Senior Service Designer in Manchester

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. As a designer at GDS you'll work in multidisciplinary teams, alongside researchers and developers, to deliver world-class, user centred public services. This is a chance to work on services that matter, at a huge scale, with people who value design. 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.

We are recruiting for a Senior Service Designer to join the GOV.UK Design System Team. The GOV.UK Design System provides teams across government with the styles, components and patterns they need to design and build user-centered digital services. As a senior service designer, you will be working across the end-to-end experience of the Design System, collaborating closely with other disciplines to spot opportunities for improvement as we think about our role and growth in the context of a multi-channel GOV.UK.

As a user centred design practitioner, you'll be ensuring that our products are consistently inclusive, accessible and easy to use for our users. You will also be expected to engage with our active community of users, working closely with our user researcher and community designer to continuously update our engagement practices and product offering. These skills must be demonstrated in your cover letter and portfolio.

As a Senior Service Designer you'll:

• lead and coordinate service 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

We're interested in people who have:

• 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
• excellent communication skills and the ability to adapt their style to different audiences
• experience of engaging with people in a variety of ways (eg, workshops or co-design activities) and at a variety of scales
• an understanding of the importance of inclusive, equitable, accessible and sustainable public services
• experience of working in an agile, multidisciplinary and collaborative environment
• experience of guiding, supporting and mentoring others

In order to assist candidates with this role, we will be holding a virtual recruitment event on Monday 26th January at 12:00 to 13:00 and 18:00 to 19:00 where we will introduce you to what it is like to be a designer at the Government Digital Service, the team that you will be potentially working with and a bit about how the application and interview process works within the civil service. There will also be time to answer any questions.