Lead AI Service Designer and User Researcher

Job summary

The Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) is a shared corporate service. It provides corporate services (HR, Finance, Digital, Commercial, Security and Estates) across the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT).

Our team of over 400 professionals will be leading the way in how these functions will be delivered in the future. Our ambition is to be the leading provider of integrated corporate services for government and set the standard for quality, efficiency, and innovation in our field.

We offer great working benefits including a world-class pension, flexible working options and a career where your learning and development is taken seriously. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.

Find Out More

You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/desnz-careers/

Job description

The DESNZ Change & Transformation Directorate is shaping what it means to be a truly consumer-focused department, reimagining our operating model, organisational capabilities, systems, processes and structures to meet both immediate and long-term goals. A key part of that transformation is harnessing the power of AI. The AI Product Development Team is a new, discovery-led product team within the Change & Transformation Directorate. We take the department's highest-value AI ideas and shape them into well-understood problems and well-designed solutions, then direct the specialist capacity needed to build them.

Person specification

• Run product discovery on everything the team takes on, understanding the problem and the users before the team commits to a solution: who the users are, what they are actually trying to do, and what is getting in the way.
• Turn ideas into structured, testable use cases with clear problem statements, barriers and data requirements.
• Map the end-to-end journeys and design the service around them, covering the as-is and to-be business process as well as the user journey.
• Elicit requirements from users and business owners, and test ideas before the team decides what or whether to build, using prototypes, journey walkthroughs and research with real users.
• Set the accessibility, inclusion and user-need standards the team designs to.
• Commission and quality-assure any additional design or research capacity.
• Act as the voice of the user in the team's investment and prioritisation advice to the DESNZ Data & AI Committee, and in handover to the business owners who adopt what we build.

Essential Criteria

• Significant experience of user-centred design in a large, complex organisation, spanning both user research and service design.
• Experience of designing and delivering inclusive research with a range of users and across different methods, and the judgement to choose the right method for the question being asked.
• Experience of mapping and designing end-to-end journeys, covering business process as well as user journey, and of balancing user needs against business, operational and technical constraints.
• Experience of turning ambiguous ideas into structured, testable problem statements, requirements and measures of success.
• Able to create actionable, evidence-based insight and communicate it clearly and confidently to senior stakeholders.
• Able to navigate a complex stakeholder landscape and gain support for research plans, findings and ways of working.
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team, and of commissioning or quality-assuring design and research delivered by others.
• A demonstrable commitment to accessible, inclusive and equitable design.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of discovery on AI or data-enabled products, including recognising where AI is not the right answer.
• Familiarity with the Government Service Standard and experience of government service assessments.
• Experience of working with linked administrative or personal data and the information governance constraints that come with it.
• Experience of working in an agile environment with complexity, uncertainty and organisational constraints.

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Evidence-based design (Practitioner)
• User Research Methods (Practitioner)
• Describe a piece of discovery you led. Set out how you chose your research methods for the problem, how you analysed and synthesised what you found, and how that evidence changed the design or the decision about what to build.

We only ask for evidence of these technical skills on your application form:

• Describe a piece of discovery you led. Set out how you chose your research methods for the problem, how you analysed and synthesised what you found, and how that evidence changed the design or the decision about what to build.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,900, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £16,483 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).

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

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.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and technical statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 500 words) to describe how your past experience relates to the essential criteria outlined in the job description, focusing on your most recent career history.

Applications will be sifted on CV, personal statement, and any technical skills required.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead technical skill (Evidence-based design & User research methods) only.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviour and technical questions.

Interviewees will be asked to deliver a presentation; further details will be provided nearer the time.

The link to the technical/professional competency framework that candidates will be assessed against, for their reference: https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/skills

Sift and interview dates

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DESNZ Candidate Guidance. A DESNZ Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

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

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

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

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Candidates who meet the minimum benchmark may be placed on a Reserve List for consideration for similar roles, including those at a lower grade. Candidates who narrowly miss the benchmark and are not placed on the Reserve List may still be considered for an offer in a similar role at a lower grade.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero 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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

DESNZ does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

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

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /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.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

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.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.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

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 : People and Development Team
• Email : peopleanddevelopment@ics.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : desnzresourcing.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance DESNZrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints

Attachments

DESNZ TCs v1.2 Opens in new window (doc, 174kB)