Senior Interaction Designer

Senior Interaction Designer

GOV.UK / GDS / User-Centred Design

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Interaction Designer to design simple, accessible and intuitive digital services within a UK Government environment.

You will work as part of a multidisciplinary User-Centred Design team, collaborating closely with user researchers, content designers, service designers, product managers, developers, business analysts and policy colleagues.

You will take complex user, policy and technical requirements and translate them into clear interaction patterns and user journeys. You will work iteratively, using research and testing to continually improve services and ensure they meet user needs.

The successful candidate will have strong hands-on experience delivering public services using the GOV.UK Design System and working within GDS standards and ways of working.

What You'll Do

• Design clear, accessible and intuitive interactions for complex government digital services.
• Work across the UCD lifecycle, from Discovery and Alpha through Beta and Live.
• Turn user needs and research insights into user journeys, interaction designs and prototypes.
• Create and iterate prototypes to test concepts and interactions with users.
• Make effective use of established GOV.UK patterns and components.
• Work closely with User Researchers to understand user behaviours, needs and pain points and translate findings into design improvements.
• Collaborate with Content Designers to ensure interactions and content work together as a coherent experience.
• Work alongside Service Designers to understand how individual interactions fit within wider end-to-end services.
• Collaborate with developers to ensure designs are technically achievable and maintain design quality through delivery.
• Design inclusively, considering users with accessibility needs, low digital confidence and different levels of access to technology.
• Use research, analytics and other evidence to explain and defend design decisions.
• Participate in design critiques, workshops, show-and-tells and wider UCD activities.
• Contribute to preparation for GDS service assessments and ensure interaction design evidence is clearly documented.
• Support and mentor less experienced designers and contribute to the wider UCD community.

Essential Experience

We are looking for someone with:

• Significant experience working as an Interaction Designer, UX Designer or closely related UCD practitioner.
• Strong experience delivering digital services within UK Government or the wider public sector.
• Demonstrable experience working within GDS environments and applying the GDS Service Standard.
• Practical experience using the GOV.UK Design System and established GOV.UK patterns.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary UCD and agile delivery teams.
• Strong understanding of user-centred design and evidence-based design practices.
• Experience translating user research into interaction design decisions.
• Strong prototyping skills, with the ability to create and iterate prototypes throughout the design process.
• Experience designing accessible and inclusive digital services.
• Good understanding of WCAG accessibility requirements.
• Experience communicating design decisions and rationale clearly to stakeholders and delivery teams.
• The ability to work with complexity and ambiguity, particularly where services are shaped by policy, legislation, technology and operational constraints.
• A portfolio or case studies demonstrating interaction design work on complex digital services.

GOV.UK / GDS Experience

Candidates should be able to demonstrate practical experience of:

• Designing transactional or citizen-facing government services.
• Working with the GOV.UK Design System.
• Applying GDS design principles and the Service Standard.
• Working across Discovery, Alpha, Beta and/or Live service phases.
• Designing and testing prototypes with real users.
• Designing services to meet accessibility requirements.
• Working collaboratively within multidisciplinary UCD teams.
• Contributing design evidence towards GDS service assessments.
• Understanding when to use an existing GOV.UK pattern and when a service may require a new or adapted approach.

Technical and Design Skills

Ideally, you will have experience with:

• GOV.UK Design System
• GOV.UK Prototype Kit
• HTML and CSS prototyping
• Figma
• Miro or similar collaborative tools
• Accessibility and inclusive design
• WCAG 2.2
• User journeys and task flows
• Rapid prototyping
• Usability testing
• Agile delivery
• Design critiques and collaborative workshops

Desirable Experience

• Experience working within departments such as DWP, HMRC, Home Office, MoJ or other central government organisations.
• Experience working on complex, policy-led or regulated services.
• Experience preparing for or contributing to GDS service assessments.
• Experience designing assisted-digital or non-digital journeys alongside online services.
• Understanding of service design and how interaction design fits into an end-to-end service.
• Experience mentoring or supporting other designers.
• Experience working with users who may be vulnerable, digitally excluded or have additional accessibility needs.

What Good Looks Like

You are a hands-on Senior Interaction Designer who can take ownership of complex interaction problems without needing to operate as a Design Lead.

You are comfortable moving from research insight and rough sketches through to tested prototypes and production-ready interaction designs. You understand how GOV.UK services are designed and delivered, can confidently work within established GDS patterns and standards, and know how to use evidence rather than personal preference to make design decisions.

Most importantly, you advocate for users throughout delivery and ensure services remain simple, inclusive and accessible even when the underlying policy or technology is complex.