Senior Service Designer

At HMRC, we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who works for us, and we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make an exciting career at HMRC accessible to you.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, and we encourage applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.

HMRC is looking for a Senior Service Designer who is passionate about User Centred Design to support the work of our Policy Lab team. HMRC Policy Lab puts users at the heart of policy design, helping to bridge the gap between policy and digital delivery.

HMRC’s services are complex, you need to enjoy tricky problems, how design can influence policy making, and thinking about how services and policies will interact. With complex services we have a complex user base – millions of people have to use these services, which means a range of different needs and outcomes.

We want people who are curious about who will use a service, how they will interact with it and how something can be improved, testing those improvements through their design work.

Alongside working on a policy or service problem you’ll be a member of a developing service design community; the community provides a safe space to test out design ideas and offer support to other service designers to attain the best possible outcomes.

If this sounds like the sort of thing which excites you, this is the job for you. Watch this video, where we talk about what HMRC Policy Lab does and how the work we do helps create better services.

Further Information

If you want to know more, we will be running an interactive webinar event, we’ll chat to you about what we do and give you a chance to ask us any questions before you apply – see more details below.

Candidate Information Session – Senior Service Designer – Monday 13th July 2026 12pm – 1pm – Fill in form

Responsibilities

As a senior service designer, you will:

• Provide service design expertise across complex services and policies to help shape policy decisions.
• Develop an understanding of policy intent and design user-centred services that meet user needs and fulfil business outcomes.
• Use and promote best practice and standards to design usable and inclusive services consistent with the rest of government and HMRC.
• Analyse pain points and failure points within services and create recommendations to address any issues identified.
• Map current service journeys and design service blueprints for new and/or improved services or processes across multiple channels.
• Effectively communicate complex information and ideas using sketches, scenarios, diagrams, maps, prototypes, and written narratives for multiple audiences.
• Build collaborative relationships within teams and with senior stakeholders across the organisation.
• Effectively use facilitation skills with teams and stakeholders to build a shared understanding of problems to be solved, work through challenges and enable design-led decision making.

You will also be expected to:

• Line manage, coach and mentor Service Designers – providing them with guidance, support, constructive feedback and design direction.
• Lead peer review sessions with other profession members to ensure service design standards are upheld across the organisation.
• Actively participate in the HMRC and cross-government design communities by leading community sessions and supporting initiatives.
• Seek out opportunities for learning and improvement by getting feedback from your colleagues and the business.

Essential Criteria:

You will already have considerable experience and understanding of:

•    Designing large or complex services that meet user needs and organisational outcomes, across all channels.
•    Using user research and data to understand user needs, identify and understand problems, inform design decisions and influence stakeholders.
•    Clearly and effectively communicating complex information and ideas, using things like sketches, user journeys, diagrams, maps, prototypes, and written narratives.
•    Planning and facilitating workshops with senior stakeholders across organisational boundaries, end users and/or internal users.
•    Engaging and collaborating with teams and stakeholders in a variety of ways to build a shared understanding of problems to be solved, work through challenges and facilitate design-led decision-making.
•    Experience of leading, managing, coaching or mentoring people.

Additional Information

Leeds Locations 

Moves Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC’s Moves Adjustment Payment guidance.

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

• Evidence-based design
• Designing strategically
• Design communication
• Leading design