Service Design Associate Manager

Accenture; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Private medical insurance

Job summary

Accenture Song seeks an experienced Service Design Associate Manager to lead the design of complex end-to-end digital products and services. You will apply human-centred design, systems thinking and craft leadership to shape service strategy and translate insights into meaningful user outcomes.

You will guide service design across research to delivery, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders to connect user needs with business goals.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in service design, systems thinking and human-centred design.
• Experience leading service design within complex projects, programmes or end-to-end services.
• Ability to think strategically and connect design decisions with user, organisational and business outcomes.
• Experience mentoring and line managing designers.

Responsibilities

• Lead service design craft and quality across workstreams and teams.
• Plan and lead co-design, ideation and strategic workshops with users and stakeholders.
• Translate insights into actionable service strategy and measurable outcomes.
• Own and lead service design workstreams from planning through delivery.
• Collaborate across disciplines to ensure coherence of end-to-end services.

Skills

Service design

Human-centred design

Systems thinking

Stakeholder influence

Facilitation

Storytelling

Design leadership

AI-enabled tools

Education

Degree in Service Design, Design, Social Science or related field

Tools

AI-enabled tools

Job description

About Accenture Song

Accenture Song accelerates growth and value for our clients through sustained customer relevance. Our capabilities span ideation to execution: growth, product and experience design; technology and experience platforms; creative, media and marketing strategy; and campaign, content and channel orchestration. With strong client relationships and deep industry expertise, we help our clients operate at the speed of life through the unlimited potential of imagination, technology and intelligence. Visit us at: www.accenture.com/song

Job Description

Role summary

As a Service Design Associate Manager, you will lead the design and improvement of complex end-to-end digital products and services. You will bring deep service design craft expertise, human-centred design, and systems thinking to make sense of complexity, shape service strategy and turn insight into meaningful outcomes for users and organisations.

What you’ll be working on

You will lead service design across complex digital products, services and programmes within the Accenture Song Design Digital Products Creative team, from research and discovery through to design and delivery.

Your work may span a range of industries, including Health & Public Services, financial services, telecommunications, retail, utilities and resources, automotive and life sciences. You will work across end-to-end services, connecting user experience with organisational, operational and business needs.

You will be improving an existing service, shaping a new service proposition or helping clients imagine entirely new service models and customer experiences.

What you’ll do

Understand and shape complex services

• Apply deep service design, human-centred design and systems thinking expertise to understand users, organisations and complex service ecosystems.

• Translate research, data and other evidence into clear insights, strategic opportunities and service direction.

• Navigate ambiguity and complexity, creating clarity and helping teams make confident design decisions.

• Connect user needs, organisational context and business objectives to shape coherent end-to-end services.

• Challenge existing assumptions and use service design to explore new propositions, service models and future experiences.

• Help shape thewhyof a product or service by contributing to its vision, strategy and value proposition, as well as defining how it should work.

Lead service design craft and quality

• Lead the creation of high-quality service design artefacts, including journey maps, service blueprints, systems maps, personas and opportunity frameworks.

• Evolve and apply service design methods, prototyping approaches and frameworks to meet complex project needs and ambitious business questions.

• Lead the development and testing of service concepts and prototypes to build alignment, reduce risk and inform decision making.

• Translate service design work into actionable recommendations, service strategy and measurable outcomes.

• Use service design outputs not simply to document services, but to provoke thinking, shape vision and influence strategic decisions.

Take ownership of service design quality

• Take ownership of service design quality, providing design critique and quality assurance across workstreams and teams.

Explore and use AI-enabled tools

• Explore and use AI-enabled tools, where appropriate, to enhance synthesis, ideation, prototyping and design outputs while maintaining strong design governance, design judgement and quality assurance.

Facilitate, influence and collaborate

• Plan and lead co-design, ideation and strategic service design workshops with users, senior stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams.

• Influence stakeholders and build buy-in for service design recommendations within complex programmes.

• Be a compelling storyteller, bringing together evidence, emotion, empathy and clarity to make complex service ideas meaningful and memorable.

• Communicate complex service design thinking clearly, both verbally and visually, to senior client and internal stakeholders.

• Build narratives that connect user needs, business opportunities and service vision, helping stakeholders understand both why change is needed and what the future could look like.

• Collaborate across user research, product, content, strategy, business design, data, engineering and other design disciplines.

• Build alignment across teams and help resolve competing user, business and delivery priorities.

Lead delivery

• Connect strategic service intent with practical delivery, ensuring the vision remains coherent as products and services evolve.

• Own and lead service design workstreams or design projects from planning through to delivery.

• Plan design activities, resources and priorities to deliver high-quality outcomes within project timelines.

• Coordinate service design across multiple teams or areas of a complex end-to-end service.

• Identify design risks, dependencies and opportunities and work with delivery teams to address them.

• Maintain a clear view of service outcomes while balancing user needs, business objectives and delivery constraints.

How you’ll contribute

• Advocate confidently for service design as both a user-centred practice and a tool for business and service reinvention.

• Provide craft leadership, mentoring and constructive critique to designers.

• Line manage and support designers in their performance, development and career growth where required.

• Help shape and improve service design capability, methods and standards across the wider design community.

• Encourage teams to challenge assumptions, explore possibilities and think beyond incremental service improvement.

• Share emerging approaches and tools, including AI, to improve the quality and efficiency of design practice.

• Contribute to a strong, collaborative design culture and support designers to develop their craft.

• Contribute to business development, bringing service design thinking, storytelling and future-focused ideas into client conversations, pitches and proposals.

What we’re looking for

• Deep expertise in service design, systems thinking and human-centred design.

• Strong experience designing complex end-to-end services across multiple touchpoints, teams or organisational boundaries.

• Ability to use service design strategically to shape product and service vision, propositions and future service models.

• Curiosity and imagination to challenge existing models and explore new ways organisations can create value for users and customers.

• Strong ownership of service design craft and the ability to assure the quality of design work.

• Ability to think strategically and connect design decisions with user, organisational and business outcomes.

• Confidence influencing senior stakeholders and building alignment in complex environments.

• Strong facilitation, storytelling and written, verbal and visual communication skills.

• Experience planning and leading design workstreams or projects.

• Experience mentoring, coaching or line managing designers.

• Collaborative leadership and confidence working across multidisciplinary teams.

• Curiosity and willingness to adopt AI-enabled tools while applying critical thinking and maintaining quality.

• Interest or experience in adjacent design disciplines, such as systems thinking, organisational design, business design, behaviour change or futures design, would be an advantage.

Experience

• Typically 5–8 years of relevant experience, including significant experience in service design.

• Track record of leading service design within complex projects, programmes or end-to-end services.

• Experience shaping service or product strategy and translating service design insight into strategic and delivery decisions.

• Experience influencing senior stakeholders and translating service design insight into strategic and delivery decisions.

• Experience leading or managing designers and supporting the development of others.

• Experience contributing to client-facing business development, pitches or proposals is desirable.

• Degree in Service Design, Design, Social Science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Portfolio requirement

Please include a link to a PDF or website of your service design work, and ensure it is clearly referenced in your CV.

Your portfolio should clearly demonstrate your service design experience, the quality of your craft and the thinking behind your decisions.

What's in it for You

In addition to a competitive salary package, you will benefit from an extensive rewards offering including 25 days' annual leave, private medical insurance, and 3 additional days leave per year for charitable work of your choice.

• 25 days' annual leave

• private medical insurance

• 3 additional days leave per year for charitable work of your choice

Flexibility and mobility are required to deliver this role. There will be a requirement to spend meaningful time on‑site with clients, partners, and teams to enable delivery of the first‑class experiences we are known for.

Some clients require background checks. You will need to complete a Baseline Personal Security Standard (BPSS) to confirm your identity, criminal record, right to work and residency.

Comfortable with hybrid working. Every project is different, but we love our team to be in the studio and in our client's office to work collaboratively.

Accenture is an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

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