Skip to main contentSenior Interaction Designer
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Apply before 11:55 pm on Tuesday 26th September 2023
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About the job
Job summary
Here at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives.
Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we are all a part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you are thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time.
The department has circa 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK.
The Funding Service Design team is part of the Digital Directorate in DLUHC, a department which delivers billions of pounds of funding to local authorities, community groups and housing organisations across multiple funds and programmes.
To ensure funding has maximum impact, we're improving the experience of those delivering and receiving our funding, ensuring good governance and risk management, and establishing robust monitoring and evaluation that directly informs future programme design. Key to this improvement work is our commitment to build a new digital service for the full funding lifecycle and, as the Senior Interaction Designer in the Funding Service Design team, you'll play a critical role in delivering this commitment.
To find out more about the work of the Funding Service Design team, visit our blog.
We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.
Please read before applying:
Important - To apply for this role you will need to submit a CV and covering letter. These need to be merged into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. There are further details in the Selection Process section further below in this advert.
Job description
As a Senior Interaction Designer, you’ll:
- Work as part of a multidisciplinary team to design end-to-end services that meet the needs of all users
- Lead the creation of design concepts, patterns and standards that scale across complex service areas
- Create, test and iterate service prototypes using a variety of methods
- Coach and support team members and colleagues outside your team to embed best practice in user-centred design
- Contribute to the user-centred design community at DLUHC, supporting other designers through crits, as well as sharing knowledge on design tools, user-centred design practices and current trends in interaction design
- Collaborate with user researchers to understand the needs of the users in a specific area and find ways to meet those needs
- Assess mapped out user journeys and processes to help identify and solve design problems
Person specification
As a Senior Interaction Designer, you’ll:
- Have significant experience of designing services that meet the needs of users across different channels
- Have significant experience of creating service prototypes, selecting from a variety of methods, including prototyping in code
- Be able to lead the creation of design patterns that can be used across multiple services
- Have a strong understanding and working knowledge of inclusive design and digital accessibility
- Be able to identify, validate and design within constraints and delivery timescales
- Be able to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team and communicate effectively with technical and non-technical experts
- Be able to influence and coach others in user-centred design standards and best practice
- Have experience of working in an agile environment
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:
Any move to DLUHC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
We are for everyone
At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation.
We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role.
CV and Cover Letter Declaration
We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment.
Please remove references to your:
- name/title
- educational institutions
- age
- gender
- email address
- postal address
- phone number
- nationality/immigration status
You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter.
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors.
At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:
- Technical
- Experience
Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description.
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:
- Ability
- Technical
Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description
Candidates who are shortlisted for interview may also be asked to do a presentation or additional tests. Further details will be provided following sift.
In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements:
- Experience
- Ability
- Technical
We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs
Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.
Grade 7 salary
- The salary for this role is £49,697 (National).
- For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable.
Locations
(Newcastle, Darlington, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Cambridge and Bristol)
There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.
*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service. This role is based at DLUHC and we will be joined on the campus by:
- HM Treasury
- Department for International Trade
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
- Office for National Statistics
- Department for Education
Sift and Interview dates
Sifting is envisaged to take place the week following the closing date with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.
Reserve List
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.
Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules
Fixed Term Details:
For external candidates– you will be offered a 23 months fixed term appointment with a possibility of permanency.
For existing civil servants – you will be offered a 23 months loan opportunity. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your parent department to take up a loan appointment should you be successful.
For DLUHC employees - you will retain your existing contract
Candidate Pack Information
Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.
For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register
Please note feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
UK nationals
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : DDaT Recruitment Team
- Email : DDaTrecruitment@levellingup.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : DDaTrecruitment@levellingup.gov.uk
