Content Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Content Designer

Company: Cancer Research UK (CRUK)

Location: Stratford (2 Redman Place), London, United Kingdom

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Digital Content Strategy & Operations

Date Posted: 2025-08-18

Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (1-2 days in office per week)

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive strategic content initiatives for a leading cancer research charity, focusing on enhancing user journeys and engagement across digital platforms.

• Develop and optimize accessible, user-centric digital content, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and best practices in content design.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with SEO, UX, and other digital teams to create a cohesive and impactful omnichannel content experience.

• Utilize data analytics and user research to inform content strategy, identify performance gaps, and recommend optimization efforts.

• Champion content design principles and best practices across the organization, fostering a culture of audience-centricity and continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is situated within Cancer Research UK's Content Excellence Function (CEF), indicating a focus on centralized content strategy, governance, and quality assurance. The emphasis on a "headless CMS" suggests a modern content architecture approach, requiring adaptability to new content delivery models. The role requires a blend of creative content skills and analytical capabilities to drive measurable improvements in user engagement and organizational objectives.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Shape and deliver structured end-to-end content experiences across various organizational websites, ensuring consistency and impact.

• Support omnichannel content delivery and personalization efforts in alignment with Cancer Research UK's strategic ambitions.

• Manage campaign and project requests, ensuring all content adheres to high standards of quality, consistency, and accessibility.

• Partner with internal teams to design, deliver, and iterate on strategic content approaches tailored to specific audience needs.

• Promote the organization's content strategy and content design best practices internally, acting as a subject matter expert.

• Collaborate closely with SEO, User Experience (UX), and taxonomy specialists to ensure an agile, integrated approach to content.

• Support continuous improvement within the Content Excellence Function and act as a content champion across the wider organization.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders to support the development of effective digital content.

• Analyze content performance using tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar, identifying underperforming or outdated content for optimization.

• Guide content owners in optimizing, retiring, or repurposing content based on user needs and organizational goals.

• Apply content design techniques, such as auditing and analysis, to identify and address content gaps.

• Optimize content across key websites, focusing on copy, calls to action, format, and assets to enhance accessibility and impact.

• Train and guide teams to foster a culture of audience-centricity and advance content maturity across the charity.

• Lead and facilitate workshops, including design sprints, user journey mapping, and assumption mapping, to drive content innovation.

• Conduct user interviews and stakeholder workshops, reviewing findings and making recommendations for content improvements.

• Support content migration to a new headless CMS (Contentful) and assist with testing and prototyping new digital ideas.

📝 Enhancement Note: The diverse responsibilities highlight a hands-on role that bridges strategic thinking with practical execution. The emphasis on training and facilitating workshops indicates a need for strong communication and leadership skills, even at a mid-level. The mention of "content migration to our new headless CMS (Contentful)" is a critical technical detail for applicants to note, as experience with Contentful or similar headless CMS platforms will be highly advantageous.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong foundation in Content Design, Digital Marketing, Communications, Journalism, or a related field is implied.

Experience: Proven experience as a Content Designer or in a similar digital content role, with a focus on user-centric design and content optimization within a large, complex organization. Experience with a headless CMS is highly preferred.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated experience in delivering and optimizing digital content within a large, complex organization.

• Proficiency in working with a headless CMS, ideally Contentful, for content management and delivery.

• Strong content creation and copywriting skills, with a deep understanding of writing for the web.

• Expertise in User Experience (UX) principles and how they apply to content design.

• Solid knowledge of accessibility guidelines and best practices, such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

• Proficiency in SEO principles and their application to content optimization.

• Analytical and data-literate, with the ability to interpret content performance metrics (e.g., Google Analytics, Hotjar) to inform strategy.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information into engaging content for diverse audiences.

• Proven ability to build credible, collaborative cross-functional stakeholder relationships.

• Strong interpersonal and influencing skills to champion content best practices.

• Solutions-driven mindset with a commitment to continuous improvement.

• Strong organizational, prioritization, and planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with user journey mapping and design sprints.

• Familiarity with agile methodologies and content workflows.

• Experience in training and facilitating workshops for content best practices.

• Knowledge of content auditing and gap analysis techniques.

• Experience with A/B testing for content optimization.

• Understanding of content strategy frameworks and their implementation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "writing for websites, User Experience/ UX, usability, accessibility, SEO, and optimisation techniques" indicates a need for a well-rounded digital content professional. Experience with data analysis tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar is explicitly mentioned, making candidates proficient in these tools highly desirable. The preference for candidates available "on one month's notice or less" suggests a need for relatively quick onboarding.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase examples of structured end-to-end content experiences designed for websites.

• Include case studies demonstrating content optimization efforts, highlighting improvements in user engagement, accessibility, or conversion rates.

• Provide evidence of working with or migrating content within a headless CMS environment.

• Demonstrate experience in applying user-centric design principles and accessibility standards (WCAG) to content projects.

Process Documentation:

• Evidence of process mapping for content workflows, from planning and creation to publication and optimization.

• Examples of how data and user research were integrated into content design processes.

• Documentation of collaboration processes with cross-functional teams (e.g., UX, SEO) for content development.

• Examples of training materials or facilitation guides used to share content best practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: A portfolio demonstrating practical application of content design principles, particularly in complex digital environments and with a focus on measurable outcomes, will be crucial. Specific examples showcasing work within a headless CMS, adherence to accessibility standards, and data-driven optimization strategies are highly recommended to align with the role's core requirements.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: £35,000 - £39,000 per annum

Benefits: Cancer Research UK offers a comprehensive benefits package, which typically includes:

• Generous annual leave entitlement.

• Pension scheme contributions.

• Opportunities for professional development and training.

• Flexible working arrangements.

• Wellbeing support programs.

• Life assurance.

• Employee assistance program.

• Potential for performance-related bonuses (though not explicitly stated for this role).

Working Hours: Full-time, 35 hours per week. The role offers high flexibility, with the expectation of 1-2 days per week in the Stratford, London office.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is competitive for a mid-level Content Designer role in London. The mention of "high flexibility" for office-based work suggests a supportive environment for work-life balance, a common expectation for roles in this sector. The explicit link to the careers benefits page encourages candidates to explore the full scope of benefits offered.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Health, Cancer Research, Charity/Non-profit

Company Size: Large (CRUK is a significant global charity with thousands of employees and volunteers)

Founded: 2002 (as Cancer Research UK, formed from the merger of the Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund)

Team Structure:

• This role sits within the Content Excellence Function (CEF) under the Marketing, Fundraising & Engagement Directorate.

• The CEF is responsible for the organization's website, including major campaigns and initiatives.

• The role reports to a Senior Content Manager.

Methodology:

• Data-driven insights are central to content performance evaluation and strategy.

• User-centricity is a core principle guiding content design and optimization.

• Agile and cross-disciplinary approaches are employed for content planning, creation, and management.

• A focus on continuous improvement and best practice sharing is encouraged.

Company Website: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/

📝 Enhancement Note: Cancer Research UK's mission to beat cancer heavily influences its culture, fostering a sense of purpose and dedication. The establishment of a dedicated Content Excellence Function signifies a strategic investment in digital content quality and impact, suggesting a mature approach to digital operations within the non-profit sector. The organization's values (Bold, Credible, Human, Together) are integral to its operations and expected from its employees.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a mid-level Content Designer position, requiring demonstrated experience and the ability to work autonomously on projects while contributing to team strategy.

Reporting Structure: The role reports to a Senior Content Manager, providing a clear line of management and mentorship. This structure allows for guidance on complex projects and career development.

Operations Impact: The Content Designer directly impacts how millions of people engage with CRUK's mission, influencing public understanding, support, and fundraising efforts through effective digital content. Success in this role contributes to the organization's ability to achieve its strategic objectives and ultimately beat cancer.

Growth Opportunities:

• Skill Development: Opportunities to deepen expertise in content design, UX, accessibility, SEO, and headless CMS technology (Contentful).

• Leadership: Potential to lead content initiatives, facilitate workshops, and mentor colleagues, developing leadership capabilities.

• Specialization: Possibility to specialize further within content strategy, UX writing, or digital accessibility.

• Cross-functional Exposure: Exposure to diverse teams like SEO, UX, analytics, and fundraising provides a broad understanding of digital operations and marketing.

• Career Progression: A clear path exists to Senior Content Designer, Content Strategist, or other leadership roles within the Content Excellence Function or broader digital teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a solid foundation for a career in digital content strategy and operations, particularly within the non-profit sector. The emphasis on learning and development, coupled with clear reporting lines, suggests a supportive environment for career advancement. Gaining experience with a headless CMS like Contentful is a valuable asset for future roles in digital content management.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Modern office space located in Stratford, London, designed for collaborative work and individual focus.

Office Location(s): 2 Redman Place, Stratford, London. This location is well-connected by public transport.

Workspace Context:

• The environment is described as having "high flexibility" for office-based work, allowing 1-2 days per week in the office. This hybrid model balances in-person collaboration with remote work flexibility.

• The role is within the Content Excellence Function, suggesting a team environment focused on quality, collaboration, and digital best practices.

• Expect a dynamic workplace with a focus on achieving the charity's mission, fostering a sense of purpose among employees.

Work Schedule: Full-time, 35 hours per week. The flexible hybrid arrangement allows for planning around project needs and personal schedules, while ensuring key collaboration and team activities can occur in person.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on flexibility in a hybrid model indicates an understanding of modern work preferences. The Stratford location is a major hub, offering good amenities and connectivity, which is a positive factor for employees. The culture is likely to be mission-driven and collaborative, typical of leading non-profit organizations.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Application: Submit CV and complete the work history section of the online application form. CVs are anonymized for shortlisting.

• Exercise: Candidates will likely be given a practical exercise related to content design, optimization, or problem-solving.

• Competency-Based Interview: A single interview focusing on behavioral competencies and how candidates have demonstrated specific skills and experiences. This will likely include discussions related to the exercise.

• Focus: Expect questions to assess your content design process, collaboration skills, problem-solving abilities, and understanding of user needs, accessibility, and data-driven decision-making.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure: Organize your portfolio to clearly showcase your best work, ideally with case studies that detail the problem, your process, the solution, and the measurable outcome.

• Content Focus: Highlight projects demonstrating website content optimization, user journey improvements, adherence to accessibility standards, and experience with headless CMS platforms.

• Data & Impact: Quantify your achievements wherever possible. Use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your content design work (e.g., increased engagement, reduced bounce rates, improved accessibility scores).

• Audience Alignment: Tailor your portfolio presentation to resonate with CRUK's mission and values, emphasizing how your skills can contribute to beating cancer.

• Accessibility: Ensure your portfolio itself is accessible and easy to navigate.

Challenge Preparation:

• Content Audit/Analysis: Be prepared to analyze a piece of web content, identify issues, and propose improvements based on best practices.

• User Journey Mapping: Understand how to map user journeys and identify content needs at different touchpoints.

• Accessibility Check: Familiarize yourself with common accessibility issues in web content and how to resolve them.

• Data Interpretation: Practice interpreting website analytics (e.g., traffic sources, user behavior, conversion rates) to inform content strategy.

• Stakeholder Communication: Be ready to articulate your content decisions and strategies clearly and persuasively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The anonymized shortlisting process is a key detail to note; focus on the information provided in the application form's work history section, rather than just the CV. The single interview with an exercise suggests a streamlined but thorough evaluation process, requiring candidates to be well-prepared to demonstrate their skills practically and verbally.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Headless CMS: Contentful (preferred, experience with any headless CMS is valuable).

• Analytics & Reporting: Google Analytics, Hotjar (explicitly mentioned for content performance analysis).

• Content Creation & Optimization: Standard content creation tools, potentially CMS-specific editors, and SEO tools (e.g., SEMrush, Ahrefs, Google Search Console).

• Collaboration & Project Management: Tools like Jira, Asana, Trello, or similar for managing projects and workflows.

• Design & Prototyping: Potentially tools like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD for user journey mapping and content prototyping.

• Accessibility Testing: Tools for checking WCAG compliance.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Google Analytics: For tracking website traffic, user behavior, and content performance metrics.

• Hotjar: For understanding user interactions through heatmaps, session recordings, and feedback polls.

CRM & Automation: While not explicitly mentioned for this role, CRUK likely uses a CRM and marketing automation platform for supporter engagement. Familiarity with these concepts can be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency with a headless CMS like Contentful is a significant advantage, as it's a key technology for the role. Strong analytical skills with Google Analytics and Hotjar are explicitly required to drive content optimization. Understanding of SEO tools and project management software will also be beneficial.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Bold: Acting with ambition, courage, and determination to drive progress towards the mission of beating cancer.

• Credible: Maintaining rigor and professionalism in all aspects of work, ensuring trust and reliability.

• Human: Acting to have a positive impact on people, demonstrating empathy and a focus on well-being.

• Together: Acting inclusively and collaboratively, fostering teamwork and shared purpose.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Close collaboration with UX, SEO, and other digital teams is essential for creating integrated digital experiences.

• Stakeholder Engagement: Building strong relationships with content owners and other departments to support content development and adoption of best practices.

• Knowledge Sharing: A culture that encourages sharing expertise, facilitating workshops, and championing content design principles across the organization.

• Agile Approach: Working in an agile manner to adapt to project needs and deliver iteratively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values are deeply embedded in the culture and are expected to guide all employee actions and decisions. This suggests a highly purposeful and collaborative work environment where individuals are encouraged to take initiative and work effectively as part of a larger team focused on a critical mission.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Diverse Needs: Effectively balancing the needs of various audiences, campaign requirements, and organizational goals.

• Content Governance: Navigating and improving content governance processes within a large, complex organization to ensure consistency and quality.

• Content Migration: Supporting the successful migration of content to a new headless CMS, which can involve technical complexities and process adjustments.

• Driving Change: Championing content design best practices and influencing adoption across teams that may have varying levels of digital maturity.

• Data Interpretation: Translating complex data and user insights into actionable content improvements.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Specialized Training: Access to training in advanced content design techniques, accessibility standards, and new CMS technologies.

• Industry Best Practices: Staying abreast of evolving trends in digital content, UX, and SEO through internal and external resources.

• Mentorship: Guidance from a Senior Content Manager and exposure to experienced professionals in UX and SEO.

• Leadership Skills: Opportunities to lead workshops, manage projects, and influence stakeholders, developing leadership capabilities.

• Impactful Work: Contributing directly to a renowned charity’s mission, offering a high degree of job satisfaction and purpose.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role presents opportunities to tackle significant challenges in digital content strategy and execution within a mission-driven organization. The learning and development aspects are strong, particularly concerning modern content technologies and user-centric design methodologies.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Content Strategy: "Describe your process for developing a content strategy for a specific digital campaign or initiative. How do you incorporate user needs and organizational objectives?"

• Cross-functional Collaboration: "How do you collaborate with UX, SEO, and other teams to ensure cohesive digital experiences? Provide an example of a successful collaboration."

• Problem-Solving: "Describe a time you identified a gap in existing content and how you approached filling it. What was the outcome?"

• Data-Driven Decisions: "How do you use data and analytics (e.g., Google Analytics, Hotjar) to inform your content decisions and measure success?"

• Accessibility: "What is your approach to ensuring content is accessible? How do you apply WCAG guidelines in your work?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What attracts you to Cancer Research UK and our mission?"

• "How do you embody CRUK's values (Bold, Credible, Human, Together) in your work?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Storytelling: Frame your portfolio pieces as stories – problem, your approach, solution, and results.

• Process Emphasis: Clearly explain your content design process, including research, ideation, iteration, and optimization.

• Quantify Impact: Use metrics to demonstrate the tangible results of your work. For example, "This content optimization led to a 15% increase in click-through rates."

• Demonstrate CMS Experience: If you have headless CMS experience, highlight it with specific examples of content modeling or delivery.

• Conciseness: Be prepared to walk through key pieces efficiently, focusing on relevance to the role.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should prepare specific, STAR-method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) examples for behavioral questions. Demonstrating an understanding of CRUK's mission and values will be crucial. Practicing presentation of portfolio case studies, focusing on measurable impact and process, is highly recommended.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the Cancer Research UK careers portal, ensuring all sections of the online application form, particularly the work history, are completed thoroughly.

• Portfolio Customization: Curate your portfolio to prominently feature examples demonstrating your expertise in website content optimization, user experience, accessibility (WCAG), and ideally, headless CMS environments. Include case studies that quantify the impact of your work.

• Resume Optimization: Tailor your resume to include keywords from the job description, such as "Content Design," "Digital Content," "User Experience," "Accessibility," "SEO," "Contentful," and "Data Analysis." Highlight achievements using action verbs and quantifiable results.

• Interview Preparation: Practice answering competency-based questions using the STAR method, and prepare to discuss your portfolio with a focus on process, impact, and your understanding of CRUK's mission and values. Be ready for a practical exercise.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Cancer Research UK, its mission, current campaigns, and its stated values. Understand the role of the Content Excellence Function and how this position contributes to the broader organizational goals.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.