Senior Service Designer

£61,793 - £65,163 (national) based on capability. The base salary of this grade is £55,403 (national). Offers made above this will be made up with a specialist pay allowance. Published on 19 January 2026..

Full‑time (Permanent)

We are recruiting for a Senior Service Designer to join the  Design System Team. The  Design System provides teams across government with the styles, components and patterns they need to design and build user‑centred digital services.

As a senior service designer, you will be working across the end‑to‑end experience of the Design System, collaborating closely with other disciplines to spot opportunities for improvement as we think about our role and growth in the context of a multi‑channel

As a user‑centred design practitioner, you’ll ensure that our products are consistently inclusive, accessible and easy to use for our users. You will also be expected to engage with our active community of users, working closely with our user researcher and community designer to continuously update our engagement practices and product offering.

These skills must be demonstrated in your cover letter and portfolio.

• Lead and coordinate service design work in your team, supporting other designers where necessary.
• Work effectively in a multidisciplinary, agile environment, adapting quickly to changes in requirements, priorities or user needs.
• Use research and analytics to understand users’ needs, identify service failures and test different designs.
• Design collaboratively and in the open, engaging your whole team with the design process and adapting it if necessary.
• Champion accessibility and inclusion, consider the impact of new technologies and ensure that designs meet legal requirements.
• Collaborate with designers in other teams and departments, reviewing each other’s work and developing shared patterns.

We’re interested in people who have:

• Experience in designing the full lifecycle of services for users in complex environments and for digital.
• Experience in making effective decisions with user research data.
• Experience of working with senior stakeholders and ability to negotiate important design decisions.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to adapt their style to different audiences.
• Experience of engaging with people in a variety of ways (e.g., workshops or co‑design activities) and at a variety of scales.
• An understanding of the importance of inclusive, equitable, accessible and sustainable public services.
• Experience of working in an agile, multidisciplinary and collaborative environment.
• Experience of guiding, supporting and mentoring others.

• Flexible hybrid working with flexi‑time and the option to work part‑time or condensed hours.
• A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days.
• An extra day off for the King’s birthday.
• An in‑year bonus scheme to recognise high performance.
• Career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development.
• A focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme.
• Job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK.
• Advances on pay, including for travel season tickets.
• Cycling to work scheme and facilities.
• Access to an employee discounts scheme.
• 10 learning days per year.
• Volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year).
• Access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning.

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. However, you may be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at

Office attendance The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non‑home based location for 40‑60% of the time over the…