Job summary
Important: interviews for this role will be held in person. Further information can be found in the selection process section.

We’re looking for a Senior Content Designer who wants to do meaningful work. You’ll help to design services that protect some of the most vulnerable people in the UK.

You’ll join the Home Office’s Policing and Public Protection Technology (PPPT) portfolio as our first senior content specialist, embedded in a central user‑centred design (UCD) team that works like an in‑ across public safety and homeland security. Your initial focus will be on modern slavery, working on services that sit at the intersection of safeguarding, serious crime and victim support. While modern slavery work can sometimes overlap with areas such as migration and borders – for example, when a case involves someone who has recently arrived in the UK – this role does not involve migration or borders policy or delivery. Over time, as demand for modern slavery support evolves, you’ll also have opportunities to work on other products and services across the wider PPPT portfolio.

Day-to-day, you’ll work directly with the Modern Slavery (MSU), improving how a wide range of people – from emergency service workers and voluntary sector staff to those directly affected – navigate and use critical government services. You’ll work with researchers and other designers, challenging assumptions, running workshops, and making complex policy actionable.

This is also a leadership role. You’ll line manage and help develop content practice across the portfolio, setting the standard and enabling others to meet it.

Crucially, we need someone who understands complex systems and can think beyond content, someone who can play an active role in shaping the whole design as well as the words. If you want your work to have real impact and help define what good content design looks like, this role is for you.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. Applicants can raise any queries to the email address at the bottom of the advert.

Watch this short video to hear from members of Home Office Digital talking about the projects they work on and their experience of working here: Working for Home Office Digital.

Job description
Your main day-to-day responsibilities will be:

• Scoping, writing and editing content for complex internal and public-facing services including those relating to public safety and security.
• Working as part of a multidisciplinary team to identify user needs, write and map user stories, design content plans, and co-design end-to-end services, ensuring content is considered at every stage of the design process.
• Identifying and engaging with stakeholders to clarify objectives, constraints and commitments, while focusing on user needs.
• Working with subject matter experts in a sensitive policy area, ensuring content is accurate, trauma-informed and operationally appropriate.
• Monitoring the performance of content and tools, identifying ways to improve services.
• Line managing, training and mentoring other content designers, and embedding content design practice where it is new to the portfolio.
• Constructively challenging design decisions that don’t meet user needs.
• Helping other team members understand what content design is, why it’s important and how to work with content designers.

Working pattern

Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis. However, compressed hours are available.

Person specification
Essential skills

You will be assessed against the following skills and experience during the selection process:

• Content design: scoping, writing, editing and managing user-centred content to make sure it’s accurate, timely, relevant, accessible and written to style.
• Evidence-based design: using analytics, feedback and research to understand user needs and to inform content decisions.
• Prototyping and concept creation: creating and using prototypes to share and test design proposals.
• Accessibility and inclusion: assessing the accessibility of online content and advising teams how to fix issues so it is inclusive and accessible to all.
• Communicate, persuade and advocate: convincing stakeholders and team members about the benefits of adopting an accessible, UCD approach.
• Managing people and leading: managing and mentoring team members, providing them with guidance, training and constructive feedback.

SFIA capability framework

The essential skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework (based on the industry standard SFIA framework).  Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each technical skills listed below.

Technical skills
We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Content design – Level 4
• Evidence-based design – Level 4
• Prototyping and concept creation – Level 4
• Accessibility and inclusion – Level 3
• Communicate, persuade and advocate – Level 4
• Managing people and leading – Level 3