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Hargreaves Lansdown – UX Recruitment – Client Case Study

Scaling User Centred Design for the UK’s number one investment brand.

Disciplines: UX Design, User Research, Content Design

Client Overview: Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK’s leading investment platform, trusted by over 1.8 million clients. As part of a major digital transformation, they set out to scale their User Centred Design (UCD) capability to deliver exceptional digital experiences.

The Challenge

The UCD team needed to grow quickly, adding senior expertise across UX Design, User Research, and Content Design. The goal was to bring in experienced practitioners who could shape and elevate the design function during a period of significant change.

Key challenges included:

  • Specialist skill sets – sourcing senior talent across three disciplines.
  • Speed – scaling the team within tight timeframes to support transformation.
  • Collaboration – ensuring new hires could integrate seamlessly with existing teams and culture.

Our Approach / Solution

Working closely with the hiring managers and internal recruitment team at Hargreaves Lansdown, we:

  • Created a co-branded recruitment campaign to amplify reach and attract aligned candidates.
  • Delivered a targeted headhunt search focused on senior practitioners with proven experience in UCD.
  • Maintained close collaboration throughout the process to ensure alignment on requirements and timelines.

We continue to support Hargreaves Lansdown as the team grows.

The Outcome

  • 10 senior hires placed in five months across UX Design, User Research, and Content Design.
  • Time saved – streamlined process avoided weeks of screening and admin.
  • Business impact – strengthened UCD capability to deliver a best-in-class digital experience.

Roles Filled (10 in total, across):

  • UX Designers
  • User Researchers
  • Content Designers

ADLIB Team involved:

 

 

Client Testimonial by Tom Carrington, Lead UX at Hargreaves Lansdown: “Sam has helped us recruit UX Designers, Service Designers and Accessibility experts for the last 18 months. During this time, I have come to understand that Sam has exemplary knowledge of UX disciplines, knows many candidates on a personal level, and only ever refers highly-skilled top-tier humans. What sets Sam apart from others in the field is the time and energy he puts into understanding the current (and envisioned) culture of the team he is recruiting for. This dedication allows him to spot people who will support your culture and not (negatively) disrupt it.”

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Client Testimonial by Marisela Chapman, Content Design Lead at Hargreaves Lansdown: "As a content design lead with a rapidly scaling team, I recently needed 3 experienced senior content designers asap - and luckily I got to work with Sam. He took the time to understand my team, and how we work as content designers and ux writers in our specific working environment. Sam quickly found outstanding candidates, and made my busy days easy by organising interviews, setting up calls, ensuring I had information and details quickly and without hassle. Especially helpful was that Sam had clearly taken the time to get to know each candidate - he understands all the UX skillsets including all the various aspects of content design, and could also help me understand each candidates’ background, a bit about their character and preferences. That meant I was able to have meaningful conversations with him about fit and capability, which helped me make hiring decisions. I was able to hire 3 amazing content designers in about 3 weeks."

Marisela Chapman

Content Design Lead

Hargreaves Lansdown – UX Recruitment – Client Case Study

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