Senior Service Designer

Are you passionate about designing services that support millions across the UK?

Interested in driving some of the country’s most significant transformational changes?

If so, this could be the role for you.

At DWP Digital & Transformation, we offer meaningful careers for those who want to use their skills to improve lives. As part of the UK’s largest government department, we support over 22 million people each day, from helping them find work to supporting them through some of life’s most difficult moments.

We're looking for Senior Service Designers to join us and help shape the future of DWP services. You’ll work with design teams and stakeholders to explore problems, test ideas and deliver better outcomes for users.

This is more than a design role; it’s a chance to enable others to design better services too. You’ll collaborate with policy, product, delivery, and operational teams to align goals, clarify problems, and ultimately create services that are inclusive, resilient, and responsive to change.

You’ll be part of a supportive and growing Service Design community that values openness, learning, and practical problem-solving.

We are recruiting multiple roles. If successful, you could be placed in one of the following areas:

Health and Disability focuses on providing simple, responsive services and making timely, accurate and understandable decisions that help people get the support they need.

Working Age Services - Benefit Administration. WAS Benefit Administration is responsible for the ongoing development and modernisation of all employment-related benefits, including Universal Credit. Their responsibility is for both agent and claimant service delivery and the future strategic direction of these benefit lines.

Debt Management is responsible for recovering debt owed to the Department that has arisen through benefit payments. Its focus is to deliver services that balance effective debt recovery with an understanding of, and responsiveness to, the differing circumstances of citizens, ensuring repayments are fair and sustainable.

Digital Payment Services underpins the UK’s largest payment operation, working with government and industry partners to modernise payment services through digitally-enabled design.

Digital Channels sits within the wider Customer Contact, Fraud, Error and Debt (CCFED) directorate, whose focus is on enterprise services. Digital Channels owns the strategy, design, delivery, optimisation and performance of customer and agent-facing digital channels, including DWP's GOV.UK content, self-serve customer account and GOV.UK App, telephony and postal routes.

As a Senior Service Designer, you will:

• Drive awareness of service performance and improvement opportunities to improve service outcomes and solve complex problems.
• Use user needs, business and policy goals, and use storytelling and visualisations to articulate whole services; end-to-end, front-to-back, and across business areas or departments.
• Share your knowledge of service design in practice to advocate for user-centred ways of working. Establish and maintain service design workflows, including guidance, tools and patterns, to support your teams' outcomes.
• Lead communication with stakeholders at varying levels of seniority and facilitate conversations, collaboration and consensus that support the team strategy, drive decision-making and achieve outcomes across teams and business areas.
• Be capable of leading small multi-disciplinary teams to establish service design methods, lead workshops and use design patterns to support strategy and decision-making across the team or business area.
• Support the DWP service design community by contributing to meet-ups to create connections and share work openly, actively supporting and mentoring team members, promoting the capability of service design in and beyond the department, and participating in recruitment activities.

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)

Stage 1: Application

Your application will consist of three parts:

1. A Personal Details application form.

2. Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed based on the essential criteria.

3. Personal statement - up to 1000 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria listed in the Person specification.

Ensure that all examples provided in your statement are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statement, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide.

The sift panel will use the information in your employment history and personal statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge against the essential criteria.

You will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your CV and Personal Statement.

An initial sift will be conducted using the lead criterion stated above. Candidates who pass the initial sift will progress to a full sift.

For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.

Important Information

• You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
• Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
• If your employment history/personal statement contains any personal details your application will be withdrawn.

Stage 2: Interview

If you’re successful at sift stage you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the experiences listed in the essential criteria.

You will be asked to deliver a 10 minute presentation on a specific topic. Further details will be provided to candidates invited to interview.

Interviews will take place from Late October 2026. Interview dates to be confirmed.

Questions in Advance

To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the interview questions in advance of the interview, at least 5 days prior to your interview. These questions should be treated as confidential and should not be shared. The interview panel may ask you other questions which will not be shared in advance, including follow-up questions, and those about your experience and abilities. Candidates may be asked further probing questions if their response is deemed to require further information to determine suitability for the role.

Candidates are strongly encouraged to secure their interview slot promptly to ensure fairness in preparation time with the questions provided in advance.

Other information:

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

Following interview, successful candidates will be placed on a single merit list. Roles will be allocated in strict merit order, considering your location preferences and the number of vacancies available in each location.

For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed.

Further Information​

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note:

• If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual Part Time Working Pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in cases of serious ill health).
• If DWP makes an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list.

Disability Confident Scheme

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

Reasonable Adjustments

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Integrity, plagiarism and Civil Service Principles

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles.

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.

Examples of plagiarism can include:

• Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own
• Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own

Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks

To process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check will be carried out.

Important

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks.

Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWP’s Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role.

Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions.

Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary.

Any move to DWP 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 the Childcare Choices Website.

For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page.

Feedback

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