Service Design Lead

About Service Design at RNID  

We pride ourselves on our digital-first approach. Our cross-functional and agile teams collaborate to create solutions for our communities. We are gaining a reputation as one of the leading digital organisations in the sector.  We offer digital services including our award-winning online hearing check – taken by 300,000 people and to which the NHS links people to.  Our website provides vital information and support to around 700,000 people annually. Our integrated contact centre helps over 20,000 individuals each year. We’re also continuing to grow and digitise our new in-person support service, RNID Near You. We work with leading consumer tech companies providing UX consultancy to help make their products more accessible for our communities. And we deliver all this using service design principles and by being user led.  

 Your role and what you’ll be doing 

This is an exciting opportunity to join one of the most progressive charities in the digital space. You’ll be joining at an exciting time when we are: 

• Designing how we can scale our contact centre through technology so that we can support more people 
• Improving our hearing check so that even more people take it, especially those who experience health inequalities 
• Working with Google Maps to map the UK’s hearing loops with the aim of making more spaces accessible 
• Growing and diversifying our research panel so that the voices of people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus can shape our work and the work of others 

As our Service Design Lead in the Digital and Innovation capability, you will be joining a team who:  

• Design, build and iterate services and products, but are not limited to digital  
• Work on discoveries, prototypes and continuous improvements that span the charity  
• Translate and join up user and organisational needs into the end-to-end design and delivery of valuable services, no matter the channel  

We are one team with a shared purpose, but you will work iteratively in cross-functional teams made up of people from across the charity to bring impactful and meaningful work to life. You will work closely with senior colleagues. 

You will line manage two service designers, two content designers and an interaction designer.  

You’ll also be shaping our service design practice, embedding service design and our design system further into the organisation. 

What we’re looking for 

A service design lead is an expert practitioner who advocates for user-centred design and supports, influences, and mentors others.  

At this role level, you will:  

• work with associate directors to develop design concepts that support the charity to deliver on its strategy 
• set direction and assure the quality of design delivery across teams  
• lead design across multiple services 

To do this you’ll be deploying your skills and experience in these key areas: 

• Evidence and context-based design by designing systems for use across multiple products, services and channels based on best practice, proven needs and research and testing. You can identify and recommend the simplest of a variety of approaches. 

• Leadership and guidance by contributing to best practice in service design and user-centred design , making and justifying complex decisions and resolving conflicting stakeholder views. You can understand the psychology of a team and have strong mediation skills.  

• Communicating between the technical and non-technical. You can support teams and individuals to build relationships, communicating with stakeholders at all levels. You can manage expectations and facilitate complex discussions. You can speak on behalf of and represent the user centred design community both inside and outside of RNID.    

• Strategic thinking by evaluating current strategies and design processes to ensure organisational requirements are being met and exceeded where possible, whilst working within constraints 

You should also be able to show experience in: 

Prototyping for both digital and non-digital services, working with designers and non-designers. You are experienced in using these for testing, establishing design patterns and iterating designs.  

• Digital perspective by being responsive to changes in technology and being able to design services that meet users’ needs. You can identify and implement solutions for assisted digital. 

• User focus by demonstrating experience in meeting the needs of users across a variety of channels. You can give direction to the team and wider organisation on which tools or methods to use. You can apply strategic thinking to provide the best service for the end user.