Service Designer

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

These positions are available for external applicants as well as existing civil servants on level transfer or promotion. New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum. For an exceptional applicant and under exceptional circumstances, managers have discretion to set starting salaries above the pay range minimum.

Background:

It is an extremely exciting time here at HM Courts and Tribunals Service. We are currently undertaking a first-of-its-kind Change Programme aimed at delivering pioneering judicial services that better serve the public, and with over £1 Billion of funding this is the most ambitious programme of its kind anywhere in the world.
As part of the Change Directorate you will be at the forefront of facilitating and implementing change in our world-leading justice system. The Programme is ambitious, and we need resilient, resourceful and adaptable people to make it happen.
This is a once in a generation opportunity to help transform how justice is delivered in England and Wales – by ensuring that the needs of the public are kept at the heart of reform, your work will have a real lasting social impact.
This Programme is one of the largest across Government and you will gain a deep understanding of how a large complex portfolio operates as well as develop a broad range of effective business skills. Your development will be supported throughout with coaching and mentoring from senior professionals across the Directorate, and you will also have opportunity to gain relevant professional qualifications/certifications.
Can you deliver in a fast-paced environment that is changing constantly? Do you have broad industry experience of user-centred design; using user research and insight to shape the way people interact with services? If so, please read on and apply. We’re particularly keen to hear from people in under-represented groups.
The User Centred Design Team:
The User Experience and Insight team at HMCTS is redesigning and rebuilding our Courts and Tribunal services around the needs of our users – ensuring our services are accessible, easy to use, digital (where necessary and appropriate) and well supported for all users.
We are a portfolio function and provide expertise in a range of areas, including user research to understand our users’ functional and emotional needs, segmenting and assessing populations to support our accessibility work, designing, prototyping and piloting new services and optimising the user experience across all channels. Support ranges from programme level research/analysis, embedding designers, researchers and analysts in projects, providing consultancy and advice, to designing tools and frameworks.
Within User Experience and Insight, the User-centred Design team works with HMCTS projects and programmes to support our core design principle of being user-led in everything we do. As designers, we work closely with researchers, analysts and frontline staff to understand pain points for our internal and external users, then design, test and iterate consistent ways to fix these issues.

The Role:

We’re looking for service designers who are passionate about designing end-to-end user-centred services that are simple enough for everyone to use. You’ll play a key role in building our capability to design and continuously iterate world-class, user-centred, inclusive services for internal and external users.
Working with service managers and programme directors, you’ll be responsible for identifying ways to improve the end-to-end user journey and internal processes across complex multi-channel courts and tribunals services. This might range from identifying and resolving pain points in existing services to working collaboratively with internal and external users and stakeholders to research, understand and redesign user and service journeys.
You’ll work closely with other designers, researchers, analysts and technical experts to help our users complete their goals quickly and easily; minimising support costs (and other failure demand) as well as improving efficiency and reducing the time needed to process applications.

Key Responsibilities:

• Understanding and mapping end-to-services and how they fit into wider societal, service, system and organisational contexts
• Facilitating the co-design process, bringing users, stakeholders, agile teams and individuals together to frame problems and encourage a sense of shared purpose
• Visualising whole services from front-stage to back-stage, working with technical and operational delivery and support teams to design efficient, intuitive external- and internal-facing interfaces supported by common technology components and platforms, data and support models
• Prototyping, testing and iterating inclusive services that work equally well across channels, based on evidence from research, insight and service performance data
• Understanding and communicating the cost of failure demand to users and the organisation, including identifying and understanding potential barriers to change (cultural, legislative, societal etc) and using these data to help service managers prioritise change activity

Other duties:

The post holder is required to work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of this post.

Location of Post:

The successful candidate will be based in London. Regular travel to other HMCTS sites may also be required as part of these working arrangements. In line with the department’s policies, travel and substance and, where appropriate, overnight accommodation will be available in line with organisational policies.

Essential Skills & Criteria:

You’ll need to be able to demonstrate your experience of:
• Designing collaboratively around user needs – for example through workshops and co-design sessions – for whole services, ideally across a range of channels that include non-digital interactions
• Working with other designers and researchers, setting direction and embedding good practice within teams
• Creating and communicating concepts, ideas and insights effectively to technical and business stakeholders at programme level and within teams
• Evidence- and context-based design, for example analysing and synthesising insight and research to frame problems and help teams understand and design solutions to user pain points
• Working effectively within constraints, understanding the broader organisational context but also challenging where necessary
• Agile working, helping teams continually focus and adapt to deliver the right outcomes for users and the business

Other desirable skills include:

• Experience communicating complex concepts and approaches visually, using Adobe CS, Sketch, Figma or similar tools
• Experience of rapid prototyping, for example sketching, storyboarding, wireframes and low-fidelity clickable prototypes
• Experience of inclusive design – making accessible services that anyone can use – particularly across multi-channel services
• Experience of UK government service standard assessments, either taking services for assessments or assessing services against the standard.

Terms & Conditions:

Fixed Term Appointment

This appointment will be made on a fixed term basis, due to the time limited nature of the Reform Programme.
For existing civil servants, whilst the role itself is time limited, at the end of the fixed term period, you will retain your permanent status but will be placed on the re-deployment register. Successful appointment on promotion will secure this grade on a permanent substantive basis.
Secondments and loans will be considered on an individual basis.

Flexible working options

HMCTS offers a flexible working system in many of its offices.

Job Sharing and Reduced Hours

All applications for job sharing or reduced hours will be treated fairly and on a case by case basis in accordance with the MoJ’s flexible working policy and equality policy.

Excess Fares and Relocation Allowances

This job is not eligible for relocation allowances, but excess fares may be considered in accordance with MoJ’s excess fares allowance policy.

Responsibilities

Please refer to Job Description

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

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions

• Access to learning and development

• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance

• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity

• A civil service pension

• Annual Leave

• Public Holidays

• Season Ticket Advance