Senior Interaction Designer in Salford

Location: Liverpool | Sheffield | Salford (hybrid with 60% office attendance)

Salary: £62,109 with skills allowance of up to £6,000

We’re looking for a senior interaction designer who is enthusiastic about designing accessible services that are simple enough for everyone to use. You’ll work in a fast‑paced Home Office Digital Enablers Portfolio Channels Team to create and manage clear, accurate and user‑led designs for the Home Office SharePoint intranet site and other internal channels.

Some of the projects you could work on include:

• Improving user experience and developing new features for our SharePoint intranet site including the Home Office Directory.
• Building and improving systems such as Ideas Lab, SharePoint communication sites and content sections on the intranet.
• Supporting our content team with new SharePoint page designs, improving templates and creating user‑led prototypes.
• Supporting our senior user researchers during the Discovery and Alpha phases.

You’ll work closely, and build relationships, with our internal communications teams, senior stakeholders from around the Home Office and other online services, Home Office Digital technical teams, operational staff and policy officials. You’ll determine the best way for users to interact with services, the overall flow and individual design elements. You will mentor and train other designers, supporting the growth and development of the interaction design team. You will have an understanding of the way the intranet works and have experience of designing in an agile environment. You must be driven to help government transform the way it delivers services so that they are simpler, faster and easier to use.

Your main day‑to‑day responsibilities will include:

• Identifying, developing and using best practice and standards to design services consistent with the rest of government and the Home Office.
• Line managing, supporting and mentoring interaction designers, allocating tasks and providing them with guidance, training and constructive feedback.
• Advocating for users and understanding user needs to design simple, effective and accessible services.
• Creating prototypes and concepts to communicate and test ideas with users and improving with evidence.
• Mapping user journeys, processes and visualising design problems.
• Collaborating within a multidisciplinary team on large, complex services by facilitating the design process, participating in research activities, workshops and communicating design decisions to the team and stakeholders.

Person specification

Essential skills

You will be assessed against the following skills and experience during the selection process:

• Evidence-based design: leads evidence-based design initiatives for significant projects, often involving complex user needs and multiple stakeholders. Mentors junior staff in evidence-based design methodologies.
• Prototyping and concept creation: manages the prototyping and concept creation process for high-impact projects. Applies advanced techniques, like interactive and complex prototyping in code, to validate and refine concepts. Provides guidance to junior team members.
• Interaction design: able to manage and guide the interaction design process for complex projects. Balances user needs, technical constraints, and business objectives to achieve optimal design solutions.
• Accessibility and inclusion: applying accessibility standards, understanding how the internet works and the technology constraints that may need to be considered in design.
• Managing people and leading: coaching and mentoring other interaction designers, growing skills, and providing constructive feedback on work.
• Communicate, persuade and advocate: talking about, and advocating for UCD to various audiences and stakeholders, in a way that other people understand.

Benefits

A Civil Service Pension with employer contribution rates of at least 28.97%. In-year reward scheme for one‑off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements. 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service. 8 days of public holidays, plus 1 additional privilege day.