Lead Service Designer

Job Description

As a Lead Service Designer, you’ll:

• Report to the Service Design and Delivery Practice Lead.
• Contribute to service improvement projects—from beginning to end.
• Lead projects with the support of Practice Leads and Strategists.
• Collaborate with colleagues to build and grow SDS Practice Areas for long-term sustainability.
• Lead skill-share sessions with colleagues to help them apply service design methods to their work.
• Contribute to the field of service design.

Essential Functions

Below are the primary duties of this position:

Researching

• Contribute to the design and facilitation of thoughtful and ethical qualitative research to understand the service-related needs of community members, staff, leaders, and other stakeholders.
• Work with team members to synthesize research into insights and well-defined opportunity areas for service design intervention.
• Closely collaborate with team members to develop feasible, person-centered, and comprehensive cross-channel recommendations that improve resident and staff interactions with government.

Designing

• Transform evidence-based recommendations into project deliverables, like service blueprints, process flows, stakeholder maps, and project reports.
• Visually communicate research insights and prototyped-ideas in clear ways, so stakeholders can align on concepts.
• Develop compelling narratives that communicate the human experience to decision-makers, so they can make clear decisions that align with evidence and human need.

Implementing

• Work with UX designers, content strategists, technologists, and other subject matter experts to develop and build tools and resources (e.g., websites, one-pagers, applications, etc.) that support service improvement strategies.
• Participate in the evaluation of pilot projects to understand efficacy.

Collaborating with colleagues

• Communicate work without jargon or pretense.
• Offer and take constructive feedback.
• Communicate with clarity and honesty around the status of work.
• Cultivate and maintain respectful relationships with colleagues.

Project managing

• Break down project tasks into reasonable project plans with key milestones and deadlines.
• Clearly communicate the status of work to leadership, team members, and other stakeholders.
• Effectively navigate through ambiguity and project challenges.

Mentoring

• Expand team members’ skill sets through regular feedback and learning sessions.
• Participate in the design and facilitation of skill-shares with City colleagues, so they can apply service design methods to their work.

Advocating

• Work with team members to disseminate lessons learned, tools, and best practices of the Studio to the public.
• Actively contribute to the field of service design through journal submissions, conference participation, and community skill-shares.

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Values-based practice: Demonstrate commitment to equitable process and outcomes, prioritize the voices most impacted by change and service challenges, and practice emotional intelligence and cultural humility.
• Systems thinking: Understand and work across the complexity and interconnectedness of systems, issues, organizational structures, and ways of working.
• Inclusive facilitation: Facilitate meetings, workshops, and conversations that encourage active participation, rebalance power asymmetries, practice cultural humility, and help groups build consensus or make decisions collectively.
• Communication: Practice clear, accessible, and honest articulation of complex ideas and approaches through spoken, written, and visual formats.
• Collaboration: Manage conflicts with sensitivity, give and request thoughtful feedback, and practice emergence towards shared goals and agreements.
• Relationship building: Build a culture of mutual care, deep listening, reflection, and celebration.
• Continuous learning: Engage in ongoing reflection and learning as well as be aware of and adapt to current trends and practices in design, government, and analogous fields of practice.

Qualifications

• A design-related degree or relevant industry experience.
• At least three years of professional experience practicing service design.
• At least three years managing projects and project relationships with colleagues, clients, and other stakeholders.
• Strong knowledge of qualitative research methods, including interviews, surveys, workshop development, and data analysis.
• Ability to create service blueprints, journey maps, and other service design deliverables.
• Strong data visualization and visual design skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong collaboration skills to work effectively with diverse stakeholders.
• A strong portfolio showcasing a range of service design projects.