Senior Interaction Designer - IPO - SEO

We are looking for a senior interaction designer to join our fantastic community of interaction and content designers who are playing a vital role in supporting our digital transformation programme. This is a chance to work on services that matter, at a huge scale, with people who value design. Find out more about what it’s like designing in government on our Design in Government blog.  

As a senior designer within the Intellectual Property Office you’ll work in multidisciplinary teams, alongside researchers and developers, to deliver world-class, user centred public services that meet the Government Design Principles. You’ll help identify and fix some of the toughest problems in public infrastructure and you will be focussing on the 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. 

You will play an important role in establishing and promoting best practice and standards. You will support the professionalisation and maturity of user-centred design practice through peer support, tutoring and mentoring of others in the team.

Working Style 

This role will be carried out in-line with IPO Hybrid working arrangements where staff are currently expected to spend at least 20% of their time working onsite from one of our offices. This role is based in our Newport Office. 

The requirement for attendance at an office location can vary by role so we would encourage candidates to discuss working arrangements with the recruiting manager to agree a reasonable balance between working from home and the office.

Job description

Main duties consist of but are not limited to: 

• Work in an agile, multidisciplinary team to develop design concepts at pace within complex, fast-moving transformation programmes.
• Work with service managers and programme directors to develop design concepts.
• Promote the value of a consistent high-quality user experience, through design and use of reusable elements, proactively engaging with colleagues across the organisationand promoting service design best practice across the IPO.
• Support, coach, mentor and train other designers, helping set and communicate best practice.
• Provide management support for HEO interaction designers, focusing on their development needs and the quality of their work and behaviours.
• Develop user centred design best practice, standards and guidance and play a lead role in IPO’s growing design community of practice as well as wider cross-government communities.
• Champion accessibility and inclusion, making sure that designs meet accessibility, legal and security requirements.
• Actively participate in user research to identify user needs, test different design ideas and be responsible for developing and maintaining suitable prototypes.
• Be confident in discussing the evidence, data and research that supports your design decisions.
• Identify and design the best way for users to interact with your service across different channels, devices, browsers, and technologies, making decisions based on insights from user research.
• Contribute to and use the UK Design System.
• Play an important role in ensuring that services meet the UK Service Standard and will be required to present evidence at service assessments.

Person specification

Essential criteria 

Design communication:  

• Experience of creating user centred-design deliverables to help explain complex problems and ideas to teams, service managers, programme directors and other key stakeholders 

Designing for everyone:  

• Experience of advising teams on how to design accessible solutions, across a range of channels, to meet customer needs. 

Designing strategically:  

• Experience of using and promoting the GOV.UK Design System, Service Manual and design principles including recommending new patterns or updating exiting patterns into the GOV.UK design system. 

Designing together:  

• Experience of working in an agile, multi-disciplinary team environment, involving the right people across teams of progression boundaries throughout the design process 

Evidence-based design:  

• Experience of conducting usability testing, either directly or alongside user researchers. 

Iterative design:  

• Experience of independently prototyping complex ideas at an appropriate fidelity, and training designers, i.e. mentoring and coaching, in HTML and CSS 

Leading design:  

• Experience of leading community of practice activities, and setting direction and best practice 

Management:  

• Experience of line management and supporting individuals in development plans, HR processes, quality and behaviour discussions (training will be provided)

How to apply 

Click the 'Apply now' button and complete the application form by providing the following:

• CV 
• 250-word response against the listed Technical skills

CV

Upload an anonymised copy of your current CV. This will assess your suitability for the role therefore please evidence the essential requirements listed in the person specification above.  

Technical Skills

Structure your example as Situation, Task, Action and Result. For technical skills sets required for this post, please read the Interaction designer - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework. 

In the 250 word box provided please ensure to cover the following criteria: 

Designing Strategically: Practitioner Level 

• Help a team understand how user-centred design helps its goals
• Help teams align their work to the goals and vision of their organisation 

Iterative Design: Practitioner Level 

• Help other designers apply iterative design principles and agile methodologies to their work
• Adapt designs quickly to changes in requirements, priorities or user needs

For further information on the sift and interview stages of this recruitment campaign, please head to our 'Things you need to know' section below. 

For a thorough understanding of the role and general day to day duties, please refer to the attached Role Profile and visit our Civil Service Careers page - IPO – Recruitment Support , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk) 

If you require job-specific information, please contact Dominic Read.
E-mail: dominic.read@ipo.gov.uk
Telephone: 01633 433189