Department for Education
SEO Interaction Designer
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Coventry, West Midlands (England), CV1 2WT : Manchester, North West England, M1 2WD : Sheffield, Yorkshire and the Humber, S1 2FJ
Job Summary
As an Interaction Designer at the Apprenticeship Service, you will be a confident and competent designer who can develop designs based on evidence of user needs and organisational outcomes. You will work out the best ways to let users interact with our services, both in terms of the overall user journey and at the level of individual design elements. You will join our growing User-Centred Design Team, reporting to the Senior Interaction Designer and collaborating with other interaction designers, content designers, user researchers, and service designers.
IMPORTANT - This vacancy is using the Civil Service Numerical and Verbal tests. The deadline for completing the tests is the same as the vacancy closing date. Please ensure you complete the tests with sufficient time to complete the written application.
Job Description
An interaction designer is a confident and competent designer who can develop designs based on evidence of user needs and organisational outcomes.
At This Role Level, You Will:
- Design and prototype high quality user interfaces aligned to user needs and business goals.
- Interpret research and data to make informed design decisions.
- Collaborate across disciplines to shape end-to-end service experiences.
- Ensure designs meet strict accessibility standards and inclusive design principles.
- Contribute to and help maintain design systems, patterns and components.
- Communicate design decisions clearly and influence stakeholders.
- Manage and iterate designs independently within agile teams.
Person Specification
Essential Criteria:
It is essential that you can demonstrate the following:
- Strong prototyping skills across multiple fidelities including wireframes, Figma and code using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
- Working knowledge of GitHub or version control systems
- Ability to use research and data to drive design decisions
- Confident stakeholder communication and facilitation skills
- Experience designing accessible services (WCAG and inclusive design)
- Experience contributing to design systems, components and patterns
- Ability to work effectively in agile, multidisciplinary teams
Desirable Criteria:
It is desirable if you can demonstrate the following:
- Strong analytical skills to identify and resolve service design issues
- Experience measuring design impact and outcomes
Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the event of a tie break situation to make an informed decision.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Working Together
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £44,305, Department for Education contributes £12,835 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.
As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.
You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.
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We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.
Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.
Part-time hours available, from a minimum of 0.80 FTE.
As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection Process Details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.
Stage 1: Civil Service Numerical Test (CSNT)
When you have completed your personal information, you will be asked to complete the CSNT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage.
Stage 2: Civil Service Verbal Test (CSVT)
When you have completed the CSNT, you will be asked to complete the CSVT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage.
Stage 3 - Written Application
To apply for this role, you will be required to provide a CV and Statement of Suitability.
Your CV should include details of your employment history, and the skills and experience gained in those roles. Your Statement (max 750 words) should demonstrate how your experience meets the essential criteria listed above.
We will use your CV and statement to assess your suitability for the role against the essential criteria listed in the person specification section above.
To confirm, the maximum word count for the statement of suitability is 750. Please adhere to this limit as anything over 750 words will not be taken into account.
The CV and supporting evidence will be evaluated in line with the DfE Design Skills Framework, including:
- Iterative design
- Evidence-based design
- Designing together
- Design communication
- Design for everyone
- Leading design
Stage 4 - Sift
We reserve the right to increase the minimum pass mark for the CSNT and CSVT where there is a high volume of applications or a particularly strong field of candidates. Where this occurs, candidates who do not meet the revised pass mark will not progress further, and their written application will not be assessed.
The sift will be restricted to just assessing personal statements in the event of a large volume of applications.
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More guidance on personal statements can be found here – completing your application.
Stage 5 – Interview
Candidates who are successful at sift will be invited to a 2-stage interview process, typically held on the same day. This will last up to 2 hours.
Stage 1: Technical Assessment
The first stage is a technical design assessment, led by the Senior Interaction Designer. This will be assessed against the essential criteria.
Format:
- 40-minute practical task
- Followed by up to 10-minute discussion
- Followed by a 10-minute break before Stage 2
Stage 2: Interview
At interview you will be asked questions to assess your experience in line with the essential criteria listed above.
Important Information
If you fail to complete the tests before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn. Guidance will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are untimed, administered via Civil Service Jobs, and applicant guidance is available during the test and online on GOV.UK Online Tests guidance.
Applicants must complete the test on their own, without help, and Departments reserve the right to retest applicants under supervised conditions at later stages of the selection process. Doing this can provide reassurance to recruiters who are concerned about the authenticity of one or more test results.
Please ensure you allow yourself sufficient time to complete both assessments and submit your application before the advertised deadline.
Reasonable Adjustments & Test Accessibility:
See our reasonable adjustments guide for candidates (online tests), or some example case studies, to act as a guide. You can use these to help you decide whether to ask for help or take the test without help.
More information about online tests can be found here: Preparing for the Civil Service Verbal and Numerical tests - GOV.UK. You will also find practice tests on this page if you would find them helpful prior to completing the live test.
Other Information
Interviews may be via Microsoft teams or face to face; the vacancy manager will confirm prior to the Interview.
In your application, please don’t include personal information that identifies you.
This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - it's called name blind recruitment (opens in a new window).
Please ensure that you remove from your application, all references to your:
- Name/title
- Educational institutions
- Age
- Gender
- Email address
- Postal address
- Phone number
- Nationality/immigration status
We reserve the right to raise the minimum pass mark in the event of a high volume or strong field of candidates.
Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK from the location options provided and not from overseas.
The government is committed to supporting apprenticeships, enabling people to learn and progress in a role whilst earning. We want to monitor the number of people who have completed apprenticeships who are now applying to progress further in their career and are asking this question to all candidates, on all vacancies. You will be asked a question as part of the application process about any previous apprenticeships you have completed. Your response to this question will not affect your application and it is not a requirement of the role to have completed
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