User experience designer jobs in Birmingham
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Senior Service Designer
Location: remote. This role can be based at any of Barnardo's national offices. Regular local and national travel will be required.
Help us design services that transform childhoods
At Barnardo's, we believe every child deserves a safe, happy and hopeful future. For over 150 years, we've been innovating to improve the lives of children, young people and families across the UK. Today, we run more than 800 services and are committed to making them excellent, inclusive and designed with the children, young people and families who use them.
As a senior member of the Service Design team, you will play a vital role in applying service design methods to deliver measurable improvements in service quality, efficiency, value and outcomes for children, young people and families.
We are continuing to strengthen how we design and improve services across Barnardo's, working across a complex and evolving portfolio that spans children's services, digital delivery and business development.
This role offers the opportunity to shape not only individual services, but how service design is used to support decision-making, prioritisation and innovation across the organisation.
This is a hands-on role as well as a strategic one – you'll be actively designing, prototyping and iterating services as well as shaping direction and decision-making.
As a Senior Service Designer, you will:
- Work across a portfolio of projects, balancing priorities and adapting to changing organisational needs
- Contribute to service development and proposals, working with business development colleagues to shape service models
- Influence decision-making and prioritisation, using evidence and insight to guide direction
- Identify opportunities to improve services in ways that deliver better outcomes, greater efficiency and value for money
- Lead the end-to-end design of services in complex environments, shaping user-centred, evidence-based solutions that respond to organisational priorities, and creating service maps, blueprints, prototypes and other design artefacts to bring ideas to life
- Test and iterate service concepts in response to feedback and learning, refining solutions to improve outcomes
- Ensure services are coherent and integrated across online and offline channels
- Work across functions including business development, digital, finance, operations, research and policy to engage stakeholders and support organisational change
- Mentor and support colleagues – developing confidence and skills, with the potential to provide line management support to junior designers where appropriate
- Develop practice and contribute to standards, frameworks and reusable design patterns
- Share learning internally and externally, contributing to professional communities of practice and helping raise the profile of service design at Barnardo's
This is a varied, hands-on and project-focused role that allows for autonomy, creativity and real impact. You'll be part of a warm, committed team that shares learning, supports wellbeing, and is united in a clear mission: designing for better outcomes for children and families.
You'll work with a high degree of autonomy, navigating complexity and ambiguity, delivering tangible improvements to services and contributing to a growing and evolving design practice.
What We're Looking For
We're looking for a Senior Service Designer who can:
- Work autonomously to lead the design of complex services
- Manage competing priorities effectively across projects, balancing time, focus and trade-offs
- Influence stakeholders and support organisational change beyond immediate project teams, communicating design decisions and complex ideas clearly to a range of audiences
- Understand how services operate within wider organisational systems, and use this to inform decision-making and support effective change
- Confidently use a range of evidence, including user research, service data and performance insights, to inform decisions and guide direction
- Conduct in-depth user research to generate actionable insights and guide decision-making
- Create and iterate prototypes and other design artefacts
- Integrate offline and online service delivery into coherent end-to-end services
- Design and facilitate collaborative workshops with a range of stakeholders and partners
- Evaluate and evidence the impact of service design work
Previous experience in children's services, health, education or related public/third sector contexts is desirable – but if you bring transferable skills, we want to hear from you.
What You'll Get in Return
- 26 days annual leave (rising with service) plus bank holidays
- Access to the Barnardo's pension scheme
- Flexible working and hybrid/remote options
- Wellbeing initiatives and Employee Assistance Programme
- Regular supervision and career development opportunities
- The opportunity to shape how service design is used across a national organisation
- The chance to work on services that support children, young people and families across the UK.
Inclusion and Belonging
We are committed to building a diverse workforce. We particularly welcome applications from disabled candidates, LGBTQ+ people, people from racially minoritised communities, and those with care experience. If there's anything we can do to support you through the application process, please let us know.
Ready to Apply?
Together, we can change childhoods and change lives.
When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification and Job Description.
Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
We’re looking for a creative and organised Design Officer to join our Marketing team on a FTC until August 2027. This is an opportunity to play a key role in helping people recognise The National Lottery Community Fund and understand the difference our funding makes to communities across the UK.
Working closely with the Brand Manager and colleagues across Communications and Engagement, you’ll help create clear, accessible and engaging design materials for a wide range of channels. From templates, presentations and reports to campaign assets, event materials and branded guidance, your work will help us tell our story consistently and creatively.
This role would suit someone who has a flare for design and enjoys balancing hands-on design delivery with brand stewardship, working with different teams, managing varied briefs and finding practical creative solutions in a busy organisation.
You might start the day reviewing new design requests from colleagues, then spend time creating branded assets for a campaign, presentation, report or event. Later, you may be advising a team on how to apply our visual identity, updating a template, or working with an external designer to make sure commissioned work is on brand, accessible and delivered on time.
You’ll be expected to balance hands-on design delivery with brand guidance, helping colleagues produce communications that are clear, consistent and engaging.
Key responsibilities may include:
- Create high-quality design materials for internal and external communications, across print and digital channels.
- Manage and prioritise design requests, agreeing realistic timelines with colleagues.
- Support the Brand Manager in maintaining the consistency and integrity of the Fund’s visual identity.
- Provide practical design advice to teams across the UK, balancing brand consistency with creative flexibility.
- Design quick-turnaround assets in-house, including presentations, social media graphics, reports, event materials and branded documents.
- Brief and work with external designers, freelancers or suppliers where additional support is needed.
- Ensure design work is accessible, inclusive and appropriate for the intended audience.
- Work closely with communications, content and country teams to support integrated campaigns and projects.
We’re looking for someone with strong practical experience in graphic design, ideally with at least five years’ experience in a design role or similar creative environment. You’ll be confident creating high-quality design work across a range of formats, including digital, print, presentations, reports, social media, campaign materials and event assets.
You’ll need a good understanding of brand identity and be able to apply guidelines consistently while still bringing creative thinking and flexibility to your work. You should be comfortable managing multiple briefs, prioritising your workload and working to deadlines in a busy organisation.
The ideal candidate will have:
- At least five years’ experience in a graphic design role or similar creative background.
- A strong, up-to-date portfolio of design work that you are able to talk through.
- Experience creating materials for both digital and print channels.
- Good knowledge of design software and tools, such as Adobe Creative Suite, Canva or similar.
- An understanding of accessibility and inclusive design principles.
- Strong attention to detail and the ability to produce clear, polished and accurate work.
- Experience working with brand guidelines and maintaining visual consistency.
- Good communication skills, with the confidence to advise colleagues and respond constructively to feedback.
- The ability to manage competing deadlines and work with colleagues across different teams.
- Experience briefing or working with external designers, freelancers or suppliers would be helpful.
- This role can be based anywhere in the UK. You will be expected to travel at least once a month for team meetings, and occasional additional travel may be required to support projects, events or collaboration with colleagues.
- A relevant design qualification, certification or equivalent professional experience would be welcome, but we are most interested in your practical experience, portfolio and ability to create accessible, effective and brand-aligned design work.
Interview details:
- Date: w/c 6th or 13th July
- Format: Online
- Location: We have a hybrid approach to working. Work pattern and location will be agreed with the successful candidate. The role can be based at any of our UK offices: Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, and Newtown.
For an informal discussion about the role, please contact: Ibi Adekoya. For any questions about the recruitment process, please email us.
How to apply:
Upload your CV in word format and write a supporting statement (1000 words) with the following criteria, we will use this to score your application. If you are selected for interview we will request to view your portfolio before the interview date.
Your supporting statement should explain how your skills and experience meet the essential criteria below. Your portfolio should include examples of recent design work that show your approach to brand, accessibility, layout, digital and/or print design. We will use your CV, supporting statement and portfolio to assess your application.
Essential Criteria:
- At least five years’ practical experience working in graphic design, brand design or a similar creative role.
- A strong and relevant portfolio demonstrating high-quality design across a range of formats, such as digital, print, reports, presentations, campaigns, social media or event materials.
- Experience applying brand guidelines consistently while using creative judgement to adapt designs for different audiences, channels and purposes.
- Strong working knowledge of design tools, particularly Adobe Creative Suite, with confidence using other tools such as Canva or Microsoft PowerPoint where appropriate.
- Good understanding of accessibility and inclusive design principles, with the ability to create clear, user-focused and accessible design work.
- Strong communication skills, with the confidence to advise colleagues on design choices and explain creative decisions clearly.
- Experience commissioning and briefing and working with external designers, freelancers or suppliers where additional support is needed
Desirable Criteria:
- Experience designing for a public sector, charity, non-profit or purpose-led organisation.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.
We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.)
It starts with community.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Do you have an excellent understanding of digital content and usability issues, plus proven experience using a content management system to write and edit content for websites? Then join Shelter as a Content Editor and you could play an important role at the heart of our Digital team.
About the role
Reporting to the Senior Content Designer, the Content Editor role supports key elements of Shelter’s Content Strategy adoption, as well as acting as an ambassador for editorial excellence.
The Content Editor plays an important role in ensuring Shelter’s digital content is clear, engaging, accessible and aligned with our content strategy and house style. The role is responsible for writing, editing and maintaining high-quality web, email and blog content that supports a consistent, user-centred experience across Shelter’s digital channels.
Role specifics
We’re looking for someone who is an excellent writer and editor, with strong experience creating high-quality digital content that is clear, engaging and user-centred. You’ll be confident managing competing priorities and producing content that supports Shelter’s digital goals, while working collaboratively with stakeholders across the organisation. You’ll have a good understanding of digital editorial best practice, including tone of voice, SEO, accessibility and web usability, and experience developing style guides or training. You’ll also be comfortable using data and insight to review and improve content, and familiar with working in Content Management Systems.
Apply to be part of our team and be the change you want to see in society.
Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.
We are happy to talk about flexible working, personal growth, and to promote a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.
About the team
The Digital Content Team plays a key role within Shelter by producing exciting content design work for directorates across the organisation. The content team delivers their work through the Digital team. Collectively, they set the example for Shelter in digital best practice, discovery and innovation. The Digital Content team creates compelling content that adheres to Shelter’s Content Strategy and achieves Shelter's Digital Purpose.
About Shelter
Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet everyday millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.
We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.
We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.
Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.
Safeguarding statement
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.
Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.