Senior Interaction Designer (Conversation Design)

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 GOV.UK 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.

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

Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Machinery of Government changes: Fact Sheet - GOV.UK

Details on changes to the machinery of government

The Senior Interaction Designer (Conversation Design) on the GOV.UK AI team works across language, conversation, and data to design GOV.UK Chat and agentic experiences for GOV.UK. You'll care deeply about how emerging technologies can make people's experience of government simpler and more human. This is the first permanent conversation design role at GDS, and you'll help establish the discipline here.

As a Senior Interaction Designer (Conversation Design), you’ll:

• design conversational and multimodal AI experiences for GOV.UK that are clear, inclusive, and trustworthy
• prototype and test new dialogue patterns, prompts, and interaction flows with real users
• explore multiple approaches to solving user problems through conversation and natural language
• communicate design decisions clearly, sharing rationale with teammates and stakeholders
• feed into the development of AI conversation design principles and reusable dialogue patterns for government
• collaborate closely with product, research, engineering, and other designers to deliver joined-up services
• help establish conversation design as a discipline at GDS, contributing to a community of practice, sharing knowledge across teams, and helping others develop their skills in this emerging area

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)

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process: we ask for your CV, with 2 role-specific questions, and a link to your portfolio.
• a 60 minute video interview, where you will be asked to present some of your work and answer questions about your experience

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

While we value the use of AI technology to enhance our daily work, we also value the personal touch and urge applicants to write cover letters without the use of AI to emphasise their own unique experiences.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is: designing usable, accessible digital products with a focus on conversational or voice interfaces.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• working together
• making effective decisions
• communicating and influencing
• delivering at pace

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Senior Interaction Designer (conversation design) role:

• Design communication
• Designing for everyone
• Designing strategically
• Designing together
• Evidence-based design
• Iterative design
• Leading design

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: 7/12/2026

Panel interviews: W/C 14/12/2026

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

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