Lead Service Designer – Transformation
Salary: £49,764 - £53,817
Grade: N
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 37 per week
Location: Hybrid / Office location can be at one of our 4 hubs – Northallerton, Scarborough, Harrogate and Selby
Are you passionate about transforming services and enhancing user experiences?
Do you thrive in a dynamic and innovative environment?
Would you like to work alongside a talented team dedicated to making a real impact on the lives of North Yorkshire's customers?
If the answer is yes, then we want to hear from you!
About the role
We are looking for a Lead Service Designer to join our Service Design and Digital Adoption team within the Transformation department.
This is your chance to be at the forefront of innovation, setting high standards and fostering a culture of creativity. As a Lead Service Designer, you'll guide the design of complex services with a user-centric approach, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to uncover opportunities for transformation. You'll be the ambassador for service design, championing best practices and cutting-edge methodologies, and facilitating workshops and training sessions that inspire and elevate the entire council workforce!
About us
The Transformation team at North Yorkshire Council is at the heart of all planned change programmes, driving efficiency and effectiveness to deliver better customer experiences and continuous improvements. Following the unification of eight local government organisations into one authority in April 2023, we support 10,500 staff and 625,000 citizens.
Our Service Design and Digital Adoption team is dedicated to designing council services that are accessible, efficient, and aligned with our operating model. We lead on user experience (UX) practice and deliver in-house developed products and automation tools to support service transformation.
You'll collaborate with the Head of Service Design and Digital Adoption and service owners as well as service product managers, and digital and automation analysts. Together, we work with various stakeholders, including employees, customers, and third parties, as well as NYC’s centralised support teams such as legal, property, procurement, technology, and HR.
Recent projects the team have delivered include:
- Digital council services – these include online services such as highway fault reporting, Blue Badge applications, and waste and parking permits. We have also implemented a comprehensive 'Contact Us' solution and developed a location checker to help direct users to area-specific web content.
- Household support fund – delivering a digital process that allows eligible residents to apply for financial support quickly and easily.
- Self-service IT portal – an online platform that allows staff to find answers to their questions and resolve issues independently, without needing to contact a support agent.
- Chatbot - an interactive tool that allows users to get answers to their questions and resolve issues through automated conversations, without needing to contact a support agent.
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA) - a technology that automates repetitive tasks and processes, enhancing user experience by reducing manual effort and increasing efficiency.
About you
We are looking for a passionate and experienced individual to join our team as a Lead Service Designer. You should have a deep understanding of service design principles, practices, and methods, gained through formal education, professional training, or hands-on experience. You may have come from a background in service management or Business analysis discipline with experience in designing and delivering service changes, or managing service design projects in large organizations.
The successful candidate will:
- Be educated to degree level (Level 5) or equivalent experience.
- Have evidence of ongoing commitment to continuing professional development (CPD).
- Have significant experience in leading the design of complex and interdependent services, ensuring alignment with user needs and organizational objectives.
- Possess a strong background in stakeholder engagement, with the ability to build positive relationships and influence senior leaders to adopt user-centred design principles.
- Have experience in coaching and mentoring team members, fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
- Be skilled in utilizing a range of service design tools and techniques, such as user journeys, prototyping, and user research.
- Have a good understanding of local authority policies, procedures, and relevant legislation relating to service operation.
- Be knowledgeable about UX analysis techniques, including user stories, customer journey mapping, personas, and service blueprints.
- Have experience working to Government Digital Service Standards.
As a North Yorkshire Council employee, you will have access to some great benefits via our everybody benefits scheme such as shopping discounts, home technology and green car salary sacrifice schemes, financial wellbeing and health assured and our employee assistance programme to assist with your health and wellbeing. You will also have access to a favourable local government pension scheme and flexible working options.
For more information about our role please contact Anne-Louise Arkle, anne-louise.arkle@northyorks.gov.uk, 01609 533050.
Key dates:
Closing Date: 26th January 2025
Interviews: 3rd February 2025
Key Documents:
NYC are committed to directly recruiting staff and will not accept applications nor services from agency suppliers in respect of our vacancies.
We are committed to meeting the needs of our diverse community and aim to have a workforce reflecting this diversity. We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
North Yorkshire Council (NYC) advertise vacancies on behalf of schools and external organisations (third parties) in North Yorkshire. NYC are not responsible for the recruitment/employment practices of third parties and accept no liability in relation to the vacancy and any subsequent recruitment/employment processes. Enquiries regarding the vacancy or practices should be made directly with the third party.
North Yorkshire Councils’ purpose is to deliver services and facilities to the diverse residents and visitors of North Yorkshire. To ensure we deliver inclusive services we strive to have a diverse workforce where everybody can be themselves by respecting differences and embedding equality of opportunity. We celebrate diversity and recognise each other’s contributions; we therefore welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds.
North Yorkshire Council are committed to the health and safety of our employees and of others including the general public. It has a responsibility to ensure employees who hold a position that is deemed to be safety critical as it requires the performance of duties which are directly related to the safe operation or security of a facility, piece of equipment or vehicle, handling of chemicals or work at height or in confined spaces and which, if not performed properly, could result in a serious safety risk or environmental hazard to employees, a facility or the general public , do not attend work whilst under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Individuals offered employment with North Yorkshire Council will be subject to the Workplace Substance Misuse policy. For safety critical roles as detailed above, random alcohol and drug testing may take place during the course of employment.