Interaction Designer Full Time

Southwark, London
Greater London Authority (GLA)
Corporate Resources and Business Improvement

The Corporate Resources and Business Improvement directorate is led by Dianne Tranmer. It’s responsible for: People Function, Facilities Management, Digital Experience Unit and Technology Group, Information Governance, Executive Support Team and leadership of all our shared services across the GLA Group.

About the team

This role sits within the User Centred Design team, with a current focus on the Data for London programme.

The UCD team brings together specialisms including digital engagement, service design, user research, business analysis, digital performance analysis, content design and interaction design. These specialisms work in harmony with a shared mission to make all products and services as inclusive, accessible and user centric as possible.

The Mayor of London’s Data for London Board has been established to improve the flow and usage of data to serve citizens, solve city challenges, and promote productivity – putting data into the hands of those who can make a positive difference for London. The Board brings together data leaders from across public, private and civil society and includes expertise in the fields of data science, data ethics, smart cities, cyber security, public engagement and data journalism.

Inside the GLA, the Data for London team are working to ‘fix the plumbing’ for the data ecosystem in London. This includes delivering a rebuild of the London Datastore , which serves 2m users and contains 18,000 data files. As we work towards that, the team have released the first component of new data infrastructure for London: the Data for London Library.

The Data for London Library allows users to search city data, all in one place. We will harvest metadata from many more organisations across London than the current DataStore and put it all in one searchable Library, allowing data analysts to find new datasets or possible collaborators to solve their problem.

The next phase of the Data for London programme will focus on designing products that make data sharing and access management easier, to make it simpler for people to share and use data held across London to improve the city and benefit Londoners.

About the role

The Interaction Designer, as a senior practitioner, will lead on the design and prototyping of user interfaces that align with user needs and business requirements, creating engaging and intuitive user experiences for digital products. Your work will ensure internal and external users can complete their goals and that our digital services support the delivery of GLA policy intent.

This may involve creating prototypes for new, or improved internal and external digital products, and content across digital channels managed by the Digital Experience Unit or other business units within the GLA or GLA group.

You will be supporting the Data for London team to design products that make it simpler for people to share and use data held across London to improve the city and benefit Londoners. You will need to research and design for a wide range of stakeholders and capabilities, bringing structure to a complex system.

Principal accountabilities:

• Design prototypes for new services, or improvements to existing service, using strong visual design skills to show new services to client teams and gather immediate user feedback on your designs.
• Set design direction and embed good practice within teams across the GLA – building on existing and establishing new pattern libraries of common service patterns and ensuring they are publicised to teams to help them solve common policy and delivery challenges.
• Collaborate with GLA UCD, product, and delivery teams to ensure user stories are turned into functional and engaging designs that inform development and ensure features deliver the most value to users and the business.
• To collaborate with product professionals to se data and evidence to refine and improve designs, making informed decisions based on testing and user feedback
• To advocate for user needs throughout the design process, ensuring solutions are accessible, inclusive, and solve complete user problems

Person specification

Technical requirements/experience/qualifications

To be considered for the role you must meet the following essential criteria:

• expertise in designing and testing complex user interfaces, using advanced prototyping techniques to validate and refine designs
• skilled in using data, research, and testing feedback to drive informed, user-centred design decisions
• strong communicator with the ability to manage and influence senior stakeholders, encourage collaboration, and facilitate alignment across teams
• expert knowledge in accessible and inclusive design principles, ensuring products are usable for all users
• experienced in agile working practices, adapting to iterative feedback and prioritising tasks based on user and business needs be familiar with using, and contributing to, design systems and have experience designing government or similar products.

Behavioural Competencies

Communicating and Influencing

is presenting information and arguments clearly and convincingly so that others see us as credible and articulate, and engage with us.

Level 3 indicators:

• Encourages and supports teams in engaging in transparent and inclusive communication
• Influences others and gains buy-in using compelling, well thought through arguments
• Negotiates effectively to deliver GLA priorities
• Synthesises the complex viewpoints of others, recognises where compromise is necessary and brokers agreement day
• Advocates positively for the GLA both within and outside the organisation

Problem Solving

is analysing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative, workable and timely solutions.

Level 3 indicators:

• Clarifies ambiguous problems, questioning assumptions to reach a fuller understanding
• Actively challenges the status quo to find new ways of doing things, looking for good practice
• Seeks and incorporates diverse perspectives to help produce workable strategies to address complex issues
• Initiates consultation on opportunities to improve work processes
• Supports the organisation to implement innovative suggestions

Stakeholder Focus

is consulting with, listening to and understanding the needs of those our work impacts and using this knowledge to shape what we do and manage others’ expectations.

Level 3 indicators:

• Understands diverse stakeholder needs and tailors team deliverables accordingly
• Is a role model to others, encouraging them to think of Londoners first
• Manages stakeholder expectations, so they are high but realistic
• Removes barriers to understanding the needs of diverse stakeholders, including hard to reach groups
• Focuses own and team’s efforts on delivering a quality and committed service

Research and analysis

is gathering intelligence (information, opinion and data) from varied sources, making sense of it, testing its validity and drawing conclusions that can lead to practical benefits.

Level 2 indicators:

• Proactively seeks new information sources to progress research agendas and address gaps in knowledge
• Grasps limitations of or assumptions behind data sources, disregarding those that lack quality
• Analyses and integrates qualitative and quantitative data to find new insights
• Translates research outcomes into concise, meaningful reports
• Identifies relevant and practical research questions for the future

Responding to pressure and change

is being flexible and adapting positively, to sustain performance when the situation changes, workload increases, tensions rise or priorities shift.

Level 2 indicators:

• Maintains a focus on key priorities and deliverables, staying resilient in the face of pressure
• Anticipates and adapts flexibly to changing requirements
• Uses challenges as an opportunity to learn and improve
• Participates fully and encourages others to engage in change initiatives
• Manages team’s well-being, supporting them to cope with pressure and change

The GLA Competency Framework Guidelines further detailing each competency and the different level indicators can be found here: GLA competency framework

This role is based at London Fire Brigade’s Head Office (Union Street SE1 0LL).

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

How to apply

If you would like to apply for the role you will need to submit the following:

• Up to date CV
• Personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words. Please ensure you address how you demonstrate the essential criteria outlined above in the advert.

Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement have a maximum file size of 1.5MB each and upload your Personal Statement to the ‘CV and Cover Letters’ section’ of the form, ensuring you address the technical requirements and competencies in your Personal Statement.

Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images . click apply for full job details