aug 22
- Worked on a new feature for Springer Nature called ‘Collections’
- Product analysis, stakeholder management and user experience methods such as user journey mapping and problem statement workshops using Miro
- Helping shape goals and OKRs using tools such as Notion
- Designing in Figma with a central team as an integrated member of a product team
- The objective was to increase the number of submissions from authors to journals as well as improve the speed at which submissions were reviewed
- Ran product design and user experience workshops, as well as user research sessions
Case Study: Springer Nature
I spent 9 months working for Springer Nature via 101 Ways. The statement of work from the business was to develop out it’s editorial application to include ways of handling manuscript submissions from authors, into ‘Collections’. Springer Nature is a leading academic and educational publisher, for…
EtonX
Lead Product Designer
Sep 20 - Sep 21
- EtonX is an online education tool that offers students a virtual classroom experience.
- I helped the team develop user archetypes, journey mapping, problem statements and overall design processes.
- We delivered two significant pieces of work: an improved customer sign-up/purchase journey and a new Virtual Classroom design.
- Since leaving EtonX, I have helped them hire my replacement and offer that person weekly mentoring and personal development.
- Managed an external resource facility based off-shore consisting of designers and developers
Case Study: EtonX
EtonX is an online education tool that offers a virtual classroom experience to students. Signup flow My first project was to look at the signup flow. The team had feedback from customers for various pain points they had - it was about visualising that journey. We discovered some opportunities,…
Argos
Lead Product Designer - 101 Ways
Sep 20 - October 20
- No Argos retail unit in Ireland had a digital in-store ordering system
- As a team, we delivered a solution to adapt the Argos website into an in-store touch-screen experience using Figma
- Discovered, defined, designed and delivered within nine weeks
Cast Study: Argos
I worked with Argos as a client with 101 Ways in 2020. The company had a fixed target that by January 2021, they were finally removing all the in-store paper ordering systems - from their stores in Ireland. They were mass ordering substantial display screens and installing them up and
Provar Testing
Lead Product Designer
May 20 - Sep 20
- As a team, we delivered a solution to adapt the Argos website into an in-store touch-screen experience using Figma
- Discovered, defined, designed and delivered within nine weeks
- The business wanted to progress its product from a desktop client to a cloud-driven, browser-based product.
- The problem areas focussed on were relative to user permissions.
- I've conducted various workshops and produced concepts/designs for the business.
- Consultative role working alongside the CTO
Zoopla
UX Designer
Sep 19 - May 20
- I designed a new flagship product called 'ZSP', a mobile-first platform for estate agents to manage lead progression
- I conducted workshops, user research, and user journey mapping and designed wireframes and prototypes in Figma
- I tested these remotely with agents in recorded sessions to refine our assumptions and problem statements
- Working in multiple teams and helped coach designers and product managers using Figma and Miro
Case Study: Zoopla
At Zoopla, I was working on a project focused on the experience of an estate agent. Estate agents often receive leads with low value/quality ratings and spend lots of time qualifying that lead. They receive leads from multiple sources, but for Zoopla, it was about valuing that lead for
Further experience:
- Swedbank - UX Designer (Brilliant Basics)
- Not On The Highstreet - UX Designer (101 Ways)
- Kindred Group Senior Designer
- The R.V.C. UX Consultant
- Arcadia Group Team Lead
- B.C.A. Research UX Lead
- Transform Front End Developer
- EssDocs Designer & Developer
- Arcadia Group Front-End Developer
- Salmon Front End Developer
- O2 (Telefonica) Front End Developer
- Salmon Front End Developer
- O2 (Telefonica) Front End Developer
- Portland Television Developer
- Debenhams Developer
- Maximuscle Designer
Further career details are available on my LinkedIn
Development Tools / Software
- Figma
- Miro
- Notion
- Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, X.D., InDesign)
- Sketch, InVision, Justinmind, Abstract
- Microsoft Office Suits (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- Quick prototyping using Node/Express/Mongo stacks.
Education
University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham
B.A. (Hons) Design for Interactive Media
Oaklands College St Albans
A.V.C.E. Media
Queen Elizabeth's Boys School Barnet
G.C.S.E.'s (A-C)