Lead Interaction Designer - DWP - G6

Location

These roles may be located in one of the following locations; Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sheffield. Please find further information on the Corporate hub locations here.

About the job

Job summary

DWP Digital offers uniquely challenging and fulfilling careers for people interested in using their skills to make a genuine difference society.  We’re part of the UK’s biggest government department, and along with 85,00 colleagues, we support 22 million people every day to help them find work and save for their future.  Few other organisations globally provide the same opportunity to apply next-generation digital technology on a massive scale to issues which touch the lives of so many.

Interaction Designers work to understand user journeys, identify patterns and use prototypes to design services, products and tools which fulfil user needs. They work alongside other Designers, Front-end Developers, Researchers and Software Engineers to design services for the people who use them.

We are looking for an experienced Lead Interaction Designers who can focus on how users interact with our products and services, aiming to create intuitive and efficient experiences.

Job description

As a Lead Interaction Designer, you will: 

• Provide design leadership across all User Centred Design(UCD) professions, across multiple teams, to ensure we have a consistent approach that meets user needs and aligns with best practice.
• Work closely with Product, Delivery, Architecture and engineering leads to set the vision and to pragmatically and efficiently sequence the work to deliver real value and meet user needs and Programme objectives.
• Lead on standards, setting expectations and providing the guidance needed to understand what 'good' looks like.
• Introduce new ways of working, processes and tools to improve the quality and consistency of interaction design.
• Promote the value of good user centred design, proactively building relationships with programme directors and senior leaders to ensure that user centred design is incorporated into the delivery of strategic priorities.
• Act as an escalation point for senior interaction designers for high-profile, high-risk and difficult to resolve issues.
• Understand when to challenge assumptions and when to compromise, and encourage others to do the same.
• Maintain oversight of multiple improvement initiatives for your local, DWP or cross-government communities.
• Lead and facilitate UCD community events, working groups and practice initiatives.
• Line manage, coach and mentor senior interaction designers, and sometimes other user centred design practitioners.
• Coordinate and lead interaction design recruitment exercises and inductions within your area and across the wider organisation.
• Contribute to resource modelling by assessing interaction design needs within your area and across DWP to identify where interaction design could add value.
• Understand user needs and act as a voice for the user at a senior level in the organisation.
• Lead on capability, identifying areas for improvement and implementing support, learning and development opportunities for interaction designers in your area and the wider organisation.
• Understand priorities, constraints and business requirements at an organisational level and be able to work within them.

Person specification

When giving details in your employment history and personal statement you should highlight your experience in line with essential criteria below:

• Significant demonstrable experience in using research, data and evidence to design services that meet real user needs, and guiding teams to align user-centred design with strategic and organisational goals. You keep user needs at the forefront of delivery, even when navigating complex policy, technical or service constraints. 
• Extensive experience and proven track records in designing solutions in complex environments, using systems thinking and constraints as inputs to shape effective design approaches. You support others in making evidence-based design decisions and improving design maturity across teams or services. 
• Detailed working knowledge of leading prototyping activity to explore complex ideas and reduce risk, using appropriate levels of fidelity and helping teams make design choices visible and testable. You guide others in choosing the right prototyping approach for different situations. 
• Proven ability when communicating design decisions clearly and confidently, adapting your approach to influence stakeholders at all levels, including senior leaders. You support others to present their work effectively and contribute to a collaborative design culture. 
• Influential when championing inclusive and accessible design, ensuring services meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards. You help teams understand how privilege and inequality affect service delivery and have improved inclusive design practices across multiple teams. 
• Strong working knowledge & practical experience when leading design and collaboration across teams, supporting the growth of other designers and improving how design is done at scale. Working effectively across disciplines and departments to solve problems iteratively, and foster a strong, user-centred design culture.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact caicy.sandford1@dwp.gov.uk.

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Prototyping