Lead Designer in Manchester

This role is available across our London, Bristol and Manchester offices. The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

• joining up public sector services
• harnessing the power of AI for the public good
• strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
• elevating leadership and investing in talent
• funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
• committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol. The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

Digital Identity (DI) is looking for an experienced Lead Designer to support our UCD leadership team. Lead Designers form a core part of the design team, helping to deliver strategic and organisational change through their work with designers. You will be working with skilled teams to design, prototype and build multi-channel cross-government public services that change lives.

As a Lead Designer you’ll:

• work with the Head of User-Centred Design to set design direction and good practice within the programme, and to build and support the design practice and community within the programme
• lead design delivery across multiple teams in a programme; shaping product strategy and delivery, and ensuring our work contributes to our wider organisational design principles, objectives and strategic priorities
• lead and join up design across our native app (iOS and Android) and web channels, so people get a coherent experience wherever they use GOV.UK One Login
• influence and assure the quality of the design delivery across several product delivery teams using tools such as peer review/critiques and accessible design reviews and contribute to the GDS Design Community
• help teams understand connections and potential collisions between different services and help to reconcile these
• use evidence to challenge assumptions, negotiate with senior stakeholders and validate design and management decisions
• use their specialist design skills to demonstrate best practice, coaching and mentoring teams
• engage with designers to develop concepts and deliver high-quality services, based on user needs and meeting GDS design standards
• guide, support and mentor design team members and contribute to building a diverse and supportive team through recruitment and resource planning, and help to ensure that designers have the right conditions and environment to thrive

Person specification: We’re interested in people who have:

• experience as an interaction designer – designing, prototyping and iterating accessible, usable digital services and native apps based on user needs
• an understanding of complex organisations and systems, and the wider implications and long-term impact of business issues and activities
• experience in helping teams understand the wider service context of a project or product and in an agile, multidisciplinary and collaborative environment
• experience in reflecting critically and asking difficult questions; thinking holistically about the big picture while working out details and being able to appreciate and articulate the broader implications of a thing
• experience in design leadership and the ability to guide designers working in a range of design specialisms, particularly in interaction design and service design
• proven experience in establishing positive working relationships with colleagues, stakeholders and teams to deliver outcomes - including introducing positive change to working practices or teams

Please note: This role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible. DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.