Junior Content Designer (Ref: 21938)

This position can be based at 102 PETTY FRANCE (MOJ) LONDON, SW1H 9AJ, National

HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Job Title:

Junior Content Designer

Grade:

HEO

Directorate:

Digital Delivery

Location:

National or London

Contract Type:

Permanent

Working Pattern:

Full-time/ Part-time/ Flexible Working

Successful applicants will be expected to be office based 3 days per week in any HMCTS Office (subject to business availability).

Introduction

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice. We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and want to make a difference in people’s lives in delivering justice. If you’re interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply.

Background

The User-Centered Design Team at HMCTS is redesigning and rebuilding our courts and tribunal services around the needs of our users – ensuring our services are accessible, easy to use, digital (where necessary and appropriate) and well supported for all users.

We are a portfolio function and provide expertise in a range of areas, including user research, accessibility, designing, prototyping and optimising user experiences across all channels. Our support ranges from research and analysis, embedding designers, researchers and analysts in projects, providing consultancy and advice, to designing tools and frameworks.

The User-Centered Design Team works with HMCTS projects and programmes to support our core design principle of being user-led in everything we do. As designers, we work closely with researchers, analysts and frontline staff to understand pain points for our internal and external users, then design, test and iterate consistent ways to fix these issues.

Job description

We are looking for a Junior Content Designer who is passionate about developing digital content that meet user needs and are simple enough for everyone to use.

In this role you will design inclusive and accessible content, working alongside other user-centred design professionals. You will own the content and its quality throughout a user’s journey and be comfortable using evidence, data and research to back up your decisions.

You will be expected to share knowledge and actively participate in the HMCTS content community and cross-government content groups. You will work with other content designers to manage content requests from stakeholders and help develop publishing processes.

Your role as Junior Content Designer will encompass several key responsibilities listed below (but not limited to):

• be a key part of the publishing service within the support the content design team, publishing guidance content to the GOV.UK website
• use best practice and standards to write clear and accessible content, consistent with the rest of government and HMCTS
• use evidence, research and data to identify user issues and write and map user stories
• work collaboratively with other designers to agree the right design approach to improve service processes and performance
• work with and influence stakeholders to deliver clear and relevant user-centred content, explaining content decisions and managing policy and legal checks
• engage with, and contribute to, the HMCTS and cross-government content design communities
• help colleagues and stakeholders understand what content design is, why it’s important and how to work with content designers

Essential skills

• creating and improving content based on user needs
• working with other designers to create clear user journeys to and from content
• making complex language and processes easy to understand
• working with stakeholders to understand their goals
• influencing stakeholders to make sure content is user-centred, usable and accessible
• applying content standards and style guidelines to your work
• using evidence and data to identify user needs and inform content decisions
• explaining your design decisions and approach to stakeholders
• reviewing content to make sure design standards and accessibility requirements are met, providing attention to detail
• working in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines

The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates.

Desirable skills

• working in agile teams
• working on end-to-end services
• working to the government service standard and GOV.UK content standards

Application process:

This role will be recruited using a combination of Government Digital and Data (GDD) Profession Capability Framework and Success Profiles Frameworks during the sift and interview process. Using GDD we will then determine if you will be paid an additional allowance, on top of your basic salary.

This role is within the User-Centered Design Job Family, is a content design role at HEO level, but carries the title Junior Content Designer within DTS.

Stage 1 - Sift:

To apply for this position, you must submit the following as part of your application:

• An anonymisedCV, setting out your career history, key responsibilities and achievements. Your CV will be assessed against the essential criteria outlined within the Essential Skills section of this advert.
• A Statement of Suitability which shouldgive us real life examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. We recommend following the STAR format.

Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift may be conducted on the CV. Candidates who pass the pre-sift will be fully assessed on all the sift criteria.

Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply - Application Guidance

Stage 2 - Interviews:

Successful candidates who passed the sift will be invited to interview via Microsoft Teams. At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours:

• Working together
• Communicating and influencing
• Changing and improving
• Delivering at pace

You will be expected to align your answers to the Government Digital and Data (GDD) Capability Framework

You will also be asked to complete a practical content exercise and answer follow up questions.

For further guidance on the interview process please click here

Important information

Salary details

New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum.

Existing Civil Servants applying on promotion, will usually be appointed on the salary minimum of the new pay band, or receive an increase of 10 percent on the current base salary, whichever is higher (This is restricted to the pay maximum of the new band).

Travel requirements

If based National, there will be a requirement to travel monthly to London. If London based, you will be required to work 3 days from 102 Petty France.

Skilled Worker Sponsorship

This role does not meet the eligibility criteria for sponsorship in accordance with the current immigration rules if you are looking to apply for a Skilled Worker Visa for the first time.

The Department cannot consider sponsoring you for this role unless you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously since before 22 July 2025. If you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously, please raise this during your vetting checks and eligibility will be assessed in accordance with the immigration rules and transitional provisions in place.

If you are applying for this role and you do not meet the new eligibility criteria for sponsorship (or the transitional provisions), you will need to consider your options for obtaining and/or maintaining your right to work in the UK in light of these changes. Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.

The Department will continue to comply with UK Immigration Rules applied in the UK and Civil Service. You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and the eligibility criteria here.

Proud to Serve. Proud to keep justice going.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.