Job Title: User-Centred Design – Service Design Owner (Contract)
Location: Remote (Client based in London)
Contract Duration: 3 months (with strong potential for extension)
Day Rate: £650/day (Outside IR35)
We’re seeking a senior Service Design Owner with deep experience in user-centred design and service ownership, ideally within a UK Government or public sector setting. This is a key leadership role—not only owning the delivery of critical services, but also mentoring and upskilling other Service Owners across the organisation.
You’ll bring strategic oversight, strong design thinking, and service-wide accountability, helping ensure services are shaped around real user needs, aligned to policy goals, and deliver measurable value.
Key Responsibilities:
Service Ownership & Leadership:
* Act as the accountable owner for the end-to-end service experience – leading its design, delivery, performance, and continuous improvement.
* Mentor and support other Service Owners in applying best practice across delivery, measurement, and user engagement.
* Champion a relentlessly user-centred approach, while balancing delivery of strategic business outcomes.
Vision, Strategy & Design:
* Shape and own the long-term vision and objectives for services—identifying where and how to improve them over time.
* Ensure all design and delivery decisions are based on insight into evolving user needs, with inclusive and accessible solutions.
* Understand how service design interacts with related disciplines such as product, technology, policy and operations.
Agile Delivery & Multidisciplinary Leadership:
* Lead agile, cross-functional teams through iterative delivery cycles, using appropriate methodologies.
* Build a high-performing culture focused on learning, data, and rapid delivery of value.
* Identify performance issues in live services and proactively diagnose and resolve them to maintain user value.
Value & Impact:
* Develop, own, and iterate agile business cases from discovery through to live—tracking benefits and impact throughout.
* Use data and evidence to drive decision-making and champion continuous improvement.
* Support and grow problem-solving capabilities across your teams to raise maturity and delivery standards.
Essential Skills & Experience:
* Strong background as a Service Owner or Service Designer in the public sector, ideally in high-scale or complex service environments.
* Proven success in leading multidisciplinary teams using agile ways of working.
* Deep experience of designing and delivering user-centred, inclusive services to meet GDS standards and the Technology Code of Practice.
* Demonstrable ability to mentor and develop others, especially newer Service Owners, to build capability within the organisation.
* Strategic thinker with practical delivery experience—able to balance big-picture vision with operational realities.
* Strong stakeholder engagement, influencing, and communication skills at all levels.
Apply now or email dom@briodigital.io for more information.