Service Designer - Policy Lab

UK Home Office

Croydon

Hybrid

GBP 46,062 - 50,182

Full time

14 days+

Get more replies from employers

Send a job-specific resume in minutes.

Benefits offered by this job

Civil service pension

25 days annual leave

Flexible working options

In-year reward scheme

Job summary

A government agency in the UK is seeking a qualified Service Designer to join their Policy Lab team. The ideal candidate will independently design and enhance user-centered services while collaborating with policy teams. Essential skills include prototyping, service design, and accessibility standards application. With a competitive salary of £46,062 (National) or £50,182 (Croydon), this role offers a hybrid work model and significant benefits including a civil service pension and annual leave.

Qualifications

Independently develop prototypes and sketches for complex projects.
Contribute to the design and implementation of services.
Apply accessibility standards consistently.

Responsibilities

Design and improve user-centered services.
Participate in managing the design process for projects.
Map and analyze service processes from a user perspective.

Skills

Prototyping and concept creation

Service design

Accessibility and inclusion

Service analysis

Collaboration

Communicate, persuade and advocate

Job description

Overview

Join to apply for the Service Designer - Policy Lab role at UK Home Office

Get AI-powered advice on this job and more exclusive features. Direct message the job poster from UK Home Office

Salary and Location

Salary: £46,062 (National) or £50,182 (Croydon) plus up to £11,338 skills allowance, pending assessment

Location: Croydon, Manchester or Sheffield (hybrid with 60% office attendance)

Close Date: 11:55pm Tuesday 20th January 2026

Please note: This role requires Security Check (SC) clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years.

About CoLab

The Home Office Policy and Innovation Lab (CoLab) is a creative team of service designers, user researchers, content designers and behavioural scientists that work closely with policy and operations teams from across the Home Office to bring user-centred and explorative approaches to policy making.

CoLab works in policy spaces that require a deeper understanding of service users. Projects you could work on could include:

Improving the Windrush Compensation Scheme application process, to make it more user-friendly, accessible and trauma-informed
Refreshing the Life in the UK test to better support people as they prepare to get settled status or become citizens
Working in passports to speed up the processing of people’s applications
Identifying ways to support criminal justice system actors to tackle organised crime groups involved in organised immigration crime.

Essential skills

You will be assessed against the following skills and experience during the selection process:

Prototyping and concept creation: able to independently develop prototypes and sketches for more complex projects. Able to use design software or physical mock-ups or code to visualise and test concepts.
Service design: independently contributes to the design and implementation of services or policies, ensuring they meet user needs and target outcomes. Participates in managing the design process for smaller projects
Accessibility and inclusion: able to regularly apply accessibility standards to their work and begins to understand the broader aspects of inclusive design
Service analysis: independently maps and analyses service processes from a user perspective. Identifies opportunities for improvement and frames problems in terms of user needs
Collaboration: actively facilitates group activities and seeks feedback for continuous improvement
Communicate, persuade and advocate: comfortable advocating for UCD principles to peers and immediate stakeholders through well-prepared presentations. Plans and facilitates engaging workshops to engage different stakeholders.

The essential skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework.

Benefits

A civil service pension with employer contribution rates of at least 28.97%.
In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
The ability to potentially adopt flexible working options that suit your work/life balance, plus the opportunity in future to take a career break.
25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service.
Eight days public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
26 weeks maternity, adoption or shared parental leave at full pay, followed by 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid, after qualifying service.
Maternity and adoption support leave (also known as paternity leave) of two weeks full pay, after qualifying service.
Paid leave for fostering approval processes, support when a child is substantively placed with you plus a foster to adopt policy.
Support for guardians and kinship carers.
Corporate membership of ‘Employers for Carers’ providing additional information and advice for carers, plus a ‘Carer’s Passport’ to discuss workplace needs and underpin supportive conversations.
Time off to deal with emergencies and certain other unplanned special circumstances.

Application

Please click on the apply now to be redirected to the full job advert and our application portal.

Seniority level