Interaction Designer

Job summary

The Digital and Data division brings together the delivery, data, and user centred design functions within the directorate. Professionals within these functions work as part of agile and dynamic multi-disciplinary teams delivering products and services designed to meet the needs of users.

About the Role

UKEF is committed to be a user-centred organisation, creating and designing services to provide:

• Accessible and intuitive access to UKEF services for exporters and lending partners
• Efficient and streamlined case management for internal users
• Robust data access, insight gathering, and reporting

This role will support the interaction design function within the organisation, ensuring that the services we deliver are:

• Accessible so that anyone can use them, regardless of disability or access need
• Intuitive for new users or those with low digital skills
• Aligned with the government service standard

The successful candidate will spend most of their time working embedded within service teams, and part of their time establishing and maintaining interaction design standards and ways of working across the organisation.

Job description

An interaction designer is a confident and competent designer who can develop designs based on evidence of user needs and organisational outcomes. You will:

• lead the design of complex services, ensuring designs follow best practice and adhere to the departments design system and government service standard.
• deliver the interaction design approach for existing and new services, identifying appropriate strategies, methods, and priorities.
• work closely with multi-disciplinary teams to produce and develop design concepts, re-using common component design patterns from across government where appropriate.
• create and iterate practical prototypes to test design concepts with users and inform delivery decisions.
• champion accessibility and user‑centred design, ensuring services are inclusive and meet user needs, including assisted digital considerations.
• contribute to the quality and consistency of interaction design delivery across one or more services, escalating risks or issues where appropriate.
• interpret and apply research and data, using evidence to inform and iterate design decisions.
• represent design for UKEF at cross-government and internal assessments against the Service Standard.
• work with external suppliers and contractors, supporting delivery and ensuring alignment with internal standards and ways of working.

This role is aligned with and assessed against the DDaT Capability Framework - Interaction Designer.

This list is not exhaustive, and you may be required to carry out additional duties according to business needs.

Person specification

UK Export Finance is looking for motivated individuals with a desire to learn about the business. Successful candidates will be provided not only with functional training to enable them to do well in their role, but also with personal development to help them to achieve their career ambitions. Please note that the person specification below outlines at which stage(s) you will be assessed on how you meet the criteria for the role(s) including:-

A = assessed at application stage I = assessed at interview stage = assessed at presentation stage

Essential

Knowledge

• Evidence-based design (A, I, P). You can:
  • Apply hypothesis-driven design to your work and within teams
  • Use qualitive and quantitative evidence to improve services
  • analyse, synthesise and share user insights to inform delivery decisions

Skills/Ability

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, tailored appropriately to the audience. (A, I)
• Designing strategically (A, I). You can:
  • help teams understand how user-centred design supports their goals
  • align design work to the organisational and programme objectives
  • use risks, opportunities and constraints in technology, systems and policy to inform design decisions
  • contribute to the effective use and evolution of design patterns and components
• Designing together (A, I). You can:
  • plan and run inclusive design sessions with stakeholders of different levels
  • support collaboration within and between teams
  • involve stakeholders effectively in the design process
  • work openly and encourage constructive feedback
• Iterative design (A, I). You can:
  • embed iterative design and agile working within teams
  • prototype and test complex ideas at appropriate fidelity
  • respond effectively to changing user needs, priorities, or constraints
  • continuously improve design practices within your team

Experience

• Design communication (I, P). You can:
  • Clearly communicate design decisions to senior stakeholders
  • build support for design approaches within multi-disciplinary teams
  • support others in communicating design effectively
  • contribute to open ways of working
• Designing for everyone (A, I). You can:
  • measurably improve the practice of inclusive, accessible and environmentally sustainable design in multiple teams or across your organisation
  • help others understand and mitigate the influence of privilege and power on the design and delivery of content and services
• Leading design (A, I). You can:
  • lead interaction design work within a multidisciplinary team
  • advocate for user-centred design non-design stakeholders
  • contribute to an inclusive and supportive design environment
  • help improve design processes within your team

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Presentation - a topic agreed by UKEF and provided to candidates in advance of the interview
• Question - You will be assessed across your technical expertise and acumen in relation to the essential criteria and the DDaT Capability Framework - Interaction Designer

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £48,750, UK Export Finance contributes £14,122 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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

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

We are assessing candidates using Success Profiles (see Appendix 1) and across the whole process we will assess your Experience, Technical, and Behaviours as highlighted below.

The application must be completed by 23.55 on the day of the closing date for it to be accepted.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Please ensure that you read through the Candidate Information Pack attached to this advert, before applying.

All applications will be sifted against our essential criteria outlined in the personal specification.

• Statement of suitability - you should fully articulate in 500 words how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification within the Information Pack.

For the initial sift your application will be evaluated against:

1. Experience - CV / Application and Statement of Suitability

In the event of a high volume of applications, there will be a pre-sift on the following essential criteria's:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, tailored appropriately to the audience. (A, I)
• Evidence-based design (A, I, P). You can:
  • Apply hypothesis-driven design to your work and within teams
  • Use qualitive and quantitative evidence to improve services
  • analyse, synthesise and share user insights to inform delivery decisions

If you are successful following the sift stage, you will be invited to an initial interview, to be held via MS Teams; this will include the following assessment:

1. Behaviours / Experience - a formal panel interview where you will be interviewed across all three behaviours highlighted in Appendix 1.
   1. Behaviour - Changing and Improving (lead behaviour in the event of tied scoring)
   2. Behaviour - Working Together
   3. Behaviour - Delivering at Pace
2. Technical - you will be assessed across your technical expertise and acumen, in relation to the essential criteria
   1. Presentation - a topic agreed by UKEF and provided to candidates in advance of the interview
   2. Question - You will be assessed across your technical expertise and acumen in relation to the essential criteria and the DDaT Capability Framework - Interaction Designer.

Details of interview panel members will be e-mailed to all successful candidates who are invited for interview.

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 : UKEF Recruitment
• Email : Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Further information

Should you have a complaint or wish to raise any concerns regarding the recruitment process, please e-mail your complaint to the Head of Pay and Resourcing (UKEF) at Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk and include “Complaint” in the subject heading. Should you remain dissatisfied following UKEF’s investigation then you can refer your complaint to the Commission - http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/making-complaint.

Attachments

Information Pack - Interaction Designer Opens in new window (pdf, 4359kB)