About You

We are looking for a front-end web designer / "hacker" / UX expert - someone who can turn our technical solutions into a simple to use and beautiful end user experience. This requires someone passionate about solving real-world problems.

As a senior web designer, you'll be expected to be an expert in web design and development and help lead the team in best practices and future direction.

You will be joining a small, focused team of problem solvers, working directly with our tech-focused founders. That means a company that understands programmers, and knows how to deliver quality software. Being a small team means we can move quickly, and get lots done.

About Us

With a ban on admin fees, and a focus on fairness, OpenRent is a force for good in an industry often tarnished by rip-off agencies. With an unrelenting focus on technology, we now let more properties than any other agency in the UK. Operating nationwide, there are over 7.1 million OpenRenters - with tens of millions renting in the UK (and many more abroad!) the opportunity is huge and we continue to grow rapidly, breaking new records every month.

OpenRent is very much of the startup mindset, a close-knit team looking for stellar growth and to transform an industry. When you make a change to the OpenRent code base, you're affecting the real lives of millions of tenants and landlords across the UK - this is a job with a big impact, and big reward.

About The Role

We expect everyone at OpenRent to have a good understanding of product, dive into customer development issues, and come up with simple / novel / unique (whatever fits the requirement) solutions to the problems our users face every day. We're revolutionising the lettings industry, and it takes constant creative thinking and problem solving to do that effectively.

As a web designer, you'll be expected to turn these solutions into workable products, and not only deliver on the promise of turning a problem into a solution, but into something that seems obvious once it becomes used by millions of people nationwide. Careful user-experience based design is what has turned this company into a national brand, and you'll be responsible for dramatically iterating our current processes and designs, as well as developing the feel for our new products.

Before OpenRent, it was normal to rent a property by visiting the high street, signing paperwork in an office, and paying crazy high fees - not so any more - and now we're working on re-shaping the industry so that in 5 years it's barely recognisable from where we are today.

  • Core hire into our development team
  • Design / UX competency required
  • HTML / CSS / SCSS skills required
  • Strong Javascript / Typescript skills required
  • Solid understanding of browser rendering in both desktop and mobile
  • C# competency is a plus, but not necessary
  • 5+ years experience
  • Opportunity to craft a role to fit your ambition, and make company wide decisions
  • Dedicated to the cause of dramatically improving the rental market

Details

Location
London
Hours
Full Time
Salary
£100k+ (upper limit negotiable based on experience)
Equity
0.00% - 0.25%
Bonus
Paid Quarterly

About OpenRent

OpenRent is the way people rent property online. Our platform empowers landlords and tenants to arrange successful tenancies quickly, cheaply, and efficiently. We’re dedicated to fixing an industry tarnished by rip-off agencies. Thanks to an unrelenting focus on technology and the customer experience, we now let more properties than any high street agency in the UK and continue to grow rapidly.

Although we’ve grown our user base to a vast 7.1 million users, we’re very much of the startup mindset - a close-knit team looking to transform an industry and have fun while we’re doing it. This is a fantastic opportunity to join a small team who are having a huge impact and building a household name brand.

Perks of the job

Discover a new lease on life, not only through your career at OpenRent, but through our benefits package

Holidays

  • 25 days holiday + bank holidays
  • Annual company away weekend (previous years we've stayed in a French chateau, a Surf Hotel in Portugal)
  • Annual pop-up away office in Europe

We're certified

  • Not just a Great Place To Work®, but awarded one of the top 20 small companies to work at in the UK in 2023

Learning

  • Annual learning budget of £250 for books and training courses
  • Monthly 'Lunch and Learn' sessions from the team
  • Office-based onboarding period with 1:1 team support

Compensation

  • Competitive salary
  • Annual salary review to reflect growing responsibilities
  • Up to 0.25% share option scheme
  • Quarterly team bonus up to 20%
  • Auto enrolled on our pension scheme with Smart Pensions

Flexibility

  • Flexible working hours
  • Hybrid work policy (our in-office days are every Tuesday and Thursday in Brixton)
  • Enhanced Family Leave - Primary Caregiver Leave 18 weeks 90% pay, Secondary Caregiver Leave 4 weeks 90% pay

Wellbeing

  • Paid sick leave
  • Private Health care with Vitality including dental and optical cover
  • Weekly in-office massages
  • Weekly yoga sessions
  • Cycle-to-work scheme

Community

  • Weekly team lunches every Thursday in Brixton
  • Monthly team socials and annual Christmas party
  • Sports, book and music clubs
  • Charitable Matched Giving Policy
  • OpenRent merch bundle

Office environment

  • Free breakfast, hot and cold drinks, snacks and fruit every day in our office
  • Sociable office space with pool table, ping pong and wellness room
  • Dog friendly office

Ready to apply?

You're just a few steps away from helping make the rental market fairer, safer and cheaper for everyone.

The recruitment process

What to expect

We do a thorough review of your CV to ensure there's a good match with the skills and experience we're looking for. In our calls with you, we take the time to understand your background, focusing on your key accomplishments, qualifications, and how well they align with the role you're applying for. (Don't forget, this is also a time for you to get to know whether we are the right fit for you too!)

Beyond just the job titles, we're interested in understanding your unique journey and testing your skills and capabilities with exercises relevant to each opportunity. The whole process helps us identify those who can bring value to our team.

Our People Team is excited to meet you through a video call where we'll discuss your skills and how you can contribute to our team. It's an opportunity to understand more about OpenRent, our supportive and inclusive culture, ask questions, and see how you can have an impact here.

We'll dive into the specifics of the role you're applying for and provide insights into how you can grow with us. It's a casual, friendly conversation designed to help both you and us determine if we're a perfect fit for each other.

Once you have spoken to our People team we make a shortlist of candidates to meet with our team for an in-person interview. This is a unique opportunity for you to get a firsthand look at our work environment and meet some of the people you'll be collaborating with.

During this interview, we will test your problem solving skills and you'll have the chance to discuss the specifics of your role and see how your skills and experiences can contribute to our team's success. It's an interactive session designed to help you understand our goals, culture, and the impact you'll have.

The final decision phase is a critical step where we review all aspects of your application and our interactions throughout. Our aim is to ensure that both you and our team feel confident and excited about the potential of working together.

We consider various factors, including your skills, experiences, and alignment with our company culture. We appreciate your patience during this period and will keep you informed of our decision as soon as possible. Regardless of the outcome, we value your interest in joining our team and the unique perspectives you've shared with us throughout this journey.

We do a thorough review of your CV to ensure there's a good match with the skills and experience we're looking for. In our calls with you, we take the time to understand your background, focusing on your key accomplishments, qualifications, and how well they align with the role you're applying for. (Don't forget, this is also a time for you to get to know whether we are the right fit for you too!)

Beyond just the job titles, we're interested in understanding your unique journey and testing your skills and capabilities with exercises relevant to each opportunity. The whole process helps us identify those who can bring value to our team.

Our People Team is excited to meet you through a video call where we'll discuss your skills and how you can contribute to our team. It's an opportunity to understand more about OpenRent, our supportive and inclusive culture, ask questions, and see how you can have an impact here.

We'll dive into the specifics of the role you're applying for and provide insights into how you can grow with us. It's a casual, friendly conversation designed to help both you and us determine if we're a perfect fit for each other.

We provide take-home technical tests as part of our recruitment process for engineering roles, designed to assess your problem-solving skills and technical proficiency. They allow you to work on a challenge at your own pace, in an environment where you feel most comfortable. It's an excellent opportunity to showcase your coding capabilities, creativity, and approach to tackling real-world problems that we face in our projects.

This step is just crucial in helping us understand how you think and work, and it gives you a taste of the kind of exciting work you could be doing with our team.

After you're successful in the technical task stage, you will be invited to an online interview with one of our founders. During the call, we will test your problem-solving skills and you'll discuss the unique challenges we face in the industry, and how your role as an engineer might contribute to solving these challenges. It's a chance to understand our vision and see firsthand how your expertise can drive OpenRent's success.

As the final part of our engineer hiring process, we arrange an in-person interview with one of our founders who leads the engineering team. This interview tests your technical skills by reviewing the earlier take-home task you completed and testing your theoretical knowledge.

During this interview, you'll discuss the specific projects you could be working on, the technology stack we use, and our approach to solving industry problems. This is an excellent chance to ask in-depth questions and understand how your technical skills align with OpenRent's goals and projects.

The final decision phase is a critical step where we review all aspects of your application and our interactions throughout. Our aim is to ensure that both you and our team feel confident and excited about the potential of working together.

We consider various factors, including your skills, experiences, and alignment with our company culture. We appreciate your patience during this period and will keep you informed of our decision as soon as possible. Regardless of the outcome, we value your interest in joining our team and the unique perspectives you've shared with us throughout this journey.

Frequently asked questions

We run OpenRent at a profit, but also have backing from some of the largest VCs in the world. As such, we have an extremely solid foundation to build from.

In a broad sense, whatever is best for our users - but the direction comes from our developers and core team. From utilising our massive data set and machine learning to improve the experience on site, to building a greenfield solution for a new product, or simply iterating our current product - we're building a scalable, lovable platform for millions of people.

We currently have a hybrid office policy with 2 set office days per week (Tuesday and Thursday). We encourage new starters to be office based for their initial training and onboarding period so they can be supported by fellow team members.

Our team, now close to 50 strong, thrives on collaboration. Everyone works closely together and is aware of what others are working on. Communication is quick and easy, creating minimal barriers to progress. Each person plays a vital role and takes on many responsibilities. Having a substantial impact on our work here at OpenRent is very rewarding.

We do not currently offer visa sponsorships.

Our Customer Experience and Product Development team works 9am - 6pm when working on Customer Experience and they get days off in lieu for any weekends or bank holidays that they are scheduled to work. For all other employees our standard hours are (9am - 6pm), but we understand there is life outside of work, so we trust you to manage your own time - we're all about flexibility!

Yes! We want you to thrive. You'll see the impact of your work here! Being a smaller, agile team means you won't get lost in the crowd. We're growing fast, so there's lots of room for development—and you'll play a key role in shaping the future of renting.

Definitely. We trust you to own your projects and run with them! We encourage creativity and new ideas—if you see something that could be done better, we're all ears. It's all about taking initiative and making an impact.

Diversity is key to our success. We're committed to building a team where everyone feels welcome and can contribute their unique perspective. Inclusion is baked into our culture—because different backgrounds, experiences, and ideas help us build a better product for everyone.

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