Senior Service Designer - Complex Digital Programmes - Hybrid - 6 months - Public Sector

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Senior Service Designer to lead the design and improvement of complex digital services. You will take a user-centred approach to designing end-to-end services, ensuring they meet user needs, support organisational objectives and deliver measurable improvements.

Working within multidisciplinary agile teams, you will collaborate with product managers, user researchers, business analysts, interaction designers, content designers and technical specialists to identify problems, simplify processes and develop effective digital solutions.

You will use research, data and evidence to inform design decisions, influence stakeholders and ensure services meet the required government service standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead service design activities across complex digital transformation programmes, covering multiple teams, systems and channels.
• Plan and facilitate service design workshops, stakeholder sessions and collaborative design activities.
• Produce service maps, user journey maps, service blueprints and other design artefacts to communicate findings and recommendations.
• Identify pain points, risks, dependencies and opportunities to improve existing services and processes.
• Translate user needs, policy requirements and operational constraints into practical, user-focused service solutions.
• Work closely with multidisciplinary teams to shape service strategy, inform delivery decisions and improve service outcomes.
• Analyse user research findings, performance data and other evidence to identify opportunities for service improvement.
• Support services through discovery, alpha, beta and live delivery phases.
• Ensure designs align with the Government Service Standard and relevant government service design practices.
• Engage and influence senior stakeholders across digital, policy, programme and operational teams.
• Champion user-centred design principles and support teams in adopting effective service design practices.
• Make recommendations that reduce complexity, improve accessibility and deliver better outcomes for users and colleagues.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Demonstrable experience leading service design on complex digital transformation programmes.
• Strong experience designing and improving end-to-end services across multiple teams, systems and channels.
• Advanced knowledge of service mapping, journey mapping, service blueprinting and systems thinking.
• Strong understanding of user-centred design principles and the ability to translate research findings into actionable improvements.
• Experience balancing user needs with organisational objectives, policy requirements and operational constraints.
• Proven ability to plan and facilitate workshops with senior stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence decisions and build consensus.
• Experience working within agile delivery environments alongside multidisciplinary digital teams.
• Understanding of the Government Service Standard and Government Service Manual.
• Experience producing clear, high-quality design artefacts and presenting evidence-based recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Ability to analyse complex service landscapes, identify strategic improvement opportunities and adapt to changing priorities.

Desirable Experience

• Experience working within UK public sector or other highly regulated environments.
• Experience supporting digital services through discovery, alpha, beta and live phases.
• Experience contributing to government service assessments.
• Experience coaching teams and promoting user-centred design practices across an organisation.