Lead Service Designer

About the role

This is a leadership role within the User Centred Design team, in the GLA’s Digital Experience Unit. You’ll lead the DEU’s Service Design team, setting the direction, guiding teams and championing the role of service design across the organisation, ensuring users can complete their goals and that our digital services support the delivery of GLA policy intent.

You’ll work with policy teams, stakeholders and other user centred design and digital colleagues to explore problems, test ideas and deliver better outcomes for users. This may involve the creation of, or changes to, internal and external processes, services, products and content across both digital and offline channels, within the GLA or GLA group.

You will be working through the entire design and delivery process, from framing problems, understanding, and visualising the service landscapes for teams, improving and reimagining end-to-end services, visualising processes, services and products and supporting their implementation

What your day will look like

1. You will be leading and inspiring a talented Service Design team, working with the Head of UCD, senior managers and other team leads to set the direction of service design within the GLA.
2. You will be line-managing and mentoring the Service Designer, User Researcher, and other team members — supporting their professional development and aligning their OKRs with UCD priorities.
3. You will be working with other colleagues in the UCD team and wider DEU, in a collaborative way, planning project activity in a way that uses the resource we have efficiently and allows for transparency and collaboration across teams.
4. You will be working on multiple, high-profile projects, working collaboratively with colleagues to design and iterate services to support user needs and embedding inclusive, accessible, and environmentally sustainable design.
5. You will be using research and evidence to shape service design decisions, ensuring user needs and organisational goals are aligned.
6. You will be developing high-quality service design artefacts — such as journey maps, service blueprints, and prototypes — to communicate design intent and test ideas.

Skills, knowledge and experience

To be considered for the role you must meet the following essential criteria:

• Proven experience leading service design in complex organisations, ideally in government or large-scale digital transformation. Can show evidence of using design systems to solve challenges across multiple services and can identify the simplest approach out of a variety of approaches, backed by evidence.
• The skills to mentor and coach teams in adopting and refining iterative processes, ensuring a consistent focus on user needs and outcomes across all stages of design.
• The ability to set the standard for iterative design practices, guiding teams through complex projects from initial concept to final implementation.
• The capability to lead the strategic use of data in service design, integrating insights from a wide range of sources to drive innovation and effectiveness.
• The expertise to provide guidance on best practices for inclusive design, ensuring that all services meet or exceed legal, ethical, and user needs.
• The commitment to contribute to the development of policies and practices that embed accessibility and inclusive design into the organisation’s culture and processes.

Behavioural Competencies

Strategic thinking 

…is using an understanding of the bigger picture to uncover potential challenges and opportunities for the long term and turning these into a compelling vision for action.

Level 3 indicators: 

• Translates GLA vision and strategy into practical and tangible plans for own team or delivery partners

• Consistently takes account of the wider implications of team’s actions for the GLA

• Encourages self and others to think about organisation’s long term potential

• Informs strategy development by identifying gaps in current delivery or evidence
• Takes account of a wide range of public and partner needs to inform team’s work

 Managing and Developing Performance 

…is setting high standards for oneself and others, guiding, motivating and developing them, to achieve high performance and meet the GLA’s objectives and statutory obligations.

Level 3 indicators: 

• Motivates and inspires others to perform to their best, recognising and valuing their work and encouraging them to learn and reflect

• Sets clear direction and expectations and enables others to interpret competing priorities

• Agrees and monitors challenging, achievable performance objectives in line with GLA priorities

• Manages performance issues effectively to avoid adverse impact on team morale and performance

• Promotes a positive team culture that respects diversity and deals with barriers to inclusion

Planning and Organising 

… is thinking ahead, managing time, priorities and risk, and developing structured and efficient approaches to deliver work on time and to a high standard.

Level 4 indicators:

• Exchanges ideas and knowledge with partners, subject-matter experts, and senior stakeholders to foster new research agendas and derive insights for the GLA

• Takes accountability for the quality of intelligence that research and new policy are based upon

• Encourages new and innovative insights from analysis

• Evaluates the feasibility and cost effectiveness of research proposals,

• Stringently assessing whether the research will add real value

• Encourages research with a highly practical focus and maximum impact for Londoners

Stakeholder focus 

… is consulting with, listening to and understanding the needs of those our work impacts and using this knowledge to shape what we do and manage others’ expectations.

Level 3 indicators: 

• Understands diverse stakeholder needs and tailors team deliverables accordingly

• Is a role model to others, encouraging them to think of Londoners first

• Manages stakeholder expectations, so they are high but realistic

• Removes barriers to understanding the needs of diverse stakeholders, including hard to reach groups
• Focuses own and team’s efforts on delivering a quality and committed service

Communicating and influencing 

… is presenting information and arguments clearly and convincingly so that others see us as credible and articulate, and engage with us.

Level 3 indicators: 

• Encourages and supports teams in engaging in transparent and inclusive communication

• Influences others and gains buy-in using compelling, well thought through arguments

• Negotiates effectively to deliver GLA priorities

• Synthesises the complex viewpoints of others, recognises where compromise is necessary and brokers agreement

• Advocates positively for the GLA both within and outside the organisation

Decision making 

… is forming sound, evidence-based judgements, making choices, assessing risks to delivery, and taking accountability for results.

Level 3 indicators: 

• Makes sound decisions quickly on behalf of the GLA when a situation requires intervention

• Takes responsibility for team decisions, providing rationale when those decisions are questioned
• Involves senior stakeholders early in decisions that impact them

• Analyses organisational risks associated with decisions, including those with long term impacts, before committing to action

• Encourages others in the team to make decisions in their own area of expertise, take appropriate risks and learn from experience

Problem solving 

… is analysing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative, workable and timely solutions.

Level 3 indicators: 

• Clarifies ambiguous problems, questioning assumptions to reach a fuller understanding

• Actively challenges the status quo to find new ways of doing things, looking for good practice

• Seeks and incorporates diverse perspectives to help produce workable strategies to address compel issues

• Initiates consultation on opportunities to improve work processes

• Supports the organisation to implement innovative suggestions

Research and analysis 

… is gathering intelligence (information, opinion and data) from varied sources, making sense of it, testing its validity and drawing conclusions that can lead to practical benefits.

Level 3 indicators: 

• Expands networks to gain new information sources for research and policy development

• Identifies and implements methods to ensure intelligence is of a high quality

• Encourages others to analyse data from different angles, using multiple perspectives to identify connections and new insights

• Tailors research investment in line with likely impact for Londoners and policy priorities

• Retains a bigger picture view, ensuring research recommendations are appropriate and practical for the GLA and its stakeholders