Lead Service Designer

The Role

We’re recruiting for a Lead Service Designer here at Justice Digital, Data and Science to be part of our warm and collaborative Prisons Digital team.

This role aligns against the Lead Service Designer role from the Government Digital and Data Framework

We are delivering a digitally-enabled justice system that works more simply for users – and we’re looking for talented people to help us achieve it. We make things better by building adaptable, effective services and systems that are simple to use for staff and citizens. While the work can be challenging, it is important, impactful and hugely rewarding.

In Prisons Digital, we build and maintain digital products and tools that help to:

• protect the public

• provide decent and safe spaces in which to live and work

• reduce reoffending by rehabilitating the people in our care through education and employment

As Lead Service Designer for Prisons Digital, you will be responsible for building and sustaining a high-performing service design capability across multiple product and service teams operating in Prisons Digital, to deliver world-class, user-centred services. This is a leadership role where you will be a member of the Prisons Digital Senior Leadership team, alongside leads for other professions and the Service Owners. The role will report to and work closely with the Lead for User Centred Design.

You will also be part of the wider design leadership team at the Ministry of Justice, working collaboratively with other lead designers to develop our overall design capability.

As well as doing great work, we’re creating a place that’s great to work in. We offer brilliant training opportunities, excellent kit and support from expert colleagues. On top of that, you’ll find flexible working, an inclusive culture and a place where your opinion is valued.

You’ll receive a range of excellent benefits when you join our department, including:

• A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97% through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

• 25 days of annual leave, (increasing to 30 days once you have reached 5 years of service), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.

• Flexible working arrangements including hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours. Designed to support a positive work–life balance.

• Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development.

• A £1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best-in-class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms.

• Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!

You can find more details of the Benefits we offer here. To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital, Data and Science please take a look at our blog.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and develop the service design community across Prisons Digital, creating an inclusive and high-performing professional culture, including line management of approximately 7 Senior Service Designers

• Set and maintain standards for service design practice, helping teams deliver consistent, high-quality, user-centred services

• Coach, mentor and support designers across multiple teams, helping individuals and teams develop their capability and effectiveness

• Lead recruitment, onboarding and workforce planning for service design roles, helping attract, grow and retain high-quality practitioners

• Support the assignment and deployment of service design capability across teams in partnership with delivery and product leadership

• Establish and evolve communities of practice, learning initiatives and approaches that strengthen design maturity across the organisation

• Provide expert guidance to teams delivering complex or high-risk services, supporting strong service design practice and quality

• Promote inclusive, accessible and evidence-based design practices across products and services, helping teams meet Government Digital Service standards

• Lead service design initiatives that support the design and delivery of a consistent, joined up user experience journey across prisons

• Contribute to design and research leadership in Prisons Digital as part of its senior leadership team

• Contribute to the wider Ministry of Justice design leadership community and help strengthen design capability across the department

If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!

Person Specification

Essential:

• Design communication – can communicate design strategy and influence senior stakeholders across organisational boundaries.

• Designing for everyone – can embed inclusive, accessible and evidence-based design practices across teams and services.

• Designing strategically – can balance user needs, organisational priorities, delivery constraints and technical considerations in complex environments.

• Designing together – can lead collaborative design work with multidisciplinary teams and senior stakeholders across organisational boundaries.

• Evidence-based design – can use research, insight and service data to shape decisions and improve services.

• Iterative design – can lead iterative and agile design practices that help teams adapt quickly to changing needs and priorities.

• Leading design – can develop a service design capability through coaching, professional leadership and community building across multiple product teams.