Service Designer at HMRC, UK Regional Centres, £Contract Rate

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us. We offer a great work life balance. You have the opportunity to work at any of our brand-new Regional Centres and to also work remotely. Contracts vary in length dependent upon the project with the possibility to extend.

Your time spent with us short or long term will be invaluable - your skills and expertise are needed to deliver the largest digital and transformation projects in Government. There really couldn’t be a better time to join HMRC for your new contract opportunity!

Job summary

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a key part of the government’s ambition for HMRC to become one of the most digitally advanced tax authorities in the world.

MTD will make it easier for businesses to get their tax right, saving time which can be devoted to maximising business opportunities, and helping to foster good financial planning. MTD requires businesses to use digital record-keeping tools and submit tax return data directly from those records using MTD-compatible software.

We are committed to ensuring that the tax system continues to meet the needs of the increasingly digitally engaged population, and we want to build on its resilience and effectiveness.

An exciting new opportunity is available for a Service Designer in Making Tax Digital. We're looking for a motivated, passionate and self-starting individual to join an established and knowledgeable programme operating in a fast-paced environment.

We are looking for an individual who is proactive in their approach to work and has sound judgement, as well as a strong ability to communicate and prioritise.

The successful individual can look forward to a supportive environment that will provide all the training and experience they need to achieve great outcomes, develop their skills and personal effectiveness and get valuable and unique insights into a high-profile programme.

Job description

The Service Designers in Making Tax Digital will be critical for joining up the end-to-end journey of the different services and products for our users. You'll manage service designers that work across multiple teams and be responsible for ensuring that these teams consider the users and take into account the above the line and below the line implications of their decisions.

You will work across a group of multidisciplinary teams to ensure that the features that are being designed are informed by evidence and put our users first.

You will work closely with each other to ensure the full end-to-end picture is joined up, and you will manage and develop the capability of service designers that are embedded within teams that are designing and building new features.

With complex services we have a complex user base – millions of people have to use these services, which means a broad spectrum of different needs and outcomes. You will influence and support others within the profession to take on designing our biggest services. You will work with digital service managers and programme directors to develop design concepts, collaborate with product and business analysis leads, help set direction and embed good practice within teams and make important decisions based on research and understand how this research impacts others.

Essential Criteria:

You’ll be able to evidence expertise and a track record in:

1. Designing journeys and systems for use across services using a variety of prototyping methods and identifying the simplest of approaches.
2. Meeting the needs of users and achieving policy intent across a variety of channels, bringing insight and expertise in how user needs have changed over time to ensure they’re met by the business.
3. Designing within constraints and to delivery timescales, including identifying, communicating and working within constraints, and pushing back to ensure constraints are valid.
4. Working with consequential or complex risks, building consensus between services or independent stakeholders, developing and using key shared artefacts such as service blueprints.
5. Strong stakeholder communication, including interpreting the needs of technical and business stakeholders and managing stakeholder expectations and support or host difficult discussions within the team or with diverse senior stakeholders.
6. Working in and across Agile teams – including helping teams to manage and visualise outcomes, prioritise work and adhere to agreed minimum viable product (MVP), priorities and scope.

Desirable Criteria 

• Mentoring or developing service designers.
• Collaborating with user researchers, digital service managers and business analysts.