Service Designer (GDS)

Service Designer (User-Centred Design)

• Contract Length: 3 months
• Location: Remote, with occasional on-site attendance as required
• Sector: UK Central Government
• Start Date: ASAP

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Service Designer to join a central government digital team for a 3-month engagement. You will work within a multidisciplinary environment to design, map, and improve end-to-end services that meet user needs and align with Government Digital Service (GDS) standards.

The role requires strong user-centred design expertise, the ability to collaborate across policy, delivery, research, and technical teams, and experience shaping services that work effectively across multiple touchpoints and channels.

Key Responsibilities

• Work on the design of end-to-end services, ensuring they are user-centred, accessible, and aligned with GDS principles.
• Work closely with user researchers to translate insights into actionable service improvements.
• Map current and future state service journeys, identifying pain points, dependencies, and opportunities for improvement.
• Collaborate with product managers, business analysts, content designers, and technical teams to shape service direction.
• Facilitate workshops, co-design sessions, and stakeholder engagement activities.
• Produce clear artefacts such as service blueprints, journey maps, prototypes, and process flows.
• Support the team through discovery, Alpha, or beta phases, contributing to evidence-based decision-making.
• Ensure services meet accessibility, inclusivity, and usability standards.
• Communicate design decisions and rationale to senior stakeholders and non-design audiences.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Strong background in service design within user-centred design (UCD) environments.
• Experience working in UK central government or with GDS-aligned delivery teams.
• Proven ability to design and document complex services across multiple channels and systems.
• Skilled in creating service blueprints, journey maps, prototypes, and other design artefacts.
• Experience working within Agile, multidisciplinary teams.
• Ability to translate research insights into service improvements and strategic recommendations.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder-management skills.
• Understanding of accessibility standards and inclusive design.

Desirable Experience

• Experience working across discovery, Alpha, and beta phases.
• Familiarity with policy-driven or operationally complex services.
• Knowledge of systems thinking or organisational design approaches.
• Experience contributing to service assessments or preparing teams for GDS assessments.

Working Arrangements

• Remote-first, with occasional on-site meetings depending on project needs.
• 3-month contract with an immediate start.
• Full-time engagement within a collaborative, multidisciplinary government team.