Service Designer / UX Designer (Public Sector)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Service Designer / UX Designer (Public Sector)

Company: Version 1

Location: Dublin, Ireland

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Service Design / UX Design (Public Sector Focus)

Date Posted: 2026-07-28

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

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive user-centred service design and UX initiatives within the public sector to enhance citizen and internal user experiences.

• Conduct comprehensive user research, stakeholder engagement, and analysis to identify service improvement opportunities.

• Develop end-to-end service designs, including blueprints, journey maps, and prototypes, utilizing modern design tools.

• Champion accessibility, inclusive design, and digital transformation principles across public sector projects.

• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to translate user needs and business requirements into effective service solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as "Service Design first, UX Design second," indicating a strong emphasis on the strategic and holistic redesign of services rather than solely focusing on digital interface design. The public sector context is critical, requiring an understanding of government processes, citizen needs, and accessibility mandates.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end service design projects, from initial discovery and research to implementation and ongoing improvement phases.

• Apply a range of service design methodologies to map current and future state service experiences, identifying key touchpoints and pain points.

• Develop critical service design artifacts such as service blueprints, customer journey maps, ecosystem maps, and actionable recommendations for service enhancement.

• Translate complex user, business, and operational requirements into practical, user-centric service design solutions.

• Actively support and drive service transformation initiatives by embedding human-centred design principles throughout project lifecycles.

• Proactively identify opportunities to improve service effectiveness, operational efficiency, accessibility for all users, and overall user satisfaction.

• Plan and execute diverse user research activities, encompassing both qualitative methods (interviews, field research, observation) and quantitative methods (surveys, analytics).

• Conduct in-depth user interviews, stakeholder interviews, and usability testing sessions to gather critical insights.

• Synthesize complex research findings into clear, actionable insights and strategic recommendations for service improvements.

• Develop and maintain essential user-centred design deliverables, including personas, user stories, customer journey maps, and detailed research reports.

• Create detailed service blueprints, customer journey maps, comprehensive personas, compelling storyboards, and intuitive interaction models.

• Produce both low-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototypes to visualize and test design concepts.

• Design user-centred services and experiences that are meticulously aligned with user needs, business objectives, and operational realities.

• Contribute to the development and maintenance of design systems, standards, and style guides to ensure consistency and scalability.

• Ensure a high degree of consistency across all products, services, and communication channels.

• Facilitate engaging workshops, co-creation sessions, design sprints, and critical stakeholder engagement forums.

• Foster strong collaborative relationships with senior stakeholders, subject matter experts, business teams, and technical delivery teams.

• Confidently present research findings, design concepts, and strategic recommendations to diverse audiences, both technical and non-technical.

• Champion and apply Universal Design principles rigorously throughout all stages of the design process.

• Ensure all designed services strictly adhere to accessibility requirements and inclusive design standards.

• Integrate accessibility testing and validation seamlessly into project delivery workflows.

• Actively promote and advocate for accessible service design practices within the organization and client engagements.

• Contribute strategically to the development and refinement of UX and Service Design strategies for the organization.

• Support the creation of robust measures and monitoring approaches to effectively assess service performance and impact.

• Leverage research findings, user feedback, and analytical data to pinpoint opportunities for continuous service improvement.

• Demonstrate tangible, measurable service improvements and positive outcomes resulting from design interventions.

• Produce essential user guides, training materials, and comprehensive research documentation.

• Actively support capability building and knowledge transfer within project teams and client organizations.

• Provide guidance and mentorship to junior designers, fostering their professional development.

• Contribute to the ongoing evolution and refinement of service design and UX practices within Version 1.

• Responsibly utilize AI tools to enhance user research, insight generation, service design activities, content synthesis, and design exploration, ensuring alignment with organizational policies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a holistic approach to service design, covering research, strategy, design, implementation, and continuous improvement. The explicit mention of "AI in Service Design" highlights a forward-thinking approach to leveraging technology in the design process, which is a key differentiator for this role.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Design-related qualification at NFQ Level 7 or above, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: Minimum 4 years of hands-on experience in Service Design, UX Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Organization Design, Product Design, or User-Centred Design. Experience working within structured project and delivery environments is crucial.

Required Skills:

• Proven experience delivering end-to-end service design or UX projects.

• Demonstrated experience conducting thorough user research and usability testing.

• Proficiency in creating key service design artifacts: Customer journey maps, Service blueprints, Personas, User stories.

• Expertise in producing wireframes and interactive prototypes for concept validation.

• Strong command of essential design and collaboration tools: Figma, Miro, Canva.

• Proven ability to facilitate workshops and effectively engage diverse stakeholders.

• Solid understanding of Universal Design principles and their practical application.

• Comprehensive knowledge of accessibility requirements and inclusive design practices.

• Exceptional written, verbal, and visual communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly.

• Experience collaborating effectively within multidisciplinary project teams. Preferred Skills:

• Experience working within the public sector or large, complex public-facing organizations.

• Experience supporting significant service transformation or digital transformation programmes.

• Experience contributing to the strategic development of service design or UX frameworks.

• Experience creating and maintaining comprehensive design systems and style guides.

• Demonstrated experience using AI-enabled tools within the design process.

• Experience supporting capability development and knowledge sharing within teams.

• Familiarity with accessibility legislation, digital inclusion initiatives, and best practices for service accessibility.

• Proficiency with Agile, Design Thinking, Double Diamond, Service Design, or Lean UX methodologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "What Will Strengthen an Application" section provides critical insights into what the hiring team values most. Candidates should prioritize showcasing public sector experience, complex transformation program involvement, strong user research credentials, expertise in specific service design artifacts (blueprinting, journey mapping), workshop facilitation with senior stakeholders, and proficiency in Figma/Miro. Evidence of measurable outcomes is also highly valued.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase end-to-end service design projects, clearly outlining the problem, your role, the process followed, and the outcomes achieved.

• Demonstrate proficiency in creating and presenting key service design deliverables such as service blueprints, customer journey maps, personas, and user flows.

• Include examples of user research methodologies employed and how insights were synthesized to inform design decisions.

• Present