Senior Service Designer

Barnardo's; Ilford; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading charity organization in the UK seeks a Senior Service Designer to lead the design of user-centred services and deliver impactful outcomes for children and families. The role involves stakeholder engagement, service evaluation, and mentoring colleagues. Candidates with experience in children's services or transferable skills are encouraged to apply. Flexible working options are available, along with competitive benefits.

Benefits

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Access to pension scheme

Flexible working options

Wellbeing initiatives

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Experience in leading design of complex services.
• Ability to conduct in-depth user research.
• Experience in children's services or related sectors is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design of user-centred services.
• Ensure coherence across online and offline delivery.
• Mentor and support colleagues in service design.

Skills

User-centred design

Stakeholder engagement

Prototyping

User research

Service evaluation

Job description

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Senior Service Designer - Maternity Cover

This role can be based at any of Barnardo's national offices. Regular local and national travel will be required.

Full-time and part time applicants welcomed and this is a 12 months fixed-term contract

Help us design services that transform childhoods

At Barnardo's, we believe every child deserves a safe, happy and hopeful future. For over 150 years, we've been innovating to improve the lives of children, young people and families across the UK. Today, we run more than 800 services and are committed to making them excellent, inclusive and designed with the children, young people and families how use them.

As a senior member of the Service Design team, you will play a vital role in applying service design methods to deliver measurable improvements in service quality, efficiency and outcomes for children, young people and families.

As a Senior Service Designer, you will

• Lead the end‑to‑end design of services, ensuring they are user‑centred, evidence‑based and aligned to strategic priorities
• Ensure services are coherent and integrated across online and offline channels
• Work across functions to engage stakeholders and support organisational change
• Mentor and support colleagues – developing confidence and skills
• Develop practice and contribute to standards, frameworks and reusable design patterns

This is a varied, hands‑on and project‑focused role that allows for autonomy, creativity, and real impact. You'll be part of a warm, committed team that shares learning, supports wellbeing, and is united in a clear mission: designing for better outcomes for children and families.

We’re looking for a Senior Service Designer who can

• Work autonomously to lead the design of complex services
• Conduct in-depth user research to generate actions insights and guide decision‑making
• Design and facilitate collaborative workshops with a range of stakeholders and partners
• Create and iterate prototypes and other design artefacts
• Integrate offline and online service delivery into coherent end‑to‑end services
• Evaluate and evidence the impact of service design work

Previous experience in children's services, health, education or related public/third sector contexts is desirable – but if you bring transferable skills, we want to hear from you.

What You’ll Get in Return

• 25 days annual leave (rising with service) plus bank holidays
• Access to the Barnardo's pension scheme
• Flexible working and hybrid/remote options
• Wellbeing initiatives and Employee Assistance Programme
• Regular supervision and career development opportunities
• The chance to make a lasting difference in children’s lives

Inclusion and Belonging

We are committed to building a diverse workforce. We particularly welcome applications from disabled candidates, LGBTQ+ people, people from racially minoritised communities, and those with care experience. If there's anything we can do to support you through the application process, please let us know.

Together, we can change childhoods and change lives.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification and Job Description. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work‑life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full‑time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro‑rata.
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme.
• A host of family‑friendly leave options including company Maternity, Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options.
• Service‑related sick pay from day 1.
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution.
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension.
• Cycle2work scheme.
• Interest‑free season ticket loans.
• Discounts and cashback from high‑street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal.
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores.
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc.
• Free access to round‑the‑clock employee assistance program for advice and support.
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer.

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti‑racist organisation with Anti‑Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.