Senior Service Designer at Home Office in Croydon, Salford, Sheffield, Glasgow

Job summary

We’re looking for a senior service designer who is motivated to support and protect our communities by delivering better services.

The Home Office keeps our UK citizens safe and our country secure. We play a fundamental role in the security and economic prosperity of the UK.

You will work in an agile, multi-disciplinary team within the Digital Corporate Enablement Office (DCEO). Your designs will help shape the digital services and platforms that enable colleagues across the Home Office to work more effectively and deliver better outcomes.

Some of the projects you could work on include:

• Building and improving digital products and services that support corporate functions such as Human Resources, Finance, Commercial, Estates, Security and Communications.
• Designing and enhancing internal tools and platforms used by Home Office colleagues to access information, complete tasks and collaborate effectively.
• Improving enterprise services and engagement platforms, including GOV.UK content, workplace services, business management tools and digital collaboration products.
• Supporting the development of innovative, user-centred solutions that connect people, services and information across the organisation.

You can deliver accessible services and take a lead role in guiding design within a project team. You are comfortable working at pace across a variety of products and workstreams, collaborating closely with multidisciplinary teams to solve complex user needs. You will be skilled in using user research, data and evidence to inform design decisions, measure outcomes and drive continuous improvement.

You can learn more about design and research in the Home Office on our blog:

• Sharing user-centred design lessons learnt at the Home Office
• Making ethics part of the way we design products and services
• Applying user-centred design in a data-focused product
• and by looking at our design system

We have a thriving user-centred design (UCD) community. If you want to work with us to ensure that our services are easier and simpler to use, apply now.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office . Applicants can raise any queries to the email address at the bottom of the advert.

Watch this short video to hear from members of Home Office Digital talking about the projects they work on and their experience of working here: Working for Home Office Digital.

Job description

Your main day-to-day responsibilities will include:

• Leading service design work on projects and ensuring that delivery teams are taking a user-centred, evidence-based approach.
• Creating compelling service solutions by identifying opportunities to improve the performance or management of existing services, and drawing on findings from user research, data patterns, policy and other areas.
• Engaging with senior stakeholders, presenting project findings and related recommendations to senior decision makers across government.
• Rapidly creating sketches, diagrams and lo-fi prototypes to share and test ideas.
• Coaching and coordinating multidisciplinary teams to help them successfully design good services.
• Raising awareness of what good service design looks like by sharing valuable case studies, methods, tools, artefacts and standards across the Home Office and beyond.
• Presenting project findings and related recommendations to senior decision makers across government.
• Identifying and raising any blockers to design activities to the leadership team.

Person specification

Working Pattern

This role is available on a full-time basis with the option of compressed hours working. This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 3 days per week due to business requirements.

Essential Skills

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

• Service design: leads service design efforts for complex projects, overseeing both front-stage and back-stage elements. Coordinates people, process, and technology to deliver optimal services. Mentors junior team members in service design methods.
• Prototyping and concept creation: manages the prototyping and concept creation process for high-impact projects. Applies advanced techniques, like interactive and complex prototyping in code, to validate and refine concepts. Provides guidance to junior team members.
• Service analysis: leads service analysis for high-impact projects, critically examining complex processes to identify opportunities for significant improvements. Coaches junior team members in service analysis techniques.
• Accessibility and inclusion: able to regularly apply accessibility standards to your work and begins to understand the broader aspects of inclusive design.
• Managing people and leading: capable of managing a small team, providing coaching and feedback.
• Communicate, persuade and advocate: actively engages with multiple stakeholder groups, presenting and defending UCD principles effectively. Skilled in tailoring the message for the audience.

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Service design - Level 4
• Prototyping and concept creation - Level 3
• Service analysis - Level 4
• Accessibility and inclusion - Level 3
• Managing people and leading - Level 3
• Communicate, persuade and advocate - Level 4

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £62,732, Home Office contributes

£18,173 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Why work for us...

Find out more information at : Benefits - Home Office Careers, but some of the primary ones are:

• 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.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service.
• 8 days of public holidays, plus 1 additional privilege day.
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.

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Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and 1000-word personal statement:

• CV – include a brief employment history outlining for each role, the organisation, job title, dates in post, and key responsibilities and achievements. Any recent employment gaps should be explained. A second section should set out the skills and experience most relevant to this role, drawing on your career, training, and other relevant activities without repeating the employment history. Focus on the evidence that best demonstrates your capability to meet the role requirements.
• Personal statement - this should present a clear and coherent narrative explaining why you are applying, what you would bring to the role, and how your experience meets the essential criteria. Use well ‑ chosen examples to illustrate your impact, drawing on STAR ‑ style thinking where helpful, but ensure the statement reads as a single, flowing document rather than a set of isolated responses.

To ensure you are assessed on merit alone, we ask you to anonymise your application. This means removing personal identifiers such as your name, age, and place of education. You do not need to remove your employment history, job titles, or any information about your work.

Watch our three short videos on how to apply for our roles: Applying - Home Office Careers.

Problems during the application process

If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application, please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website .

Do not create or attempt to submit another application, online test or use a different Civil Service Jobs account to proceed as this would be in violation of the candidate declaration.

Sift Stage

The sift will be held on the CV and the 1000 word Personal Statement . Please read the essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirements.

In the event of a high number of applications received, an initial sift may be held on the CV.

Interview Stage

Candidates reaching the required standard will then be invited to attend an interview. The interview will assess your Technical Skills (SFIA Framework) using Experience based questions.

You will be given a task to carry out before your interview. At the beginning of the interview, you will be asked to conduct a 10 minute presentation based on your task and then asked questions that explore your technical skills and experience. 

If you are invited to an interview, you will be required to bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks. Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Sift and Interview dates

The sift will commence from 27/10/2026.

Interviews are expected to take place from 11/11/2026. (Subject to the Panel’s operational requirements/priorities).

Interviews will be conducted remotely via MS Teams.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Further information

If you have previously made an unsuccessful application for a role with the same essential skills and are not able to demonstrate how you have developed these skills since your last application, please reconsider applying as your application is unlikely to be successful.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service/ Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms directly. If you are doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

Reserve List

A reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Reserve lists may be held for each location. Candidates will be appointed in merit order by loca