Senior Service Designer - CO - G7

Each year it handles over 2 million applications and advertises 140,000 posts. The live service is used by 219 organisations to advertise their vacancies, with more joining and manage their recruitment processes. Currently, Civil Service Jobs is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provision that has been configured and enhanced to meet Civil Service recruitment, digital and security standards. 

We are now building the next version of Civil Service Jobs, working with a new technology platform provider.

Civil Service Jobs enables the whole of government to recruit people more efficiently, without which the government could not deliver its work: hence our service brings far-reaching benefits for all citizens who will impacted by this change. We enjoy enabling people to find meaningful jobs, and teams to find great colleagues - contributing to a diverse culture that reflects the diversity in the UK.

Cabinet Office Digital aspires to make UK Government digital services the best in the world, meeting or exceeding the benchmark set globally by the best public or private sector standards.  We are creating a digital culture where user needs are at the heart of everything we build. Through data democratisation, automation, governance and consolidation we will create a better Cabinet Office.  

As the digital arm of the department, we advise, assure or manage delivery on behalf of our colleagues in the Government People Group in developing their own Government Digital and Data capabilities.  This is an exciting opportunity to join CO Digital, to lead on business improvements and otherwise support the Cabinet Office in delivering on the country’s priorities at the heart of the UK Government.

Job description

This is an exciting role for someone who is passionate about user centred design and is looking to apply their experience and skills in a large programme of work impacting the whole Civil Service.

You will join our programme focusing on the design and build of the new platform that will transform Civil Service Jobs, and help to improve the experience of our users. We’ve completed our Discovery and Alpha phases, where we did extensive user research and prototype design, to explore our user needs and potential solutions for the biggest areas of improvement. 

You will work closely with the multidisciplinary programme team which includes the Digital Product and Delivery team (Senior Product Manager, Delivery Managers, Business Analysts, User Researchers, User-centred Designers, QA Testers etc) and the Supplier product team.

In delivering recruitment transformation, our programme will build a new version of our recruitment platform by 2026, which will enhance the recruitment service provision across government.

We are looking for a Senior Service Designer to join the Civil Service Jobs ATS Transformation programme in Cabinet Office Digital; you will directly contribute to improving our Civil Service Jobs platform with our customers, the wider recruitment service and those who are applying for roles in the Civil Service.

As the Senior Service Designer, you will be working as part of a multi-disciplinary product team, to design user centric journeys for Civil Service Jobs users, including candidates, vacancy managers and recruiters. You will be working with our supplier to design user journeys with their Software as a Service (SaaS) capabilities.

You will be working with other design leadership roles, including the Senior User Researcher and Senior Interaction Designer, to oversee the strategy and delivery of user-centred activity across the programme, as well as provide expertise on design standards, solutions, and prioritisation - always advocating for producing the best experience for our users.

You will be responsible for creating user-centric designs that enhance the experience of our varied customer base. You will develop and maintain user journey maps and service maps to communicate complex problems and solutions to the team and stakeholders. 

You will be running design workshops with a wide variety of stakeholders and users, as well as working with user researchers to understand learnings from these sessions, and turn them into actionable outcomes.

Responsibilities

Lead and coordinate design work within your team, alongside the Senior Interaction Designer;
Work with digital and data leaders in your organisation;
Build consensus around a design approach, for example, by asking difficult questions and challenging assumptions;
You will ensure designs meet appropriate standards, for example accessibility regulations;
You will use risks, opportunities and constraints in technology, systems and policy to shape design;
You will advise others how to effectively plan and run design sessions with a team, users or stakeholders;
You will use complex research and data to develop and test design ideas;
Help other designers apply iterative design principles and agile methodologies to their work.

Person specification

Essential criteria

For this role, you will need to meet the skills capabilities required in the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability for a Senior Service Designer - we have included the relevant skills in our Essential Criteria below.

Design Communication – You can clearly explain complex problems and ideas to teams or stakeholders outside of design. You can build consensus around a design approach, for example, by asking difficult questions and challenging assumptions. You can clearly document design decisions, related risks and any unresolved issues;
Designing for everyone – You can advise teams on how to design inclusive, accessible and environmentally sustainable content or services. You design and deliver ethical content or services that consider the personal and social context of users. You ensure a design meets appropriate standards, for example accessibility regulations;
Designing strategically – You can help a team understand how user-centred design helps it meet its goals and help teams align their work to the goals and vision of the organisation. You use risks, opportunities and constraints in technology, systems and policy to shape design;
Designing together – You can advise others how to effectively plan and run sessions with a team, users or stakeholders and can adapt a design session to ensure you achieve a useful outcome. You effectively involve the right people throughout the design process and can work across team or profession boundaries, for example, with policy teams;
Evidence-based design – You can help your team use design hypotheses effectively. You can use complex research and data to develop and test design ideas;
Leading design – You can lead and coordinate design work in your team, with support. You can support other designers;
Iterative design – You can help other designers apply iterative design principles and agile methodologies to their work. You can iterate and imp[rove complex designs based on successive rounds of research.

Desirable criteria

Experience working with an external SaaS supplier to deliver user centred design solutions;
Experience of working in/with the public sector or across government departments to deliver user centred outcomes;
Line management experience.

Additional information:

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Seeing the Big Picture
Making Effective Decisions
Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Designing for everyone
Leading design
Designing strategically