Southend on Sea City Council is a Unitary local authority, providing vital services to meet the needs of the local community. We employ around 1,800 staff who are working alongside our partners and local communities to deliver the city vision and make lives better for the people of Southend. Working for Southend on Sea City Council offers a challenging and rewarding career in local government within a collaborative and innovate environment, with the benefit of flexible working practices to support a positive work life balance. As a Unitary Authority we are responsible for all local government functions ranging from social services, transport, public health and parks through to planning, trading standards, community safety and education, so we offer a wide range of career opportunities. The diversity of our economy and communities and investment in a number of exciting regeneration projects makes our Council a great place to work, learn and make a difference. Southend is embarking on an ambitious programme of work titled One Council which aims to modernise our council, transforming the way we work using technology to ensure we create self-sustainable services which deliver value to our users. We will adopt a structured, iterative and incremental approach to delivery – baselining a starting point (As-Is), plotting a future state (To-Be) and utilising continuous improvement, measure & learn cycles to close the gaps. We will start small to build confidence, gathering learnings as we progress through our organisation. In order to undertake this work we are recruiting for 2 Service Designer roles for a period of 2 years FTC. These roles will be integral to working with services to understand the problem space within each service area. Defining the set of problems to be solved. Creating hypotheses and designing prototypes to test with internal & external users and creating solutions that are rolled out and maintained. Experience of service design methodology in practice, in particular working within a fast paced and ever shifting environment of change. Experience of building services that are timely, accurate, and less prone to manual error reducing the likelihood of risk and non-compliance Experience of improving current processes and introducing new ways of working that meets our staff needs will result in happier staff and customers Experience of reducing the amount of manual effort to meet service goals that free up capacity and effort. When joining the council, you can enjoy a range of benefits including: 25 days annual leave, flexible working and excellent training and development opportunities. They are committed to ensuring that you are supported in this varied and challenging role with the appropriate level of training. A full list of benefits provided by Southend Council can be viewed on the "Why Work For Us?" tab. If you are interested in this role, please click 'apply online' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV. If you would like a copy of either the Job Description please click here Please note: Applications for this vacancy may close prior to the date advertised above so you are advised to apply as soon as you are able to. The Council is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications, regardless of race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, age or religion or belief.