What is a UX/UI Designer at Swiss Re?

As a UX/UI Designer at Swiss Re, you are at the intersection of complex financial data and human-centric design. Swiss Re is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance and insurance-based risk transfer, meaning our digital products often deal with high-stakes data visualization, risk assessment modeling, and intricate B2B platforms. Your role is to transform these dense, technical requirements into intuitive, seamless experiences that empower underwriters, actuaries, and clients to make critical global decisions.

You will likely contribute to diverse ecosystems, ranging from internal proprietary tools to digital-first insurance platforms like iptiq. This position is not merely about "making things look good"; it is about understanding the underlying business logic of risk and resilience. You will be expected to influence product strategy by advocating for the user in an environment that has traditionally been driven by numbers and legacy processes.

This role is critical because the efficiency of our digital interfaces directly impacts our ability to manage global risks. Whether you are streamlining a claims management portal or designing a dashboard for climate risk analysis, your work ensures that Swiss Re remains a technology-forward leader in the financial services industry.

Common Interview Questions

Our questions are designed to reveal your thought process and your ability to work within a team. We use representative scenarios to see how you handle the realities of product design at a global scale.

Process and Methodology

These questions test how you structure your work and handle the "messy" middle of design projects.

• Walk me through a project where you had to change your design direction based on user feedback.
• How do you handle a situation where you don't have enough time to conduct proper user research?
• Describe your approach to designing for a platform that handles massive amounts of data.
• How do you determine when a design is "finished" and ready for development?

Collaboration and Influence

Since design is a team sport at Swiss Re, we focus heavily on how you interact with others.

• Tell me about a time you had a significant disagreement with a Product Owner. How did you resolve it?
• How do you explain the value of UX to a stakeholder who is only focused on the timeline?
• Describe your experience working with developers. How do you ensure your design intent is maintained during coding?
• Give an example of how you’ve influenced a product’s roadmap.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for a design role at Swiss Re requires a balance of technical craft and strategic thinking. You should approach your interviews ready to defend your design decisions with logic rather than just aesthetics. We look for designers who can navigate the ambiguity of the insurance industry and translate it into clear, functional user journeys.

User Experience Methodology – This is the core of our evaluation. We want to see how you move from a problem statement to a solution. Be prepared to discuss your research methods, how you handle edge cases, and how you validate your designs with stakeholders and users.

Visual and Interaction Design – While the "why" is vital, the "how" must be executed with precision. You should demonstrate a strong grasp of typography, grid systems, and component-based design. We evaluate your ability to create high-fidelity prototypes that are both accessible and aligned with global brand standards.

Stakeholder Collaboration – At Swiss Re, you will work closely with Product Owners (POs), actuaries, and engineers. Interviewers look for your ability to communicate design value to non-designers and your experience in negotiating features based on technical constraints or business priorities.

Technical Adaptability – The reinsurance world is complex. We evaluate how quickly you can grasp domain-specific knowledge and whether you can design for expert users who require high-density information layouts without feeling overwhelmed.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process at Swiss Re is designed to test both your immediate design skills and your long-term fit within our corporate culture. You can expect a process that values independent work and presentation skills. While the stages may vary slightly by region—such as Zürich or the United States—the rigor remains consistent across our global offices.

Initially, you will likely engage in a screening conversation to discuss your background and your interest in the insurance technology space. Following this, the process often moves quickly into a practical assessment. Swiss Re frequently utilizes a take-home design challenge to observe how you handle a representative problem in isolation. This is followed by a deep-dive presentation where you will defend your work to a panel of designers and product leaders.

The timeline above represents the standard progression from initial contact to a final decision. Candidates should use the "Assessment Phase" as the primary focus of their preparation, as this stage carries the most weight in the final evaluation. Note that while some regions move faster, the gap between the assessment and the final interview is the ideal time to refine your portfolio presentation.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

UX Research and Strategy

At Swiss Re, design starts with understanding the problem, not the interface. We evaluate your ability to conduct discovery and synthesize findings into actionable insights. You must demonstrate that you don't just "take orders" but instead ask the right questions to uncover the true user need.

Be ready to go over:

• User Journey Mapping – How you visualize the current and future state of a user’s interaction with a complex system.
• Information Architecture – Organizing deep hierarchies of data to ensure discoverability.
• Usability Testing – Your approach to gathering feedback and iterating based on evidence rather than opinion.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe a time you had to design for a user group with highly specialized technical knowledge. How did you learn their language?"
• "How do you prioritize UX improvements when the Product Owner has a conflicting set of business requirements?"

UI Execution and Design Systems

We expect our designers to be masters of their tools—typically Figma—and to understand the mechanics of a scalable design system. Your performance here is judged on the "polish" of your final outputs and your understanding of how design scales across a global enterprise.

Be ready to go over:

• Prototyping – Creating high-fidelity, interactive flows that accurately represent the final product.
• Accessibility (a11y) – Ensuring designs meet international standards for inclusivity.
• Developer Handoff – How you document your designs to ensure engineering can implement them with high fidelity.
• Advanced concepts – Design tokens, responsive behavior for data-heavy tables, and micro-interactions.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk us through your process for handing over a complex dashboard to a development team."
• "How do you ensure consistency in your UI when working across different product workstreams?"

Key Responsibilities

As a UX/UI Designer, your primary responsibility is to lead the end-to-end design process for specific product modules or entire platforms. You will spend a significant portion of your time conducting user interviews and stakeholder workshops to define the scope of new features. Because Swiss Re deals with high-level risk, your designs must prioritize clarity and accuracy above all else.

Collaboration is a daily requirement. You will work side-by-side with Product Owners to define roadmaps and with Software Engineers to ensure that your visions are technically feasible. You aren't just delivering mockups; you are delivering a functional blueprint for a product.

You will also be a guardian of the Swiss Re design language. This involves contributing to our shared component libraries and ensuring that every interface, whether internal or external, feels like a cohesive part of the Swiss Re brand. You may also find yourself mentoring junior designers or advocating for UX best practices within teams that are new to design-led development.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

A successful candidate at Swiss Re combines a strong portfolio with the professional maturity to work in a regulated, corporate environment. We look for designers who are comfortable with data and enjoy solving "unsexy" problems that have a massive impact.

• Technical Skills – Expert-level proficiency in Figma, Sketch, or Adobe Creative Suite. Familiarity with prototyping tools like Protopie or Framer is a significant plus.
• Experience Level – Typically 3–5 years of professional experience for mid-level roles, with a proven track record of shipping digital products.
• Soft Skills – Excellent presentation skills are mandatory. You must be able to articulate your design rationale clearly to stakeholders who may not have a design background.
• Must-have skills – A strong portfolio showcasing end-to-end case studies, evidence of user-centered design processes, and experience with responsive web design.
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience in Fintech, Insurtech, or enterprise SaaS. Basic knowledge of HTML/CSS to better communicate with developers is highly valued.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much preparation time should I allocate for the design assessment? A: Most candidates spend about 5–10 hours over the course of a week on the take-home task. We look for quality of thought over the quantity of screens produced.

Q: Does Swiss Re support remote or hybrid work for designers? A: Yes, Swiss Re generally operates under a hybrid model. While specific expectations vary by team and location, we value the flexibility that remote work provides while maintaining the collaborative benefits of in-person sessions.

Q: What is the most common reason candidates fail the interview? A: Often, it is a lack of "design rationale." Candidates who cannot explain why they chose a specific layout or interaction, or who focus entirely on UI polish while ignoring the UX process, struggle to pass the assessment phase.

Q: How technical do I need to be? A: You do not need to code, but you must understand the constraints of web and mobile technologies. Being able to discuss "flexbox," "API limitations," or "latency" with an engineer will make you a much stronger candidate.

Other General Tips

• Focus on the "Why": During your portfolio review and assessment presentation, spend as much time on the problem definition and iterations as you do on the final screens. We want to see your "workings."
• Research Swiss Re’s Business: Understanding the difference between primary insurance and reinsurance will help you speak more intelligently about the products you might be designing.
• Prepare for the PO: In your final rounds, you will likely speak with a Product Owner. Frame your answers in terms of business impact, user retention, and development efficiency.

• Be Ready for Feedback: Interviewers may challenge your design choices during the presentation. Don't be defensive; instead, use it as an opportunity to show how you incorporate feedback into your process.

Summary & Next Steps

The UX/UI Designer role at Swiss Re is a unique opportunity to apply modern design principles to the foundational industries of risk and finance. It is a role that rewards analytical thinkers who can bring empathy and clarity to complex systems. By focusing your preparation on your design process, stakeholder communication, and technical execution, you can demonstrate the high level of professional rigor we look for.

Successful candidates are those who view design as a tool for problem-solving rather than just an exercise in visual styling. We encourage you to dive deep into your past projects, identify the core challenges you overcame, and be ready to share those stories with confidence.

The compensation data provided reflects the competitive nature of design roles at Swiss Re. When reviewing these figures, consider your total rewards package, which includes performance incentives and comprehensive benefits tailored to each global region. Your specific offer will be calibrated based on your experience level and the technical complexity of the team you are joining. Reach out to your recruiter for specific details regarding your location.