Senior Service Designer

Our Digital team is responsible for all of Shelter Scotland’s digital output, including producing content for getting Advice, which provides help and advice to over 900,000 people in Scotland each year. Put simply, we start with user needs to create digital products and services that help people to solve their housing problems. Join us, and you’ll be at the heart of a team that includes other Content Designers, an Editor, a Developer, and a UX designer. You’ll also work alongside other Planners, Developers, UX, and Service Design Practitioners within the wider Digital Team. Together, you’ll make a real difference.

Right now, we’re busy working with users of our online advice services and people across the organization to make our service language simpler, clearer, and faster for people who are in housing need. To do that effectively we need someone like you to work as part of a cross-functional product team to create and improve services over our many different channels. You will have the opportunity to get right back to user needs when it comes to addressing how Shelter Scotland provides advisory services to those with multiple complex needs. This is a 2-year fixed-term role in collaboration with the Scottish Legal Aid Board. At times you will be supported by a project team that includes; a specialist housing adviser and content designer. Part of a project team to improve how Shelter Scotland ensures money & debt issues do not become a barrier to accessing the fundamental right to a safe home in Scotland. Working both independently, as well as with the support of the Senior Content Owner, Developers, UX, and Digital Manager who maintain the digital advice services. You will have line management responsibility for a Service Designer. Making this role perfect for someone who is looking to upskill others, step into a role that leads organizational design processes and approaches, scaling Shelter Scotland’s service design capabilities. You’ll have opportunities to work with not only a wide range of digital professionals, but to work closely with our Services Directorate, getting to the heart of user needs and the housing problems people are facing. Working holistically with others to embed both lived experience in decision making and to undertake quantitative research, where together we identify new opportunities to tackle the housing emergency in Scotland.

To succeed, you’ll need proven service design experience that includes leading qualitative and quantitative research projects, facilitating. You¿ll also need the ability to define a product vision based on user and business needs and to work with a multi-disciplinary team to bring concepts to life. Knowledge of behavioral science principles and experience of community engagement is important too, as is a flair for mentoring junior colleagues (experience of line management an advantage) and managing stakeholders to create organizational change through effective communication. What’s more, you’re as comfortable prototyping analog service ideas and testing digital products with users, both in-person or remotely as you are documenting complex user flows or mapping service ecosystems.