Senior Service Designer

L&Q Living; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 69,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension plan

Annual leave 28 days (31 with service)

Westfield Health

Life assurance

Volunteer days (up to 21 hours)

Lifestyle benefits

Employee Assistance Programme

Job summary

L&Q Living is seeking a Senior Service Designer to lead the experiential view of the Target Operating Model, shaping end-to-end journeys and services that residents rely on.

You will head a team of six, collaborate with external partners, and work within a multi-year transformation programme to ensure a consistent resident and colleague experience across the Group.

Qualifications

• Experience leading end-to-end, multi-channel service design in complex organisations.
• Proven user-centred research and inclusive design practice.
• Experience designing services as part of wider operating model or organisational change.
• Experience leading design professionals and building design capability in others.
• Ability to influence senior leaders and work across disciplines to deliver change.

Responsibilities

• Lead the service design team and manage performance of designers.
• Hold the experiential view and develop target journeys, service blueprints and patterns.
• Design and assure change across priority transformation work from discovery to delivery.
• Build capability by spreading user-centred and systems thinking.
• Collaborate with Senior Business Architect and programme teams to deliver joined-up change.

Skills

End-to-end service design

User-centred research

Inclusive design

Organisational change

Design leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Social housing experience

Job description

Title

Senior Service Designer

Contract Type

Permanent, Full-Time, 35 hours

Salary

Starting from £78,544 per annum (London weighted salary) or £68,571 per annum (Regional salary), dependant on experience

Grade

12

Reporting Office

London, Stratford or Manchester, Trafford

Persona

Agile Worker: 20% - 40% of contractual hours to be worked from reporting office/working location (hybrid working)

Closing Date

21st October 2026

Interview Dates

W/C 02/11/26 *Please note that in person interviews will be held for at least one of the interview stages for this role

Benefits

• Excellent pension plan (up to 6% double contribution)
• 28 days Annual Leave rising to 31 days with length of service + Bank Holidays
• Westfield Health Cash Plan
• non-contributory life assurance
• up to 21 hours volunteering paid days
• lifestyle benefits
• Employee Assistance Programme
• many more …

Early applications are encouraged as we reserve the right to close the advertisement and interview earlier than stated.

Reporting Policy

L&Q reserves the right to not progress applications for candidates who have had one unsuccessful application/interview process with L&Q for the same or similar role in the previous 12 months.

Join ourBusiness Design and Architecture Team at L&Q

L&Q is one of the UK’s largest housing associations and providers of social and affordable homes. We house around 250,000 people primarily across Greater London and Greater Manchester. Our purpose is simple – to provide social homes and landlord services that everyone can be proud of.

Our transformation and change portfolio is service design led. It spans full operating model change across the Group, covering ways of working, process, team structures, systems, data and reporting. This role sets the standard for how that design work is done, and shapes the journeys that 250,000 residents and thousands of colleagues experience.

As Senior Service Designer, you will lead the experiential view of L&Q's Target Operating Model: the target end-to-end journeys and the services that enable them. You will hold this view alongside our Senior Business Architect, who holds the structural view. Together, the two disciplines give L&Q one coherent picture of how it works today and how it needs to work.

L&Q is in a multi year, multi million pound programme of transformation. Getting the resident and colleague experience right, and consistent, across that programme needs a strong service design practice and a clear design standard that others can apply.

You will report to the Head of Business Design and Architecture and lead a team of six: two direct and four indirect reports. You will also work with external service design partners. Business Design and Architecture brings together business architecture, service design and business analysis, and forms a core part of Group Transformation and Change.

Your impact in the role:

• Leading the service design team. Leading and developing a team of service designers, including a Lead Service Designer, managing performance and building a high performing practice. Directing and quality assuring external service design partners alongside the permanent team.
• Holding the experiential view. Leading the design and continuous improvement of target journeys, service blueprints and service patterns, and the service design principles that guide change across the Group.
• Designing and assuring change. Leading service design on priority transformation work from discovery through to delivery. Representing service design in Design Assurance, making sure change meets our regulatory obligations and moves L&Q towards its target without breaking what works.
• Building capability. Growing user-centred and systems thinking capability across L&Q, including within our Business Analysis practice and among operational leaders.
• Key relationships. Working closely with the Senior Business Architect, Business Analysis leads, programme teams, technology and data experts, and resident involvement colleagues to deliver joined up change.

What you'll bring:

• Substantial experience leading end-to-end, multi-channel service design in complex organisations.
• Demonstrable user-centred research and inclusive design practice, including with people in vulnerable circumstances.
• Experience designing services as part of wider operating model or organisational change.
• Experience leading design professionals and building design capability in others.
• Demonstrable experience influencing senior leaders and working across disciplines to deliver change.
• Ideally but not essential, experience in social housing or another regulated, resident or citizen-facing sector.

If you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage during this process, including application stage, please email [e-mail]

About L&Q

We’re one of the UK’s leading housing associations and developers. We were founded on a simple belief: high quality housing is vital for people’s health, happiness and security. Our purpose is simple – to provide social homes and landlord services that everyone can be proud of.

250,000 people call our properties ‘home’, and we’re proud to serve diverse communities across London, the South East and North West of England.

People are at the heart of our business and our success depends on employing the best people and getting the best from them. The foundation of everything that we are is built on our corporate values, which outline our core expectations and should be demonstrated at all times, and all levels, when representing L&Q – click here to read more.

Diversity and Inclusion

At L&Q, we know that diversity and inclusion make us stronger – and they’re at the heart of everything we do.

When we recruit, we look at what really matters: your skills, experience, and potential. We’re proud to be recognised for creating an inclusive workplace. We’re a Disability Confident Leader (Level 3) and we’ve introduced our own Recruitment Advocate scheme to make sure every step of our hiring process is fair, transparent, and consistent. It’s all part of our commitment to ending discrimination and making L&Q a place where everyone feels welcome. Find out more here .

Sustainability

Sustainability is also at the heart of what we do. We recognise the responsibility we hold as one of the UK’s largest housing associations.

Click here to find out more about L&Q and why you should join us!

Location: London - Stratford or Manchester - Trafford