Senior Service Designer

If you're looking for your “why”, then come and join us at TEC. We truly believe in the transformational benefits of education and vocational training and as a result we invest $3 billion a year in tertiary education and training, and seek to broaden aspirations and lift the skill bases of all New Zealanders from ages 7 to 74.

We're on the hunt for a talented Senior Service Designer to join our Products, Services & Design team and help us shape the future of services and products that will support New Zealanders making education and careers decisions throughout their lives. This role will suit an experienced Service Designer with a passion for understanding and delivering to customer needs, for designing new and improved service experiences, and for improving internal processes and ways of working to deliver better outcomes for all New Zealanders. If you are a Senior Service Designer who firmly believes in the importance of equity and delivering quality work that positively impacts on almost all New Zealanders. - this could be the role for you.

We are in the early days of our Service Design practice - if you've ever wanted to be one of the first in an organisation and help shape and develop a service design competency, this is the perfect time to come on board!

What will you be doing?

• Uncovering and understanding the latent needs and behaviours of New Zealanders using a variety of research techniques.
• Capturing and analysing insights and requirements.
• Leading and supporting the design of services to support New Zealanders in making informed education and careers decisions.
• Using a variety of service design tools (such as service blueprints and customer journey maps) to communicate current and future state services in ways that help others see possibilities.
• Advocating for human centric thinking and being an active ‘voice of the customer'.
• Working in a vibrant and passionate team of service designers, business improvement analysts, UX/UI designers, and user experience researchers.
• Expanding your knowledge of and championing inclusive and equitable design, user centricity and the power of service-level thinking across the TEC.
• Coaching and mentoring others in service design - what it is, why it's important, and how to do it.

What will you bring to the role?

• A passion for equity and inclusion, a strong belief in designing for needs, and a drive to make a difference.
• At least 5 years of strong service design experience.
• Excellent analysis skills: uncovering customer behaviour, their wants and needs, to ensure we are addressing the right need or opportunity.
• Pragmatism and ability to see the full picture: balancing customer needs with organisational goals and technical considerations.
• Experience at turning knowledge into actionable insights for project and product teams to use.
• A solid understanding of Design Thinking and Human Centred Design.
• Storytelling skills to be able to bring people on the journey, effectively communicate the ‘so what' of your insights, and help others see how to apply them.
• Well-honed creative thinking skills to identify and suggest areas for improvement and innovation in products based on insights gained from research.
• Familiarity with Māori design principles, and/or te reo Māori, and/or tikanga, is preferred but not essential.
• Solid experience in planning, leading and managing service design projects to ensure they are delivered on time, scope and budget.
• Experience in coaching and mentoring others in service design techniques.
• Ability to form strong relationships with your team, TEC stakeholders and customers.

What will you get in return?

• The opportunity to work on services and products that will have a positive impact on the lives of New Zealanders.
• Working with a vibrant and dynamic team of service designers, business improvement analysts, UX/UI designers, and researchers.
• The opportunity to play a lead role in shaping the field of service design within the TEC.
• The TEC offers a range of benefits including flexible working options.

As part of the application process for this role, your application is to include your covering letter and C.V. along with an overview of a service design project you have done. As part of this overview, please include the following:

• What was your involvement in the service design? What did you do as part of this?
• What did you learn about service design as a result of this project? (I.e. what did you learn to become a better service designer)