Senior Graphic Designer

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Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Telford, Worthing

Job Summary

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you\’re seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.

Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.

We’re looking for a talented and passionate Senior Graphic Designer (Animator) to help communicate our vision for user centred design through clear, accessible and engaging visual design.

Based in our User-centred Design (UCD) practice in the Chief Technology and Design Office (CTDO), you’ll shape how we communicate complex ideas, visions and processes to internal teams and stakeholders across HMRC. Your animations and visuals will support collaboration, build understanding and influence how services are designed to meet real user needs.

Our UCD team works across major programmes and business areas, providing design expertise, tools and guidance. We’ve helped shape some of HMRC’s most important services – and now we’re growing our visual design capability to do even more.

You’ll create animations, illustrations, and other visual content that supports service teams, drives behavioural insight, and improves user understanding. You’ll work in a supportive, multidisciplinary environment with opportunities to stretch your skills, influence decisions, and contribute to a thriving design community.

This is a chance to make a real difference – simplifying the tax system and improving outcomes for millions. If you’re looking for your next challenge, we’d love to hear from you.

Job Description

A Senior Graphic Designer (Animator) is an experienced motion designer who works with minimal support and plays a key role in influencing and mentoring others. You’ll use your animation and motion graphics expertise to enhance user experience by creating engaging, accessible, and informative visual content. Your work will support user research and service design, helping communicate key insights, challenges, and future vision to teams and stakeholders.

In This Role You Will:

• create high-quality animations, motion graphics and other design artefacts that support service design and align with accessibility standards.
• work closely with user researchers and service designers, to understand user needs and behaviours, using insights to inform animation choices.
• collaborate with multidisciplinary teams – including content designers, user researchers and service designers – to design animations that create a cohesive visual narrative.
• ensure accessibility in all motion design work, making visual content perceivable and operable for a wide range of diverse users.
• support knowledge-sharing and engagement, using animation and visual storytelling to raise awareness of the service’s goals among stakeholders.
• create engaging workshop materials that support co-creation, ideation, and visual communication of design decisions.

You Will Also Be Expected To:

• Mentor and support designers, providing guidance, feedback, and direction.
• Take an active role in HMRC and cross-government design communities, leading sessions and encouraging collaboration.
• Seek out learning and development opportunities by gathering feedback and sharing knowledge with peers.

A Senior Graphic Designer (Animator) is an experienced motion designer who works with minimal support and plays a key role in influencing and mentoring others. You’ll use your animation and motion graphics expertise to enhance user experience by creating engaging, accessible, and informative visual content. Your work will support user research and service design, helping communicate key insights, challenges, and future vision to teams and stakeholders.

You Will Also Be Expected To:

• Mentor and support designers, providing guidance, feedback, and direction.
• Take an active role in HMRC and cross-government design communities, leading sessions and encouraging collaboration.
• Seek out learning and development opportunities by gathering feedback and sharing knowledge with peers.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

Graphic Design and Animation Experience

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate:-

• Strong understanding of animation principles, typography, colour theory and layout.
• A portfolio that shows high-quality work in animation, motion design and visual content for digital platforms.
• Proficiency in industry-standard tools like Adobe After Effects, Blender, and the wider Adobe Creative Suite.
• Applying accessibility standards to visual and motion design.
• Using design and animation to clearly communicate complex ideas, decisions and insights to diverse audiences – including documenting and explaining design choices to build consensus and highlight risks (Design communication).
• Designing strategically by using visual design to communicate insight and future direction, considering wider organisational goals, risks and constraints (Designing strategically).
• Designing and collaborating with other disciplines to create visual artefacts and workshop materials that support collaboration and knowledge sharing (Designing together).
• Using iterative design methods to develop and improve visual content, including prototyping, testing and refining your work based on feedback and user research (Iterative design).

Why join the UCD team at HMRC?

You will be part of a thriving and supportive design community, with regular opportunities for training, collaboration and career development. Our team brings together experts from diverse backgrounds and sectors, and we welcome new ideas that help us grow and create real-world impact.

As part of our user-centred design community, you’ll have access to:

• a clear career path with support for progression and development.
• community of practice sessions where you can learn from others, grow and develop.
• peer support channels where you can ask questions and share experiences.
• opportunities to grow beyond your main role, for example becoming a service assessor or design reviewer.

Technical skills

We\’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Design communication (Practitioner)
• Designing strategically (Practitioner)
• Designing together (Practitioner)
• Iterative design (Practitioner)

Alongside your salary of £56,344, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £16,322 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension – We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
• Family friendly policies.
• Personal support.
• Coaching and development.

To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

How To Apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

• A name-blind CV including your job history, previous skills and experiences and qualifications, highlighting your responsibilities, achievements, relevant qualifications and training.
• A 1000-word personal statement that shows how you meet the essential criteria and technical skills – and tells us why you’d like to join HMRC.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

We acknowledge that AI can assist you in your application. Find our guidelines here.

Sift

If we receive a high number of applications, we may complete an initial sift based on your CV. This will focus on actual design experience, particularly animation and motion design.

At full sift your CV and your Personal Statement will both be assessed, noting the essential criteria and technical skills with the successful candidates being invited to interview.

We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.

Interview

During the panel interview, you will be asked to:-

• showcase two examples from your portfolio that demonstrate the technical skills and experience required for the role. Details will be provided with your interview invite.
• Answer structured experience-based questions that let you demonstrate your experience and alignment with the 4 technical skills relevant to the role as listed within the advert.
• Design communication (Practitioner).
• Designing strategically (Practitioner).
• Designing together (Practitioner).
• Iterative design (Practitioner).

Interviews will take place via video link. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, please contact us via: unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – 411541 & vacancy closing date 10/07/2025’.

To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we\’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Merit List

After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.

Criminal Record Check

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact the UBS Recruitment team via unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Important Information For Existing HMRC Contractual Homeworkers:

This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you can travel to.

Additional Information

We are looking into ways to enhance the applicant experience.

As part of our legitimate interests, we are testing the use of new technologies such as automation and/or Artificial Intelligence in the assessment for CV, personal statement and behaviour statement.

Please note that for this specific vacancy, this testing may run in parallel with our standard assessment process and will not influence or determine the outcome of your application in any way. You can read the Civil Service Jobs and HMRC Privacy Notices for more information about our lawful basis for processing your personal data and HMRC’s use of AI.

If you don’t want your data to be used as part of the trial, please send your Application ID and the Vacancy Reference to talentacquisitionaiteam@hmrc.gov.uk

Terms and Conditions

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.

Please note that, if you are applying for roles on a part-time basis, the salary agreed will be pro-rata, reflective of the working hours agreed within your contract.

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the \’Contact point for applicants\’ section.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission\’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission\’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact :

• Name : Vicky Williamson
• Email : vicky.williamson@hmrc.gov.uk
• Telephone : 03000 572761

Recruitment team

• Email : unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles.

In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly via ubsrecruitmentcomplaints@hmrc.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their website.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Part-time

Job function

• Job function

  Design, Art/Creative, and Information Technology

• Industries

  Government Administration

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