Senior Interaction Designer - DVLA - SEO

Job summary

Are you an Interaction Designer with experience who has a passion for user centred design?

Do you want to work on high-profile projects within the public domain?

Can you make digital services quicker, simpler and more efficient for the people who use them?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for 2 Senior Interaction Designers to join us at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), and we’d love to hear from you!

This is a unique opportunity to build upon your skills and experience while working on government digital services that will be used by millions of people every day. You will influence the service and experience for our users and be able to make a positive difference. We offer a wide range of services, and your tasks will vary continuously.

Job description

The DVLA deliver wide reaching digital services to the UK public and industry. Our customers now have more online services to choose from than ever before and reach over 50 million people a year.

Senior Interaction Designers are key figures in delivery of digital services, contributing to the design of digital user journeys by creating screen concepts, wireframes and prototypes to facilitate user testing sessions.

We will look to you to utilise your experience and skillset to translate known user needs into solutions across multiple workstreams by continuously iterating designs and interactions all based on research evidence by collaborating with our user researchers. 

You will manage and lead a small team of Interaction Designers who produce and design screens to emulate how they appear in government services. Prototypes are created for users to click through so they can experience the service from start to finish and provide feedback on the user experience in terms of clarity and ease of use.

You will be representing service users and ensuring the team understands their requirements around service provision by working closely with user researchers.

The role is to ensure that the service is user-friendly, accessible, well-presented, and crucially, designed around best practice standards and Government Digital Service (GDS) design system.

You will liaise with product owners with the aim of constantly improving the services and customer experience, ensuring that any issues are promptly resolved.

This is an exciting opportunity to be an advocate for users and place yourself at the forefront of user-centred design at DVLA.  You will influence the service and experience for our users and be able to make a positive difference. We offer a wide range of services, and your tasks will vary continuously.

We are growing our team, and you will have the opportunity to be involved in the recruitment and team process to further improve interaction design at DVLA. 

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include but will not be limited to: 

• Leading a team to support the development of services through the prioritisation and delivery of interaction design across multiple workstreams at any one time, producing and iterating a range of prototypes, including dynamic HTML to help the wider team test assumptions and hypotheses.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues in both service design and digital delivery disciplines, presenting designs to a wide range of stakeholders, explaining design decisions and how user needs are being met.
• Working with the lead interaction designer to define standards and best practise for design, ways of working and communication and implement these within the team, incorporating government and worldwide accessibility standards to support Lead Interaction Designer attendance at government service assessments.
• Developing and maintaining effective relationships with both internal and external stakeholders, communicating credibly with a range of both technical and non-technical colleagues.

For further information about the role please see the attached role profile. 

Additional Information  

Applications will be accepted from full time/part time/job sharers. Full time roles at DVLA consist of 37 hours per week. Part time and/or flexible working may also be available subject to the needs of the business. If you have a flexible or part time working requirement, you should contact the vacancy holder in advance of making an application to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your desired working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role. To contact the vacancy holder, please use the job contact details listed under ‘Contact point for applicants’. 

Person specification

We are looking for someone with a sound understanding and practical experience of interaction design and can effectively produce design concepts, based on user needs, through to prototyping.

You will be able to lead design projects and have experience of implementing user centred design with government design patterns in mind.

You are someone who has excellent leadership skills with the ability to motivate and guide the team to deliver key priorities. You’ll have the ability to provide leadership to all direct reports to ensure that all strategic objectives are met, and quality standards continue to improve. 

You will bring excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships, work with, and influence colleagues and stakeholder at all levels, both internal and external and to talk about your work with wider audiences. 

We are also recruiting 8 Interaction Designers. If your experience would be more suited to this level, please click here to find out more about the role.

We welcome applications from candidates who can speak Welsh and English. Welsh language skills would be useful in this role, but it is not an assessment criterion so it won’t put you at any disadvantage during recruitment if you aren’t a Welsh speaker. Please note that the assessment process will be held in English.

Due to the evolving nature of the business, vacancies can become available at any time. Therefore, this campaign may create a reserve list to fulfil demand if it arises which will be held for a period of 12 months. 

Qualifications

Design expertise developed from a degree or relevant experience working as a digital designer

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Senior Interaction Designer: Prototyping (Skill level: Expert)
• Senior Interaction Designer: Prototyping in code (Skill level: Expert)
• Senior Interaction Designer: Evidence and context based design (Skill level: Expert)
• Senior Interaction Designer: User Focus (Skill level: Expert)
• Senior Interaction Designer: Agile working (Skill level: Practitioner)
• Senior Interaction Designer: Communicating between the technical and non-technical (Skill level: Practitioner)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,808, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency contributes £11,822 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. 

• Best in class learning and development tailored to your role.   
• An environment with flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.  
• Generous employer contribution of 28.97%, depending on chosen pension scheme.  
• 25 days holiday, increasing by one day each year up to 30 days pro rata.  
• Access to the staff discount portal.  
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff. 
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a minimum of 60% of their time in the office over a month, with flexibility dependent on balancing business and individual need.   

There are many more opportunities and great benefits of working at DVLA, visit our Careers website for further information.   

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

How to Apply   

As part of the application process for this role you will need to submit a CV with a Personal Statement of up to 1000 words. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

For your CV and Personal Statement, please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following essential criteria:   

• Creating prototypes and coded prototypes.
• Creating user-centred design solutions.
• Collaboration and stakeholder engagement in an Agile working environment.
• Leading a team and providing high quality customer service. 

Click here for further guidance on writing a CV and Personal Statement. 

The sift is due to take place from Tuesday 5th November 2024.

Interviews will be held week commencing Monday 18th November 2024.

This interview will be conducted on site at DVLA, Swansea. Further details of which will be provided to you should you be selected for interview. 

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates. 

If invited to interview, this may consist of a range of question types. These could include questions around Behaviours and how you would respond in any situation as well as specific examples of things you have done. 

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include: 

• a design task, portfolio presentation and an interview.

The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.  

For further information on Success Profiles visit our Careers website. 

Please take note that DVLA does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. 

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application or used during interview is truthful and factually accurate. Applications may be rejected if plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or concepts generated by artificial intelligence, as your own. 

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email DRGComms@dft.gov.uk for assistance.

Further Information 

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre-employment Checking

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

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).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).