Service Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Service Designer

Company: Safaricom

Location: Safaricom House, Waiyaki Way, Westlands, Kenya

Job Type: Full time

Category: Service Design / Customer Experience Operations

Date Posted: 2026-09-16T21:54:06

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

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Design and orchestrate end-to-end services, ensuring seamless customer journeys across all channels, including digital interfaces, USSD, call centers, agents, and partner systems.

• Champion human-centered design principles to create friction-free services that enhance customer uptake and overall experience, focusing on the entire service ecosystem, not just the front-end.

• Utilize user research, data analysis, and service audits to identify customer pain points and constraints, grounding design decisions in evidence and iterating based on user feedback.

• Collaborate closely with multidisciplinary teams, including Product & UI/UX designers, Product Managers, Engineers, Operations, and Call Centre personnel, to align service and technical design and influence stakeholders through clear communication and data-backed insights.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is specifically focused on Service Design within Safaricom's Financial Services chapter, with a strong emphasis on the M-PESA ecosystem and its integration across various customer touchpoints. The role requires a deep understanding of customer journeys and the operational processes that support them, bridging the gap between customer experience and backend operations for seamless service delivery.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design current-state and future-state customer journeys across digital and offline channels, creating and maintaining comprehensive service blueprints that detail customer actions, frontstage experience, and backstage operations, processes, and supporting partners.

• Conduct user research, service audits, and analyze qualitative and quantitative data to thoroughly understand customer needs, pinpoint pain points, and identify constraints to inform design iterations.

• Develop prototypes and conduct user testing to validate service concepts early in the lifecycle, surfacing potential issues before large-scale implementation and scaling.

• Establish and interpret journey-level experience metrics such as Net Promoter Score (jNPS) and Customer Effort Score (CES), translating insights into actionable improvement plans that are tracked to completion.

• Foster strong collaborations with Product & UI/UX designers, customer journey specialists, researchers, product managers, engineers, operations, call center, and partner teams, ensuring alignment in service and technical design.

• Champion inclusive and accessible design practices, advocating for services that cater to all customers, including underserved populations, and adhere to the company's Service Design standard and playbook.

• Document each engagement as a detailed service design case study, contributing to the collective knowledge base and demonstrating the impact of design initiatives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a hands-on approach to service design, requiring the candidate to be involved in all phases of the design lifecycle, from discovery and design to validation and ongoing improvement. The emphasis on "owning the seams between them where experiences most often break" points to a critical focus on cross-channel consistency and problem-solving at the intersection of different service components.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: A degree in Design, Human-Centered Design, Business, Technology, Social Sciences, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: Proven experience in service design, or in a closely related discipline such as UX or UI design, customer journey mapping, design research, systems design, business design, product management, or operations, with a trajectory towards end-to-end service design.

Required Skills:

• Service Design: Expertise in designing and orchestrating end-to-end services across multiple channels.

• Customer Journey Mapping: Ability to create detailed current-state and future-state customer journey maps.

• Service Blueprints: Proficiency in developing comprehensive service blueprints that illustrate frontstage and backstage operations.

• Human-Centered Design: Strong understanding and application of human-centered design principles.

• Design Thinking: Demonstrated experience with the design thinking methodology for problem-solving.

• User Research: Experience conducting user research to gather insights and validate design decisions.

• Prototyping & Testing: Skills in creating prototypes and conducting user tests to iterate on designs.

• Data Analysis: Ability to interpret qualitative and quantitative data to inform design and measure impact.

• Stakeholder Management: Experience collaborating with and influencing cross-functional teams and stakeholders.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams.

• Storytelling: Skill in communicating design concepts and impact through compelling narratives.

Preferred Skills:

• UX/UI Design: Familiarity with UX/UI design principles and deliverables.

• Systems Design: Understanding of how systems interact and influence service delivery.

• Inclusive & Accessible Design: Commitment to designing for all users, including those with disabilities.

• Financial Services/Fintech: Experience within the financial services or fintech industry, particularly with mobile money platforms like M-PESA.

• Agile Methodologies: Experience working in agile development environments.

• Service Audits: Experience in evaluating existing service performance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for a portfolio is crucial, emphasizing practical application. The "ideal" portfolio would showcase end-to-end service design work, including journey maps and service blueprints, with clear evidence of customer or business impact, aligning with Safaricom's data-driven approach.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio demonstrating a strong foundation in design thinking and problem-solving capabilities.

• Ideally, the portfolio should feature end-to-end service design projects, including examples of detailed customer journey maps and service blueprints.

• Evidence of tangible customer or business impact resulting from design interventions should be clearly articulated.

• Showcase deliverables such as user flows, wireframes, and prototypes that illustrate the design process and user experience considerations. Process Documentation:

• Documented examples of how user research and data analysis were used to inform design decisions and iterations.

• Case studies illustrating the process of validating service concepts through user testing and feedback loops.

• Examples of how journey-level metrics (jNPS, CES) were set up, interpreted, and used to drive specific service improvements.

• Documentation of collaborative processes with multidisciplinary teams, highlighting how alignment was achieved and challenges were overcome.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio should not just present final designs but also the strategic thinking, research methodologies, validation processes, and measurable outcomes that underpin the service design work. For this role, demonstrating an understanding of the M-PESA ecosystem and its operational complexities would be highly advantageous.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on Safaricom's standing as a leading technology company in East Africa and the mid-level experience required for this Service Designer role, a competitive annual salary range is estimated to be between KES 3,000,000 and KES 5,500,000. This range accounts for the specialized skills in service design, customer experience, and operations within the fintech sector, as well as Safaricom's general compensation structure for professional roles in Kenya.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance coverage (medical, dental, vision) for employees and dependents.

• Generous paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and public holidays.

• Retirement savings plan (pension scheme) with company contributions.

• Opportunities for professional development, training, and certifications.

• Employee assistance programs for mental health and well-being support.

• Potential for performance-based bonuses and incentives.

• Access to Safaricom's extensive product and service offerings, potentially at discounted rates.

• Opportunities to contribute to impactful projects in digital transformation and financial inclusion.

Working Hours: Standard full-time working hours are typically 40 hours per week, Monday to Friday. While on-site presence is expected, Safaricom may offer some flexibility in work schedules depending on team needs and project demands, encouraging a balance between structured work and collaborative design processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on industry benchmarks for mid-level Service Designers in major African tech hubs, Safaricom's known position as a top employer in Kenya, and the specific demands of designing services within a complex financial services ecosystem. Benefits are standard for large corporations in the region and are tailored to attract and retain skilled professionals.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Telecommunications & Technology, with a significant focus on Financial Services (Fintech) through its M-PESA platform. Safaricom is a leader in East Africa, driving digital transformation and economic growth.

Company Size: Safaricom is a large enterprise, employing over 60 million customers and supporting over 1.13 million jobs directly and indirectly. Its annual revenues are substantial, indicating a robust organizational structure and significant market presence.

Founded: Safaricom was founded in 1997, and has since grown to be a dominant force in the East African technology landscape, pioneering mobile money services and expanding its network coverage extensively.

Team Structure: The Service Designer will report to the Service Design Chapter Financial Services Lead. This structure suggests a chapter-based model, common in agile organizations, where specialists in a particular craft (like Service Design) are grouped together for skill development and consistency, while also being embedded within specific product or service delivery teams (like Financial Services). This ensures both functional expertise and project alignment.

Methodology: Safaricom operates with a strong emphasis on customer-centricity and innovation. Their approach to service design involves:

• Human-Centered Design: Prioritizing user needs and experiences throughout the design process.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Utilizing user research, analytics, and service audits to inform strategy and measure impact.

• Agile Development: Employing iterative development cycles and cross-functional collaboration for rapid prototyping and deployment.

• End-to-End Service Orchestration: Focusing on the complete customer journey, from initial touchpoint to backend operations, to ensure seamlessness.

• Digital Transformation: Continuously leveraging technology to improve services and customer experiences, particularly within the M-PESA ecosystem.

Company Website: https://www.safaricom.co.ke/

📝 Enhancement Note: Safaricom's culture is deeply rooted in its purpose "to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information." This purpose-driven approach influences their service design philosophy, emphasizing positive societal impact, particularly through financial inclusion via M-PESA.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned at a mid-level, typically requiring 2-5 years of dedicated experience in service design or a closely related field. It represents an opportunity to move from designing specific touchpoints or user flows to orchestrating entire end-to-end service experiences. The scope includes influencing strategy and process improvements across multiple departments.

Reporting Structure: The Service Designer reports to the Service Design Chapter Financial Services Lead. This indicates a direct line of reporting for functional guidance, skill development, and adherence to design standards within the Financial Services domain. However, the role will also work extensively within multidisciplinary delivery teams, reporting functionally to project leads or product managers on specific initiatives.

Operations Impact: The Service Designer's impact is significant and directly tied to customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and revenue generation within the Financial Services chapter. By designing seamless, user-friendly services, they contribute to increased customer adoption of M-PESA and related financial products, reduced customer support costs through fewer friction points, and enhanced brand loyalty. Their work directly influences how customers interact with Safaricom's core offerings, impacting key business metrics.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise within the Financial Services domain, becoming a subject matter expert for M-PESA and related fintech services.

• Leadership: Progress to a Senior Service Designer or Service Design Chapter Lead role, mentoring junior designers and shaping the service design practice at Safaricom.

• Cross-functional Mobility: Transition into related roles such as Product Management, UX Strategy, or Operations Management, leveraging a holistic understanding of service delivery.

• Strategic Influence: Contribute to the strategic roadmap for Safaricom's digital transformation initiatives, influencing product development and service innovation at a higher level.

📝 Enhancement Note: The chapter-based structure at Safaricom suggests a commitment to continuous learning and professional development within specialized fields. Growth opportunities are likely tied to demonstrating mastery of service design principles, delivering measurable business impact, and fostering collaboration within cross-functional teams.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Safaricom operates from modern office facilities, such as Safaricom House, which are designed to foster collaboration and innovation. This is an on-site role, requiring regular presence at the specified location in Westlands, Kenya.

Office Location(s): Safaricom House, Waiyaki Way, Westlands, Kenya. This location is a central hub for the company's operations, offering accessibility and a professional working environment.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: The workspace likely includes open-plan areas, meeting rooms, and dedicated project spaces designed to facilitate teamwork and brainstorming sessions among multidisciplinary teams.

• Tools & Technology: Access to standard office technology, high-speed internet, and potentially specialized design software and hardware to support design activities, prototyping, and data analysis.

• Team Interaction: Frequent opportunities for direct interaction with product managers, engineers, UI/UX designers, customer journey specialists, and operations teams, fostering a dynamic and integrated work environment.

Work Schedule: The standard 40-hour work week from Monday to Friday is expected. While the role is on-site, Safaricom, like many progressive companies, may offer some degree of flexibility in daily start and end times, provided project deadlines and team collaboration needs are met. This flexibility supports deep work and iterative design processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement is typical for roles involving close collaboration and hands-on design work. The environment at Safaricom's headquarters is expected to be professional, dynamic, and geared towards supporting complex technology and service development, particularly within the fast-paced financial services sector.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your CV and portfolio to assess alignment with the role's requirements.

• Hiring Manager Interview: Discussion focused on your experience, approach to service design, and understanding of human-centered design principles.

• Portfolio Presentation: A session where you present selected case studies from your portfolio, demonstrating your problem-solving skills, design process, and impact. Expect questions on journey maps, service blueprints, and how you used data.

• Cross-functional Team Interview: Interaction with potential colleagues from Product, UX, Engineering, and Operations to assess collaboration style, communication skills, and cultural fit.

• Final Interview: Potentially with senior leadership to discuss strategic alignment and long-term contribution.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 2-3 strong case studies that best showcase your end-to-end service design capabilities, ideally related to complex customer journeys or operational improvements.

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the process you followed (research, ideation, prototyping, testing, implementation), the solutions you designed, and the measurable impact (customer metrics, business outcomes).

• Highlight Key Deliverables: Showcase visual examples of journey maps, service blueprints, wireframes, and prototypes. Explain the rationale behind your design choices.

• Emphasize Collaboration: Describe how you worked with multidisciplinary teams and influenced stakeholders.

• Focus on Impact: Quantify results wherever possible (e.g., "reduced customer effort by X%", "increased conversion rates by Y%", "identified Z operational inefficiencies").

Challenge Preparation:

• Service Design Challenge: Be prepared for a hypothetical or real-world scenario where you might be asked to design a service or improve an existing one. This could involve mapping a journey, identifying pain points, and proposing solutions.

• Process Mapping: Practice creating service blueprints or journey maps under timed conditions.

• Data Interpretation: Be ready to discuss how you would use data (e.g., jNPS, CES, usage analytics) to diagnose a service issue and measure success.

• Stakeholder Alignment: Prepare to discuss strategies for gaining buy-in from various departments for your design recommendations.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "end-to-end" service design and "owning the seams" means interviewers will look for candidates who can connect user needs with operational realities and technical feasibility, demonstrating a holistic understanding of service delivery.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision (for wireframing, prototyping, and creating user interfaces).

• Service Design Tools: Miro, Mural (for collaborative whiteboarding, journey mapping, service blueprinting, and workshop facilitation).

• User Research Platforms: Tools for conducting surveys, interviews, and usability testing (e.g., UserTesting.com, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms).

• Data Analysis & Visualization: Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Tableau, Power BI (for analyzing quantitative data, identifying trends, and creating reports).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Customer Feedback Tools: Platforms for collecting and analyzing customer feedback, such as NPS/CES survey tools.

• Web & App Analytics: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics (for understanding user behavior on digital platforms).

• CRM Systems: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics (while not a primary design tool, understanding CRM data can inform service design).

CRM & Automation:

• Process Management Tools: Jira, Confluence (for managing projects, documenting processes, and collaborating with engineering/product teams).

• Internal Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams (for day-to-day team collaboration and communication).

📝 Enhancement Note: While specific tools may vary, proficiency in collaborative design platforms (Miro/Mural) and prototyping tools (Figma/Sketch) is essential. Familiarity with data analysis and customer feedback tools is also critical for grounding design decisions in evidence and measuring impact, aligning with Safaricom's data-driven approach.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and serving customer needs above all else. This drives the design of services that are intuitive, efficient, and delightful.

• Innovation: A drive to continuously explore new technologies and approaches to improve services and create new opportunities, especially within the fintech space.

• Excellence: A pursuit of high quality in all aspects of work, from design execution to process optimization and stakeholder engagement.

• Collaboration: A belief in the power of teamwork, fostering an environment where diverse perspectives are valued and integrated to achieve common goals.

• Impact: A focus on delivering tangible positive outcomes for customers, the business, and society, particularly in advancing financial inclusion.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Working closely with diverse teams (Product, Engineering, Marketing, Operations, Customer Care) to ensure a holistic approach to service design. This involves active participation in team meetings, workshops, and joint problem-solving sessions.

• Open Feedback Culture: Encouraging constructive feedback exchange among team members and stakeholders to refine designs and processes continuously.

• Shared Ownership: Promoting a sense of collective responsibility for the success of services, encouraging team members to contribute beyond their immediate roles to achieve overall customer experience goals.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively sharing insights, best practices, and learnings through documentation, presentations, and informal discussions to elevate the collective expertise within the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: Safaricom's stated purpose, "to transform lives," is a strong indicator of their core values. Operations and service design teams are expected to embody this purpose by creating services that are not only efficient and profitable but also accessible and beneficial to a wide range of users, especially in the context of financial inclusion.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complexity of the Ecosystem: Navigating the intricate web of digital channels, operational processes, agent networks, and partner integrations that constitute Safaricom's financial services.

• Balancing User Needs with Business Constraints: Designing services that are highly user-centric while also meeting technical, operational, and commercial objectives.

• Cross-Departmental Alignment: Gaining consensus and driving change across various departments that may have different priorities or ways of working.

• Rapid Technological Evolution: Keeping pace with advancements in mobile technology, fintech, and customer expectations in a dynamic market.

• Measuring Impact: Accurately attributing customer experience improvements and operational efficiencies to specific design interventions in a complex environment.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Specialized Training: Access to advanced training programs in service design, UX research, design thinking, and customer journey management.

• Industry Exposure: Opportunities to attend relevant industry conferences, workshops, and seminars focused on fintech, digital transformation, and customer experience.

• Mentorship: Guidance from experienced Service Design Leads and senior leaders within Safaricom, fostering career progression and skill development.

• Cross-functional Projects: Exposure to a wide array of projects across different Safaricom business units, broadening understanding of the telecommunications and financial services landscape.

• Certification Programs: Support for pursuing professional certifications in design, project management, or related fields.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are inherent to large, complex organizations operating in rapidly evolving sectors like telecommunications and fintech. Safaricom's focus on growth and transformation implies a commitment to providing employees with the resources and opportunities to overcome these challenges and develop professionally.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a complex end-to-end service you have designed, detailing the customer journey, service blueprint, and the operational processes involved. What was the biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?" (Focus on holistic design, process integration, and problem-solving).

• "How do you use user research and data to identify pain points and validate service designs? Provide an example where data significantly shifted your design direction." (Highlight your evidence-based approach and analytical skills).

• "Imagine you need to design a new feature for M-PESA that allows users to seamlessly switch between using the app and USSD. What would be your approach, and what key considerations would you have?" (Assess your ability to think through multi-channel experiences and operational dependencies). Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of Safaricom's purpose, how would you ensure that your service designs contribute to transforming lives and promoting financial inclusion?" (Connect your work to the company's mission and values).

• "How do you typically collaborate with engineering, product management, and operations teams? Describe a situation where you had to influence stakeholders with differing priorities." (Demonstrate your teamwork and influencing skills).

• "What are your thoughts on inclusive and accessible design? How would you advocate for these principles within a project?" (Show your commitment to user equity and advocacy). Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Begin with an executive summary of the project and its impact, then walk through the problem statement, your role, the research and discovery phase, the design process (ideation, prototyping, testing), the final solution, and the quantifiable results.

• Visuals: Use high-quality visuals of journey maps, service blueprints, wireframes, and prototypes. Annotate them to explain key decisions and user flows.

• Storytelling: Weave a compelling narrative that highlights your problem-solving approach and the value you brought to the project. Emphasize the "why" behind your design choices.

• Metrics: Clearly present the impact of your work using relevant metrics (e.g., improved customer satisfaction, reduced operational costs, increased adoption rates). Be ready to explain how these metrics were measured.

• Q&A Readiness: Anticipate questions about your design choices, challenges faced, and alternative approaches.

📝 Enhancement Note: For this role, be prepared to articulate how your service design work directly impacts operational efficiency and customer experience within a telecommunications and financial services context. Demonstrating an understanding of Safaricom's M-PESA platform and its ecosystem will be a significant advantage.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Service Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Oracle Cloud portal link.

• Tailor your Resume: Highlight experience in service design, customer journey mapping, service blueprints, human-centered design, and cross-functional collaboration. Quantify achievements wherever possible, linking them to operational improvements or customer experience enhancements.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest service design case studies. Ensure they clearly demonstrate your process from problem identification to solution and impact, with visual representations of key deliverables like journey maps and service blueprints. Prepare a concise narrative for each.

• Prepare for the Interview: Research Safaricom's mission, values, and recent innovations, particularly in financial services (M-PESA). Practice articulating your design philosophy, your approach to complex problems, and your experience working with diverse teams.

• Anticipate Scenario Questions: Be ready to discuss how you would approach designing or improving a service within Safaricom's context, considering both customer needs and operational realities.

⚠️ 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.