7 Senior Designers — More Accessible Job Specification

10 min readJun 9, 2022

The NHS system seems to create pdf versions of Job Specs — something that we need to fix.

Thank you to Zoe Turner for pointing this out to me — it is not Zoe’s responsibility to point this out (I am really grateful that Zoe did). It is our responsibility to fix it.

As a short term solution here it is in a more accessible format.

Position

Job title: Senior Designer

Pay band: AFC Band 8b

Salary: From £53,168 — £62,001 per annum

Tenure: 2 year Fixed Term.

Funding Arrangements: Programme

Directorate/ Region: NHS Transformation Directorate

Responsible to: Head of User Centred Design in the Regions

Accountable to: Deputy Director for User Centred Design, Mental Health, Assurance and Technology

Responsible for: sustained increase in User Centred Design activity in their region.

Base: We are recruiting into the seven regions, preference needed on application- North West, Yorkshire and North East, Midlands, London, South West, South East, East of England. Successful applicants will be based in their closest NHS England office and don’t need to live in the region that they support but frequent travel to the region will be expected

Our Organisation

NHS England and NHS Improvement came together on 1 April 2019 as a new single organisation. The NHS Long Term Plan focuses on delivering integrated care to patients at the local level and we can best support the NHS to deliver this as a single integrated organisation. Our new operating model represents a strong shift to regional delivery supported by expert corporate teams. Local health systems are supported by our integrated regional teams who play a major leadership role in the geographies they manage. We are jointly committed to creating and maintaining a fair and supportive working environment and culture, where contributions are fully recognised and valued by all and staff feel empowered to carry out their duties to the best of their abilities. As employers we are committed to promoting and protecting the physical and mental health and well-being of all our staff. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution, supports us to be an Employer of Choice and ultimately enables our employees to support the effective care of our patients. The seven integrated regions of our joint enterprise will work with local systems to support and improve how care is provided to patients and communities. These regions will be supported by the corporate centre providing expertise and developing policy. The focus will be on guiding and managing the delivery of services through local integrated health systems, sustainability and transformation partnerships, and devolution areas

NHS England and NHS Improvement Values and Behaviours

Having listened to our staff over the last year, we aim to create a healthy and high performing organisation, underpinned by the NHS Constitution values:

Working together for patients
Respect and dignity
Commitment to quality of care
Compassion
Improving lives
Everyone counts

Our people all have a part to play in helping to shape and develop our culture and in embedding and living these values.

Our behaviours: leading by example:

We prioritise patients in every decision we take.
We listen and learn.
We are evidence-based.
We are open and transparent.
We are inclusive.
We strive for improvement.

Service and Team

NHS England and NHS Improvement are transforming how we work together to more effectively and efficiently support local health systems and the patients and public they serve. Our new operating model will be focused on providing a single system view, single messaging and shared leadership to support and enable integrated care. We are creating integrated regional teams and new regional geographies, and aligning our corporate functions. The newly-established Transformation Directorate in NHS England & NHS Improvement draws together Innovation, Research and Life Science; Improvement and Tech Data Policy teams from DHSC into a single team seeking to deliver transformative change for both patients, staff and clinicians in the NHS. This in undertaken in three ways:

1) Redesigning services;

2) Data and analytics;

3) A learning and innovation

NHS The Directorate works together with clinicians and the frontline to redesign services, find creative solutions to address elective surgery, clearing the backlog and getting us back to previous levels of activity and beyond. The NHS has an ability unique in the world to learn and innovate at scale. We have excellent innovators and research institutions in the UK. Many of the innovations are already being made somewhere on the NHS frontline, and part of our role is to encourage adoption and spread of these proven innovations, giving the frontline a bigger voice. We will be convening stakeholders to build improvement ideas, pilot new ways of operating, and scaling the adoption of successful pilots.

About the role

The role will be part of a new function with the mission to help support the adoption and practice of User Centred Design in the Regions. The role will have 3 main strands

1) Advocating for User Centred Design at a senior level within the region

2) Supporting colleagues adopt the practices of UCD

3) Doing the Service Design work on Regional priorities

As a Senior Designer for a Region you will have the freedom to co-create the support that is offered to regions. You will work on services that are high priority and empower colleagues to work in a new way. The post holder will:

Deliver design work for high priority products and services and enable improvements to existing ones as per the Regional Transformation plans
Set design direction and embed design best practice within teams and projects
Involve excluded communities whose voices are seldom heard and value their expertise in designing inclusive services
Have significant experience designing with people and inspiring others to change how things are done
Help to lead the strategic direction of the initiatives worked upon through high quality design work.
Advocate for UCD across the region and at transformation boards
Carry out design work in a large range of settings, potentially encountering sensitive situations and vulnerable audiences.
Coach and develop other designers or colleagues who wish to learn more
Support the embedding of user centred design across the health and social care system.

Key Job Specifications and Competencies

Improving quality and outcomes

To change the way things are done. Introducing a new way of doing transformation that has Users at the heart of it.
To collaboratively transform services so that they produce better outcomes for people
To push the design sector forward in its practices based on the experiences you will have Enabling patient and public involvement
To ensure that seldom heard voice are involved in regional transformation and that services are designed with the most excluded
To take the design process to where people are (community centres, shelters, community services) so that people can contribute fully
To build the relationships with smaller hyper-local organisations and build their design capacity and expertise Promoting equality and reducing inequalities
To help build a design community that reflects the diversity of the population we serve
To create an inclusive working environment where diversity is valued, everyone can contribute, and everyday action ensure we meet our duty to uphold and promote equality.
To design equitable services that work for everyone, regardless of who they are and where they live

Partnership and cross boundary working

To work with colleagues in Health, Social Care, 3rd Sector and Councils to advocate for User Centred Design
To work across boundaries to deliver the right service in the right place at the right time
To advocate for your region to national bodies and help improve the support that is offered from the Transformation Directorate

Leadership for transformational change

To model a collaborative and influencing style of working, negotiating with others to achieve the best outcomes. Embedding this approach across the Region
Work constructively with Transformation Boards and decision makers to influence new ways of working

Using insight and evidence for improvement

To use insight, evidence and the expertise of others when creating change.

Developing an excellent organisation

To ensure health, safety and wellbeing of all staff within the department.
To ensure compliance with all confidentiality and governance requirements within the department.
To adhere to the NHS Managers Code of Conduct and any other relevant professional codes of conduct at all times.

Key Accountabilities

Key Functional Responsibilities

Operational

As a senior lead working internally and externally to deliver projects, initiatives and services to time and in a cost effective way.
To support the identification and sharing of best practice in [discipline] to support service improvement.
To operate in a highly political and sensitive environment.
Support the portfolio of programmes/projects in demonstrating value for money tracking, managing and delivering agreed benefits.
Provide specialist advice and prepare strategic reports and briefings for directors and stakeholders.
In depth analysis, interpretation and production of complex and multiple reports

Financial and Physical Resources

Responsible for budgets/ matching the available budget to the appropriate staff resources and projects and for ensuring that the budget breaks even, co-ordinating and monitoring expenditure.
Responsible for supporting the commissioning of projects and procurement of services to support project delivery, acting in accordance with Standing Orders and Standing Financial Instruction.
Provide financial reports to Directors and the Board as required.
Financial Instructions in the discharge of this responsibility.
Constantly strive for value for money and greater efficiency in the use of budgets, and to ensure that they operate in recurrent financial balance year on year

People Management

Responsible for the day to day range of staff management matters, which will include responsibility for supporting appraisals, development of staff, recruitment and where necessary employee relations matters.
Responsible for an individual’s development on the job and team performance.

Information Management.

Develop and deliver information sharing systems.
Develop the acquisition, organisation, provision and use of knowledge and information.
Highlight exceptions and risks ensuring mitigating action is taken.
Drafting reports summarising status on issues, appraising outcomes, and providing progress reports for the Head of the Department.
Collate as required, qualitative and quantitative information and lead appropriate analysis to develop robust business cases and contribute to delivery of ‘products’ and service improvement.
Analyse, interpret and present data to highlight issues, risks and support decision making.

Research and Development

Plan, develop and evaluate methods and processes for gathering, analysing, interpreting and presenting data and information
Deliver projects to comply with key performance indicators, and best practice guidance.
Co-ordinate Research & Development initiatives, delegating as appropriate. Planning and Organisation:
Ensure projects, services and initiatives are delivered on time, to quality standards and in a cost effective manner, adjusting plans as required.
Determine the strategic planning of Department or Directorate projects, identifying interdependencies across projects/functions, potential impacts on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary.
Determine the development of performance and governance strategies and the development and implementation of improvement programmes, in accordance with Service Sector priorities.
Determine short, medium and long term business plans, achieving quality outcomes.

Policy and Service Development:

Carry responsibility for developing policy and procedure within own discipline/field, including briefings, commissioning, business or resources.
Responsible for proposing and drafting changes, implementation and interpretation to policies, guidelines and service level agreements (SLA’s) which may impact within Department or Directorate.
Proposes changes to own project/service and make recommendations for other projects/service delivery.

Key Working Relationships

Communicates and provides highly complex information to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. (verbal, written and numerical)
Present highly complex information about projects, initiatives and services to a wide range of stakeholders in a formal setting.
Commit to working and engaging constructively with internal and external stakeholders on a range of contentious issues.
Support matrix working internally and collaborative working across organisations.

Organisational Structure

Head of User Centred Design in the Regions: Pete Nuckley

7 Senior Designers (one per region) Vacant

Project support: Vacant

Person Specification

Qualifications

Educated to masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area (Essential)

Evidence of post qualifying and continuing professional development. (Essential)

Extensive knowledge of specialist areas acquired through post graduate diploma or equivalent experience or training plus further specialist (Essential)

Member of relevant professional body

Knowledge and Expertise

Able to demonstrate knowledge and experience of doing user centred design, including knowledge of methods and approaches. Experienced in a variety of methods of design research and prototyping. (Essential)

Demonstrable knowledge and passion for user centred design practices for both public facing and internal services and applications. (Essential)

Proven ability to transfer and develop skills and knowledge into new areas at short notice. (Essential)

Experience of working with excluded communities and bringing their expertise into the design process (Essential)

Extensive experience in designing and facilitating workshops/group sessions (Essential)

Extensive experience in coaching others and improving their skills (Essential)

Must have an understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy and appreciate the implications of this on engagement. (Essential)

Have an appreciation of the relationship between the Department of Health and individual provider and commissioning organisations. (Essential)

Experience of budgetary responsible, including budget setting with evidence of working knowledge of financial processes (Essential)

Experience of building effective cross functional working relationships to drive organisational agenda (Essential)

Skills, Capabilities and Attributes

Able to work in sensitive situations (e.g. clinical settings) and with diverse and vulnerable groups, demonstrating sensitivity and resilience. (Essential)

Design skills and ability to create new services from existing services and able to demonstrate how a service met users’ needs. (Essential)

Experience of working effectively with teams from a range of disciplines, often not digital, and ensuring that the process for making design decisions is based on design knowledge, user research and knowing the user journey (Essential)

Able to inspire change in how things are normally done (Essential)

Highly developed communication skills with the capability to analyse, review and make sense of highly complex, sensitive or contentious information across a diverse range of subjects relevant to post portfolio. (Essential)

Demonstrable skills in presenting complex concepts and information which may include difficult and controversial issues, across a wide range of audiences Ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems in relation to project or service delivery. (Essential)

Ability to understand a broad range of complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution. (Essential)

Evidence of planning and delivering programmes and projects and services on time. (Essential)

Ability to work without supervision, providing specialist advice to the organisation, working to tight and often changing timescales. Interpreting national policy for implementation. (Essential)