Senior Interaction Designer - The National Archives - SEO
Government Digital & Data -
Archives matter. Without records, we could not hold government to account, carry out pioneering research or learn from the past. Whether they are websites, the evidence heard by inquiries or the algorithms which support official decision-making, the survival of our digital public records is vital.
The National Archives is the archive of UK Government and the courts. We are one of the world’s leading digital archives. Our business strategy, Archives for Everyone, describes our vision to become an inclusive, entrepreneurial, and disruptive archive that harnesses emerging technology to reaffirm and transform our historic mission for the digital age.
The Digital Archiving department’s role is to bring digital records into the archive, preserve them for the future and open up access for diverse audiences. We build and operate a suite of digital products and services to enable this, some of which are used by other archives and heritage organisations internationally.
The department offers a supportive, welcoming, and collegiate working environment. We work in multidisciplinary agile teams, focused on delivering innovative services that ensure the digital Public Record survives, thrives and is useful.
We are based in the beautiful surroundings of Kew, easily accessible by public transport, car and bike. Staff benefits include admission to a range of exhibitions at national museums and galleries; access to nearby Kew Gardens; on-site gym, restaurant, shop and staff bar; discounts with local businesses.
Job description
The National Archives collects and secures the future of the public record, preserving it for the nation and making it as accessible and available as possible. Our collection is one of the largest in the world, containing over 11 million historical records from medieval parchment to modern papers, digital documents, datasets, and tweets. The records we collect are increasingly created, managed, and transferred to us digitally.
Working as a Senior Interaction Designer at The National Archives, you will provide user-centred design direction and leadership within the Digital Selection and Transfer team in Digital Archiving. In this senior role, you will create intuitive, innovative and engaging interface designs that reflect our coding and style guidelines and are built with re-use in mind. You will look for opportunities to continuously improve our approach to interaction design, keeping abreast of developments and initiatives in the cross-government design community and the wider public sector. You will help grow our design culture and community, coaching junior members of the team and will take responsibility for ensuring this critical area is positively led and visible. You will work in an open, transparent and collaborative environment and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders to ensure their needs are represented alongside those of our users.
This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department. A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.
Full job description attached - see below
Person specification
You are seeking to develop a career in a world leading institution using your skills and experience to meet the challenges presented by digital records. You are enthusiastic, organised and an excellent communicator.
You enjoy the challenge of finding solutions to complex problems to help meet our ambitions and will frequently look for opportunities to do things better. You love to learn and to share knowledge with others.
How to apply:
If you are an internal applicant: please do not use the link on this page. Please apply via your employee Workday account.
If you are an external applicant: to submit your application please click the 'Apply at advertiser's site' button on this page.
You will be asked to provide details of your work experience and write a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words. In your personal statement please explain, using examples, how you meet the essential criteria below. You may draw on knowledge, skills, abilities, experience gained from paid work, domestic responsibilities, education, leisure interests and voluntary activities. Please note selection for interview will largely be based on the information you provide in this section.
We understand that you might use artificial intelligence (AI) and other resources to assist with your application; however, please ensure all information you provide is factually accurate, truthful, and original and doesn’t include ideas or work that isn’t your own. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice.
Essential:
- Significant experience delivering digital services that work across a range of devices and browsers, meeting WCAG standards for accessibility.
- Demonstrable ability to take ideas from concept through to completion as part of an Agile multidisciplinary team helping to visualise outcomes, influence the priority of tasks and iterate designs based on data and research.
- Knowledge of modern HTML and CSS (including pre-processors such as SASS) and related accessibility techniques.
- Solid understanding of accessibility, browser and platform compatibility and experience of producing rich interfaces that work across older (IE11+) and less featured browsers while using progressive enhancement to leverage the features available in newer browsers.
- Knowledge of User Centred Design with the ability to quickly research, learn new techniques, gather and interpret the needs of users, technical and stakeholders, in a way that is clear for all audiences and make decisions about the best way forward.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to engage with stakeholders at all levels, manage expectations and facilitate difficult discussions with the team or stakeholders.
- Proactivity and enthusiasm about developing and sharing knowledge and growing an open, collaborative community, with the ability to lead and mentor others, work strategically and represent our work to the wider organisation and cross-government channels.
