Senior Product Designer

About NOA

Established in 2022, NOA (an acronym for Net Zero Africa) is a fully integrated energy company that generates, procures, aggregates and delivers clean, competitively priced electricity to commercial and industrial businesses across South Africa. We hold a trading licence from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, approved on 31 January 2025, and we exist to REpower the African economy — helping our customers reach their net-zero goals while securing long-term energy savings.

Backed by $245 million in equity capital from Old Mutual's African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), we currently have 1.5 GW of generation capacity under construction, sourced from NOA-owned wind, solar PV and battery storage sites alongside trusted independent power producers (IPPs).

Energy is the foundation of everything we depend on — without reliable power, there are no new jobs, no growing industries, no advancing healthcare or education. South Africa is at a once-in-a-generation moment in its energy journey, one that demands both boldness and clarity. That's exactly what we bring: we step up where others hesitate, absorb the complexity of a young and uncertain market, and turn it into simple, credible solutions our customers and partners can trust.

What truly sets us apart is The NOA Way, our intentionally crafted culture and roadmap for excellence. We aren't just a utility; we are a tight, high-functioning team of all-in problem solvers who lean into complexity to find original solutions. We speak simply and truthfully, act big and step forward to own the changes our nation needs.

Our impact is immense: we are here to solve the immediate energy crisis, fuel the growth of the South African economy, and build a legacy of impact that lasts for generations. We are building a phenomenal team to do something magnificent together, and we make sure to savour the journey along the way.

About the role

We’re building the software that runs our commercial and industrial energy business, and we’re hiring a product designer to work across our internal tools, customer-facing platforms and design system. You’d be one of our first dedicated design hires.

The work is data-dense and complex. Customers use our interfaces, reports and dashboards, and our own teams rely on internal tools to run the business. If most of your career has been marketing sites and simple consumer apps, this probably isn’t the right fit. If you’ve had to design your way through complicated problems and enjoyed it, it likely is.

You’d be our first dedicated designer, but you won’t be working alone. Our product managers have deep design backgrounds, so you’ll have support and someone to test ideas against. You’ll own your work from day one, in a cross-functional, empowered product team with product management and engineering, working on hard problems in energy trading and renewable energy. At first you’ll cover design across several product teams. As we grow, the role will narrow to fewer domains.

You’ll be responsible for the overall usability of our products and for making sure people like using them, which covers far more than UI or graphic design.

NOA’s work directly affects how commercial and industrial energy is managed in South Africa, so design decisions here have real consequences.

Key Accountabilities

• Own design end to end on your workstreams: discovery, flows, prototypes, user interface (UI) and handoff.
• Design complex internal tools, internal processes and customer-facing platforms.
• Shape our design system. It’s early but working and in use, and people across the business want it to improve. You’ll build on what exists and have a big say in where it goes.
• Work directly with engineering to make sure what ships matches the design.
• Work closely with product on discovery. You’ll get well-defined problems, real user stories and clear guidelines, and you decide how to solve them.
• Work in short cycles: ship the smallest useful version, learn from it and iterate. We’d rather do that than spend weeks designing in isolation.
• Use Claude and other AI tools throughout your work for research synthesis, documentation and exploring options, and to build working prototypes when code is faster than Figma. Final UI still lives in Figma.
• What this role isn’t;
  • A route into design management. The design team will grow, but this is a hands-on craft role.
  • A traditional research role. Discovery here is quick and collaborative, aimed at finding the right problem fast, with no long standalone research phases.
  • An engineering role. You won’t write production code, though you will use Claude or other AI tools to build prototypes against our design system’s components.

Role Requirements

• At least 5 years of experience as an autonomous designer, ideally closer to 8. There is no upper limit, and the level we hire at will depend on the person.
• Experience designing data-dense, workflow-heavy software, such as fintech, enterprise tools or internal platforms. A portfolio of only consumer web or app work will not be enough.
• Experience working as the sole designer, or the confidence to take on that position at first.
• Nice to have, but not required;
  • Experience in fintech or another data-heavy, regulated or workflow-heavy industry.
  • Experience designing reporting or dashboard-heavy products.

Who we are looking for

Behavioural competencies:

• Self-directed and confident as the sole designer at first, able to make and defend decisions while staying collaborative.
• Strong product thinking that goes beyond visual polish, including an understanding of the audience, the use case and the business context behind your decisions.
• A design process you can explain clearly. In the interview, we will ask you to walk us through how you approached a real problem.
• Comfort working with qualitative signals. Our customer base is focused, so there is little room for A/B tests or behavioural analytics, and you will apply the rigour and judgement you have built elsewhere to smaller signals.
• A preference for minimum viable product (MVP) thinking over big-batch design.

Technical & functional competencies:

• Strong, hands-on proficiency with Claude or other AI platforms. This is a hard requirement. You use it daily in your design work and can show specific examples of how it changed what you produced.
• A portfolio that demonstrates user experience (UX) flows and patterns for complex problems.
• Fluency with design systems, including token structures and component libraries, and knowing when to extend a component or break from it. Design systems do not need to be your specialism.
• Fast prototyping skills.

Why join NOA?

A Once-in-a-Career Mission:

Joining NOA is an invitation to be part of a growing team at the very forefront of the South African renewable energy industry. We are a dynamic, mission-driven organisation with strong financial backing and a deep commitment to unlocking a just energy transition for our nation. This is a unique moment in history—a chance to shape a new industry from its inception.

The NOA Way: Culture by Design

We don't leave our culture to chance; we have intentionally crafted a roadmap called The NOA Way to ensure our business is a remarkable place that houses your highest aspirations. We are "all-in" problem solvers who think big and move with speed to make a significant impact. We value "Performance Connections," the belief that through genuine collaboration, we can achieve results far greater than the sum of our individual parts.

Investment in Your Evolution:

We provide a world-class environment designed to help you thrive in a demanding sector:

• The Powerkit: Every new team member participates in a day-long offsite "experience" in Cape Town to master the skills needed to excel within the NOA system.

• Continuous Growth: You will benefit from a constant feedback loop through our "RAP" (Review, Analyse, Plan) cadence, alongside coaching resources and "lunch and learns" to own your career path.

• Supportive Wellbeing: We promote true work-life integration with flexible hours, hybrid work-from-home options, and wellness initiatives specifically designed to "refuel your tank".

Competitive Reward & Equity:

We recognise and reward exceptional performance with a framework that allows you to participate in our collective success:

• Market-Leading Compensation: We offer a competitive salary tailored to your experience level.

• Incentives for Impact: You will be eligible for a performance-related short-term incentive (STI) bonus.

• Ownership Culture: We offer meaningful equity investment exposure through our staff share scheme, ensuring you are truly invested in the future we are building.