Senior service designer

Band 7 · Service designer · 475 job evaluation points

UK GDaD PCF level: Senior service designer

Most often performed at Civil Service grade SEO or G7.

A senior service designer is an experienced designer who works with minimal support and can influence and mentor others.
At this role level, you will:
work with service managers and programme directors to develop design concepts
potentially have responsibility across complex services
help set direction and embed good practice within teams
make important decisions based on research and understand how this research impacts others

Contains public sector information from the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (https://understand-digital-data-roles-skills.service.gov.uk/), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.

Responsibilities

Lead the design of complex services that span several care settings or organisations.
Shape the service vision with clinical, operational, and digital leaders.
Design new service models that improve safety, access, and equity, and test them with real users.
Make sure service changes are assessed for clinical risk, equality, and information governance effects.
Mentor designers and embed service design practice in teams.

Skills

Skill	Expected level	What this level means
Design communicationUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: clearly explain complex problems and ideas to teams or stakeholders clearly document and communicate design decisions, related risks and any unresolved issues
Designing for everyoneUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: advise teams on how to design inclusive, accessible and environmentally sustainable content or services design and deliver ethical content or services that consider the personal and social context of users ensure your design work meets appropriate standards, for example accessibility regulations
Designing strategicallyUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: develop a strategy defining the purpose, impact and stages of your work to design content or services, aligning it with wider goals use risks, opportunities and constraints in technology, systems and policy to shape your design work identify and create new design patterns and components
Designing togetherUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: advise others how to effectively plan and run design sessions with a team, users or stakeholders adapt a design session to ensure you achieve a useful outcome build consensus around a design approach, for example by challenging assumptions work across team or profession boundaries, for example with policy teams
Evidence-based designUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: independently find, analyse and synthesise evidence from trusted sources work collaboratively with researchers, analysts and other specialists to design appropriate research and analyse the results help your team use design hypotheses effectively use complex research and data to develop and test design ideas
Iterative designUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: help other designers apply iterative design principles and agile methodologies to their work and create materials to test their ideas adapt designs effectively to changes in requirements, priorities or user needs help your team to define a minimum viable product (MVP) and determine what to prioritise for iteration
Leading designUK GDaD PCF	Working (2)	You can: lead and coordinate design work in your team, with support communicate the value of user-centred design to your team or others in your organisation support other designers work with digital and data leaders in your organisation, when needed
Understanding health and care servicesThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: analyse how a service fits into care pathways across organisations work with clinicians, care staff, and patients to shape digital services explain the effect of digital decisions on care, safety, and staff workload
Equality, diversity, and inclusionThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: carry out equality impact assessments build inclusive teams and practices
Information governance and data protectionThis reference	Working (2)	You can: apply data protection principles to your work contribute to data protection impact assessments handle information requests and records correctly
Clinical risk managementThis reference	Working (2)	You can: take part in hazard workshops and contribute to a hazard log follow the clinical risk management process for your work provide evidence for a clinical safety case, such as test results
Designing for clinical safety and human factorsThis reference	Working (2)	You can: design interfaces that make the safe action the easy action, for example by reducing ambiguous labels and needless alerts test designs in realistic clinical scenarios, including interruptions and time pressure raise design-related hazards with the clinical safety officer and record how designs control them

Typical qualifications and experience

Substantial experience of service design, at a level equivalent to a master's degree.

Band 7 outline

Knowledge: Highly developed specialist knowledge, typically to master's level or equivalent experience.
Autonomy: Works to organisational policy; decides how results are achieved; is the expert others consult.
Scope: Several products or services, or a specialist function.
Leadership: Leads a team or a professional practice area.
Accountability: Delivery of a service or specialist function, and its budget if held.

Job evaluation (illustrative)

Factor	Level	Level summary	Points
Communication and relationship skills	5	Gives highly complex or contentious information needing developed persuasion and negotiation, presents to large groups, or communicates where there are significant barriers to acceptance.	45
Knowledge, training, and experience	6	Specialist knowledge across the range of the specialism (postgraduate diploma level or equivalent).	156
Analytical and judgemental skills	4	Judgements on complex facts or situations needing analysis, interpretation, and comparison of options.	42
Planning and organisational skills	4	Plans a broad range of complex activities or strategies, adjusting them as needed.	42
Physical skills	3	Developed skills needing speed or accuracy, such as advanced keyboard use.	27
Responsibility for patient and client care	1	Helps patients, clients, or relatives during incidental contact.	4
Responsibility for policy and service development	3	Implements policies for own area and proposes changes that affect other areas.	21
Responsibility for financial and physical resources	2	Handles cash or valuables, looks after equipment used by others, controls stock, or authorises small payments.	12
Responsibility for people	3	Manages a group of staff day to day, teaches core or specialist training, or gives core HR advice.	21
Responsibility for information resources	5	Designs and develops major information systems, or runs information systems for several services as the main duty.	34
Responsibility for research and development	2	Regularly does research, development, trials, or equipment and system testing as part of the job.	12
Freedom to act	4	Results are defined, but the job holder decides how to achieve them, within broad policy.	32
Physical effort	1	Sitting, standing, and walking, with little physical effort.	3
Mental effort	3	Frequent concentration on unpredictable work, or occasional prolonged concentration.	12
Emotional effort	1	Rare exposure, or occasional indirect exposure, to distressing circumstances.	5
Working conditions	2	Occasional unpleasant conditions, frequent travel or outdoor work, or near-continuous screen use on most days.	7
Total (Band 7: 466 to 539)			475