Service Designer

Lewisham; Catford; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday allowance

Local Government Pension scheme

Flexible working

Season ticket and bicycle loans

Staff discounts including local gym

Job summary

Lewisham Council is seeking a Service Designer to lead user-centred design and improvement across services. You will conduct design research, map end-to-end journeys, and collaborate to identify opportunities, simplify services, and test improvements with clear success measures.

You will work in a multidisciplinary team, bring facilitation and systems thinking skills, and develop practical, deliverable design artefacts for senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Degree-level qualification in Service Design or related field.
• Experience in leading complex service discovery and redesign is desirable.
• Experience in local government or complex service environments is welcome.

Responsibilities

• Lead defined areas of service discovery and redesign across council services.
• Plan and conduct design research, gather evidence, map end-to-end journeys across channels.
• Identify opportunities, simplify services and develop testable improvements with measurable outcomes.
• Create clear design artefacts and recommendations to support senior decision-making and strengthen practice.

Skills

Service design

Facilitation

Systems thinking

Design research

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Degree in Service Design or related

Job description

Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities! We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK's first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants. Introduction We are looking for a Service Designer to lead the user-centred design and improvement of complex, end-to-end services across Lewisham Council. You will work on a range of service improvement and transformation projects, helping teams understand the challenges residents and staff face and shape better ways of delivering services that meet user needs, business objectives and relevant standards. You will join a multidisciplinary team bringing together service design, data science, insight and performance. What's the role? You will lead defined areas of service discovery and redesign across council services and transformation programmes. You will plan and conduct design research, gather and analyse evidence, map end-to-end journeys and processes across different channels, and work with colleagues to identify opportunities, simplify services, and develop and test improvements with clear measures of success. You will consider how people, processes, data, technology and channels of access work together. You will help teams understand complex problems, assess options and develop improvements that are practical to deliver. You will create clear design artefacts and recommendations to support senior decision-making, while providing professional guidance to colleagues and helping strengthen service design practice across the Council.

We are looking for an experienced Service Designer with a strong track record of leading complex service discovery and redesign, influencing decisions and delivering practical service improvements. You will be skilled in conducting design research, collecting and analysing evidence, and using your findings to develop and test service journeys or prototypes with residents, staff and other users. You will bring strong facilitation and problem-solving skills and use systems thinking to understand how different services, processes and systems interact and affect one another. You will be able to make sense of operational and technical complexity, explain risks and trade-offs, and work with multidisciplinary teams and senior stakeholders to find practical ways forward. You will be committed to accessible, inclusive services. Experience in local government or another complex service environment would be welcome. We are looking to appoint promptly, and candidates available to start immediately or at short notice are particularly encouraged to apply.

Location The job is primarily based in Laurence House, Catford, London, SE6 4RU, but we operate a hybrid approach where you will be required to work both in the office and from home on a regular basis.

Special conditions

• Degree-level qualification in Service Design or a closely related field (Human-Centred Design, User Experience Design, Design Management) or equivalent substantial experience.

  Excellent training and development opportunities, plus a range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday allowance
• Local Government Pension scheme
• Flexible working and family friendly policies
• Season ticket and bicycle loans
• A range of staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships
• Supportive staff networks