Service Designer Band B2 +(SEO)

Detail of reserve list 12 Months

Number of jobs available 1

Region London, Scotland, Wales

City/Town Cardiff , Edinburgh , London

Building Site FT 1 Horse Guards Road, London, 3 Melville Crescent, Edinburgh, 1 Caspian Point, Cardiff

Departmental Grade Band B2 Plus

Civil Service Grade SEO

Cabinet Office is in the process of demerging its combined grades.

Band A is currently a merged grade that includes both G6 and G7: This will become G7 only and all posts advertised at Band A are G7 posts. A G6 CS equivalent post will be advertised as Band A+. We will also be demerging Band B2 into HEO and SEO: Posts advertised as Band B2 are CS equivalent HEO. Band B2+ posts are SEO equivalent.

Post Type Permanent

Working Pattern Full Time, Part Time, Part Time/Job Share, Part Time Term Time

Role Type Digital

Salary £35,635 – £43,889 (Salary will depend on Location)

Organisation Details

Cabinet Office supports the Prime Minister and ensures the smooth running of government – from developing policy, to modernising public services. We welcome talented people from all backgrounds with the skills and the commitment to build a career in the Civil Service.
The Cabinet Office Purpose is:

• to maintain the integrity of the Union, coordinate the security of the realm and sustain a flourishing democracy;
• to support the design and implementation of HM Government’s policies and the Prime Minister’s priorities; and
• to ensure the delivery of the finest public services by attracting and developing the best public servants and improving the efficiency of government.

The work Cabinet Office delivers is vast and therefore presents opportunities to develop your skills and experience in a variety of critical government agendas.
An organisation of approximately 7,000 employees, the Cabinet Office is a vibrant, modern and exciting place to work, attracting a diverse workforce which represents the people we serve. Our main offices are in London, but we have staff based around the UK.
At the heart of this are our Cabinet Office values. To deliver our Purpose and help make Cabinet Office a great place to work, we all commit to:-

• treating everyone with Respect
• actively Collaborate, and
• build Trust

We pride ourselves in our ambition to be the most inclusive government department employer by 2020 and we have a number of staff benefits, including flexible working to ensure we meet this.

Job description

We are looking for a motivated self-starter with service design experience or ability. A problem solver, who enjoys finding technical and design solutions to the issues users face.

In this role you’ll get the opportunity to:

• Identify and manage continuous improvement activities on the service, including management of the product backlog

• Work with policy colleagues to understand how upcoming legislative changes may affect the Register to Vote service and plan necessary changes

• Manage and coordinate content updates on Register to Vote and corresponding GOV.UK pages, collaborating with GOV.UK content team.

• Implement changes to the service providing clear stories to development team, and coordinate this through agile delivery

• Coordinate user research and usability testing, and analyse data from user feedback and website statistics to understand user needs and pain points

• Coordinate annual accessibility testing and identify changes required for compliance.

• Use the digital marketplace and DOS and G-Cloud frameworks to procure necessary services.

• Work in a multidisciplinary team alongside policy, operational, and technical colleagues.

• Deputise for Digital Delivery Lead for project management activities and live service operations

There will be a line management opportunity with this role.

Profile: Service Designer

(based on Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/digital-data-and-technology-profession-capability-framework)

A service designer is a confident and competent designer who is able to develop designs based on evidence of user needs and organisational outcomes. At this level, you:

• can be trusted to make good decisions
• can recognise when to ask for further guidance and support
• will contribute to the development of design concepts
• should be able to interpret evidence-based research and incorporate this into your work

Essential Skills needed for this role

• Agile working. You have experience of working in agile, including an awareness of agile tools and how to use them. You can advise colleagues on how and why agile methods are used and be able to provide a clear, open and transparent framework in which teams can deliver. You can adapt and reflect and be resilient. You have the ability to see outside of the process. (Relevant skill level: working)

• Communication skills. You can listen to the needs of technical and business stakeholders, and interpret them in a way that is clear for both audiences. You know how to manage stakeholder expectations. You can be flexible and you are capable of proactive and reactive communication. You know how to facilitate difficult discussions within the team or with diverse senior stakeholders. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)

• Community collaboration. 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. You can use your initiative to identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them. You can pull out issues through agile health-checks with the team to provoke the right responses.

• Digital perspective. You are responsive to changes in technology, adapting your approach accordingly. You can make decisions to meet user needs in the government context. You understand the importance of assisted digital and can design services and make decisions to meet users needs. (Relevant skill level: working)

• Evidence – and context – based design. You can absorb large amounts of conflicting information and use it to produce simple designs. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)

• Experience of working within constraints. You can identify constraints and can communicate about these and work within them. You know how to challenge the validity of constraints. You can ensure standards are being met. (Relevant skill level: working)

• Facilitating decisions and risks. You can generate multiple solutions to a problem and test them. (Relevant skill level: working)

• Leadership and guidance. You contribute to best-practice guidelines. You understand the sustainability and consequences of your decisions and can make decisions characterised by managed levels of risk and complexity. You can resolve technical disputes between wider peers and indirect stakeholders, taking into account all views and opinions. (Relevant skill level: working)

• Prototyping. You approach prototyping as a team activity, actively soliciting prototypes and testing with others. You can establish design patterns and iterate them. You can use a variety of methods of prototyping and choose the most appropriate ones. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)

• User focus. You know how to collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally. You understand the difference between user needs and the desires of the user. You can champion user research to focus on all users. You can prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to be used. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)

Desirable for this role

• Prototyping in code. You can write HTML and add new tags. (Relevant skill level: working)

• Strategic thinking. You can define strategies and policies, providing guidance to others on working in the strategic context. You know how to evaluate current strategies to ensure business requirements are being met and exceeded where possible. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)

• User-centered content design. You can work autonomously. You know how to create effective content for digital channels. (Relevant skill level: working)

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally require 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement but supplementary checks may be required where individuals have not lived in the UK for the required period. This may mean that your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

Business unit information The Constitution Group leads thinking in Government on the constitutional challenges facing the UK and drives UK Government capability to meet them as well as providing the policy, legislative and financial framework for electoral events. Within the Constitution Group, the Modern Registration Division’s (MRD) purpose is to support and improve the UK’s electoral registration systems and processes. We do this by running the Register to Vote digital service, providing individual electoral registration funding for local authorities and supporting Ministers. We improve electoral registration through evidence based policy and delivery which makes registration easier, more accessible, inclusive, secure and efficient. We support Electoral Registration Officers to maintain complete and accurate registers. The Division also includes Constitution Group Analysis whose role is to drive the use of data, analysis and research to enhance policy making and delivery across Constitution Group.

Contact and additional information (Recruiters Name, Email and Phone Number)

Hannah Shaw:

Important notice: Due to COVID-19, interviews will be held over telephone in the initial instance followed by face-to-face interviews when possible. We will need to take a flexible approach over the coming weeks, and we will keep all interviewees informed.

Due to the high volume of applications received for Cabinet Office vacancies, we regret that feedback is only available – at the discretion of the vacancy manager – following the interview stage. Vacancy managers may sift on one lead behaviour at the application stage.

Terms, Conditions and Benefits

This is a Permanent appointment

This role is based within the Cabinet Office at Band B2 Plus £35,635 – £43,889 (Salary will depend on Location). Annual salary increases will depend upon individual performance and contribution to the organisation’s success. In addition there will be the opportunity to earn performance related bonuses. There is an expectation that successful applicants new to the Civil Service will join on the pay band minimum.

Existing civil servants can take up the post on loan from their parent department for the duration advertised. Those joining on level transfer will retain their current salary. Staff joining on promotion terms will receive up to a 10% increase of their current basic salary or the pay band minimum whichever is the greater. Staff joining on promotion will adopt the modernised terms and conditions of employment which came into force in 2013.

There is a choice of excellent pension schemes. More information about pension provisions can be found at

Flexible Working

Flexible working including job-share arrangements may be considered for this role.

Leave allowances

25 days’ paid leave per annum rising to 30 days after five years service. In addition, full-time staff receive eight public holidays and the Queen’s Birthday privilege day as well as competitive maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave.

Probation

Staff new to the Civil Service will be required to serve a six month probationary period.

Location

The post will be based in 1 Horse Guards Road, London, 3 Melville Crescent, Edinburgh or 1 Caspian Point, Cardiff

Relocation Costs No relocation costs will be available.

Equality and Diversity

The Cabinet Office is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all staff. We will not discriminate on grounds of gender, gender identity, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, those with caring responsibilities, part time workers or any other factor irrelevant to a person’s work.

We encourage a diverse workforce and aim to provide a working environment where all staff at all levels are valued and respected, and where discrimination, bullying, promotion of negative stereotyping and harassment are not tolerated.

Assessment for recruitment, selection, appraisal, training and career progression purposes is based both on the individual’s ability and suitability for the work. We are committed to providing all staff with opportunities to maximise their skills and achieve their potential, offering flexible working arrangements wherever possible.

As public authorities departments have statutory duties placed on them that require them to promote equality of opportunity and eliminate unlawful discrimination. We expect all staff to assist the department in meeting these obligations. All staff should have due regard for the need to promote good relations between individuals from different groups and work towards achieving equality of opportunity for all.

Civil Service Code

All civil servants are subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Code (see Annex A) which details Civil Service values, standards of behaviour, rights and responsibilities. Go to for more information.

Childcare

We offer support with childcare and holiday play schemes costs by providing childcare vouchers for staff who meet the eligibility criteria. Current civil servants applying for Cabinet Office vacancies on or after 06 April 2018, may experience implications in continuing to claim childcare vouchers.

HMRC now offer a tax free childcare scheme for new entrants into the Cabinet Office. We also offer a holiday play scheme and the Cabinet Office contribute to the costs for staff who meet the eligibility criteria. Current civil servants applying for Cabinet Office vacancies on or September 2018 who are currently in receipt of childcare vouchers and not transferring on a TUPE or COSOP move will be unable to continue to claim childcare vouchers but may be eligible for the HMRC tax free childcare scheme.

Recruitment and Selection Process

Nationality

You must be a British Citizen, citizen of the British Commonwealth* an EC national or a national of specified Member States of the European Free Trade Area, together with certain members of their families. Certain Turkish nationals are also eligible to apply. In the first instance it is advisable to refer to the Civil Service Nationality Rules which can be found here: If you have any further questions about nationality requirements, please contact the Recruitment Team at: . (*Commonwealth citizens not yet in the UK, who have no right of abode in the UK and who do not have leave to enter the UK are ineligible to apply.)

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The Cabinet Office is committed to the employment and career development of disabled people and will guarantee to interview anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Pre-appointment Checks

The successful candidate’s appointment will be subject to a series of checks including security, nationality, health and references before a formal offer of appointment is made. Subject to satisfactory completion of the pre-appointment checks, you will be invited to take up the post as soon as possible. The National Insurance numbers of successful applicants will be shared with the Ministry of Defence to aid the tracking of Armed Forces Reservist levels across government.

The Selection Process

Assessment at sift and interviews will be based on meeting any defined skill/qualification requirements along with a Success Profile element assessment, as detailed in the job advert. The Success Profile elements to be assessed will be outlined within the job advert. The Civil Service Success Profile Framework is publically available here:

We would generally expect answers to follow the STAR or CAR structure and encourage candidates to use this throughout their application.

Application/Interview Scoring System

The Cabinet Office adopts a scoring system of 1-7 for Behaviours, Ability, Technical and Experience.

7- The evidence provided wholly exceeds expectation at this level

6 – Substantial positive evidence; includes some evidence of exceeding expectations at this level

5 – Substantial positive evidence of the competency or behaviour

4 – Adequate positive evidence and any negative evidence would not cause concern

3 – Moderate positive evidence but some negative evidence demonstrated

2 – Limited positive evidence and/or mainly negative evidence demonstrated

1 – No positive evidence and/or substantial negative evidence demonstrated

Strengths will be assessed at interview on a 1-4 scale.

Civil Service Commission

Recruitment into the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission which has two key functions.

• To maintain the principle of selection for appointment to the Civil Service on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

• To promote an understanding of the Civil Service Code which sets out the constitutional framework in which all civil servants work and the values they are expected to uphold, and to hear and determine appeals made under it. More detailed information can be found at on the Civil Service Commission website: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Complaints

The Department’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the requirement of selection for appointment based on merit, open and fair competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, details of which can be found at

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact the Cabinet Office Recruitment Team, Human Resources, 4th Floor, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ or email , in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can further contact the Civil Service Commission at:

Email: civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk or in writing to:

Civil Service Commission

Room G/8

1 Horse Guards Road

London SW1A 2HQ

Closing Date: 13/04/2020, 23:55 hours

Interview dates w/c 27th April

Interview dates w/c 27th April

Reserved/Non Reserved post(s)? Non Reserved

Level of security checks required Security Clearance

Success Profiles

Success Profiles will enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours and technical / professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. Your can find our more abut Success Profiles .

We will be measuring the following through our recruitment process Behaviours, Experience, Technical