Job summary
As Head of User Centred Design (UCD), you will build and grow a design community to design, create and support simple to use, accessible systems enabling our Research Systems programme. with a front row seat creating products. This is a critical role with significant responsibility driving the HRA's strategic product design vision, perspective, and execution.
Main duties of the job
As the Head of UCD, you will:
- shape user-centred design strategy and vision within the Research Systems programme (RSP)
- build and run a UCD practice to consistently deliver great experiences for users, supporting the RSP's customer-centric, digital transformation, crossing and touching the entire organisation.
- shape the UCD practice and ways of working by embedding consistent and high-quality professional standards, developing design processes and outputs across the programme, and ensuring integration and consistency.
- provide best practice from across government and the profession, working with stakeholders (from peers to senior leaders) to ensure we deliver services that meet the needs of all our users.
- have management responsibility for leads and teams across Service Design, Interaction Design, Content Design, User Research and Performance Analysis.
- have accountability for planning, developing and maintaining the service design for RSP services (including blueprints and other artefacts for digital services, offline journeys, and user support) so that it works seamlessly for users.
- provide oversight for user and performance insights, driving innovation and enabling effective synthesis of qualitative and quantitative information. This will inform product improvements through intelligent service design, develop mechanisms for sharing and embedding insights across RSP and beyond.
About us
Working at the HRA, we are reminded daily of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for you, not just us and the work we do.
We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know from experience that different ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds create a stronger, more creative workplace that helps us to deliver the best services. We welcome applications which represent the rich diversity of our community: age, disability, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and other diverse characteristics, and we have policies in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process.
When applying to work here, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement - if it works for us, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Job description
Job responsibilities
This role sits within HRA Digital. The HRA Digital directorate is responsible for developing, delivering and supporting complex solutions within the HRAs portfolio of national information systems for health and care research. This includes a major programme to build a new Integrated Research Application system and to achieve the successful migration and eventual closure of current systems (IRAS and HARP).
The HRA Digital team is a collaborative, supportive team consisting of HRA employees, secondees, contractors and vendors.
To find out more and to understand the full duties of the role, please refer to the job description attached.
In submitting your application with us, please note the following:
- We currently do not accept applications via recruitment agencies.
- We do not hold a sponsorship licence and are unable to offer employment under any sponsorship arrangement.
- Where applicants fail to demonstrate how they meet any one of the essential criteria of the person specification, the application will not be shortlisted. You will be considered based only on the information in your application form. CVs will not be considered.
The HRA reserves the right to close this vacancy early should it receive a sufficient number of applications.
Job description
Job responsibilities
This role sits within HRA Digital. The HRA Digital directorate is responsible for developing, delivering and supporting complex solutions within the HRAs portfolio of national information systems for health and care research. This includes a major programme to build a new Integrated Research Application system and to achieve the successful migration and eventual closure of current systems (IRAS and HARP).
The HRA Digital team is a collaborative, supportive team consisting of HRA employees, secondees, contractors and vendors.
To find out more and to understand the full duties of the role, please refer to the job description attached.
In submitting your application with us, please note the following:
- We currently do not accept applications via recruitment agencies.
- We do not hold a sponsorship licence and are unable to offer employment under any sponsorship arrangement.
- Where applicants fail to demonstrate how they meet any one of the essential criteria of the person specification, the application will not be shortlisted. You will be considered based only on the information in your application form. CVs will not be considered.
The HRA reserves the right to close this vacancy early should it receive a sufficient number of applications.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to master's level OR has equivalent relevant working experience or qualifications alongside evidence of continuing professional development.
- Recognised professional qualification or experience demonstrating expertise across a range of disciplines, e.g. product management, analysis and synthesis, inclusive research, society and technology, strategic insight, the digital economy, financial ownership, operational management, user-centred and agile practices.
- Professional qualifications, e.g. UXPA, or Certified Scrum Professional Product Owner, or equivalent level of experience and expertise in the application of a range of user-centred design and product management methodologies.
Desirable
- Recognised management qualification or equivalent experience. Significant evidence of continued professional development in modern technologies, methods, processes, and cultures.
- Membership of a relevant professional body or community, e.g. AIPMM, Mind the Product, UXPA, Service Design Network, Market Research Society.
Knowledge, Skills and Expertise
Essential
- Demonstrable knowledge of product management and user-centred design practices for both public facing and internal services and applications with advanced understanding of agile product management practices and methods.
- Knowledge of the wider political and cultural aspects of delivering design and product capabilities across complex organisations.
- Knowledge of how to initiate and support working with other digital, data and technology job families and professions.
- Knowledge of the Government Service Standard, Government Technology Code of Practice, and Digital Spend Controls and how it relates to the health and social care digital sector and its supporting digital strategies.
Experience
Essential
- Proven track record in a senior leadership/management role, leading teams and staff in a product management or user-centred design role with meaningful outcomes in complex organisations
- Leading and influencing senior stakeholders, often with divergent views to reach timely and effective decisions based on the appropriate use of information.
- Coaching teams in user-centred, agile, and iterative practices, helping team members to determine the right approaches to try by advocating for user-centred design to help organisations adopt user-centred practices and embed them into agile service design and delivery.
- Working within constraints - can anticipate how constraints might change and know where to challenge or remove constraints.
- Ensuring that products get used - can build business cases based on user needs and realise benefits by linking work back to the business case.
- Leading teams through the full product life cycle - can identify and deal with potential risks and contribute to the assessment of other teams.
Desirable
- Delivering a product to Government Service Standard and of GDS Service Assessments, through all stages of the product lifecycle.
- Experience as a GDS Service Assessor or in a digital spend control assurance role.
- Contribution to business cases following the 5-case model, or similar investment justification artefacts to secure funding for based on anticipated value.
- Having worked as, or closely with, a Senior Responsible Owner.
Analytical and Judgemental Skills
Essential
- Turning user insight from multiple (often conflicting) sources into product or service improvements.
- Sharing future vision and strategy making it tangible and real and promoting it to others internally and externally.
- Ability to focus on and flex between the big picture and significant detail on the ground, being adept at moving between the two.
Interpersonal Skills
Essential
- Strong, positive interpersonal skills and excellent written and oral communication skills to support the creation of buy-in for a product, service or experience vision among both internal stakeholders across the whole organisation and external stakeholders. This may include the delivery of presentation to large groups of stakeholders in often pressured and politically sensitive environments.
- Strong influencing skills, with the ability to work with others across organisations without line managing them.
Other
Essential
- Commitment to inclusivity and valuing diversity
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to master's level OR has equivalent relevant working experience or qualifications alongside evidence of continuing professional development.
- Recognised professional qualification or experience demonstrating expertise across a range of disciplines, e.g. product management, analysis and synthesis, inclusive research, society and technology, strategic insight, the digital economy, financial ownership, operational management, user-centred and agile practices.
- Professional qualifications, e.g. UXPA, or Certified Scrum Professional Product Owner, or equivalent level of experience and expertise in the application of a range of user-centred design and product management methodologies.
Desirable
- Recognised management qualification or equivalent experience. Significant evidence of continued professional development in modern technologies, methods, processes, and cultures.
- Membership of a relevant professional body or community, e.g. AIPMM, Mind the Product, UXPA, Service Design Network, Market Research Society.
Knowledge, Skills and Expertise
Essential
- Demonstrable knowledge of product management and user-centred design practices for both public facing and internal services and applications with advanced understanding of agile product management practices and methods.
- Knowledge of the wider political and cultural aspects of delivering design and product capabilities across complex organisations.
- Knowledge of how to initiate and support working with other digital, data and technology job families and professions.
- Knowledge of the Government Service Standard, Government Technology Code of Practice, and Digital Spend Controls and how it relates to the health and social care digital sector and its supporting digital strategies.
Experience
Essential
- Proven track record in a senior leadership/management role, leading teams and staff in a product management or user-centred design role with meaningful outcomes in complex organisations
- Leading and influencing senior stakeholders, often with divergent views to reach timely and effective decisions based on the appropriate use of information.
- Coaching teams in user-centred, agile, and iterative practices, helping team members to determine the right approaches to try by advocating for user-centred design to help organisations adopt user-centred practices and embed them into agile service design and delivery.
- Working within constraints - can anticipate how constraints might change and know where to challenge or remove constraints.
- Ensuring that products get used - can build business cases based on user needs and realise benefits by linking work back to the business case.
- Leading teams through the full product life cycle - can identify and deal with potential risks and contribute to the assessment of other teams.
Desirable
- Delivering a product to Government Service Standard and of GDS Service Assessments, through all stages of the product lifecycle.
- Experience as a GDS Service Assessor or in a digital spend control assurance role.
- Contribution to business cases following the 5-case model, or similar investment justification artefacts to secure funding for based on anticipated value.
- Having worked as, or closely with, a Senior Responsible Owner.
Analytical and Judgemental Skills
Essential
- Turning user insight from multiple (often conflicting) sources into product or service improvements.
- Sharing future vision and strategy making it tangible and real and promoting it to others internally and externally.
- Ability to focus on and flex between the big picture and significant detail on the ground, being adept at moving between the two.
Interpersonal Skills
Essential
- Strong, positive interpersonal skills and excellent written and oral communication skills to support the creation of buy-in for a product, service or experience vision among both internal stakeholders across the whole organisation and external stakeholders. This may include the delivery of presentation to large groups of stakeholders in often pressured and politically sensitive environments.
- Strong influencing skills, with the ability to work with others across organisations without line managing them.
Other
Essential
- Commitment to inclusivity and valuing diversity
