Design & Research Internship

Interested in getting hands-on experience in user-centred design this summer? Apply to our internship now! 

Get ready to immerse yourself in a fast-paced, cross-functional team, where you’ll use UX, UI, and research skills to craft experiences that truly resonate. With guidance from experienced mentors, you’ll team up with passionate designers and developers and work together to create solutions adored by users.  

Imagine yourself… 

• Making an impact on real-world projects. You’ll dive into client projects that matter and experience firsthand how research and design shape the commercial landscape while witnessing the tangible impact of your contributions. 

• Collaborating in cross-disciplinary teams. You’ll get a holistic view of project development by working with developers and project managers to see how your designs contribute to broader organisational goals. 

• Thriving in a supportive environment. You’ll have the expert guidance of a project lead, design mentor, and dedicated line manager, as well as our extensive design and research community.  

What you can look forward to 

• Working in a cross-functional team of interns, lead by a project lead and supported by a design mentor, to bring a client’s vision to life  

• Conducting workshops, interviews, surveys, and focus groups to gather the information needed to realise a high-quality outcome  

• Creating artefacts such as service blueprints, journey maps, and content outlines, showing how your product works at a high level  

• Designing prototypes and high-fidelity designs that bring your solutions and ideas to life 

• Collaborating and sharing insights with non-design team members to ensure they are aligned at each step of the process  

• Involving developers in the design process and collaborating around constraints and solutions  

• Testing your product with real users and analyse findings to learn lessons for the next iteration  

Who we’re looking for  

• Students or recent graduates in design, psychology, technology, or self-taught creatives with a portfolio or case study showcasing their passion 

• Honest, fun people who are willing to try their best and aren’t afraid to make mistakes 

• People who are curious, eager to learn, and ready to explore 

• People with strategic mindsets and interest in the people and world around them  

• Candidates who embody our values – caring, trustworthiness, kindness, and fun – and bring them to every facet of their time with us 

What you can bring to the internship 

• A keen interest in applying Design Thinking in real scenarios  

• Creative problem-solving skills, ready to embrace new challenges  

• A genuine interest in user research and cross-functional teamwork 

• Proficiency in or willingness to quickly learn design tools like Figma 

• A humble attitude to learning and a team environment – you don’t need to have all the answers, and that’s completely OK! 

What roles might you take at the end of the internship?  

The design and research team covers user experience design, user interface design, user research, and service design. You might have a solid interest or background in one, but you will be exposed to all roles at the start of your journey with us. Our team members are flexible and often wear many hats as design roles have blurred boundaries and share many skillsets, but typically will have a strong affinity for a craft such as:  

• User Experience Design: UX designers examine a user’s journey with a product and uses tools like journey maps, personas, and information architecture to understand the users motivations, needs, and pain points. They use this information to make new journeys easy and intuitive for users and prototype new solutions to be tested. UX Designers often use tools like Figma and Miro etc to make prototypes and artefacts, illustrating concepts and the user experience.  

• User Interface Design: UI designers bring ideas and solutions to life with interfaces that are emotive, intuitive and beautiful, all while abiding to known patterns, responsive and accessible requirements, and client branding. UI Designers also use tools like Adobe Creative Cloud in addition to Figma and Miro. 

• Research: Researchers engage with users to get to the heart of the problem and then use different strategies to test hypotheses and assumptions. Researchers work with qualitative and quantitative data and are willing to think outside the box to find the right research strategy. 

Service Design Roles: Service designers take a holistic approach by looking beyond individual touchpoints to end-to-end processes while considering both user and stakeholder needs. They look at how the entire ecosystem interacts and look at the wider context of needs and pain points. Service Designers create blueprints and service maps of an entire experience or service, and often engage in research to understand user needs across touch points.  

Salary £30,000 per annum (pro rata) for summer internships

Great offices; free on-site gym and subsidised restaurant in London

Take part in our varied programme of social events and entertainment

Be part of a diverse, inclusive culture

Variety of Softwire career paths for successful interns

* We’ve been in the Best Companies to Work For list 10 years in a row.

Summer internships begin in June or early July and last 8-10 weeks.

You should apply for your internship as early as possible. Applications close on the 31st December and we allocate places to successful applicants on a first-come, first-served basis.

Application process and start dates

You must be eligible to work in the UK until at least 2027 (we cannot offer visa support currently).  

We value your application effort and strive to provide swift responses. Interviews can be scheduled at your convenience through our online system and will be conducted remotely. 

Location & duration 

This internship is a fully in-office experience based in London, 5 days a week, lasting 8-10 weeks from June or early July, with lots of fun socials and activities to partake in! 

Priority will be given to early applicants so apply as early as you can to avoid disappointment! If we have offered you a place, we will be in touch closer to the time to confirm your start and end dates. 

Our foundation: People, Culture, Workflow 

There’s more to Softwire than creating great software experiences. We’re working hard to nurture a diverse, inclusive, supportive culture, where people love what they do and feel inspired by working with some of the best minds in the business. We also have a generous budget for a varied programme of staff events and activities, with employees, not management, deciding how the money is spent. 

Put all of this together, and you can see why we have such high retention rates and why we’ve been in the Best Companies to Work For list, 14 years in a row. 

Learn more about our core values, and discover some of our company culture initiatives