Lead - User Centred Design

Lead - User Centred Design Application closing date: 17/11/24 at 23:59 Interviews will take place: Week commencing 02 /12/24 Location base: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle or Northstowe A bit about the role...
Working in a team with Paul Crowley, Head of User Centred Design and the wider Digital Outcomes Team, the Lead Service Designer will play a critical role in developing a service-oriented approach to the design of the capabilities critical to Homes Englands success.
You will be joining our small but enthusiastic and talented team, who are committed to making positive change in how Homes England realises its strategic objectives by focussing on user needs.
Paul is dedicated to putting the end-user at the heart of the services that are designed, working collaboratively and cross-functionally, and taking an innovative and creative approach to delivering impactful change.
Paul believes in working in a collaborative way, actively seeking diversity of experience and perspective to inform effective decision making and problem solving within their team.
This is a rare chance to shape the approach to delivery of user-centred services in a national organisation with real social purpose.
Working with key stakeholders and a cross-functional team of research, content design and product management, you will ensure effective delivery of strategic outcomes, and shape the way that we deliver - in particular, at the discovery and alpha phases - where the opportunity to experiment, prototype and test solutions with end-users is greatest.
The role will support the design and delivery of key strategic projects at Homes England - and require consideration of how different capabilities connect to deliver the overall services critical to Homes Englands success.
There are some exciting and challenging projects to get involved with that require creativity, strategic thinking and great stakeholder management skills.
This is an excellent opportunity to balance day to day delivery and operations of a design function with shaping and delivering a scalable and innovative approach to delivery at scale within the organisation.
A bit about you You'll be comfortable coaching and leading the small design team through complex challenges, helping them to navigate multiple priorities, reconciling urgent and important work, all whilst aiming to continuously improve the practice of service design at Homes England.
You will be proficient in User-Centred Design, and comfortable getting involved directly when needed.
Youll be both pragmatic and able to respond to urgent challenges whilst defining a longer term strategic trajectory for the team.
Youll be comfortable facilitating cross-functional conversations and workshops - building consensus on plans and objectives, and able to utilise your team effectively to maximise their impact on strategic priorities.
Talking of which, youll be comfortable with managing multiple initiatives in parallel, and able to quickly make priority decisions in an environment where theres always more to be done than there is capacity.
Delivering on a mission as bold as ours isnt always easy.
You will be resilient and comfortable managing stakeholders at a senior level and your discussions will always be shaped by a good understanding of the commercial and operational impact of what we do as a Service Design team.
You will enjoy working in an innovative, fun and engaging way and be able to negotiate and persuade.
As an experienced Design professional youll understand how to manage colleagues and be able to demonstrate you can work with others as part of a team in a collaborative, inclusive way.
Who are we?
Homes England: The Housing and Regeneration Agency We believe that affordable, quality homes in well-designed places are key to improving peoples lives.
As the governments housing and regeneration agency, we create thriving new places and transform urban areas, combining the full breadth of our powers, expertise, land, capital and influence to bring investment to communities and get more homes built.
How?
We form long-term partnerships that bridge the gap between the public and private sector to meet local needs and aspirations.
We use our influence to champion the creation of sustainable homes, communities and places that are brilliantly designed for the people that live there now, and in the future.
And we use our funding and support to build a more resilient, diverse and innovative housing sector, helping new entrants in the market, encouraging modern methods of construction and design, and promoting the utmost attention to building safety.
Together with our partners, were accelerating the pace of house building, remediation and regeneration across the country, as we seek to deliver ever more affordable homes in places people are proud to call home for generations to come.
What we offer... As well as a competitive salary and 33 days annual leave, we are committed to 50/50 hybrid working.
Well support you, wherever possible, so that you dont miss out on what matters to you.
Membership of the Homes and Communities Agency Pension Scheme, which is a contributory defined benefit scheme with the amount you receive on retirement based on your salary and years worked at the Agency.
Internal applicants: please note that if you are successful, the salary you are offered will be in accordance with our pay controls and pay policy.
You can find details on the HR Hub SharePoint site.
If you ever need a bit of extra help, we have a great employee assistance programme, financial wellbeing support and access to many great discounts with leading high street names.
Our range of network groups are also there to support you to be yourself at work and play a key role in helping shape our future.
If you are a member of a professional body, well pay for your membership and once you get your digital kit, youll be good to go.
Homes England are a geographically diverse community.
We work to a 50/50 office/ home based model.
Moving back into our office environments has enabled us to utilise our space and time together in the most collaborative way.
We would encourage all applicants to apply as soon as possible as we may close vacancies early should we receive a high number of applications.
We also encourage you to apply using the full application option as opposed to quick apply, this is especially important if you would like to indicate to us that you would like to be considered under the disability confident scheme.
If your application is shortlisted to interview we will require you to provide proof of your right to work in the UK at this stage.