game designer Manchester, England
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About the job
Job summary
GDS exists to help government make brilliant public services that empower people in the UK. We work at the very centre of government to drive digital transformation, focused on users. We build and maintain common platforms, products and tools for others to use and create great public services that are accessible, inclusive and easy to use. We also work with departments to identify patterns, share learning and create change to make government more efficient.
Our teams are organised around delivering on our priorities. These are:
- making it easier for people to find what they are looking for on GOV.UK
- building common service platforms to make it simpler and cheaper to build quality digital services
- promoting agile, user-centred design practices both in the UK and across the world
GOV.UK
GOV.UK makes it simple for everyone to interact with government. Every day, we support millions of people to complete routine tasks to life-changing actions, from registering a death to paying their taxes. For a decade, we have been the authoritative, accessible, and accurate home of the UK government online. But we want to go further. The ambitious GOV.UK Future Strategy has growth at its heart. We want to reach more people in more of the places they expect to find us, to support more interactions with government.
For our content teams, that means publishing to new channels, supporting more and different types of content experiences using new and different content formats, all to improve reach, accessibility, and outcomes; making government more responsive, more representative, and more efficient. If you want to work on something that will impact and improve the lives of tens of millions of people, then you want to work at GOV.UK. And there has never been a more exciting time to join us.
Job description
Lead Content Designers are responsible for the efficiency and quality of GOV.UK content operations - the daily work that keeps content accurate and usable, meets our cross-government content support commitments and informs the development of our publishing applications.
A particular focus of these roles will be to provide leadership and support to content designers embedded in product feature teams across GOV.UK, from user experience to publishing tools, to ensure content design remains central to all GOV.UK design and development in line with our new strategy. Reporting to the Heads of Content, you will be an integral part of the GOV.UK Content Leadership Group, chaired by the Deputy Director for GOV.UK Content, Policy and Strategy, alongside the Heads of Content Publishing and Content Development.
As a lead content designer you’ll:
- provide direction and leadership across the GOV.UK programme of multidisciplinary product teams in running, supporting and continuously improving GOV.UK content
- own and be responsible for developing and articulating a clear vision, achievable goals and measurable objectives for GOV.UK content operations
- improve the quality of content and content processes by working with teams to connect their objectives to the programme goals for content operations
- demonstrate how iterative, data-informed content management can reduce the need to develop new content items and new products
- work closely with senior leaders in other government departments to streamline content operations with GOV.UK, and also within and between departments
- work with private and third sector organisations to deliver content to where users are and to increase government’s understanding of how users consume content
- provide leadership and a point of escalation alongside other programme discipline leads
- work with the programme leadership team to show government the benefits of the GOV.UK central platform and user-centred design in achieving policy goals
- be responsible for the design and iteration of content processes to ensure the programme meets SLAs and regulations, working with teams across GDS including user support, accessibility and data assurance, and prepare content operations to be able to adapt in order to evolve to meet future needs
- improve the collection and application of content insights to provide user feedback loops to the programme and wider government
- coach and mentor other members of the content community, identifying learning and development opportunities for individuals and teams
- work with content leadership across GDS to share content practices across the organisation and across the government content community
Person specification
We’re interested in people who have:
- extensive experience of leading content teams to produce user-centred, data-informed, accessible content, delivering at pace and in a culture of continuous improvement
- experience developing, maintaining and changing large-scale content operations/publishing models in line with wider strategies
- extensive experience of building effective relationships with stakeholders and monitoring a complex set of interactions across multiple levels, teams and organisations
- demonstrable experience measuring content performance and applying insights to content operations to improve outcomes
- experience of making an economic case to senior leaders/director level to change operational processes or spending patterns
- experience influencing external organisations to change their content operation models to improve partnerships and/or content ecosystem
- programme management capability, including the ability to coordinate a number of work streams simultaneously and adapt to changing priorities
- experience of managing mechanisms for tracking, evaluating and reporting on content quality
- experience of coaching and guiding large teams or communities of practice to build capability and motivation to raise performance levels
- excellent organisational and communication skills with the ability to manage change in fluctuating circumstances while providing clear priorities to teams
- experience assessing cost-efficiency of content operations within an organisation and the impact they have on partner organisations
- demonstrable ability of developing and implementing new or improved processes with positive outcomes
Benefits
The benefits of working at GDS
There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:
- flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
- a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
- 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
- an extra day off for The King’s birthday
- an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
- career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
- paid volunteering leave
- a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
- job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
- advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
- death in service benefits
- cycle to work scheme and facilities
- access to an employee discounts scheme
- 10 learning days per year
- volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
- access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning
GDS offers hybrid working for all employees. This means that everyone does some working from home and also spends some time in their local office. You’ll agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager in line with your preferences and business needs.
Any move to Government Digital Service 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
Selection process details
The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:
- a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
- a 60 minute video interview. As part of the interview process there will be a presentation task to be presented at the interview. Details around the presentation will be shared in advance of your interview
If we receive a high number of applications, we will sift against the lead requirement under the person specification (extensive experience of leading content teams to produce user-centred, data-informed, accessible content, delivering at pace and in a culture of continuous improvement). There might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.
Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.
In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.
For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours
- leadership
- making effective decisions
- delivering at pace
- communicating and influencing
- seeing the big picture
We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework for the Lead Content Designer role
- Agile working (content design)
- Content concepts and prototyping
- Stakeholder relationship management (content design)
- Strategic thinking (content design)
- User focus (content design)
- User-centred content design
Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.
A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Recruitment team
Further information
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: [email protected] Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.
