Service Design & Transformation

Service Design & Transformation - 6-Month Contract - £500 to £550pd - Fully Remote

We are seeking an experienced Service Designer to play a key role within a major transformation programme. This is an opportunity for a passionate user-centred design practitioner to shape and improve services that deliver meaningful outcomes for users, stakeholders and the organisation.

The successful candidate will lead multidisciplinary teams through discovery, service mapping, service blueprinting, prototyping and testing, helping define problems clearly before designing and validating solutions. This role is ideal for someone whose primary discipline is Service Design and User-Centred Design (UCD), rather than project delivery, PMO or change management.

You will champion user-centred ways of working, facilitate collaboration across diverse stakeholder groups, and build the capability of others to adopt evidence-led service design approaches.

Key Responsibilities

Lead service design activities across discovery, alpha and iterative delivery phases.
Facilitate workshops and collaborative sessions that bring together users, stakeholders and delivery teams to build shared understanding and momentum.
Guide multidisciplinary teams through complex problem-solving and transformation initiatives.
Create and maintain service maps, service blueprints, journey maps and other design artefacts that support decision-making.
Use research, data, analytics and operational insight to identify problems, opportunities and improvement initiatives.
Design, develop and test prototypes, ensuring ideas are validated before wider implementation.
Balance user needs, organisational objectives and operational considerations when shaping service improvements.
Advocate for and embed user-centred design practices across teams and stakeholders.
Help teams navigate ambiguity, define problems effectively and focus on meaningful outcomes.
Support capability development, coaching colleagues in service design methods and best practice.
Work closely with researchers, business stakeholders, technical teams and delivery colleagues to ensure services meet user needs and organisational goals.
Contribute to the continuous improvement of service design practices, tools and standards.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
Essential

Strong practical experience in Service Design, User-Centred Design (UCD) and process mapping.
Proven experience leading service design activities within complex organisational or digital transformation programmes.
Excellent facilitation skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders, users and delivery teams effectively.
Experience delivering sustainable process improvements and business change initiatives.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, using evidence to understand issues and identify opportunities.
Experience working within multidisciplinary teams, managing differing viewpoints and reaching effective outcomes.
Ability to plan and lead discovery activities, experimentation and iterative design approaches.
Experience applying user research, feedback, analytics and operational insight to inform decision-making.
Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate and balance technical, operational and business requirements.
Ability to make evidence-based design decisions and confidently explore multiple solution options.
Experience of creating and testing prototypes using appropriate methods and tools.
Strategic thinking with the ability to focus on long-term outcomes rather than short-term activities.
Strong understanding of accessible and inclusive service design principles.
Experience using collaborative digital tools such as Microsoft 365, Teams, Trello or similar platforms.
Ability to build capability in others and promote user-centred, outcome-focused ways of working.Desirable

Familiarity with the Government Service Standard or similar service design frameworks.
Experience working within Agile environments and understanding of Agile delivery practices and tools.
Knowledge of Lean, Lean Startup, Lean Six Sigma or continuous improvement methodologies.
Experience working in public sector, digital transformation or service improvement environments.
Professional certifications in Service Design, User-Centred Design or related disciplines.
We are looking for someone who is:

A strong advocate for user-centred design and service improvement.
Comfortable operating in complex environments with ambiguity and competing priorities.
Collaborative, curious and evidence-driven.
Skilled at bringing people together to solve problems and create better outcomes.
Passionate about designing services that work for both users and the organisation.
Able to influence stakeholders and drive the adoption of modern service design practices.

Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at (url removed)
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed