Citizen Experience Service Improvement 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 Service Improvement Officer, you will focus on how services work from end to end. You'll help us understand what it's really like for people to use our services, identify what's getting in the way and shape improvements that make life easier for citizens and the teams who support them. 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 . We're interested in hearing about how you've approached improvement challenges, worked with others to understand problems and helped shape practical changes that delivered better outcomes for customers, citizens, users or service teams. About the role You will design and improve end-to-end service processes that shape how citizens interact with SYMCA services. Your work will help ensure services are people-led, accessible, operationally workable and aligned with organisational priorities. You will work alongside service delivery, operations, design, insight and partner teams to understand how services work today and how they could work better tomorrow. You will use feedback, data, needs analysis and operational insight to identify opportunities for improvement and turn complex challenges into clear plans, practical options and achievable next steps. You'll help ideas move from discovery and concept into testing, refinement, roll-out and handover, making sure improvements are realistic, understood and capable of being delivered by the teams who will manage them. You'll look at the whole service, not just individual interactions. That means understanding how people move through services, where friction exists, what creates confusion and where small changes could make a big difference. Your work will help create services that are simpler, clearer and easier for people to use. For further information, please see the attached role profile. About you You will be curious, collaborative and organised, able to see both the citizen experience and the operational reality behind it. You are comfortable working with complexity, asking thoughtful questions and helping people make sense of services that may have evolved over time. You may come from a service design, business analysis, customer experience, operational improvement or another relevant background. What matters is that you can understand how a service really works, use evidence to identify where it can be better, and help turn good ideas into improvements that people can see and feel. You'll be comfortable working with a range of people and perspectives, bringing together insight, operational knowledge and citizen needs to build a shared understanding of what should happen next. You'll be someone who enjoys solving problems, spotting opportunities and helping others navigate change. You'll be practical in your approach and always focused on improving outcomes for people. We're not looking for perfection. We're looking for someone who is curious about how things work and determined to make them better. If you enjoy solving problems, bringing people together and helping create services that work better for the people of 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.