Interaction Designer

Job summary

At The National Archives, we safeguard, preserve and open up the UK’s documentary heritage, from born digital government records to court judgments and historic datasets. Our work supports democratic accountability, strengthens the public’s right to know, and enables researchers, legal professionals and the public to explore evidence that shapes our collective memory. You’ll join the Access to Digital Records team to design inclusive, intuitive services that make this heritage usable at scale and with confidence.

Why this role matters:

We’re progressing a significant programme of user experience improvements across two high profile services:
• Find Case Law — evolving search and discovery to keep pace with a rapidly growing corpus of judgments.
• Access Your Records — scaling search, rendering and accessibility so born digital public records are easier to discover and use.

These changes need dedicated interaction design expertise to deliver at pace while safeguarding quality, accessibility and trust.

What you’ll do:

• Design end to end journeys, flows, wireframes and prototypes; iterate with user research and data led insight.
• Apply accessibility first principles (WCAG 2.2), progressive enhancement and web standards to ensure our services work for everyone.
• Collaborate in agile, multi disciplinary teams; partner with engineers to turn designs into robust, performant interfaces.
• Contribute to shared patterns and libraries (e.g. Figma); participate in critiques, show and tells and our internal design community.
• Communicate design decisions clearly to colleagues and external stakeholders, supporting a culture of inclusive, user centred design.

What you’ll bring:

• Solid experience of user centred and interaction design for complex or live services.
• Strong prototyping skills and clear documentation that makes implementation straightforward.
• Confidence working with user researchers, interpreting findings and iterating designs.
• Practical understanding of accessibility and inclusion (WCAG 2.2).
• Experience collaborating in agile teams and contributing to shared design practices.

Desirable: familiarity with GOV.UK Design System patterns and service standard assessments.

Job description

Full job description attached (see below).

Person specification

Working pattern & eligibility:

This role is based at Kew with hybrid working; most staff spend at least 60% of their time on site (more when new to role or during development phases).

This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department.

Applicants must be resident in the UK and eligible to work in the UK Civil Service.

What we offer:

• The chance to design services with real public value and long term impact.
• A supportive, collaborative design community and opportunities to mentor and be mentored.
• Flexible, hybrid working with our base at Kew.

How to apply:

Interviews will take place onsite in Kew week commencing 23rd February 2026. The interview will include a technical element.

Please upload your CV and a short statement telling us a specific piece of interaction design work you personally contributed to ( this could be in a work, academic or personal context) in the last 18 months.

Describe:
1. the context (service, problem, your role),
2. the part you played — for example, insights you brought, options you sketched, questions you raised, or evidence you surfaced,
3. a moment where you influenced the team’s direction (even if you were not the decision maker),
4. one constraint or accessibility consideration you had to work within, and
5. what you learned that you would apply to future work.

If available, include links to representative work that show your process as well as outcomes.

SC clearance/willingness to obtain SC clearance will be required for this role. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years. Please do not apply if you have been resident in the UK for less than three years as your application will be rejected.

Sponsorship:

We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,000, The National Archives contributes £11,008 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development.

Any move to The National Archives 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;

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Reasonable adjustments:

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact The National Archives via careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance required” 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

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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 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)

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

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.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : The Talent Acquisition Team
• Email : careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk
• Telephone : 02039855979

Recruitment team

• Email : careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

nationalarchives.gov.uk

Attachments

Interaction Designer Job Description Opens in new window (docx, 42kB)