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Lead Service Designer, User-Centred Service Design Team

Full Time Banking

Job Description

This role is part of the User-Centred Service Design (UCSD) team. The purpose of our team is to ensure the Bank's services, products and change initiatives work for the people who rely on them every day. We combine service design, user research, content design and UX/product design to help teams look beyond systems, processes and requirements, and understand the human experiences that sit behind them.

What makes us distinct is that we operate at the intersection of strategy, delivery and people. We work with some of the Bank's most complex and important programmes, helping teams navigate ambiguity, uncover hidden risks, challenge assumptions and design solutions that are genuinely useful, usable, and adopted by people within the Bank and regulated financial firms.

We are also focused on strengthening the Bank to become a more user-centred organisation. This includes building a Bank-wide community of practice, design standards, training, coaching, and advisory services.

We are a curious, collaborative and pragmatic team. We care deeply about understanding how things really work. We bring together different perspectives and help others see problems in new ways. Our ambition is not simply to deliver good design, but to improve the quality of decision-making, change and service delivery across the Bank.

While the Bank is a public organisation, we are independent of the UK Government and do not follow DDAT or GDS frameworks. We seek practitioners who can adapt their approach to navigate our complex environment, demonstrate flexibility and pragmatism when needed, and bring a proactive, solution-focused mindset to their work.

Service Design at the Bank is concerned with some of the organisation's most complex challenges. Our service designers work on problems that cut across business areas, technologies and organisational boundaries, helping teams understand how users, data, processes, decisions and services connect.

A typical engagement might involve shaping the future operating model for a major new business function, untangling a complex operational process, or understanding how data moves through the organisation and the services that surround it.

We are looking for someone who is energised by complexity, systems thinking and organisational change, and who is comfortable spending as much time discussing governance, operating models and service delivery as they are user needs and journeys.

Role Overview

We are looking for an exceptional Lead Service Designer to join the User-Centred Service Design team at the Bank of England.

The job is expected to cover three primary responsibilities:

  1. Lead Practitioner - A senior service design practitioner who can join a complex programme, identify gaps and opportunities from a user and service perspective, and help stakeholders make better-informed decisions. You will embed user-centred approaches within strategic change initiatives, shape the direction and scope of work, advise on user-centred design resourcing requirements, and influence the design of effective and adoptable solutions. You will also get into the detail on projects, acting as an expert individual contributor.
  2. Practice leadership - You will act as the professional lead for the Service Design discipline within the User-Centred Service Design function, accountable for its overall health, quality and continued development. You will help define how Service Design is practised within the Bank, maintaining and evolving the approaches, ways of working, standards and accumulated knowledge that enable the discipline to be effective. As a recognised authority in your field, you will provide professional leadership to service designers across the organisation, supporting them to deliver high-quality work, make sound decisions and grow their capability. You will help identify future capability needs, shape recruitment and succession plans, and ensure the discipline continues to evolve in response to organisational priorities and emerging challenges. You will have line management responsibility of two or more practitioners.
  3. A member of the User-Centred Service Design leadership team, helping shape the direction, priorities and effectiveness of the wider function. You will act as a trusted adviser to the Senior Manager, contributing to decisions on strategy, workforce planning, investment, resourcing and organisational priorities. You will bring professional judgement, challenge and perspective to leadership discussions, helping the team navigate complex decisions and maximise its impact across the Bank. You will also represent the User-Centred Service Design function with senior stakeholders and act as an ambassador for user-centred approaches, helping strengthen the function's reputation, influence and its contribution to organisational change.

Minimum requirements:

  • Significant professional experience as a Service Designer or similar role across a range of organisational and delivery contexts.
  • Strong capability across the end-to-end Service Design lifecycle, from understanding complex problems through to implementation and adoption.
  • Extensive experience designing end-to-end services and journeys, including both front-stage and back-stage elements.
  • Ability to align stakeholders and guide cross-functional teams by building trust, credibility and influence without formal authority.
  • Comfortable working within large organisations, navigating complex subject matter, competing priorities and organisational ambiguity.

Essential requirements:

  • Experience contributing to the growth of a Service Design discipline or community, including developing others, improving practice, raising quality standards or helping evolve ways of working.
  • Experience planning and coordinating service design activity across multiple teams or workstreams, including understanding capability, capacity and dependency requirements, and ensuring the right disciplines are engaged to deliver outcomes.
  • Experience providing line management and professional development support to designers, including setting expectations, coaching performance, supporting career development and creating the conditions for them to do high-quality work.
  • Systems thinking, with the ability to understand, design and improve complex service ecosystems spanning people, processes, technology, data and organisational structures.
  • Strong capability in journey mapping, service blueprinting and service prototyping.
  • Experience applying a broad range of Service Design methods and knowing when to use them appropriately.
  • Workshop design and facilitation skills, capable of bringing together diverse stakeholder groups and driving meaningful outcomes.
  • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to synthesise complexity and tell compelling, evidence-based stories, adapted to different audiences and contexts
  • Proven ability to advocate for user-centred approaches and gain support across a wide range of stakeholders, including senior leaders, or where resistance is stringer
  • Comfortable working in situations where the problem, solution or path forward is not immediately clear, turning unclear organisational problems into practical options and decisions.
  • Evidence of Service Design outcomes through examples, case studies, presentations or portfolio, showing how your work has supported delivery teams to move from strategy and design intent into practical, adoptable change.

Desirable:

  • External credibility and thought leadership
  • Degree or formal qualification in Service Design or a related discipline.
  • Experience working in a highly regulated environment.
  • Experience designing services involving complex data, analytics or information ecosystems.

Number of direct reports: 2


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Salary and Benefits Information

We encourage flexible working, part time working and job share arrangements. Part time salary and benefits will be on a pro-rated basis as appropriate.

This role offers a salary of:

London: £72,720 - £78,810

Leeds: £65,440 - £70,620

In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:

  • Currently a non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/80th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/65th) or decrease (to 1/105th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year. The Bank has the discretion to vary standard accrual rates and dial up and dial down rates at any time and to withdraw dial up and dial down options at any time.
  • A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
  • An 8% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits.
  • 26 days' annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
  • Private medical insurance and income protection.

This role closes on 23:59 on 7th September

Bank of England
About Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom. Sometimes known as the “Old Lady” of Threadneedle Street, the Bank was founded in 1694 with a founding charter that stated its purpose was to “promote the public good and benefit of our people”.

The Bank of England’s purpose today reflects that vision first articulated by our founders. Our mission: to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

Workplace Initiatives

Program for parents returning to work after Parental Leave?

We have a returner's session they can attend and our Parent's Network also run a separate returners session.

Leadership development programs?

Yes

Mentoring programs?

Yes

Coaching programs?

Yes

Employee-led diversity networks?

Yes

Internal women’s networking groups?

Yes

Open to discussing flexible work arrangements at interview stage?

Yes

No. of weeks paid maternity leave at full salary:

26 weeks

Minimum weeks tenure required to be eligible for paid maternity leave:

26 weeks service at the Qualifying week (15th week before due date)

No. of weeks paid paternity leave at full salary:

2 weeks

Minimum tenure required to be eligible for paid paternity leave:

26 weeks service at the Qualifying week (15th week before due date)

Gender pay gap reporting information 2019 (UK):

Mean pay gap:

20.20%

Median pay gap:

23%

Mean bonus (performance award) gap:

21%

Median bonus (performance award) gap:

22%

Signatory of the UK Women in Finance Charter?

Yes

Targets to raise the number of women in leadership?

Yes

Targets to raise the number of BAME individuals in leadership?

Yes

Listed in the Bloomberg Diversity & Inclusion Index?

No

Returner Programme

We recognise that there is a large untapped talent pool of experienced professionals on a career break, including many high-calibre women who have taken time out of their careers for a variety of different reasons. As part of our inclusion agenda, the Bank is partnering with Women Returners, a specialist return-to-work organisation, to run the Bank of England Career Returners Programme to attract and support returning professionals, with coaching and training support provided by Women Returners and the possibility of a permanent role at the end of the programme.

Applicants will have to go through a short assessment process in order to gain a role. Applicants must have had a career break of two or more years to be eligible for the programme. All returners who gain a position will receive coaching support from Women Returners to help them transition back in to the workplace. The returners will be taking on real live budgeted vacancies – they are not specifically created roles. Flexible working options will be available, though we would ask that all returners attend the full induction.

Testimonials

" I had never thought about working in the public sector. I genuinely can’t remember why I decided to go to the Career Returners launch event at the Bank but it was literally life changing. I realised there was a place where I could work in financial services and still be able to care for my children. This was hugely different from when I was in investment banking. I was also very impressed by the level and quality of people in the Bank. I doubt I wouldn’t be working today if it was not for the programme – it is as simple as that."

"I’m not sure I would have come back to work in the City if I hadn’t have found something like this. Having young children and a long commute, I knew I wouldn’t find the flexibility I needed in the investment banking industry that I used to work in. Finding this scheme gave me the prospect of working part-time and flexibly without giving up on interesting and challenging work."

 

Working for The Bank of England

As a place of work, the Bank feels different from other organisations. The atmosphere is relaxed but professional, research-driven and connected to real events in the economy. While organisations in the private sector are focused primarily on profits, our objectives are the quality of our thinking and analysis.

Whichever area you join, it’s likely you’ll work on high-impact projects. The issues we deal with on a daily basis are often in the news, and affect everyone in the country. For many of our people, contributing to the public good is one of the most rewarding aspects of working here.

Our historic building is located in the heart of the City and combines rich tradition with up-to-date facilities. Just as important, a strong culture of support exists in the organisation.

The Bank is a member of the Disability Confident scheme. This means that applicants who declare a disability and who meet the minimum requirements of the job description are fast-tracked to the first stage of assessment.

The Bank also encourages Diversity of Thought, which inspires colleagues in every area to share different ways of thinking, working and achieving success. The aim of this is to promote creativity and encourage diverse approaches by inviting people with different backgrounds, skills or talents to present their thoughts and ideas.

In order to promote and support diversity in all its forms, we also have a number of Employee Networks:

LGBT+ AND ALLIES NETWORK

The LGBT+ and Allies Network is fully inclusive and open to every member of staff. This includes people who may not identify as LGBT+ themselves, but who actively support their LGBT+ colleagues, and promote a working environment where everyone – regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity – feels safe and confident to be themselves.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and participate in the Workplace Equality Index most years. In 2018, we moved up 101 places in the index – a huge improvement in one year. Working with Stonewall, we are committed to improving LGBT+ diversity and inclusion even further.

DISABILITY NETWORK

The key objective of the Disability Network is to identify and remove barriers so that people with disabilities can achieve their full potential at the Bank. As well as supporting individuals with specific employment issues, the network organises events for all employees to raise awareness of the full range of disabilities and the challenges facing those who live with them.

MENTAL HEALTH NETWORK

This network is focused on improving people’s understanding of mental health issues. As well as highlighting the support available to colleagues, it organises and sponsors events to combat the stigma around mental health. In doing so, it aims to ensure that anyone affected by mental health issues – either directly or indirectly – feels more inclined to open up and seek help earlier.

WOMEN IN THE BANK NETWORK

The Women in the Bank Network aims to ensure that all women can flourish in the workplace. It’s open to everyone, regardless of gender, focusing on identifying and tackling issues that can hold women back in their professional development and job satisfaction.

Although we still have a way to go, our efforts to address the imbalance between male and female employees have already achieved considerable success. Of around 1300 staff here, 43% are women with 33% at Governor level.

BEEM NETWORK

BEEM was established to inform, inspire, advocate and promote Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) related matters in the Bank. As well as ensuring BAME staff experience the same performance reviews, rates of pay and development opportunities as non-BAME colleagues, BEEM is committed to addressing the imbalance of BAME representation at a senior management level.

MUSLIM NETWORK

The Muslim Network connects and supports Muslim colleagues throughout the Bank, ensuring no one ever has to compromise their religious obligations or spiritual needs in order to excel in their professional role. As part of this, the network also organises events and activities to mark important Islamic celebrations and bring people together throughout the year.

JEWISH NETWORK

The Jewish Network is here to support all Jewish colleagues across the Bank, and help them celebrate and raise awareness of their shared faith. The network is proud of its inclusivity and welcomes members from all denominations and beliefs, including Orthodox, Conservative, Progressive, Cultural and Atheist Jews, as well as those who are not affiliated.

CHRISTIAN UNION

The Christian Union is open to Christians of any (or no) denominational background, as well as colleagues who don’t consider themselves Christians but are interested in finding out more about the Christian faith. Its members regularly come together to study the Bible, pray, talk and socialise, with a focus on their faith and how it influences their work and everyday lives.

CARERS NETWORK

Whether it involves looking after someone with chronic illness, disability or mental health issues, an elderly relative or young children as part of a family, being a carer can be tremendously rewarding. But it’s also extremely demanding. The Carers Network provides the information, advice and support colleagues need to balance that responsibility with a successful career.

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