Lead Interaction Designer - DESNZ - G7

The Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) is a new shared corporate service, launched in July 2023. It provides corporate services (HR, Finance, Digital, Commercial, Security and Estates) across the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT).  

Our team of just over 300 professionals will be leading the way in how these functions will be delivered in the future. Our ambition is to be the leading provider of integrated corporate services for government and set the standard for quality, efficiency, and innovation in our field. 

We offer great working benefits including a world-class pension, flexible working options and a career where your learning and development is taken seriously. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.  

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy. 

Find Out More 

You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/desnz-careers/  

Job description

Join ICS Digital, where innovation meets expertise to create digital solutions. We are a cohesive digital community who work in the open, solving problems together and fostering a culture of transparency and collaboration. Our commitment to user-focused design and data-driven decision-making ensures that we deliver accessible services tailored to the needs of our customers.

The team

We are looking for driven, forward-thinking people with strong people skills who enjoy working collaboratively with others to solve problems.

We are a small but growing team with a keen sense of community. We care about the way we work, how we treat each other, the quality of our services and how we make a difference for our customers.

This is an exciting opportunity to advance your career and develop your skills within a supportive and encouraging team. We are passionate about career development and offer a diverse range of learning and development opportunities. We have partnerships with leaders in professional development, such as Pluralsight and CITF.

The role 

As a Lead Interaction Designer, you are responsible for mentoring others and collaborating with stakeholders to develop and assure the quality of design concepts across teams. 

You will lead complex services, improve inclusive and sustainable design practices, and embed iterative, evidence-based and user-centred design methods.

You will help communicate design strategies, coach other designers, and create an inclusive environment, ensuring alignment with organisational goals and adapting to changes in requirements or user needs.

Visit our blog to learn more about us and our work: https://icsdigital.blog.gov.uk/ 

Person specification

Key responsibilities

We are looking for a person who thrives on delivering robust, innovative, user-centric, and accessible services.  

In this role you will: 

- gain support for design decisions and design strategy from senior leaders

- coach others in how to effectively communicate design

- measurably improve the practice of inclusive, accessible and environmentally sustainable design in multiple teams or across the organisation

- help teams align their work to the goals and vision of their organisation

- coach designers in how to involve stakeholders of any level in the design process

- embed a practice of hypothesis-driven design in a team

Skills and experience

Essential:

To be considered for this role you must be able to demonstrate significant experience in: 

- designing and iterating user centred digital products and services

- gaining support for design decisions and strategies from senior leaders

- effectively planning and running design sessions that include senior leaders or stakeholders

- analysing, synthesising and using evidence to improve the way an organisation works

- prototyping complex ideas at any fidelity

Please, no recruitment agencies.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Developing Self and Others

Technical skills

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

• Design communication
• Leading design
• Evidence-based design