About the job

Here at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives.  

Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you’re thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time.  

We have over 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK.  

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Digital Planning Programme within MHCLG. Our mission is to modernise the planning system through digital transformation, making it more transparent, accessible, and efficient for everyone. We are delivering tangible improvements to support communities across the UK, creating great places to live and work.  

You will lead on developing the end-to-end holistic view of strategic work, using creative and innovative design and mapping approaches to create products that tell a story and bring it to life for non-experts. The role welcomes service designers with a strategic and/or systems mindset that can see the bigger picture, whilst using the creative design approaches to communicate a story that can support the efforts of remediation 

We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.  

Find out more about what it's like to work in a digital, data and technology role at MHCLG  including our culture, ways of working, career progression and staff benefits. You can also read the MHCLG Digital blog to learn about the work we're doing. 

As a Senior Service Designer, you’ll; 

• understand the dependencies within the current system and how the programme aligns, seeking to identify incentives and disincentives across the system  

• take a strategic view of the system to support prioritisation and decision making around improvements needed in the system, and supporting the production of a project roadmap   

• develop an understanding of the current landscape and any future changes, to understand when implementation of new policies would impact the sector and our users   

• use and embed insights from user research and other sources of data and user feedback into visual products / prototypes to identify pain points and challenges from a user perspective. Continuously refine designs based on user feedback and testing results; have an ability to prototype ideas at different fidelities, using a range of design tools and techniques to explore and test designs 

• build relationships with teams across programme to work collaboratively to build the system view, and to facilitate close working relationships that enable cross-team working on projects identified through the system design work  

• produce a variety of visual products that represent the system, including user journeys, system maps and process maps, taking a creative approach to ensure products are user-friendly 

• implement a user-centred systems approach, bringing and embedding knowledge of user-centred design to a complex policy landscape    

• embody inclusive leadership, line managing others to support career development and to direct the work of others

We are seeking a Senior Service Designer that can engage at a strategic, systems level in complex landscapes in a way which priorities users and their needs.  As a Senior Service Designer, you'll have; 

• significant experience of working as a lead/senior level service or systems designer in a user-centred design team, project or programme 

• experience of working in complex policy or service environment and applying strategic user-centred approaches to end-to-end design    

• experience of developing strategic and/or systems visualisations or conceptual models that can bring clarity to a large, complex and interconnected landscape using creative and innovative designs  

• experience of using strategic end-to-end products to tell a compelling story which can communicate complex information to non-experts in a way that brings information to life 

• experience of critically analysing end-to-end journeys to identify pain points and challenges, and using this to help set a strategic direction for the future 

• experience of building and managing relationships with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders, including the ability to work across organisational boundaries 

• an understanding and ability to work with complexity, uncertainty and organisational constraints in a political context    

• an inclusive leader that can support and coach other team members, direct work, and support career development.   

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £59,586, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £17,262 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role

• An environment with flexible working options

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

MHCLG want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.  

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors. 

When writing your application, remember: 

• The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.  

• Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.  

• If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!) 

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. 

CV Declaration 

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called anonymous recruitment. 

Please remove references to your: 

• name/title

• educational institutions

• age

• gender

• email address

• postal address

• phone number

• nationality/immigration status

At sift, through your CV we will be assessing:

• Experience

• Technical

In the event of a high number of applications, we will be sifting based on one lead sift question - assessing on Experience - Please give an example of when you have worked with a team to define the boundaries of the programme landscape, and producing visualisations that document this using strategic service design and/or systems mapping approaches.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:  

Experience

Behaviours (Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Delivering at Pace)

Technical

In full the campaign, we will test the below Success Profile Elements:

Experience: Experience will be tested at sift and through interview questions which will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the person specification

Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Delivering at Pace

Technical: Technical will be tested at sift and through interview questions which will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the person specification

We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs:

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.

Group 1 Digital and Data roles 

MHCLG has implemented the Digital and Data capability framework for Group 1 roles. Applicants that are successful at the interview stage and have been offered a position will be required to complete a capability assessment after the interview.    

MHCLG will honour completed capability assessments for this role from other Government Departments for existing Civil Servants. Please provide a copy of your capability assessment to the Hiring Manager when applying. If you have any queries on pay, please contact the Hiring Manager. 

Salary is determined by performance at interview, within the range advertised. Each experience or technical skill is assessed between 1-3, representing working towards, at or above the job level requirements. You are awarded a proficiency level accordingly, and you will be given opportunities at least once a year to re assess your capability and progress through the pay scale within your grade. An additional digital allowance may be payable depending on level of assessed capability. 

Candidates moving from another government department have the option to retain their current salary where the principle for implementation is there is no detriment where existing pay exceeds the indicative level. Where individuals are at a lower salary than their assessed level, they will receive an upward adjustment.  

MHCLG will honour completed capability assessments for this role from existing Civil Servants who are applying on level transfer only. 

Grade 7 Group 1 Digital and Data salary 

• The salary for this role will between £64,979 - £70,011 (London), £59,586 - £64,641 (National) depending on the proficiency level assessment. 

• An additional digital allowance may be payable depending on the level of assessed capability up to £9,000

• For applicants in receipt of existing allowances, we will assess each case individually and aim to match the digital allowance implemented with no detriment. 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. 

Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.   

Benefits

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:

Any move to MHCLG from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.

Geographical Location:

• Bristol

• Darlington*

• London

• Manchester

• Wolverhampton

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.  This role is based at MHCLG and we will be joined on the campus by:

• HM Treasury

• Department for International Trade

• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

• Office for National Statistics

• Department for Education

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.

Sift and Interview dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place from Tuesday 12/08/2025 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.

Reserve List In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.

CTC (Counter-terrorism Clearance): 

Important note 

Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete.   

Please note that successful candidates who apply to London will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC).

Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by MHCLG. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database. 

Candidate Pack Information

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules

Internal Fraud Database

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register

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

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

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

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)

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.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Job contact :

• Name :Digital Data Jobs Recruitment

• Email :digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email :digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk

1a. MHCLG Candidate Pack (type, size)1b. Candidate Guidance 2 (type, size)1c. Success Profiles Candidate information 2 (type, size)Darlington Economic Campus Career Pathways 3 (type, size)