Hiring a product team in the UK? Here is what you need to know

Short summary

UK employment status is determined by actual work conditions, not contract labels—misclassification risks IR35 audits, tax liability, and legal exposure. Use a role-based framework: core product designers as employees, design managers with ongoing ownership as employees, project-based UX researchers as fixed-term workers, and one-off design work as self-employed. Hiring compliance requires structured job ads, right-to-work checks, and compliance with minimum-wage rules for design exercises.

• •Employment status (employee vs. contractor vs. self-employed) is determined by actual work relationship, not contract labels
• •Use a hiring framework: embedded roles as employees, project-based work as workers, one-off tasks as self-employed
• •Follow UK recruitment compliance: anti-discrimination in ads, right-to-work verification, minimum-wage for design tasks

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