Senior Service Designer - Government Digital Service - G7

£55,403 up to £65,163 with additional pay allowance
Published on

Full-time (Permanent) £55,403 up to £65,163 with additional pay allowance
Published on 20 January 2026

Bristol, Manchester

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

• joining up public sector services
• harnessing the power of AI for the public good
• strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
• elevating leadership and investing in talent
• funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
• committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading  and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

This is a chance to work on services that matter, at a huge scale, with people who value design.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

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-centered 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 be ensuring 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.

As a Senior Service Designer you’ll:

• 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 (eg, 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