Senior Service Designer

We encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates 

At DfE, we are proud of the commitment we make to diversity and inclusion and of the progress we have made. We have active & vibrant staff networks, special leave policies and workplace adjustments put in place for those who need them. We are continuing to build a diverse DfE, in an inclusive environment which nurtures and realises potential in all, at all levels.

Equality and Diversity – Department for Education

These are exciting times at the Department for Education. In 2023, we will continue to build services for all our users – across children’s services and education, early years, schools, higher and further education policy, and apprenticeships and wider skills in England.

Our diverse and inclusive culture reflects the society we live in. This helps us to achieve better outcomes for all our users. We work in multi-disciplinary teams using Agile methods to innovate and radically improve services for children and learners, school teachers, head teachers and school staff.

You can read more about our strategy on the DfE digital and technology blog, by visiting our LinkedIn page, or by following us on Twitter @DfE_DigitalTech .

We are looking for two Senior Service Designers to join the National Schools services portfolio at the Department for Education. In the National services for Schools portfolio we put users at the heart of what we do. Our multidisciplinary teams deliver services and initiatives such as:

‘Get help Buying for Schools’, a service which helps our users in schools navigate and run highly complex and expensive procurements to save money and deliver the best quality of goods and services for staff and children in schools.

The ’Schools technology services’ programme provides services helping schools operate using the latest technologies, helping teachers and school staff deliver a child-centred education through engaging and robust use of technology; by reducing workload for teachers and improving efficiency in schools through the better use of technology.

We take a policy lab approach to ensure that policy decision-making is supported by research insights and user-centred design, exploring topics such as the use of assistive technology in schools, post-16 maths, digital maturity in schools and trusts and technology training for teachers and school staff.

Our school account project combines a service-oriented approach, helping users navigate and use DfE services through a single cohesive touchpoint. This is supported by a strategic initiative to align policy and service operations internally to create a joined-up and cross-service view of the users we serve.

As a Senior Service Designer, you will: 

• Design inclusive, accessible digital services that solve a whole problem for users
• Work with service owners and programme directors to develop design concepts, that cut across departments where necessary
• Help set the vision and strategic direction of services and embed good practice within teams
• Make important decisions based on research and understand how this research impacts others
• Contribute to and help shape a vibrant and diverse design community of practice
• Prioritise understanding the needs and behaviour of users and know how to use this insight to underpin and drive the work that we do
• Communicate effectively to share the as-is and the future vision of the service, working closely with service owners to help define the backlog, pulling together user research, business design, data science, policy intent and key metrics
• Identify service failure within service journeys; facilitate the design for improvements that address service failure
• Map and prototype end-to-end services and understand how they fit into wider societal, system and organisational contexts
• Identify and design new service patterns and standards that scale
• Coach, mentor and train other designers, helping set and communicate good practice to improve quality and consistency across DfE’s transformation programmes
• Understand the existing system of your service and work with teams to target improvements and cost reductions
• Help people and teams overcome complexity, running and synthesising workshops to create clarity, alignment and direction

One role will be based at our London offices and one based at one of our national offices, listed above.

Essential Criteria

It is essential that you can demonstrate the following experience in your application and at interview:

• Evidence and context-based design. You know how to design systems for use across multiple services and can identify the simplest approach out of a variety of approaches.
• Leadership and guidance. You can change organisational structures to fixable and sustainable designs. You know how to lead on the strategy for the whole organisation, marrying business needs with innovative analysis. You can make and justify decisions characterised by high levels of risk, impact and complexity. You know how to build consensus between organisations (private or public) or highly independent and diverse stakeholders. You can solve and unblock issues between teams or departments at the highest level. You understand the psychology of a team and have strong mediation skills.
• User focus. You know how to give direction on which tools or methods to use. You are experienced in meeting the needs of users across a variety of channels. You’ll have significant experience collaborating with teams and stakeholders to help define the problem that needs to be solved. You can bring insight and expertise in how user needs have changed over time to ensure these are met by the business.
• Facilitation. You’re confident using facilitation and co-design approaches and service design methodologies to bring users, stakeholders, and individuals together to frame problems, agree on shared purpose and shape a design process to deliver desired service outcomes.
• Prototyping. You are experienced in using a variety of methods of prototyping your vision and engaging others with how the world could be. You know how to share best practice and can coach others. You can look at strategic service design end to end. You know how to involve your team, stakeholders and users and build feedback and validation into your ways of working.