Service Designer

Hard Problems; Cardiff; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

30 days annual leave

Civil Service Pension scheme

Job summary

Companies House is seeking a Service Designer to map end-to-end user journeys and identify pain points, delivering intuitive design aligned with policy intents. You will work within the UCD community, collaborating with service managers, product managers and researchers to drive improvements across complex services.

Based in Cardiff or Edinburgh, the role emphasizes accessibility, GOV.UK standards, and cross-government design patterns.

Qualifications

• Experience working in an agile environment with multidisciplinary teams.
• Expertise in service design, including mapping user experience and writing personas for multiple audiences.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and promote user-centred design.
• Experience leading and developing others within a community of practice.

Responsibilities

• Advocate for user needs and the GOV.UK Service Standard in service delivery.
• Collaborate in a multidisciplinary team to design and improve complex services.
• Lead development of design concepts using government patterns and research feedback.
• Ensure accessibility and inclusive design across services.
• Identify high-level needs and epics to influence roadmaps and backlogs.
• Map user journeys and simplify end-to-end processes for digital and non-digital journeys.

Skills

Agile experience

Service design

Personas writing

Stakeholder influence

Tools

GOV.UK Design System

GOV.UK Service Standard

Job description

Companies House is the UK government agency responsible for incorporating and dissolving companies and making company information publicly available. Its services are critical to the UK economy, and the organisation is committed to making them user-friendly and inclusive. The User-Centred Design (UCD) team sits within the Product Design Directorate, alongside Product Management and Business Analysis, and is made up of six specialist teams: Service Design, Interaction Design, Content Design, Accessibility, User Research, and Performance Analytics.

The role

This Service Designer role exists to support Companies House's ambition to become a service-led organisation. The role is central to mapping the end-to-end user experience, identifying pain points, and working towards a simple and intuitive design that meets user needs and delivers the objectives of the Economic Crime Act. You would sit within the UCD community and work across complex services, reporting into the Product Design Directorate.

What you would do

• Act as an advocate for user needs and the GOV.UK Service Standard, influencing how services are delivered to ensure those needs are met.
• Work within a multidisciplinary team that includes service managers, product managers, content designers, interaction designers, user researchers, performance analysts, and technical, policy and operational colleagues.
• Take responsibility for service design across complex services, ensuring they solve the whole problem for users and meet both user needs and policy intent.
• Lead the development of design concepts, making use of common component design patterns from across government and iterating based on research, analytics and user feedback.
• Provide expertise on accessibility requirements and inclusive design.
• Help identify high-level needs and epics to influence the product roadmap and backlog prioritisation.
• Map user experiences and highlight areas for improvement, including simplifying complex end-to-end processes for both digital and non-digital journeys.
• Identify design challenges and explore solutions using best practice from across government.
• Promote the value of service design across the organisation.

What they are looking for

• Experience working in an agile environment with multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience designing services for a wide range of users, including novice users and those with assisted digital and accessibility needs.
• Ability to understand technical limitations and work within constraints to deliver user-friendly solutions.
• Expert knowledge of service design, including mapping user experience and writing personas for multiple audiences.
• Experience using different methods of telling user stories.
• Experience having difficult conversations with stakeholders and influencing their decisions based on user needs.
• Experience leading and developing others and growing a community of practice.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and promote the value of user-centred design.
• Familiarity with GOV.UK accessibility regulations and inclusive design principles.
• Knowledge of the GOV.UK Service Standard, GDS Design System, and the milestones of each delivery phase according to the Service Manual, or equivalent.
• Awareness of the GOV.UK Design System and the GOV.UK Style Guide.

Working arrangements

The role is based at Crown Way, Cardiff, CF14 3UZ or Queen Elizabeth House, 1 Sibbald Walk, Edinburgh, EH8 8FT. Flexible working is available with no core hours (between 6am and 8pm). Companies House cannot offer visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.

Pay and benefits

• Salary: £44,640 - £48,221 based on capability.
• 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Enrolment into the Civil Service Pension scheme, with an average employer contribution of 28%.