At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead complex service design projects and champion user-centred design.
- Company: Join NEC Digital Studio, a people-first digital studio making a real-world impact.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, private medical cover, generous holiday, and flexible benefits.
- Other info: Remote or hybrid work options available with excellent career growth opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a difference by designing inclusive and sustainable services for diverse communities.
- Qualifications: Experience in user-centred design and strong leadership skills required.
The predicted salary is between 59800 - 75000 £ per year.
Company Description: Come join us and make a difference in the world! Discover more at www.necsws.com
Location: Role can be remote or Hybrid, dependent on location
Salary: £59,800 - £75,000 subject to location and experience.
About the role: As a Principal Service Designer at NEC Digital Studio, you will hold multiple responsibilities around projects, the Research and Service Design team, and support the culture and operations of the business. You’ll report to the Head of Service Design. This is one of several Principal roles across the NEC Digital Studio’s design and research teams and the post holder will be expected to consider how their role and areas of focus complement the work of the other principals to best support NEC.
We're looking for an experienced Service Designer with a strong track record of delivering complex service design projects. You'll create end-to-end, evidence-based services that are inclusive, accessible and sustainable, working within multidisciplinary teams where autonomy, leadership and project management are essential. You'll also champion user-centred design (UCD), helping clients understand and adopt UCD approaches, including organisations that may be new to user-centred ways of working.
As a Principal Service Designer, you'll contribute across three key areas:
- Practice: Lead complex service design projects across multiple sectors; shape Service Design practice, quality standards and ways of working; champion accessible, inclusive and sustainable design; support colleagues to embed these principles into their work; and advocate for Service Design across NEC Digital Studio and the wider organisation.
- Leadership: Direct complex, high-value projects and strategic client partnerships; drive effective collaboration across disciplines; mentor, line manage and recruit colleagues; identify development needs; foster a supportive, high-performing culture; and build strong relationships across leadership, operations, delivery, HR and practice teams.
- Commercial: Support business growth by identifying and shaping opportunities, scoping and costing projects, managing risk, producing proposals and statements of work, and contributing to pitches.
Ways of Working:
- Awareness: Model empathy, inclusion, fairness and wellbeing, while empowering teams and considering client, market and organisational needs when making recommendations.
- Collaboration: Communicate openly, champion transparency, coach collaborative ways of working, and enable teams to deliver complex services and products.
- Growth: Support business development, identify opportunities with existing and prospective clients, coach colleagues, and share expertise through training, talks and thought leadership.
- Strategy: Lead strategic thinking and implementation, navigate constraints and risks, facilitate decision-making, and build influential stakeholder networks.
- Values: Champion user-centred, ethical, inclusive, accessible and sustainable design, helping others apply these principles successfully in their work.
Qualifications:
- User-centred design: Coach teams and stakeholders to design user-centred services and experiences aligned to client strategy and wider constraints.
- Public Sector: Significant demonstrable experience working on GDS Projects.
- Research: Work with User Researchers to plan and deliver effective research, generating high-quality insights that support project outcomes.
- Strategy & systems thinking: Guide teams through complex challenges, facilitate strategic discussions, build consensus, and identify opportunities that meet client objectives.
- Facilitation: Design and lead workshops, stakeholder sessions, and high-value or complex meetings to achieve project goals.
- Visual communication: Provide creative direction to ensure visual outputs are professional, accessible, impactful, and audience-appropriate.
- Written communication: Support teams to produce high-quality deliverables that are clear, effective, and tailored to their audience.
- Recommendations & implementation: Guide teams and clients on implementation requirements, next steps, and delivery planning.
- Prototyping: Lead prototyping and testing activities, ensuring effective, efficient, and multidisciplinary approaches.
- Stakeholder management: Build relationships, negotiate effectively, and guide stakeholders towards positive outcomes while delivering within budget.
- Managing complexity & ambiguity: Confidently navigate uncertainty and support teams and clients through complex service transformation challenges.
- Proactive & autonomous: Take ownership, lead conversations, identify opportunities, and consistently add value.
Additional Information: We pride ourselves in offering an excellent benefits package, including an above average pension scheme. When you join the team at NEC Software Solutions, you are provided with the following:
- Private Medical Cover funded by NEC for Employees (with the option to add family members at an additional cost)
- 25 days paid holiday with the option to buy/sell (FTE)
- 4 x basic salary life assurance cover funded by NEC (with the option to increase cover at an additional cost)
- A Group Pension Plan with fantastic employer contributions up to a maximum of 8.5%
- A selection of flexible benefits to suit your individual needs
- All colleagues get free access to LinkedIn Learning. Over 15000 courses covering a huge breadth of subjects.
OTHER INFORMATION: Candidates must be able to demonstrate a pre-existing right to work and travel within the UK. Documentary evidence will be required. All offers are subject to satisfactory vetting, references and occupational health checks. SC clearance will be required for the role. Depending on the nature of the role a Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check may also be required.
NEC Software Solutions is an equal opportunities employer, welcoming applications from all communities. If you require any reasonable adjustments or have specific accessibility needs during the recruitment or interview process, please feel free to share these with us. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive and accommodating experience for all candidates.
We receive applicants from multiple different sources - so the application process may vary. Once you have chosen to apply the key things we would like to see in your applications are:
- A CV
- A Cover Letter - tell us why you think you’d be a good fit for the role and why you want to work for NEC. Please aim to keep your covering letter to 1000 words.
- A copy of your portfolio
Who We Are: We’re NEC Software Solutions. While you read this ad, our software is helping to dispatch ambulances, support families, keep trains on the move, locate missing people and even test the hearing of newborn babies. Working with us, you’ll be helping our 3,000+ employees push the boundaries of what’s possible and support amazing public services. We work with governments, hospitals, police forces, housing providers, local authorities, charities and more. We help them pay financial support faster, improve diagnosis and treatments for patients and respond to emergencies in the right way. The more we do, the more our customers can do for others. And together, we make a world of difference.
At NEC Digital Studio, we believe in design practices that make the world more human. NEC Digital Studio was created to put people at the centre of services, positively changing how they experience the world. Everything we design, build and maintain is made for life. Our mission is to empower organisations to be more effective, inclusive and sustainable, through tools, systems and experiences that are intelligent, integrated and intuitive for all. As a people-first digital studio, we are designing and developing evidence-led solutions at scale to transform the services used by everyone, every day. We specialise in working with seldom heard voices and diverse user groups. We practice participatory co-design and ethical research. Our teams are experts in accessibility and digital inclusion.
We’d love your help. And we’ll support you all the way. Discover more at NEC Digital Studio | Made for Life (necsws.com)
Principal Service Designer employer: NECSWS
At SSS Public Safety, a subsidiary of NEC Software Solutions, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer dedicated to making a meaningful impact in public safety. Our collaborative work culture fosters innovation and continuous improvement, while our comprehensive benefits package, including generous holiday allowances and a robust pension plan, ensures that our employees are well-supported both personally and professionally. With opportunities for growth and development in a role that directly contributes to saving lives, joining our London team as a Remote Project Engineering Manager means becoming part of a mission-driven organisation that truly values its people.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Service Designer
✨Show Off Your Portfolio
In the world of UX/UI design, your portfolio speaks volumes! Make sure it's packed with your best work and showcases your process, not just the final product. We want to see how you tackle design challenges, so consider adding case studies that reflect your thought process and user-centric approach.
✨Get Involved in Design Communities
Jump into local or online design meetups and workshops! Places like UXPA or local design events can be goldmines for networking and learning. Plus, mingling with fellow designers can introduce you to potential job openings that might not be listed elsewhere.
✨Tailor Your Applications
When you find a role that excites you, like the one at NECSWS for a Principal Service Designer, make your application count! Highlight specific projects and skills that directly relate to the job description. Hiring managers are looking for candidates who fit into their specific team, so show them you’re the one!
✨Leverage Social Media
Don't underestimate the power of social media in finding a UX/UI design job! Follow design leaders on platforms like Twitter or Instagram, share your work, and engage in conversations. It’s a great way to get noticed by recruiters and even catch wind of openings at companies like NECSWS before they go live!
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Service Designer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Showcase Your Design Process:When you're applying for a UX/UI Design role like Principal Service Designer at NECSWS, make sure to include examples that clearly highlight your design process. We want to see not just the final product but also the journey that led you there—wireframes, user personas, and iterations demonstrate your thought process and user-centric approach!
Tailor Your Portfolio:A tailor-made portfolio is crucial for a full-time design role! Curate your best projects that align with the kind of work NECSWS does. We suggest including 3-5 case studies that showcase a variety of skills such as wireframing, prototyping, and user testing to really make your application pop.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter:Your cover letter should not just be a summary of your CV. Use it to express why you’re excited about UX/UI Design and what draws you specifically to NECSWS. Mention any relevant experience, tools you’re proficient in (like Sketch or Figma), and how you can contribute to their projects.
Highlight Collaboration Skills:In the world of UX/UI Design, teamwork is crucial. Make sure to highlight any past experiences where you worked in cross-functional teams. Illustrate how you communicated design decisions and listened to feedback, as this will resonate well with the culture at NECSWS.
How to prepare for a job interview at NECSWS
✨Show Off Your Portfolio
When you're gunning for a full-time UX/UI design role, your portfolio is your best friend! Make sure you've got a solid selection of your work, showcasing not just the final designs, but the process behind them—think wireframes, user flows, and any user research you've conducted. During the interview with NECSWS, be prepared to discuss your design decisions and how they solve specific user problems.
✨Prepare for Design Challenges
Expect to face some practical design tasks during your interview. NECSWS might ask you to tackle a quick design challenge or critique an existing interface. Brush up on your problem-solving skills and try to articulate your thought process as you work through these scenarios. Showing how you approach a design problem is just as important as the final output!
✨Know the Tools of the Trade
Familiarise yourself with the tools commonly used in the industry—figma, Adobe XD, or Sketch should be second nature to you. Be ready to discuss your preferred tools during the interview and how they've shaped your design process at previous positions. This knowledge could give you an edge at NECSWS!
✨Show Passion for User Experience
In a full-time UX/UI design role, having a genuine passion for improving user interactions can set you apart. Be prepared to share instances when you went above and beyond to ensure a great user experience in your previous projects. This will demonstrate that you’re not just a designer, but a user advocate, which is exactly what NECSWS is looking for.
