Senior Service Designer

Join our Service Design Team as a Senior Service Designer to collaborate with stakeholders on innovative design concepts that meet our business goals and the needs of our users. You will test new designs, enhance user experience, and improve operational efficiency. In this pivotal role, you will mentor peers and leverage your service design expertise to inform decisions that ensure our services are accessible and inclusive.

Social Security Scotland, an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government, is undertaking the largest and most complex IT and digital change programme since devolution. With a lifetime budget of over £300m, Social Security Scotland is delivering a social security system that will support the people of Scotland for decades to come.

We aim to develop within Social Security Scotland, a positive and inclusive culture, which supports our people to flourish, by embedding a working environment where we all treat each other with dignity and respect, and recognise each other’s contributions.

A Senior Service Designer is an experienced designer who works with minimal support and can influence and mentor others.

At this role level, you will:

• work with managers and directors to develop design concepts.
• potentially have responsibility across complex services.
• help set direction and embed good practice within teams.
• make important decisions based on research and understand how this research impacts others.
• raise awareness of how to make services accessible and inclusive.
• engage with and contribute to the Scottish Government service design community of practice.

DDaT Pay Supplement 
This post is part of the Scottish Government Digital, Data and Technology (DDAT) profession and as a member of the profession you will join the professional development system.  This post currently attracts a £5,000 annual DDAT pay supplement, applicable after a 3 months competency qualifying period. The payment will be backdated to your start date in the role. Pay supplements are reviewed regularly and there is one currently underway. Changes will be communicated when the review is concluded.

• Collaborate in agile teams to manage, evaluate, and visualise outcomes while prioritising tasks and defining project scope.
• Assist the team in selecting optimal processes, delivery methods, and approaches for project execution.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive design documentation throughout the project lifecycle.
• Listen to and interpret the needs of both technical and non-technical stakeholders, managing their expectations effectively.
• Facilitate challenging discussions within the team and with diverse senior stakeholders.
• Foster collaboration by actively networking and creating connections to enhance service design.
• Incorporate feedback to improve team dynamics and service design effectiveness.
• Apply digital understanding to create inclusive services catering to diverse users.
• Design integrated systems for multiple services, focusing on simplicity and accessibility.
• Utilise evidence to inform iterations and testing processes for continuous improvement.
• Build consensus among stakeholders and facilitate motivation within the team.
• Make informed decisions while managing risk and complexity, guiding others in sound design choices.
• Share best practices, coach colleagues, and strategically recommend tools and methodologies.
• Continually assess and adapt designs to meet evolving user needs and business requirements.
• Identify, communicate, and navigate constraints while ensuring compliance with established standards.

Success Profiles
We use an assessment framework called ‘Success Profiles’ which lists the elements we test and provides detailed descriptions of each.  Find out more about how we assess the Success Profile elements

Essential Experience
• You can apply strategic thinking in the design, delivery and improvement of customer focused services, end-to-end. You are experienced in meeting the needs of users across a variety of channels and you can lead the design and implementation of effective services, ensuring customer and employee needs and expectations are considered alongside business goals.
• You understand the psychology of a team, have strong mediation skills and can solve and unblock design issues between teams or areas of business at all levels. You work successfully within a team upholding the values of dignity fairness and respect.

Technical skills
This role is aligned to Senior Service Designer within the Digital, Data and Technology Profession. Please review the following to understand the skill expectations