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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # User Centred Designer - **Company:** Essex County Council - **Location:** Chelmsford, UK - **Salary:** £48,321.0 - £56,848.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Automation of Tests, Service Design, User-Centered Design - **Published:** August 9, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.careerjet.co.uk/job/gb67b91d0ffc4733830f400b44366e0b4a/eaa ## About the Role * Educated to RQF level 6 (Bachelor's degree) in research, design or equivalent by experience. * Experience of managing relationships with stakeholders including influencing sceptical stakeholders and challenging decisions that don't meet user need. * Experience of balancing the needs of users with organisation priorities to make the right decisions and supporting teams to act upon them. * Proven ability to understand technical complexity, risks and to communicate this in simple and accessible language to a wide range of audiences. * Experience of developing ideas using sketching, prototyping, iterative design and using testing tools to make sure prototypes and services meet user needs. * Experience of planning user research for services with challenging user needs and complex user journeys and advise on the choice and application of research methods to assure best practice. * Experience of working in agile, multi-disciplinary teams from discovery through to supporting a live service. * Strong and flexible communication skills. Able to communicate research in a meaningful way that engages stakeholders and teams to create shared understanding and alignment. * Knowledge and practical application of the Government Service Standards, Government * Accessibility Regulations and Information Governance principles. * Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area. ## Description At Essex County Council, User Centred Design is central to high-impact programmes including Resident Experience and Local Government Reorganisation. As part of a multi-disciplinary team, this role will work on the development of service designs that support the council's ambition to deliver better public services for citizens and businesses in Essex. The postholder will champion a user-centred, service design approach through the entire process, from Discovery through to roll-out and on-going improvement. They will align user research and service design methods to develop a deep understanding of the people that use our services and identify opportunities to improve service outcomes and efficiency. Accountabilities * Champion the value of user-centred design across the council, work in the open to promote awareness and understanding of the diversity of users of government services, and advocate for services that work for all users. * Work as part of multidisciplinary teams to specify and design end-to-end digital services that meet user needs and business objectives within identified constraints and standards. * Use, develop and iterate service patterns and standards to create consistent user experiences across services as well as efficient service delivery built on common components. * Iterate and improve designs based on successive rounds of research, prototyping ideas at different fidelities to explore and test designs and help service areas understand the possibilities and how to make prototypes turn into services. * Plan, conduct and involve the wider team in user research, including the analysis of research data and synthesis of findings. Show integrity in your research practice and resilience in advocating for user needs based on user insights to ensure best outcomes for Essex citizens. * Use quantitative and qualitative data to produce designs that meet user needs, map user journeys and compile user research into actionable insights to make decisions about user need. * Explain and communicate problems and design ideas to senior stakeholders using appropriate tools and methods so they understand user needs and insights, their characteristics and tasks, and the technical, organisational and physical environment in which products or systems will operate, to build understanding and consensus. * Responsible for designing for both internal staff and external user experience together as front and backstage of how a service works, understanding that form follows function and designs ensure alignment of council structures to priorities and optimising service performance across the organisation. * Undertake assurance of ethics and consent processes and developing / reviewing * privacy and equality impact assessments to protect the dignity, rights and welfare of research participants. * Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework. * Influencing internal stakeholders and multiple external stakeholders. * The role will have critical and defining input to complex projects which impact significantly across the Council and carry high reputational risk. ## Related Videos - [Design as an algorithm, not as a feature](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/471-design-as-an-algorithm-not-as-a-feature) - [What If We Designed Employee Experience Like a Customer Journey?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1824-what-if-we-designed-employee-experience-like-a-customer-journey) - [How to add test automation to your project: The good, the bad, and the ugly](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1668-how-to-add-test-automation-to-your-project-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly) - [Insight into AI-Driven Design](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1016-insight-into-ai-driven-design) - [SMART Test Automation - the experience of legacy transformation](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100215-smart-test-automation-the-experience-of-legacy-transformation) - [UX is a fullstack job!](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1020-ux-is-a-fullstack-job) ## Related Articles - [How Developers Can Focus on Maintaining Satisfaction With Accessibility](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/109-how-developers-can-focus-on-maintaining-satisfaction-with-accessibility) - [Résumé-Driven Development: How IT trends affect the job market for software developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/59-resume-driven-development-how-it-trends-affect-the-job-market-for-software-developers) - [Dev Digest 133 - Back to Front](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/474-dev-digest-133-back-to-front) - [The future is here: How artificial intelligence is influencing UX design](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/65-the-future-is-here-how-artificial-intelligence-is-influencing-ux-design) - [UK Business Culture and Etiquette](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/326-uk-business-culture-and-etiquette) - [Data Engineer Salary UK](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/253-data-engineer-salary-uk)