Senior Service Designer

Job description

We are recruiting for a Senior Service Designer. You will be working with skilled teams to design, prototype and build multi-channel cross government public services that change lives.

These skills must be demonstrated in your cover letter and portfolio.

As a Senior Service Designer you’ll:

• lead and coordinate design work in your team, supporting other designers where necessary
• work effectively in a multidisciplinary, agile environment, adapting quickly to changes in requirements, priorities or user needs
• use research and analytics to understand users needs, identify service failures and test different designs
• design collaboratively and in the open, engaging your whole team with the design process and adapting it if necessary
• champion accessibility and inclusion, consider the impact of new technologies and ensure that designs meet legal requirements
• collaborate with designers in other teams and departments, reviewing each other's work and developing shared patterns

Person specification

We’re interested in people who have:

• experience of guiding, supporting and mentoring others
• experience in designing the full lifecycle of services for users in complex environments and for digital
• experience in making effective decisions with user research data
• experience of working with senior stakeholders and ability to negotiate important design decisions
• experience of engaging with people in a variety of ways (eg, workshops or co-design activities)
• an understanding of the importance of inclusive, equitable, accessible and sustainable public services 
• experience of working in an agile, multidisciplinary and collaborative environment

Benefits

The benefits of working at GDS

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for The King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• paid volunteering leave
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

GDS offers hybrid working for all employees. This means that everyone does some working from home and also spends some time in their local office. You’ll agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager in line with your preferences and business needs.

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This role is being advertised with Manchester or Bristol as a location. There is an exception to this, if a current London-based member of staff from GDS applies, and is successful, they would retain their London base for pay and allowance purposes.

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above.
• a URL to your portfolio in your cover letter or CV to show some examples of your design work, alternatively you can email it directly to  gds-recruitment@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk (referencing your application number)
• a 60 minute video interview. Candidates invited to the interview will be asked to give a short presentation. Full details of the presentation will be made available to all shortlisted candidates at a later date.

Whilst we value the use of AI technology to enhance our daily work, we also value the personal touch and urge applicants to write responses without the use of AI to emphasise their own unique experiences.

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• working together
• changing and improving
• seeing the bigger picture
• communicating and influencing
• delivering at pace

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework for the Senior Service Designer role:

• Agile working
• Communicating between the technical and non-technical
• Community collaboration
• Evidence and context-based design
• Prototyping
• User focus

Recruitment Timelines

Role closes - 12th January 2025

Sift completion: 17th January 2025

Panel interviews: Friday 24th and Monday 27th January

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

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.

You may be aware that there are plans for the Government Digital Service (GDS) & the Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO) to move into the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT). This move is to bring together the digital transformation of public services into one core department. The move itself will offer huge opportunities whilst allowing DSIT to lead the way and drive forward the new Government's digital agenda. 

As the announcement is relatively new, we are awaiting more detailed information. Therefore, we encourage you to apply for this role, and will keep you informed with updated information throughout the application process.