Lead Service Designer

Job description

Lead Service Designers at [Employer hidden] are strategic leaders responsible for helping to shape the Service Design practice, owning the strategic direction of complex, high-impact services, and driving organisational change across multiple client engagements. This role requires an expert Service Design practitioner who operates at the intersection of policy, technology, and operations, significantly influencing senior client strategy and developing the next generation of designers. Success is measured by the improvement of public services and the quality of the Service Design community.

Key responsibilities

About the role:

• Define the long-term vision, strategy, and roadmap for major public services, ensuring alignment between strategic policy intent, user needs, and practical delivery constraints across the full service lifecycle.
• Act as the strategic design authority on projects, facilitating conversations with stakeholders at all levels to secure organisational alignment and investment for systemic service transformation.
• Take responsibility for defining and embedding [Employer hidden]’s Service Design standards, methodologies, and toolkits, leading the professional development and mentoring of the entire Service Design community.
• Propose high-impact Service Design approaches to problems, influencing wider policy or organisational structures based on robust research and outcome data.
• Define, measure, and assure what ‘good’ end-to-end service design looks like across a portfolio of work, holding teams and senior colleagues to account for producing high-quality, measurable service outcomes.

### Collaborative and communicative leadership

• Lead challenging conversations with colleagues at all levels, senior stakeholders regarding service blockers, policy constraints, and investment decisions, using data and empathy to drive commitment to user-centred outcomes.
• Lead continuous improvement in the practice, identifying and adopting new strategic Service Design approaches and fostering a culture of experimentation and learning within the community.

Skills, knowledge and expertise

### Scope

• Provide design assurance for the successful strategic design and transformation of public services, applying a holistic Service Design lens across technology, policy, process, and the client organisation’s operating model.
• Lead the uplift of client service design maturity, setting strategic expectations with the most senior stakeholders and leading the delivery of training and briefing programmes.
• Define the strategy for designing, prototyping, and testing seamless, multi-channel services, ensuring all organisational, service, and user outcomes are aligned and measured against key performance indicators.
• Champion the practice across [Employer hidden] through leadership within the Community of Practice (CoP) and providing high-level coaching and mentoring support to Senior and midlevel Designers.

### Commercial and practice development

• Act as a trusted strategic design advisor to key clients, building deep, enduring relationships that unlock opportunities for transformational work.
• Represent and advocate for Service Design externally as a thought leader, generating influential content (talks, blog posts, case studies) that contributes to the definition and elevation of [Employer hidden]'s Service Design principles.
• Take shared responsibility for the Service Design community's health, capability, and growth, leading on advanced skills development, mentoring, and setting the hiring strategy.

### Skills, knowledge and expertise

• Operates as an industry expert in Service Design tools and methodologies (for example, Service Blueprints, Ecosystem Maps, Policy Mapping), defining how teams should apply them for maximum impact.
• Able to coach and mentor other designers to a high standard, owning the definition and enforcement of the Service Design standards which others will apply across [Employer hidden] engagements.
• Take responsibility for initiating strategic engagements, collecting complex insight, delivering advanced analysis, and leading problem resolution for high-stakes, cross-organisational problems.
• Collaborates with and expertly facilitates highly political and complex senior stakeholder groups to achieve alignment and commitment to service solutions, ensuring successful adoption and exploitation of new services.

Consulting

• Takes responsibility for understanding client ambitions, collecting insight, delivering analysis and problem resolution
• Identifies, evaluates and recommends options
• Collaborates with, and facilitates stakeholder groups, as part of formal or informal consultancy agreements. Seeks to fully address client needs and implements solutions if required
• Enhances the capabilities and effectiveness of clients, by ensuring that proposed solutions are fully understood and appropriately exploited

Key measures

• Evidence of successfully defined and delivered strategic service transformation outcomes for major clients (i.e., tangible, measurable citizen and organisational benefit).
• Substantial impact on the capability, retention, and happiness of the Service Design community, demonstrating effective line management and mentorship of Senior Designers.
• High-quality contributions to winning strategic new business and growth opportunities.
• Consistent positive feedback from colleagues and clients regarding leadership, influence, and the maturity of Service Design standards embedded across programmes.

Job benefits

We are always listening to our growing teams and evolving the benefits available to our people. As we scale, as do our benefits and we are scaling quickly. We've recently introduced a flexible benefit platform which includes a Smart Tech scheme, Cycle to work scheme, and an individual benefits allowance which you can invest in a Health care cash plan or Pension plan. We’re also big on connection and have an optional social and wellbeing calendar of events for all employees to join should they choose to.

Here are some of our most popular benefits listed below: 30 days Holiday - we offer 30 days of paid annual leave plus bank holidays

Flexible Working Hours - we are flexible with what hours you work

Flexible Parental Leave - we offer flexible parental leave options

Remote Working - we offer part time remote working for all our staff

Paid counseling - we offer paid counseling as well as financial and legal advice

If successful, you will be required to undertake an SC clearance

Location:

Any UK Office Hub (Bristol / London / Manchester / Swansea)

Department:

Strategy & Design > Service & Interaction Design

Employment type:

Permanent

Workplace type:

Hybrid

Compensation:

£65,000 - £75,000 / year

Sounds good?

Join us in our mission to use technology to improve society for everyone.

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How we hire

Our hiring process is designed to be thorough, transparent, and supportive, guiding candidates through each step. The exact process may vary slightly depending on the role but these are the typical steps candidates can expect.

We’ll keep you updated throughout the process and provide helpful feedback at each stage. No matter the outcome, we make sure the feedback is useful and supportive, so you feel informed and can learn from the experience.

1. Application reviewed

Our talent team will review all applications, and while we may use AI to help speed up the process, a real human will always make the final decisions. Once reviewed, shortlisted applicants will be invited to a screening.

2. Talent Partner screen

This is a 25-30 minute call with someone in our talent team who is hiring for the role.

3. CV Hiring Manager shortlist

Once screenings have taken place the hiring manager will review the shortlist and invites to interview will be sent.

4. First stage interview

You may then be invited to an initial virtual interview which is usually with the hiring manager or a couple of members from the team. This is usually around 45 – 60 minutes and the format may vary depending on the role.

5. Final stage interview

If you progress, you’ll be invited to a final stage interview which is usually with two members of the team. The format varies depending on the role and this is usually an hour.

6. Final conversation (not applicable to every role)

Final conversation with one of our exec members.

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