Citizen Experience Product Design Officer

Hours: 37 hours per week (full time) Contract: 24 months Salary: Grade 8 - £39,153 - £41,772 Location: Sheffield (This is a hybrid role with a minimum of 3 days per week in the office) South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is working to build a wealthier, healthier, happier and safer South Yorkshire, where everyone has the opportunity to stay near and go far. As our Citizen Experience Product Design Officer, you will help shape the products, interfaces and touchpoints people use when they interact with SYMCA. You will turn our discovery and service improvement work into clear, practical, inclusive and beautifully designed solutions that help people find information, understand services and get things done with confidence. We believe good design should do more than work well. It should feel considered, welcoming and something people can take pride in using. Because every interaction matters, from a website or app to a timetable, sign or information screen. Good design helps people feel confident. Great design helps people feel valued. Beauty is worth striving for. The Citizen Experience team works across SYMCA, and with partners and communities, to make services more citizen-centred, accessible and joined up. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to initiatives across a wide variety of public services in South Yorkshire, including the South Yorkshire People's Network. Applications must be accompanied by a cover letter to detail how you meet the criteria as detailed within the role profile. (please see role profile attached). Please note, all applications should be made directly via our careers portal . Please also provide, or include a link to, a portfolio showing examples of your design work. We're particularly interested in seeing how you approach a brief, develop ideas and use your design process to create practical, user-centred solutions. We'd also like to understand how you've balanced usability, accessibility and aesthetic quality to create experiences that people genuinely value. About the role You will provide a specialist product, interface and service touchpoint design service for SYMCA. Your work will help citizens access, navigate and use services more easily, whether that's through a digital interface, physical environment, printed information or wayfinding system. You will take briefs, user insight, service requirements and organisational priorities and turn them into practical concepts, prototypes and design outputs. You will test ideas, gather feedback and refine designs so that solutions are accessible, usable and ready to move from concept into delivery. You'll also help make sure products and touchpoints form part of a coherent wider experience for citizens. At SYMCA, we believe people deserve public services that are not only easy to use, but thoughtfully designed. We want to create experiences that are clear, attractive and intuitive. Experiences that reduce stress, build confidence and inspire pride in public transport and public services. Whether you're designing a digital journey, a printed timetable, a wayfinding system or an information display, you'll help create products and touchpoints that people trust, understand and value. This role covers a broad range of design activity, and you will work across a wide variety of channels and touchpoints to produce concepts and prototypes. Your work will provide a foundation for operational delivery and graphic design teams to produce final outputs. For further information, please see the attached role profile. About you You will be a practical, creative and user-centred designer who wants services to work better for people. You care about usability and accessibility, but you also understand the value of beauty. You believe great design can make everyday experiences simpler, clearer and more enjoyable, and that public services should be every bit as thoughtfully designed as the best products people use elsewhere in their lives. You may come from product design, UI/UX, digital interaction design, service design or another relevant design background. What matters is that you can think clearly about how people interact with services and turn that understanding into effective design solutions. You'll be confident exploring ideas, creating prototypes and developing concepts grounded in evidence and real user needs. You'll know when to challenge a brief, when to simplify, and when a design needs something more to make it genuinely useful, engaging and memorable. You'll also recognise that every interaction is part of a bigger picture. A website, a sign, a timetable, a customer journey or a physical environment should all feel like part of the same experience. We're not looking for perfection. We're looking for someone who cares deeply about people and great design. Someone who wants to make services easier to use, but also believes public services can be clearer, warmer and more beautiful. If you have the creativity, curiosity, attention to detail and design mindset to help improve everyday life across South Yorkshire, we'd love to hear from you. Benefits All colleagues have access to a Local Government Pension Scheme and the chance to be part of an organisation where you can really make a difference. Located in Sheffield City Centre, we are well-placed for transport links and encourage employees to take advantage of the active travel facilities. Work/life balance is extremely important to us here at SYMCA with our recognised family/friendly policies, genuine work flexibility, recognition, and shared success. In addition to the above, some of our benefits include - Holiday Entitlement – From 28 to 36 days annual leave entitlement (depending on length of service) plus bank holidays. Pro-rata for part time colleagues. Annual Leave Purchase Scheme – The ability to purchase up to a further 15 days per year in additional to your normal annual leave Hybrid working – Our offices are a space where we come together and collaborate. Most of our roles are offered on a hybrid basis with the exception of some support roles being onsite full time. Please note, unless specified within the job advert, we cannot accommodate remote working contracts. Flexible Hours Scheme – Most roles within SYMCA work under the Flexi-Scheme which allows office-based employees’ flexibility and discretion over their working hours. Under the scheme employees can accrue a defined amount of credit or debit of working hours, and to take time-off in the form of Flexi-Leave or banked Annual Leave. Rewarding You - Reducing everyday expenses through discounts, benefits, financial advice, wellbeing solutions and more with Reward Gateway and Cycle-to-Work schemes. Training on the job - Support with upskilling skills through on-the-job training and qualifications Professional Membership Fees – Where membership to Professional bodies is applicable to your role, SYMCA will reimburse your membership fees where applicable and following approval by Line Management. Diversity at South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority Our workforce is made up of a diverse community, where we all belong and feel part of something bigger. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. All employees are eligible to request Flexible Working arrangements from day one of employment as such all requests will be considered subject to operation requirements. Where candidates share disabilities within the application process, if they demonstrate that they meet all essential criteria from the Role Profile within their application, they will automatically be invited to interview. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the process, please contact [email protected] or include within your application form detailing the adjustment and how it will assist in managing any barriers.