Lead Service Designer

Do you thrive in the unknown and love connecting the dots?

If you’re excited by the challenge of turning complexity into clarity, we’d love to welcome you as a Lead Service Designer on our Design and Research team.

We’re seeking someone who sees ambiguity as an opportunity—a creative leader who can imagine what’s possible and guide others to see it too. You’ll bring clarity, energy, and vision to cross-functional teams and stakeholders, using your facilitation skills to create safe spaces where collaboration and great design happen.

Who We Are

Our design team is an eclectic mix of researchers, UI, UX, and service designers working seamlessly with developers to craft experiences that truly matter.

What sets us apart?

• We don’t stop at early-stage ideation. Our cross-functional teams bring ideas to life, delivering real-world solutions.
• We follow projects across both diamonds – exploring and defining problems, and creating and delivering impactful solutions.
• Our work is fast-paced, user-centered, and prototype-driven, with long-term client relationships that let us see the impact of our designs.

Here, you won’t just design—you’ll make an impact that matters.

What You’ll Do

As a Lead Service Designer, you’ll:

• Lead design efforts on complex Government projects, taking full accountability for outcomes.
• Scope and outline project approaches, providing realistic estimates for time, scope, and risks.
• Bring strategic direction to every challenge, using insights to chart clear paths for success.
• Plan and facilitate workshops that spark creativity and alignment.
• Translate complexity into sketches, storyboards, user journeys, system maps, and service blueprints.
• Collaborate with clients and teams to design seamless services that balance user and business needs.
• Advocate for accessible and inclusive design, ensuring services work for all.
• Mentor and inspire team members, fostering growth and innovation.
• Guide senior stakeholders, building consensus and aligning strategies to business objectives.

What You Bring

• 7+ years of experience as a Service or UX Designer in an agency, studio, government, or product setting.
• Mastery of design thinking and user-centered methodologies.
• A strategic mindset that cuts through noise and delivers impactful services.
• Proven ability to lead complex projects, balancing creativity with business priorities.
• Enthusiasm for facilitating workshops and fostering collaboration.
• A portfolio showcasing thought-provoking approaches to design challenges—successes and failures alike.
• Hands-on expertise with prototyping and design artifacts like blueprints, storyboards, and system maps.
• Experience in design sprints and agile methodologies.
• Strong communication skills to navigate senior stakeholder relationships with confidence and clarity.
• A passion for mentoring and elevating team members.
• Experience delivering against the Government Service Standard
• Ability to achieve SC clearance

What We Offer

• The chance to shape your role and grow within a fast-growing, innovative team.
• A collaborative environment that values bold ideas, diverse perspectives, and constant learning.
• The opportunity to design meaningful, real-world services that solve people’s problems.

Sound like you?

If you’re ready to explore the unknown, connect the dots, and create designs that make a difference, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply now to join a team where your work doesn’t just solve problems—it shapes futures.

About Softwire

Softwire is a leading digital software consultancy. We offer services in software engineering, design, innovation, cloud, mobile and data. 

Trusted by well-known organisations, including the BBC, David Lloyd Clubs, LNER and The Cabinet Office, Softwire has grown into a business that consistently delivers large, high-profile digital projects for the UK’s leading brands. 

But who are we actually? 

We’re innovators. We’re passionate problem-solvers in both software engineering and digital design. We are dedicated. And we love what we do. 

It all started when our founders Pete, Dan, and Phil realised that there was a better way to do things. A way that delivers results without squeezing the fun out of what we do. A way that is never corporate, but always professional. 

When you work with Softwire, you’re not only becoming part of a team with in-depth technical skills and delivery expertise – you’re joining a team filled with passion, guile, and an absolute dedication to producing the best work possible. 

Voted in the Sunday Times as one of the Top 100 Companies to Work For (now known as Best Companies), you’ll be working in a thriving environment full of innovation, devotion, and outright electricity. 

What we stand for 

Here at Softwire, we hold four key values at the core of everything we do:

• We really care about what we do
  When we say we care, we honestly mean it. Our work is our passion, and everything that comes through our doors is treated with the utmost respect and with the same level of care that we’d treat our own work. Because honestly – we really do care.

• We trust and are trustworthy
  We’re not micromanagers. We place a level of trust in each member of our team to work their hardest and produce the best they can achieve. This is an innovative but fun place to work – and we trust that you’ll meet our standards.

• We are kind
  Clients come to us with complex, exciting, but often challenging projects. And we are the friendly face that will help them reach their goals – and be with them for the long run. Our team is open, accepting, and always ready to accept new ideas. Because after all, in a world where being kind is free – why be anything but?

• We are fun
  When you’re working at the forefront of technology, every day is different. And in this fast-paced environment, we realise that work isn’t always going to be fun. Some days can be stressful, but despite this, we know the importance of enjoying ourselves. Because at the end of the day, we spend a lot of time at work – so we might as well have fun while we’re there.

Package 

Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance 

• Base salary is based on experience in role and ranges from £77,800 – £87,400 + Profit Share 
  • You can expect to receive an average of £16,250 in profit share depending on your experience and company performance 
  • Pension: Additional 5% of salary 

Additional benefits 

• 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy and sell) 
• Time off for company-wide morale activities, time off for charitable / CSR activities 
• Free annual eye test, income protection, cycle to work, electric vehicle lease schemes, and payroll charity donations. 

Read more about further details on benefits

Equal-opportunities employer 

Softwire is an equal-opportunities employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender including gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other protected status. All matters related to employment are decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.