Service Designer

We are looking for a Service Designer to drive and connect all Service Design activities across our core product portfolio and innovation work. You will be part of a Design Team where you can expect to access and get the support from other specialists (e.g. user researchers) and by the same token, you will be expected to have the versatility and adaptability to support on UX projects as needed.

You understand the principles of continuous discovery and systems thinking, are comfortable with ambiguity, and have a strong bias for action. You actively seek out opportunities to conduct user research and gather data at all stages of the design process. You are known for your initiative, pragmatic approach to design, and expertise in balancing user needs with business objectives.

You will execute hands-on design for one or more propositions or innovation projects. You will advocate for and work to the design strategy across our digital assessment portfolio. You will think about how to improve the end-to-end service experience in our current product portfolio and how we design customer journeys that link across our digital assessment portfolio in the future state. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams of product managers, engineers, support teams, account teams, etc. to support them across all stages of the design process. You are an expert in workshop facilitation and working with stakeholders to get strategic alignment, bring clarity, and drive impact.

You will report directly to the Lead Designer and work closely with them to implement the design strategy.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone looking to be part of an ambitious, purpose-led company looking to transform learning and assessment.

Location: Hybrid, 1 day in the office per week. Plus monthly in-person workshops in Abingdon head office, and occasional travel for user research and customer workshops.

Responsibilities

• Conduct service design activities to scope, plan, co-design, and execute on new service offerings.
• Lead the design and prototyping of ideas and solutions, always focusing on user needs.
• Plan and conduct user research and evaluation activities, turning raw research data into insights.
• Work directly with partners and customers and users to understand their needs and translate them into tangible solutions.
• Facilitate and lead workshops.
• Produce design assets such as service blueprints, user journeys, workflows, personas, , and prototypes  – and know which ones are right for the job.
• Engage with stakeholders to inform your design and to advocate for the value of great user experience.
• Be an active member of the design community, sharing best practices and tools with the team and wider business.

Experience

You will have proven experience working as a UX designer or product designer within cross-functional teams, taking a user-centric approach to design and collaborating effectively to build high-quality software products or services.

• Service design excellence
  • Laser focus on user centricity – you enjoy working directly with customers and users, and actively seek opportunities to do so.
  • Demonstrated experience in bringing stakeholders together in a complex environment (at an enterprise level would be highly regarded).
  • Expertise in planning and facilitating workshops.
  • Proficiency in user research and prototyping methodologies.
  • Understand and use recognised design processes in your work, such as the Design Council double diamond, and can contribute on all stages.
  • Pragmatic approach to delivering business outcomes while designing for user needs.
  • Ability to communicate outputs from service design activities in formats such as design artefacts (see above), insights reports, concept maps, storyboards, and roadmaps.
  • Champion for inclusive design.
• Ownership of design
  • Experience in scoping and outlining approaches to projects – can provide realistic time/scope/risk estimates for a project, define artefacts and milestones
  • Comfortable leading on design activities across a range of different projects and with a high level of autonomy.
  • Proven experience adapting design approach to different project contexts.
  • Apply design metrics and interpret data to gauge if service goals and objectives are being met.
• Communication skills
  • Demonstrated ability to articulate the value you brought into different projects in your portfolio, both from a user satisfaction and a business performance outcome.
  • Able to communicate the rationale, value, and next steps of designs.
  • Experience in presenting work – both verbally and written – at various stages of the design process to different levels within an organisation, and to non-design stakeholders.
  • Produce quality designs to communicate ideas, concepts, and solutions.
  • Can solicit, receive, and action feedback.
• Collaborative, strategic approach
  • Proactively engage with internal stakeholders, teams and customers.
  • Attend monthly workshops for in-person collaboration and fostering strong working relationships.