Lead Service Designer GDS

Deerfoot IT Resources Limited; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Training and development

External certifications

Flexible benefits package

Job summary

Deerfoot IT Resources Limited is seeking a Lead Service Designer GDS to join the Experience Design practice. The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on craft to shape end-to-end, human-centered, data-informed and AI-ready services.

The position reports to the Head of Experience Design within a global technology consultancy with UK-wide offices and a hybrid 2‑days‑in-office pattern. You will lead complex engagements, mentor designers, and drive service strategies while collaborating

Qualifications

• Proven experience with the GDS Service Standard and service assessments.
• Experience leading service design through full lifecycle, incl. pilot/live ops.
• Evidence of building design capability, mentoring designers or standing up new practices.
• Fluency in blueprinting, journey/mapping, systems mapping, and proposition development.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex service and product design engagements end to end, defining strategies and future state architectures.
• Direct multidisciplinary teams to research, prototype, test and launch new services.
• Facilitate design sprints and co-creation sessions; create service blueprints and journeys.
• Guide senior client stakeholders through complex decisions and grow engagements.
• Mentor and develop service designers across grades, including performance management.
• Shape design methods, tools, and quality standards; support GDS assessment preparation.

Skills

GDS experience

Service blueprinting

Workshop facilitation

Mentoring

Strategic leadership

Tools

GDS standards

Job description

Lead Service Designer GDS

Service Design/Service Strategy/Blueprinting/Design Leadership/GDS

Hybrid - 2 days in office p/w - choice of UK wide offices including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow

£80,000 - £85,000 DOE + Training and Benefits

Are you the service designer senior stakeholders turn to when a transformation gets complex? This Lead Service Designer role combines strategic leadership with hands‑on craft, shaping end‑to‑end future state services that are human‑centred, data‑informed and AI‑ready.

You’ll join a growing Experience Design team within a large global technology consultancy, reporting to the Head of Experience Design as their close partner in driving the practice forward and positioning design as a business lever with clients.

Our client, a global consultancy, has offices UK wide to choose from, so there will be one close to you. You’ll need to be willing to undergo SC clearance.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Leading complex service and product design engagements end to end, defining service strategies and future state architectures
• Leading multidisciplinary teams to research, prototype, test and launch new services
• Facilitating design sprints and co‑creation sessions, and creating service blueprints, journeys and propositions that scale
• Guiding senior client stakeholders through complex decisions and helping grow engagements
• Mentoring and developing service designers across grades, including performance management and career progression
• Shaping design methods, tools and quality standards, supporting GDS assessment preparation, hiring and proposals

What You’ll Bring

• Proven GDS experience, including the GDS Service Standard and service assessments
• Experience leading service design through the full life cycle, including pilot and live operation, and influencing senior stakeholders in complex or regulated environments
• Evidence of building design capability, such as setting standards, mentoring designers or standing up new practices
• Fluency in blueprinting, journey mapping, systems mapping and proposition development, with strong workshop and sprint facilitation skills
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams in agile or hybrid delivery, and the confidence to manage upwards and challenge constructively

  Desirable: accessibility and regulatory knowledge, multi-sector experience, quantitative survey design, service measurement, designing AI-enabled services

  What’s On Offer

  • Hybrid working, with 2 days a week in the office
  • Training and development, including external certifications
  • Core and flexible benefits package

  Please note: candidates must be willing and eligible to undergo SC security clearance, and need to have been UK resident for a minimum of 5 years.

  This role may suit candidates who have held roles including: Senior Service Designer, Principal Service Designer, Head of Service Design, Service Design Lead, Design Lead, CX Transformation Lead