Senior Service Designer

Working pattern: Flexible working, full time, part time and job share will all be considered.

Who We Are

Essex County Council’s (ECC) reputation as a hotspot of innovation has never been stronger. Our strategy has never been more ambitious. We continue to make Essex a thriving county to live, work and visit. ECC is one of the county’s largest employers, with over 7,500 staff. We provide many services including social, environmental, transport, education, planning and benefits.

We Find Simple Solutions To Complex Problems By

The Service Transformation team is a new multi-disciplinary team. We’re problem solvers.

• understanding users
• designing processes and ways of working
• building digital solutions
• building skills and knowledge

We never assume what a solution will be, but we work with teams to help them find it.
You’ll find an inclusive culture and a place where your opinion is valued.
We’re also a sociable bunch. We regularly get together for social events and to celebrate our successes.

Our office is just 25 minutes by train from Stratford. Currently we are working remotely full time and there is the opportunity for remote working to continue in the future.

Find out more about us on our Service Transformation blog.

Who You Are

You are a skilled and experienced Service Designer with the confidence and expertise to lead multiple and complex projects.

You Will

What you’ll do

• Advocate for user-centred design across the council and work in the open to promote awareness and understanding.
• Work collaboratively with service areas to scope new service design projects which should be considered for approval based on ECC’s Strategic aims and financial considerations.
• Work strategically on end to end services to deliver improved service outcomes and costed savings with very minimal support.
• Work collaboratively with user researchers, designers and other change colleagues across the organisation to reimagine complex services.
• Compile user research into actionable insights and map user journeys to make decisions about user needs.
• Use quantitative and qualitative data to produce designs that meet user needs and provide a persuasive case to influence senior stakeholders.
• Develop ideas and design concepts using sketching, prototyping and iterative design.
• Make the case for design decisions, explain and communicate ideas to senior stakeholders to build consensus.
• Identify service patterns and help drive the continuous development of design patterns and standards.

Your Skills

Communication (relevant skill level: practitioner)

You Can

• listen to the needs of technical and business stakeholders and interpret them for both audiences
• manage stakeholder expectations
• be flexible and you are capable of proactive and reactive communication
• facilitate difficult discussions within the team or with diverse senior stakeholders

Agile working (relevant skill level: practitioner)

You Know How To

• identify and compare the best processes or delivery methods to use, including measuring and evaluating outcomes. Help the team to decide the best approach
• help teams to manage and visualise outcomes, prioritise work and work to agreed minimum (MVP), print and scope

Community collaboration (relevant skill level: practitioner)

You Know How To

• work collaboratively within a group, actively networking with others and varying feedback for the appropriate time to ensure the discussion sticks
• use your initiative to identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them
• pull out issues through agile health-checks with the team to provoke the right responses

Digital perspective (relevant skill level: practitioner)

You Can

• apply a digital understanding to your work.
• identify and implement solutions for assisted digital

Evidence- and context-based design (relevant skill level: expert)

You Know How To

• design systems for use across multiple services and can identify the simplest approach out of a variety of approaches.

Experience of working within constraints (relevant skill level: working)

You Can

• identify and communicate about constraints, work within them and challenge the validity of them
• ensure standards are being met

Facilitating decisions and risks (relevant skill level: practitioner)

You Can

• work with higher impact or more complex risks
• build consensus between services or independent stakeholders
• lead others to make good design decisions
• apply different risk methodologies in proportion to the risk in question

Leadership and guidance (relevant skill level: practitioner)

You Can

• make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase
• build consensus between services or independent stakeholders.
• identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them.
• engage in varying types of feedback choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision sticks
• bring people together to form a motivated team and help create the right environment for a team to work in
• facilitate the best team make-up depending on the situation

Prototyping in code (relevant skill level: practitioner)

You Can

• create static HTML and CSS prototypes
• code for different screen sizes
• version and host a prototype

Prototyping (relevant skill level: expert)

You Are

• experienced in using a variety of methods of prototyping.
• You know how to share best practice and can coach others.
• You can look at strategic service design end to end

Strategic thinking (relevant skill level: expert)

You Can

• lead the design and implementation of strategy, directing the evaluation of strategies and policies to ensure business requirements are being met

User focus (relevant skill level: expert)

You Know How To

• give direction on which tools or methods to use
• meet the needs of users across a variety of channels. You can bring insight and expertise in how user needs have changed over time to make sure these are met by the business
• apply strategic thinking in how to provide the best service for the end user

What’s in it for you?

This is a unique opportunity to join an exceptional, high-performing team. You’ll be working for an ambitious organisation seeking to improve experience by delivering first-class services.
You’ll break new ground in the sector. In doing so, you’ll further your own profile and career.
You’ll also help improve thousands of people’s lives for years to come.

Next steps

For more information, please email victoria.james@essex.gov.uk

Please click the apply button to submit your application via the recruitment portal or you can submit your CV and a covering letter to servicedesign.jobs@essex.gov.uk

Interviews will take place 3rd – 4th September 2020.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.

If you have any queries regarding this role, or require anything further, please contact the Resourcing Team on 0333 013 5888 or via servicedesign.jobs@essex.gov.uk

Contract

Permanent

Working Hours

Full-time

Salary

Up to £52,040 per annum

Primary Location

Chelmsford

19/08/20