At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead service design to enhance customer experiences and improve council services.
- Company: Sheffield City Council, focused on customer experience and community impact.
- Benefits: Generous holiday entitlement, flexible working options, and commitment to equality.
- Other info: Join a diverse team dedicated to positive change and community engagement.
- Why this job: Make a real difference in how residents interact with council services.
- Qualifications: Experience in service design and strong facilitation skills.
The predicted salary is between 53773 - 65723 £ per year.
Join our Customer Experience Capability. Sheffield City Council is building its Customer Experience Capability, a team focused on improving how residents experience council services and how colleagues are supported to deliver them. The team brings together customer journeys, insight, workforce development, equalities, engagement, and communications. Its purpose is to help the Council work in a more joined-up, customer-focused way, using feedback, data, digital tools, and practical improvement methods to make services easier to access and better to use.
These roles are an opportunity to help shape a growing capability, work across services, and make a practical difference to how Sheffield residents experience the Council. Can you turn insight into practical service improvements that make life easier for residents and colleagues?
We are looking for a Service Designer to join our Customer Journeys team and lead service design activity across priority council services. This role will help services understand their current customer journeys, identify pain points and opportunities, and design practical improvements that improve customer experience, support colleagues, and reduce avoidable demand. You will work across service boundaries, helping teams move from individual service thinking to whole-journey thinking.
You will work closely with service areas and enabling teams, including Digital, Business Change, Customer Intelligence, Voice of the Customer, and Customer Hub colleagues. The role will suit someone who enjoys tackling complex problems, facilitating collaboration, and turning evidence into clear and deliverable improvements.
In this role, you will:
- Lead service design activity across priority customer journeys
- Use discovery, research, and insight to understand customer and staff experience
- Develop journey maps, service blueprints, prototypes, and design recommendations
- Facilitate workshops and co-design sessions with customers, colleagues, and stakeholders
- Challenge assumptions and help services focus on user needs and evidence
- Support the testing, implementation, and evaluation of service improvements
- Line manage and support User Researcher colleagues where assigned
We are looking for someone who:
- Has experience applying service design methods in a complex organisation
- Can use insight and evidence to shape practical service improvements
- Is confident facilitating workshops and bringing people together around shared challenges
- Can translate complex problems into clear recommendations and actions
- Understands inclusive and accessible service design
- Can balance customer needs, operational realities, and organisational priorities
- Enjoys working collaboratively and influencing positive change
This is an exciting opportunity to help shape how Sheffield City Council designs and improves services, ensuring they are simpler, more joined up, and focused on the needs of residents and colleagues.
We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.
It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application. Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form.
Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.
If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade. Equality of pay is extremely important to us.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.
Basis: Full Time
Package: Temporary to 31/03/28
Service Designer in Sheffield employer: Sheffield City Council
Experts at Hand is an exceptional employer dedicated to fostering inclusive education in Sheffield, where you will have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on children's lives. With a strong emphasis on professional development, collaboration, and flexible working arrangements, we create a supportive environment that values diversity and empowers our staff to thrive. Join us in shaping a future where every child belongs, and enjoy the unique advantage of working within a city committed to transforming educational practices.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Service Designer in Sheffield
✨Get Social with Customer Support Communities
Join customer support groups on platforms like Facebook or Reddit. They often share job openings or temp opportunities. Engaging with these communities can help you learn more about the specific skills and experiences employers are looking for, plus you'll meet folks who might know about openings at companies like Sheffield City Council.
✨Leverage Seasonal Hiring Trends
Since customer support roles can spike during busy seasons (think holidays and sales periods), keep an eye out for timelines when companies ramp up hiring. Make sure to apply early and stay active; sending a quick follow-up a week after applying can show your enthusiasm for the role.
✨Flex Your Communication Skills
In customer support, communication is key! Prepare for hypothetical scenarios that test your problem-solving and customer interaction skills. Practising answers to common role-play questions can really help you shine in interviews—trust us, it makes a difference!
✨Make the Most of Job Boards
Use industry-specific job boards like Glassdoor or Indeed to find temporary roles. Don’t forget to set up alerts for customer support positions at companies like Sheffield City Council. The earlier you apply, the better your chances, so keep your finger on the pulse!
We think you need these skills to ace Service Designer in Sheffield
Some tips for your application 🫡
Highlight Your Communication Skills:In customer support, top-notch communication is key. Make sure your CV showcases any previous experience where you’ve had to clearly convey information or resolve issues. If you’ve handled customer queries via email or chat, mention it! Let’s see those strong verbal and written skills shine through.
Showcase Problem-Solving Experience:Employers love to see how you've handled tricky situations. Include examples in your application where you’ve tackled customer concerns or had to think on your feet. It's all about proving you can keep cool under pressure and find solutions—something super important in a temporary customer support role!
Tailor Your Approach for Temporary Roles:Since this is a temporary gig, make sure your cover letter emphasises your flexibility and eagerness to dive right in. Mention that you're ready to hit the ground running and are adaptable to new tools or systems—this shows that you understand the urgency often needed in temporary positions.
Proof of Customer Satisfaction:If you’ve got any quantifiable achievements from past customer support roles, like improved customer satisfaction scores or successful project completions, make sure to include them. Numbers speak volumes! This not only shows your capability but also gives us a reason to believe you'll bring that same success to Sheffield City Council.
How to prepare for a job interview at Sheffield City Council
✨Master the Customer Interaction Game
In customer support, we need to showcase our people skills. Prepare for role-playing scenarios where you'll demonstrate how to handle difficult customers or resolve complaints. Think about the types of issues common in Sheffield City Council's industry and how you can respond empathetically and effectively!
✨Know Your Products Inside Out
For a temporary role, it's crucial to familiarize yourself with the products or services Sheffield City Council offers. Brush up on key features, common issues, and FAQs. This knowledge will enable you to respond quickly and confidently to customer queries, showing you’re ready to jump in at a moment’s notice!
✨Flexibility is Key - Emphasise Your Adaptability!
Since this is a temporary role, we're looking to convey how quickly we can adapt to new systems or processes. Be ready to share examples of how you've quickly learned new tools or adjusted to changing environments in past roles. Show them you're the go-to person when the pressure's on!
✨Prepare for Quick Conversational Q&A
You might face a rapid-fire round of questions about customer service principles or how you'd handle specific situations. To ace this, think through different customer scenarios ahead of time, and practice your responses to ensure they're concise and impactful. The aim is to demonstrate your quick thinking and problem-solving skills!
