Senior Service Designer (5 month FTC)

Adlib Recruitment; Oxford; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

28 days holiday pro rated

Employer pension contribution up to 10

Job summary

Adlib Recruitment seeks a Senior Service Designer to join a forward‑thinking organisation for a 5‑month fixed-term contract, starting in November. You will lead discovery, translate business needs into design concepts, and shape the end‑to‑end delivery across projects from transport to digital ecosystems.

You will drive research, workshops, and artefacts, bridging business goals with technical teams in a dynamic, regulated environment.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in service design, design research or strategic design.
• Ability to independently lead ambiguous discovery without a defined brief.
• Strong problem-framing skills across shifting contexts.
• Experience facilitating workshops and cross-disciplinary sessions with senior stakeholders.
• Proven ability to create artefacts (blueprints, system maps, prototypes) that shape decisions.
• Comfortable working in technical or regulated domains, even without being a technical specialist.

Responsibilities

• Shape end-to-end delivery of programmes to improve the UK’s infrastructure and digital ecosystems.
• Drive research, map insights, design service concepts, and produce artefacts such as blueprints, systems maps and prototypes.
• Lead workshops, co-creation sessions and decision-making forums, mediating between internal and external stakeholders.
• Hands-on, strategic, and central to the success of high-impact programmes.

Skills

Service design

Design research

Strategic design

Workshop facilitation

Stakeholder management

Problem framing

Job description

We’re supporting a forward‑thinking organisation in the search for a Senior Service Designer to join in November for a 5 month Fixed Term Contract. Working across diverse, high‑stakes missions, this addition to the User‑Centred Design team will be proficient in User Research, Service Design, and UX Strategy. You will lead complex discovery, translate business needs into technical understanding, and facilitate strategic change within a multidisciplinary organisation. You’ll thrive in an environment where no two days look the same, moving between innovative project spaces ranging from transport to communications to remote connectivity. Applicants will need to be immediately available, or with a short notice period to be considered for this role.

What you’ll be doing

As a Senior Service Designer, you will shape the end-to-end delivery of a range of programmes aiming to improve the UK’s infrastructure and digital ecosystems. You’ll shape early‑stage problem spaces by driving research, mapping insights, designing service concepts, and producing artefacts such as blueprints, systems maps and prototypes. Being confident in uncertain spaces is key, as this role will involve making sense of ambiguity and identifying what stakeholders need before solutions are defined.

A core part of this role is translating user needs and business goals into clear direction for highly technical teams. You’ll design and lead workshops, co‑creation sessions and decision‑making forums, acting as facilitator and mediator between internal and external stakeholders.

This Senior Service Designer role is hands‑on, strategic, and central to the success of high‑impact programmes.

What experience you’ll need to apply

• Significant experience in service design, design research or strategic design.
• Ability to independently lead ambiguous discovery without a defined brief.
• Strong problem‑framing skills and comfort working across shifting contexts.
• Experience facilitating workshops and cross‑disciplinary sessions with senior stakeholders.
• Proven ability to create artefacts (blueprints, system maps, prototypes, concepts) that shape decisions.
• Comfortable working in technical or regulated domains, even without being a technical specialist.
• Confident external‑facing communicator with strong stakeholder rapport.

What you’ll get in return for your experience

You’ll join a mission‑led organisation with a collaborative, high‑trust culture where design is growing in influence. Benefits include hybrid working from an Oxford office (2 days per week), 28 days holiday pro rated(plus Bank Holidays), up to 10% employer pension contribution, and more. You’ll have the chance to contribute to high impact, innovative, and meaningful projects.