HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Job Title: Interaction Designer

Grade: SEO

Directorate: DTS

Location: National

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Pattern: Full-time/ Part-time/ Flexible Working

Successful applicants will be expected to be office based 3 days per week in any HMCTS Office (subject to business availability)

Introduction

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice. We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and want to make a difference in people’s lives in delivering justice. If you’re interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply.

GDD:

Government Digital and Data (GDD) Profession Capability Framework and Success Profiles Frameworks. Using GDD we will then determine if you will be paid an additional allowance, on top of your basic salary. This role is within the User-Centered Design Job Family, and is an Interaction Designer role at Interaction Designer level.

The Digital Delivery team at HMCTS is redesigning and rebuilding our Courts and Tribunal services around the needs of our users – ensuring our services are accessible, easy to use, digital (where necessary and appropriate) and well supported for all users.

Within Digital Delivery, the User-Centred Design team works with HMCTS projects and programmes to support our core design principle of being user-led in everything we do.

As an Interaction Designer, you’ll work closely in your team with service and content designers as well as user researchers and analysts to deliver accessible, inclusive, and user-centred services. You will be responsible for creating and maintaining prototypes. You will own the design of interactions within the service, ensuring their quality throughout a user’s journey and be experienced in using evidence, data and research to back up your decisions.

In this role you will

Your role as Interaction Designer will encompass several key responsibilities listed below (but not limited to):

• Be responsible for interaction quality as the interaction lead within your project or service, working within multidisciplinary teams.
• Identify and design the best way for users to interact with your service across different channels, devices, browsers, and technologies, making decisions based on insights from user research.
• Manage and mentor other interaction designers, sharing good practice to improve quality and consistency across services.
• Develop and contribute to interaction design strategies, including design systems, to help digital services meet both business and user needs.
• Be responsible for developing and maintaining suitable prototypes to test your designs with users.
• Initiate design improvements and influence decisions using data and evidence.
• Champion accessibility and inclusion, making sure designs meet WCAG 2.2 accessibility requirements.
• Scope, create and improve user-centred interactions based on user feedback, research and data.
• Engage with, and contribute to, the HMCTS and cross-government interaction design communities.

You’ll engage with frontline staff to understand pain points for our internal and external users, then design, test and iterate consistent ways to fix these issues. You’ll be expected to work in a fast-paced, evolving environment and use an iterative and flexible approach to enable rapid delivery.

You will also develop relationships with stakeholders including:

• Service teams
• Operational staff
• Policy teams
• Judicial representatives

You’ll be expected to build long-term strategic relationships with your stakeholders, influence their decisions, deal with challenging situations, and remove blockers, ensuring you support mutual needs and commitments while focusing on user needs.

You will also work with other teams regularly, including:

• User research and Performance Analysis
• Service and Content Design
• Insight
• Accessibility and Inclusion

You’ll be expected to collaborate with these teams to effectively advocate for users.

Essential skills

• Designing interactions for end-to-end services from concept to delivery, being responsible for the quality and accessibility of interactions.
• Using a variety of prototyping methods to test your design ideas and be able to prototype in code.
• Influencing decisions, dealing with challenging situations and removing blockers to make sure interactions are user-centred, usable and accessible.
• Applying design standards to your work and supporting other interaction designers to make sure design standards are met.
• Implementing interaction design strategies and evaluating their impact to make sure user needs and business objectives are met.
• Working in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines.
• Making complex processes and services easy to understand and interact with.
• Building long-term, strategic stakeholder relationships.

The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process, but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates

Desirable skills

• Are an active member of a design community, actively networking with others and contributing to ways of working and community activities such as design critiques.
• Are familiar with the criteria used in Government Digital Service or other digital service assessments.

Application process:

This role will be recruited using a combination of Government Digital and Data (GDD) Profession Capability Framework and Success Profiles Frameworks during the sift and interview process. Using GDD we will then determine if you will be paid an additional allowance, on top of your basic salary. This role is within the User-Centered Design Job Family, and is an Interaction Designer role at Interaction Designer level

Stage 1 - Sift:

To apply for this position, you must submit the following as part of your application:

• An anonymised CV, setting out your career history, key responsibilities and achievements. Your CV will be assessed against the essential criteria outlined within the Essential Skills section of this advert.
• A Statement of Suitability 750 words which should give us real life examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. We recommend following the STAR

Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift may be conducted on the CVCandidates who pass the pre-sift will be fully assessed on all the sift criteria.

Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply - Application Guidance

Stage 2 - Interviews:

Successful candidates who passed the sift will be invited to interview via Microsoft Teams.. At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following - Technical, Behaviours. Details can be found under the interview stage assessment section on the advert. For Behaviours you will be expected to align your answers to the Government Digital and Data (GDD) Capability Framework

• Making effective decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing & Improving
• Managing a quality service

For further guidance on the interview process please click here

Important information

Salary details

New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum.

Existing Civil Servants applying on promotion, will usually be appointed on the salary minimum of the new pay band, or receive an increase of 10 percent on the current base salary, whichever is higher (This is restricted to the pay maximum of the new band).

Travel requirements

There will be a requirement to travel occasionally to any HMCTS site in line with business needs.

Proud to Serve. Proud to keep justice going.

Working Arrangements & Further Information

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.

Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.

For nationally advertised role: all successful candidates will be appointed to the nearest viable office nearest to their home postcode and on its respective pay scale. This will be at either a HQ building (subject to desk allocation, a Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or a Justice Satellite Office (JSO) – See Map All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity).

For current MoJ employees, your base location will need to be changed to the nearest viable office (to your home postcode), either at a HQ building, JCC or JSO within the National Office Network and moved its location’s respective pay scale (any legacy arrangements/locations will need to be amended).

Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain their grade on lateral transfer.

All candidates who are currently in receipt of Mark Time / Pay Protection should ensure they are familiar with the new policy on permanent and temporary promotion which can be found on the employee intranet.

Flexible working hours

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.

Benefits

The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

Annual Leave

Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service.

There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Pension

The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.

Training

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Networks

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Support

• A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
• Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits, retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
• For moves to or from another employer or moves across the Civil Service this can have implications on your eligibility to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for alternative government childcare support schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. More information can be found on www.GOV.UK or Childcare Choices You can determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
• Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
• Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint in the following order

• To Transformative Business Services (0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk);
• To Ministry of Justice Resourcing team (resourcing-management-office@justice.gov.uk);
• To the Civil Service Commission (details available here)

As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. MoJ are able to offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns.

For more information on applying for a role as a candidate with a disability or long-term condition, please watch our animated videos

You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. If you need additional help completing the application form, please contact the TBS Recruitment Enquiries Team.

Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Planand the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ is committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.

MoJ is able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidates will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

Civil Service Nationality Rules

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Reserve list

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles.