Lead Graphic Designer

SmartSourcing Ltd; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 84,000 - 110,000; Part time

Job summary

SmartSourcing Ltd seeks a Lead Graphic Designer to guide design direction across Brand and Data Insights teams. You will shape strategy, mentor designers and work within an agile, cross-functional environment in London, with one day on-site per week.

The role emphasizes accessibility, stakeholder presentations and cross-disciplinary collaboration to deliver cohesive, branded design across services.

Qualifications

• Proven experience creating and shaping presentations for Branding and Information Design/Data Visualisation projects/work and ability to present work to a range of stakeholders, including design teams and senior stakeholders.
• Designed impactful, accessible, easy to understand information that works across a range of mediums.
• An adept communicator and storyteller who can persuasively engage non-designers in the design process, helping to guide the design direction for large and complex programmes of work.
• Lead and mentor others, work strategically, and build good working relationships with frontend developers.

Responsibilities

• Set the graphic design direction, shape its proposition and ensure it contributes to the wider organisational objectives and strategic priorities.
• Work effectively in a multidisciplinary, agile environment, adapting quickly to changes in requirements, priorities or user needs.
• Use research and analytics to understand users needs, identify service failures and test different designs.
• Lead graphic design in a collaborative and open way, engaging teams with the design process and adapting it if necessary.
• Scope designers work and ensure that teams have the right kind of design support, and highlight where complexity and dependencies lie.
• Collaborate closely with adjacent disciplines such as development, strategy and communications teams to develop coherently branded design work.
• Embed accessibility into the design process - through documentation, training, good practise and working closely with developers and the design system team.
• Analyse design templates and components and find opportunities for reducing complexity while making sure that what is left is flexible and fit for future iterations.
• Work towards justice, equity and inclusion in the teams you work with and the services you help deliver.
• Work towards environmental sustainability of government and its services.
• Guide, support and mentor other designers and colleagues.

Skills

Design leadership

Presentation skills

Storytelling

Stakeholder engagement

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Tools

Microsoft 365

Jira

Trello

Job description

Lead Graphic Designer

6mths Initially

Rate IRO of £525pd inside IR35

Hybrid working - 1 day per week onsite London

BPSS ( SC Prefferred )

Overview

The successful candidate will join both our Brand team, and Data Insights and Analytics team to provide design leadership to designers in the team and as part of a wider multidisciplinary leadership team. They will also work closely with the head of design to set design direction and strategy for the teams and work.

About the role

• Set the graphic design direction, shape its proposition and ensure it contributes to the wider organisational objectives and strategic priorities
• Work effectively in a multidisciplinary, agile environment, adapting quickly to changes in requirements, priorities or user needs
• Use research and analytics to understand users needs, identify service failures and test different designs
• Lead graphic design in a collaborative and open way, engaging teams with the design process and adapting it if necessary
• Scope designers work and ensure that teams have the right kind of design support, and highlight where complexity and dependencies lie
• Collaborate closely with adjacent disciplines such as development, strategy and communications teams to develop coherently branded design work
• Embed accessibility into the design process - through documentation, training, good practise and working closely with developers and the design system team
• Analyse design templates and components and find opportunities for reducing complexity while making sure that what is left is flexible and fit for future iterations
• Work towards justice, equity and inclusion in the teams you work with and the services you help deliver
• Work towards environmental sustainability of government and its services
• Guide, support and mentor other designers and colleagues

Essential skills

• Key tech - Microsoft 365 (M365), Jira / Trello
• Proven experience creating and shaping presentations for Branding and Information Design/Data Visualisation projects/work and ability to present work to a range of stakeholders, including design teams and senior stakeholders
• Designed impactful, accessible, easy to understand information that works across a range of mediums
• An adept communicator and storyteller who can persuasively engage non-designers in the design process, helping to guide the design direction for large and complex programmes of work
• Reduced complexity and choose the most appropriate design approach balancing wider technical constraints and user needs
• Lead and mentor others, work strategically, and build good working relationships with frontend developers
• The ability to explain design ideas and concepts in a way that other people understand - including visualising, sketching and prototyping
• The ability to reflect critically on their work; thinking holistically about the big picture and dependencies, while working out details and being able to appreciate and articulate the broader implications