Junior Designer

at  Department for Education

JOB SUMMARY

We are looking for a designer to join the Education Policy Innovation Centre (EPIC) within the Department for Education (DfE).
EPIC is an interdisciplinary team with a mission to bring participation, design and innovation into the Department’s policymaking process in order to deliver policies and services that fulfil the department’s mission to break down barriers to opportunities. Our team works on projects across the Department’s portfolio, including on families and early education, schools and skills, as well as the wider cross-government Opportunity Mission. As a team, we have combined experience in policy design, ethnography, social research, user research, co-design, visual design and systems thinking. We work closely with other cross-cutting teams within the Department (e.g. the Behaviour Insights Unit) and across government (e.g. Policy Lab, Mission Delivery Unit).
You will work closely with the Design Lead and other members of the team to both deliver projects focused on specific policy challenges as well as, more broadly, to explore and influence how we can use innovation to make policymaking better across the Department and wider Civil Service. A critical part of our team’s work focuses on participatory research, design and policymaking, by which we mean activities that bring together systems actors, people with lived experience and other stakeholders to better understand and generate solutions to complex policy challenges. This role is central to supporting these activities.
A core set of visual design skills is essential for this role. It is also preferable that you have some experience of planning and supporting primary research that might include using participatory methods such as co-design. Beyond this we are open to applicants from different design disciplines and backgrounds (e.g. communication, product, service, policy, systems, speculative) and the role has the flexibility to develop around your interests.

QUALIFICATIONS

A relevant design qualification at least to a BA level in any field of design (e.g. visual, communication, service, product or industrial design). Candidates who meet the criteria but don’t hold qualifications are also eligible to apply
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £33,834, Department for Education contributes £9,801 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
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.
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.
As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.
Things you need to know

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

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)

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Use your design skills to create innovative visual assets and outputs at different stages of the project process, for example research stimulus, co-design kits, data visualisations, systems maps, visual concepts and prototypes.
• Act as a strategic and participatory designer, helping the team to plan and deliver activities that bring together systems actors, citizens and other stakeholders to better understand and generate solutions to complex policy challenges.
• Experiment with and evaluate potential policy solutions and interventions, for example by creating policy concepts and prototypes and supporting user testing.
• Support the team to deliver research and design activities, for example, planning workshop logistics, preparing physical materials, and communicating with participants.
  We are looking for an adaptable designer who is comfortable doing a diverse set of tasks all in the same week. You will also be curious and brave; interested in emerging design practices, willing to test new approaches and excited by the question of how we can use innovation to make policymaking better.
  Beyond core project work you will have the opportunity to explore and influence how we use the innovation process and innovative methods to improve policymaking, helping other civil servants to understand and embed participation, design and innovation into the policy process.
  Please note that in this role you will be working on strategic policy innovation projects, rather than designing detailed service experiences. Our methods include ethnography and co-design, so you’ll need to be curious about research and be willing to travel to wherever participants are located around the country for in-person engagement.