Service Designer (12 Month FTC)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Service Designer (12 Month FTC)

Company: Lloyds Banking Group

Location: Chester, United Kingdom / Manchester, United Kingdom

Job Type: Full-Time, Temporary (Fixed-Term Contract)

Category: Service Design / GTM Operations (Customer Experience Focus)

Date Posted: 2026-06-10

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5+ years experience)

Remote Status: Hybrid (Minimum 2 days/week in office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the creation of seamless digital experiences for customers, driving advocacy and advancing the practice of Service Design within a large financial institution.

• Collaborate within agile teams to define scope, visualize outcomes, and uncover priorities for pivotal initiatives that enhance customer propositions and services.

• Actively participate in workshops and discussions to ensure business context, needs, and risks are thoroughly understood, leading to well-informed decision-making.

• Champion the user perspective, making sound design decisions and challenging constraints to deliver engaging, readable, and accessible content.

• Be an integral part of the design community, sharing knowledge, fostering innovation, and embedding design principles across various product, service, and customer journeys.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is primarily focused on Service Design, its emphasis on creating seamless digital experiences, working within agile teams, and influencing product/service development positions it within the broader GTM Operations landscape, particularly concerning the customer experience (CX) and user journey optimization aspects. The "FTC" (Fixed-Term Contract) nature is critical for candidates to note.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Work creatively and confidently within agile teams to uncover priorities, visualize outcomes, and define project scope.

• Shape pivotal initiatives by ensuring colleague, customer, and market insights lead the creation or enhancement of group propositions and services.

• Attend workshops and discussions, ensuring business context, needs, and risks are properly understood to inform key decisions.

• Communicate effectively with colleagues and partners to manage expectations and incorporate multiple perspectives when defining solutions.

• Support the research and documentation of current and future state services, identifying key touchpoints and opportunities for improvement.

• Make sound design decisions, champion the user perspective, and constructively challenge the validity of constraints.

• Collaborate closely with other designers, customer journey managers, product owners, and engineers to ensure cohesive service delivery.

• Actively participate in the design community to share knowledge, generate ideas, and embed design principles across a range of product, service, and customer journeys.

📝 Enhancement Note: These responsibilities highlight a strong focus on collaborative problem-solving and user-centric design within a structured, agile environment, typical of operations roles that bridge product development and customer delivery. The emphasis on "shaping pivotal initiatives" and "advancing the practice of Service Design" suggests a proactive and influential role.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio and demonstrable experience in Service Design, UX/UI, or related fields are essential.

Experience: A minimum of 5 years of experience as a Service Designer is required, with a proven track record of delivering impactful customer experiences.

Required Skills:

• Minimum 5 years of experience as a Service Designer.

• Highly motivated, proactive, and driven approach to achieving individual and collective goals.

• Ability to cultivate an environment that encourages innovation and continuous improvement.

• Strong relationship-building skills and an innovative approach to problem-solving.

• Credibility and confidence in dealing with senior audiences, with the ability to provide constructive challenge.

• Calmness and resilience when under pressure, with the ability to proactively identify risks and respond to emerging priorities.

• Strong communication skills, effective in conveying ideas, issues, and implications to senior, technical, and non-technical audiences.

• Proven experience in user research and design thinking methods.

• Strong systems thinking attitude: ability to understand how products, processes, people, and platforms connect.

• Ability to design services that work cohesively across a wider ecosystem.

• Design with a full end-to-end customer lifecycle perspective, considering onboarding through to ongoing engagement and value. Preferred Skills:

• Experience within the financial services industry.

• Familiarity with Agile and Lean methodologies in practice.

• Proficiency in user journey mapping, wireframing, and prototyping tools.

• Experience in content design and creating accessible digital materials.

• Ability to facilitate workshops and co-creation sessions effectively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 5+ years of experience and strong stakeholder management skills indicates a mid-to-senior level role. The emphasis on "systems thinking" and "end-to-end customer lifecycle" points towards a need for strategic, holistic problem-solving rather than isolated task execution, common in senior operations and design roles. The note about transferable skills suggests a focus on demonstrated capability over formal qualifications.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing a minimum of 5 years of service design work.

• Demonstrations of end-to-end service design projects, from initial research and ideation through to implementation and iteration.

• Case studies detailing how user research and design thinking methodologies were applied to solve complex problems.

• Examples of systems thinking applied to design, illustrating an understanding of how different components (people, processes, technology) interact.

• Visualizations of customer journeys, service blueprints, and other key service design artifacts.

• Evidence of collaboration with cross-functional teams (e.g., product owners, engineers, business stakeholders) and how you managed diverse perspectives.

• Clear articulation of the business context, user needs, and design decisions made within each project. Process Documentation:

• Projects should clearly document the research phase, including methods used (e.g., interviews, surveys, ethnographic studies) and key insights derived.

• Future state service designs should be detailed, outlining proposed workflows, touchpoints, and user interactions.

• Examples of how iterative design processes were employed, including feedback loops and adjustments based on testing or stakeholder input.

• Documentation of how design decisions were communicated and justified to various audiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Service Designer role, the portfolio is paramount. It needs to demonstrate not just aesthetic or functional design skills, but a deep understanding of user needs, business context, and the ability to map and optimize complex service ecosystems. The focus on "systems thinking" and "customer lifecycle" implies a need for portfolio pieces that show holistic solutions, not just isolated UI elements.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: £61,344 - £68,160 per annum.

This range reflects the mid-to-senior level of the role and the specific requirements for extensive experience in Service Design within a large financial institution.

Benefits:

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%.

• An annual performance-related bonus, reflecting individual and company achievements.

• Share schemes, including free shares, offering long-term financial participation.

• Benefits adaptable to lifestyle needs, such as discounted shopping and other perks.

• 30 days of annual leave, in addition to bank holidays, providing ample time for rest and rejuvenation.

• A range of wellbeing initiatives to support physical and mental health.

• Generous parental leave policies to support employees during significant life events.

Working Hours: Full Time, typically equating to 40 hours per week. The role operates on a hybrid model, requiring a minimum of two days per week in the office.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is explicitly provided, and its placement within the UK market for a senior Service Designer in a major financial institution is competitive. The listed benefits are comprehensive and standard for large corporate employers in the UK, with particular emphasis on financial well-being and work-life balance.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Services. Lloyds Banking Group is one of the UK's largest financial institutions, offering a wide range of banking and financial services. This context means a strong emphasis on regulatory compliance, customer trust, data security, and large-scale digital transformation initiatives.

Company Size: Large Enterprise (implied by Lloyds Banking Group's status as a major financial institution, employing tens of thousands globally). This size offers stability, extensive resources, and opportunities for broad impact, but can also mean navigating complex organizational structures and processes.

Founded: Lloyds Banking Group has a long history, with roots tracing back to 1690 (for Lloyds Bank) and 1765 (for Halifax). This heritage suggests a culture that values stability and tradition while undergoing significant modernization.

Team Structure:

• The Service Design team is likely part of a larger Digital, Design, or Customer Experience function.

• It will involve close collaboration with agile product teams, which typically include Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Developers, QA Testers, and other multidisciplinary roles.

• Cross-functional collaboration is essential, involving Product Managers, Business Analysts, Customer Journey Managers, Marketing, Operations, and potentially Compliance and Legal departments.

• Reporting structure will likely be to a Head of Service Design, Head of UX, or a Director within the Digital or Customer Experience division. Methodology:

• Agile & Lean: The role explicitly mentions working within agile teams, implying methodologies like Scrum or Kanban.

• Design Thinking: Core to the role, involving empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing.

• Systems Thinking: A critical requirement, focusing on the interconnectedness of various service components.

• Customer-Centricity: Driving all design decisions based on deep understanding of customer needs and behaviors.

• Data-Informed Design: Utilizing analytics, research, and feedback to inform design choices and measure impact.

Company Website: https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The industry and size of Lloyds Banking Group are crucial context for a Service Designer. Operations within such an organization must be highly scalable, secure, and compliant. The role's success will depend on navigating these complexities while advocating for user-centric design. The mention of "transforming at pace" and "investing billions in data and tech" indicates a dynamic environment despite the company's established nature.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned at a Mid-to-Senior level, requiring a minimum of 5 years of dedicated service design experience. The responsibilities involve not only execution but also advocacy, shaping initiatives, and contributing to the evolution of the design practice within the group. This level suggests a degree of autonomy and influence over design direction within projects.

Reporting Structure: The Service Designer will likely report into a Design or Digital function, working within specific agile product teams. This means reporting to a Design Lead, Head of Service Design, or a similar managerial role, while also being embedded within project-specific teams.

Operations Impact: The Service Designer's impact is primarily on enhancing the customer experience, which directly influences customer acquisition, retention, satisfaction, and ultimately, the Group's revenue and market reputation. By creating seamless and intuitive digital services, they contribute to operational efficiency through reduced customer support needs and increased digital adoption.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in specific areas of service design, such as customer journey mapping, design research, or specialized digital product design.

• Leadership: Progress to Senior Service Designer, Lead Service Designer, or a management role overseeing a team of designers.

• Cross-Functional Movement: Transition into related roles like Product Management, Customer Experience Strategy, or UX Research Lead within the Group.

• Mentorship: Opportunity to mentor junior designers and contribute to building the internal design capability.

• Industry Exposure: Work on large-scale, complex projects within a leading financial institution, gaining valuable experience applicable across the industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "FTC" nature of the role means growth opportunities might be limited within this specific contract period, but the experience gained is highly transferable. The emphasis on "advancing the practice of Service Design" suggests opportunities to contribute to process improvement and strategic development of the design function itself.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid working model, requiring a minimum of two days per week in either the Chester or Manchester office. This suggests a blend of focused individual work (potentially remote) and collaborative, in-person interaction.

Office Location(s):

• Chester Cawley House, Chester, England, United Kingdom.

• Manchester, England, United Kingdom.

These are established office locations for Lloyds Banking Group, likely equipped with standard corporate facilities.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model is designed to foster collaboration through planned in-office days, enabling face-to-face workshops, team meetings, and spontaneous interactions.

• Tools and Technology: Expect access to standard corporate IT infrastructure, software for design and collaboration (as detailed in the Tools section), and potentially dedicated design resources.

• Team Interaction: The in-office days will facilitate direct interaction with fellow designers, product teams, and potentially other stakeholders, promoting