Senior Service Designer — Public Sector Transformation Lead

Sanderson Government and Defence; Hawton; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanderson Government and Defence is seeking a Senior Service Designer to lead end-to-end service design across large public sector programmes, shaping user-centred solutions that meet policy and accessibility standards.

You will mentor juniors, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and champion service design approaches while aligning with organisational objectives. The role requires active SC clearance and a proactive, collaborative mindset.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years' experience designing services and products.
• Proven experience leading service design workstreams across multiple projects or clients with minimal supervision.
• Strong expertise in Government Digital Service (GDS) standards and principles, including experience supporting and passing service assessments.
• Experience selecting and tailoring service design methods, approaches and artefacts to suit client requirements and organisational maturity.
• Strong workshop facilitation and design sprint experience.
• Ability to simplify and solve complex problems in fast-paced environments.
• Excellent storytelling and communication skills with a broad range of stakeholders.
• Experience working within agile, cross-functional teams alongside user researchers, UX/UI designers, business analysts, product owners, delivery managers and developers.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and work proactively under tight timescales.
• Experience engaging with legal, policy and other specialist teams to drive service and design decisions.
• Flexibility to support activities across wider user-centred design disciplines or project delivery where needed.
• Ability to showcase examples of service design work and demonstrate your design process through artefacts and outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end service design activities from ideation through to solution development and testing.
• Define and tailor service design approaches, methods and outputs to meet client needs and levels of design maturity.
• Develop and oversee high-quality service design artefacts, ensuring consistency and impact.
• Apply expertise in Government Digital Service (GDS) standards, accessibility and inclusive design to support successful service assessments.
• Facilitate workshops, co-design sessions and stakeholder engagement activities.
• Communicate complex ideas through clear storytelling and visualisation techniques.
• Manage stakeholders effectively, balancing competing perspectives while advocating for user-centred design.
• Identify and manage priorities, risks, dependencies and delivery requirements.
• Mentor and support junior colleagues, delegating responsibilities where appropriate.
• Contribute to the development of service design tools, methods and propositions by staying current with industry trends and emerging technologies.

Skills

5+ years experience

Lead service design

GDS standards

Service design methods

Workshop facilitation

Problem solving

Storytelling

Agile teamwork

Prioritization

Policy collaboration

Flexibility

Portfolio demonstration

Job description

Sanderson Government and Defence is seeking a Senior Service Designer to lead end-to-end service design across large public sector programmes, shaping user-centred solutions that meet policy and accessibility standards.

You will mentor juniors, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and champion service design approaches while aligning with organisational objectives. The role requires active SC clearance and a proactive, collaborative mindset.