Head of User Centred Design

£69,501 per year, Candidates based in Yeading will receive the London Weighting allowance of £4,000

Contract Type:

Permanent

Hours:

Full time

Disability Confident:

Yes

Closing Date:

13/02/2026

The Head of User Centered Design is a key Digital and Data role in DVSA. It is also the head of profession for all User Centered Design Roles recognised in the Government Digital and Data Professions framework within the Agency.

This role is responsible for the agency wide strategy and approach to User Centered Design to ensure the agency can deliver its outcomes, both as part of the DVSA strategy as well as that of DfT Group Digital strategy and the Blueprint for a modern digital government.

Every service DVSA delivers either is or is becoming digitally enabled, from the applications and processes for driving and vehicle tests accessed by millions of Great Britain citizens and businesses every year right through to internal applications for internal users.

You will lead a growing team of User Centred Design professionals across all areas of the agency.

This role ensures that all services have access to the appropriate skills, capacity and practices which aids in making enable evidence-based decision making.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:
Employer pension contribution of
28.97% of your salary.

25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays, a privilege day for the King’s birthday, and flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below. Find out more about what it's like working at Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.

• Lead the User Centred Design (UCD) function, inspiring others and creating a team that makes individuals feel proud to be a member, regardless of direct reporting lines.
• Working closely with business leads, implementing significant business and cultural changes across the agency, through the harnessing of UCD tools to ensure decisions including policy direction are based on evidence.
• Accountable for the development and ongoing management of communities of practice relevant to User Centred Design.
• Lead the recruitment, on-boarding and enablement of a sustainable UCD capability across the agency, and a complementary culture change strategy to widen all staff’s awareness of UCD approaches and tools.
• Underpin the delivery and iteration of services with effective UCD services ensuring that performance data and user research drives the delivery and improvement of individual services and increases the quality of management information throughout the organisation.
• Work with the leadership community to apply innovative approaches and ways of working to programmes and into strategic planning and service design.
• Work with leadership teams build in practices to measure business value through tangible measures linked to business performance, customer satisfaction and long‑term value creation.
• Demonstrate leadership by providing influence, direction and guidance to staff to support the delivery of objectives.
• Establish a strong direction and a persuasive future vision; manage and engage with honesty and integrity, and uphold the reputation of the Agency, Department and Civil Service. Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need.
• We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile.

Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only.

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