Senior Service Designer
Government Digital Services -
What you'll do
As a Senior Service Designer, your job will be to work with skilled multidisciplinary teams to design, prototype and build excellent public services. You’ll create multi-channel, cross-government services that are user-centred, equitable, sustainable and accessible.
You’ll help identify and fix some of the toughest problems in public infrastructure and you will be focussing on design of services at scale. You’ll help the government transform the way it delivers services, so that they’re more efficient, simpler, faster and easier to use.
If you’d like to work with us to simplify services and want to be part of a fantastic service design in government community, where we share ideas and challenges with 1000s of designers across the public sector. This is a chance to work on services that matter, at a huge scale, with people who value design.
To learn more about what Senior Service Designers do in government, please review the DDaT Capability Framework.
As a Senior Service Designer you’ll:
design in a user-centred way, understand user needs and advocate for people
work towards justice, equity and inclusion in the teams you work with and the services you help deliver
work towards environmental sustainability of government and its services
lead the design of services in one or more teams, and support the wider organisational objectives and strategic priorities
work with other specialists to design and create organisational, policy and financial structures that support service delivery of good services
use reflective and critical thinking; challenging assumptions and asking questions; to support government to do better and deliver better services
use evidence from research and data to inform design and management decisions, and use evidence to engage with senior stakeholders
analyse failure within services and identify root causes for that failure; find opportunities for reducing complexity and reducing cost
design collaboratively and in the open, engaging stakeholders in the design process in a variety of ways, including workshops, design sprints and other co-design methods
visualise and map services, sketch and prototype ideas
guide, support and mentor other designers and colleagues
educate colleagues in user-centred design and service design when necessary
contribute to, help maintain and grow the government design community in Cabinet Office and across government; share patterns and approaches with others
evaluate and review the design of other government services, represent government design at external conferences
Who you are
We’re interested in people who:
experience of advocating for people and user needs in all aspects of design work; experience of user-centered design and service design
an understanding of how to design inclusive, equitable, accessible and sustainable public services
experience in designing services for multiple user groups with a range of stakeholders
experience of engaging with stakeholders and colleagues from other disciplines in a variety of ways, as well as the ability to work autonomously away from their team
experience of negotiating design decisions with senior stakeholders
experience of making effective decisions using user research and data, in order to improve a service, reduce complexity and generate new ideas
experience of supporting other designers
experience of explaining design ideas and concepts in a way that other people understand, including visualising, sketching and prototyping
experience of reflecting critically and asking difficult questions; thinking holistically about the big picture while working out details and being able to appreciate and articulate the broader implications of a thing
If you are brought forward to interview, you will be required to complete a task.
How to apply
You’ll need to send us a CV and cover letter. Your application will not be considered if you do not provide a cover letter. Your CV should show us your work history and previous experience. It should be well structured, succinct and written in clear language. Your cover letter should give examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role.
Please ensure that you also include a link to your portfolio.
This is a rolling campaign, so please ensure to apply as soon as possible!
GDS is based in Bristol, London and Manchester, and this role is part of our focussed growth in Manchester during 2021/22. You will be part of a growing community in Manchester, working with colleagues across all three sites. GDS supports flexible working, including a balance between office and home-based working. Normally this will mean 2 days a week in the office, or more if that works better for you and the role.
How you'll be assessed
In the Civil Service, we use our Success Profiles. For each role we advertise we consider what you will need to demonstrate to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We will be looking at your experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the specific job role. We may assess your ability, strength, experience, technical/specialist skills and behaviours.
For this role the following behaviours are the most relevant:
Things you need to know
You can find out about the application process and practical details like our office locations on the things you need to know page.
Equal Opportunities
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our organisation. You can find out more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion and read our equal opportunities statement on our Diversity and Inclusion page.
