Senior Service Designer at Department for Education, UK Wide, 6 Months, £Contract Rate

On behalf of the Department for Education, we are looking for a Senior Service Designer (Inside IR35) for a 6 month contract working Remotely.

About the role

We are in the early stages of a multi-year service transformation. Alongside modernising the digital services we provide to learners and customers, we are uplifting our user-centred design (UCD) practice, moving to scaled agile, and transforming how we work across the organisation.

The UCD function is central to this shift. We are looking for a Senior Service Designer to embed in multidisciplinary teams, owning service design for their team's area of the service.

You will work across complex services, helping shape design direction, embedding good practice, and ensuring services meet user needs and the Government Service Standard.

As a Senior Service Designer your main responsibilities will be to:

• Design and improve end to end public services in line with the Government Service Standard
• Lead service design activities including problem framing, journey mapping, prototyping and workshop facilitation
• Use research and data to make informed design decisions and shape service direction
• Translate complex insights into clear, actionable service designs and artefacts
• Design inclusive, accessible and ethical services that meet public sector accessibility regulations
• Collaborate across multidisciplinary teams including product managers, user researchers, business analysts, developers and content designers
• Facilitate collaboration across organisational boundaries, including policy and operational teams
• Support teams to adopt iterative, hypothesis-driven and evidence-based design approaches

Essential:

• Strong Service Design experience within the UK public sector or government environment
• Experience designing and improving end-to-end services in line with User Centred Design principles and the Government Service Standard
• Experience working across complex services and large stakeholder environments
• Proven ability to facilitate workshops and collaborate across multidisciplinary teams
• Experience using research, data and evidence to inform design decisions and shape service direction
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to influence and build consensus
• Experience working in agile delivery environments
• Experience leading service design activity and supporting, mentoring or coaching others within multidisciplinary teams

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident 

As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, DfE guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply.

Armed Forces commitment

DfE guarantees to interview veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates / military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different.