Lead Content Designer - Public Sector

About Kin + Carta

At Kin + Carta, we work with large, global businesses and organisations that require seamless end-to-end experiences that elevate their brands, products and services and put the user at its heart. 

As part of the team you'll be working on products and services for some of the world’s most influential organisations. UX Researchers through to Product Designers work in dedicated teams, anyone who has worked at a startup or in a product company will feel right at home. We are involved from planning through to execution, being an advocate for the user at every step of the way. You'll help the team to make informed design decisions, placing the needs of the user and the business at the centre of every piece of work.

About you 

You’re primarily focused on user-centred design, backed by a broad knowledge of content design standards, principles and guidelines. You’re used to getting stuck in to create solutions in response to the problems, ideas and opportunities you help extract from users and partners. You drive your design decisions and rationalise them using research data, design principles, prototypes and the resulting user-testing insights. You’re most effective when collaborating with engineers, strategists and other team members to respond to the constraints of any project.

About the role

We're looking for an experienced lead content designer to join a multi-disciplinary agile team to help deliver rapid but great quality experiences for users. 

You’ll play an important role for Content and Planning using your ability to design both single pieces of content to forensically outlining the content needed to support an ideal end-to-end user journey.

You’ll play a key role in developing the Content Design craft in Kin + Carta’s growing design practice.

Designers at Kin + Carta are:

• Forensic with meticulous attention to detail as well as specific and measured in approach with a focus on delivering excellence iteratively
• Analytical and curious with the ability to find the key insight in a wide range and volume of research, reports, information and data
• Skilled in presenting and able to explain complex detail in a simple, clear and compelling way
• Organised and efficient at managing multiple projects and deadlines 
• Self starters who are equally comfortable working alone as well as in close collaboration with team members 
• Able to confidently work in a fast-paced, demanding environment

As a Lead Content Designer at Kin + Carta you will:

• Have experience leading teams of designers, with evidence of successful outcomes for users and client stakeholders
• Be seen as an expert in your field, with the ability to challenge others and the process to ensure the highest levels of design quality and delivery
• Work with senior stakeholders and service managers to resource your teams and solve operational problems
• Strategise, create, evaluate, update and review content at all stages of the end-to-end user journey
• Manage, plan and write accessible, inclusive and high quality content in accordance with the latest Government Digital Service (GDS) Content Design guidelines and principles
• Guide teams to build and create the most appropriate ways to visualise their work in context for different audiences. You can direct the team in the creation, testing and iteration of content patterns. 
• Work with the GOV.UK Design System and style guide on new and existing content patterns
• Use evidence, data and research to make content decisions including layouts, hierarchies and formats to convey accurate and easy to understand information
• Ensure user needs are placed at the heart of all content design proposals, championing the user and their overall experience
• Build relationships across multi-disciplinary, agency and government teams to focus on the needs of the user and influence stakeholders
• Work closely and collaboratively with policy teams to create accessible digital consultations

• Deep knowledge of how to use agile to deliver progress and tangible outputs across digital platforms, and have the ability to coach and lead others in lean agile ways of working
• Track record of creating content that is accessible, inclusive, optimised for search engines, usable and accurate
• Proven ability to use insight and user feedback to define and improve content and user experience
• Extensive experience of managing relationships with a range of stakeholders; finding innovative ways to problem solve, in order to find the best solution. Being able to build long-term strategic relationships and act as a point of contact for escalations
• A desire to promote and advocate your design discipline; engaging with communities across the design community to ensure you and those you lead are up to date with industry changes and trends
• The drive to help grow and nurture talent with the Content Design discipline. With a dedication to shaping the practice and being integral to hiring new talent

• An assessor and has assed government services 

Applying for the role

Please share examples of your work as PDFs or online case studies with your application. We’re interested in the activities you go through as you research, test and present your thinking and conclusions. For example; use of data, interviews, workshops, sketches, concepts, flows, experience maps, prototypes etc. ‘Finished’ visual designs are not the only focus here. All supplied examples will be handled in complete confidence.

K+C believes in creating a culture where diversity, regardless of its form, is just a part of who we are. We empower every one of our Kin to share what matters to them, creating a culture where every person, regardless of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status is treated as a valued member of K+C.

Here’s what to expect from the interview process at Kin + Carta: 

Intro Call with the Talent Team (30 mins) – If your skills and experience match the role requirements, our Talent team will contact you to arrange a call.  The aim of this call is to get to know you and for you to find out more about Kin + Carta. This call can be held either by telephone or Zoom. After this call, if we feel like you are a good match for the role, you’ll be invited to a first-stage interview.

First-Stage Interview (60 minutes) - This will typically be a Q&A style interview via Zoom with two of our senior design team members. The interview will last approximately 60 minutes. This process is designed to help our team find out about your skills and experience but also what you enjoy and what motivates you. You will be asked to bring along a sample of work that you are proud of to this interview. It’s a great opportunity for you to ask our team questions and learn more about us! If you are successful in the first stage interview, you will progress to the next stage of our interview process. 

Second-Stage Interview (60 minutes)- This interview will also be a Q&A style interview via Zoom this time with two of our senior leaders. The interview will last approximately 60 minutes. It’s a chance for our team to see how you apply your skills and experience and assess how that matches our expectations for the role. It’s also a chance for you to meet more of our Kin (that’s what we call our colleagues here at Kin + Carta).

Making a Decision - Following the interview process, our hiring team will get together to discuss feedback and make a final decision. We aim to get back to you as soon as we possibly can! 

Our average recruitment process takes around four weeks. You will be assigned a dedicated member of our Talent team  to support you throughout the process. 

We will always do our best to accommodate any reasonable adjustment requests. Please just let us know how we can make the interview process more accessible for you.

Here at Kin + Carta, we believe in building a better and more welcoming world for everyone. We want you to know that whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whoever you love, you are welcome at Kin + Carta. We put our commitment to our global IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Awareness) programme at the centre of everything we do. We’re also a certified B Corp, which means we are committed to being a force for good and operate to the highest social and environmental performance standards.