Senior Service Designer

Job Description

We are building a talent pool of experienced service design contractors to support increasing demand across a range of digital transformation initiatives.

Contractors in this pool will be engaged on delivery-focused project work across a mix of commercial and UK Government clients, supporting initiatives of varying scale and complexity. Engagements will differ in length and scope depending on project requirements and will be agreed on project-by-project basis.

Contract Type: Independent contractor – outside IR35

This role does not include formal line management or responsibility for internal capability development.

Key responsibilities

The Senior Service Designer contractor will be accountable for delivering agreed service design outcomes within the scope of each project, which may include:

• Providing independent service design expertise within multidisciplinary delivery teams

• Planning and delivering service design activities aligned to project goals, delivery milestones, and decision needs

• Designing and mapping end-to-end services across people, processes, technology, and policy

• Applying research, data, and evidence to understand user needs, frame problems, and validate service design decisions

• Facilitating workshops and design sessions that support alignment, decision-making, and delivery momentum

• Clearly communicating service concepts, trade-offs, and design rationale to technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Working alongside delivery teams while retaining responsibility for own outputs and deliverables

Qualifications

The successful contractor will demonstrate:

• Strong experience delivering service design on complex digital or organisational change programmes

• Proven ability to design and improve end-to-end services in environments with multiple stakeholders, constraints, and dependencies

• Experience working across Discovery, Alpha, Beta, and Live phases in agile delivery contexts

• Practical experience involving a wide range of users and stakeholders in service design activities

• Strong use of research, data, and evidence to inform service design decisions and test concepts

• Experience facilitating focused, outcome-driven workshops that help teams move from ambiguity to clarity

• Strong experience applying the GDS Service Standard within delivery teams

• Confidence working closely with designers, engineers, product managers, and senior business stakeholders