Defence Business Services (DBS) - Content Designer - #1713233

Norcross - Tomlinson House, FY5 3WP, Kentigern House, Glasgow, G2 3EX, Bristol, Abbey Wood North BS34 8JH.

Job Summary

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

• Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission – Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.
  
  

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2027.

Come and join the DBS community today!

https://youtu.be/gUw0ToaRGgk

Job Description

Content designers make things easier for people to understand and use. This can involve working on a single piece of content or on the end-to-end journey of a service to help users complete their goal and government deliver a policy intent. In this role you will make sure appropriate content is shown to a user in the right place and in the best format, and start from discovery and work closely with user researchers, service designers and interaction designers.

As a Content Designer, You’ll Work On Some Of The MOD’s Most High-profile GOV.UK Services, Including The HM Armed Forces Veteran Card. You Will:

• Work closely with Senior Content Designer and other team members to create and maintain content that meets user needs and is compliant with the GDS Service Manual and design standards
• Produce copy and content assets that are accurate, timely, high-quality (based on insight and outputs of user testing, relevant to the audience, easily understood, optimised for search engines) and to style
• Review the performance of the content and identify ways to improve content
• Participate in content and service design communities, share learnings and findings with wider teams to transfer knowledge and capability
• Work with a variety of stakeholders, including contractors and external suppliers
• Feed into user research and content strategies to inform end-to-end journeys
  
  

Content designers make things easier for people to understand and use. This can involve working on a single piece of content or on the end-to-end journey of a service to help users complete their goal and government deliver a policy intent. In this role you will make sure appropriate content is shown to a user in the right place and in the best format, and start from discovery and work closely with user researchers, service designers and interaction designers.

As a Content Designer, You’ll Work On Some Of The MOD’s Most High-profile GOV.UK Services, Including The HM Armed Forces Veteran Card. You Will:

• Work closely with Senior Content Designer and other team members to create and maintain content that meets user needs and is compliant with the GDS Service Manual and design standards
• Produce copy and content assets that are accurate, timely, high-quality (based on insight and outputs of user testing, relevant to the audience, easily understood, optimised for search engines) and to style
• Review the performance of the content and identify ways to improve content
• Participate in content and service design communities, share learnings and findings with wider teams to transfer knowledge and capability
• Work with a variety of stakeholders, including contractors and external suppliers
• Feed into user research and content strategies to inform end-to-end journeys
  
  

Person specification

Essential Experience

• Experience of writing for the web, with proven ability to create content that is accessible and usable
• Experience of developing content for guidance or transactions
• Experience of working with user needs and mapping content to identify gaps and overlaps
• Experience of working with style guidelines
• Experience using metrics and user feedback to inform content design
• Experience of talking about your design decisions and approach to stakeholders of various levels, and convincing them that user needs and a user-centred approach are the right wat to design content
• Experience of leading workshops and discussion to facilitate the design of content through collaboration with other professions
  
  

Desirable Experience

It would be great if you also have:

• Experience of working to the government service standard or shared services environments
  
  

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
  
  

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• DDAT Content Designer: User Centred Content Design
• DDAT Content Designer: Strategic Thinking Content Design
• DDAT Content Designer: Stakeholder Relationship Management (Content Design)
  
  

Alongside your salary of £36,530, Ministry of Defence contributes £10,582 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• An environment with flexible working options Monday-Friday
• 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years' service (pro rata). In addition to 8 public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for the King's birthday
• Hybrid working, where role permits
• An opportunity to be considered for Reward and Recognition
• Family friendly policies including parental leave and adoption leave
• Learning and development tailored to your role
• Professional and personal development of skills
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• Minimum of 15 days special leave in a rolling 12 month period for volunteer reserve commitments
• Special paid leave to volunteer up to 6 days per year
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
  
  

Allowances

This post does not offer relocation expenses.

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Employment Hours

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.

Applications Will Be Sifted On All Success Profile Elements, But In The Event Of a High Number Of Applications, An Initial Sift Will Be Conducted On The Following Success Profile Elements:

Primary: Career - Personal Statement

Secondary: Career - Job History

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

Experience

• Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.
• Candidates will be required to provide a Personal Statement. (Word count: 1000)
  
  

Please provide information of how you meet the criteria set out in the job description. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlined in the job advert.

At interview You Will Be Assessed Against The Following:

Behaviours

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
  
  

Technical Skills

• DDAT Content Designer: User Centred Content Design
• DDAT Content Designer: Strategic Thinking Content Design
• DDAT Content Designer: Stakeholder Relationship Management (Content Design)
  
  

Technical Skills Framework - https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/role/content-designer#content-designer

In The Rare Case Where Individuals Have Exact Matching Scores, The Order Of Merit Will Be Determined Based On The Behaviour Scores At Interview In The Following Order:

• Technical - DDAT Content Designer: User Centred Content Design
• Technical - DDAT Content Designer: Strategic Thinking Content Design
• Behaviour - Leadership
• Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing
• Technical - DDAT Content Designer: Stakeholder Relationship Management (Content Design)
  
  

If Candidate Scores Are Still Exact, The Merit Order Will Then Be Determined On The Sift Score In The Following Order:

• Career - Job History
• Career - Previous Skills
• Career - Personal Statement
• Career - Qualification Details
  
  

We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn’t always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months.

Application sifting to take place early June

Interviews are currently taking place via the following method: Ms Teams

Interviews will be conducted mid June

A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews.

We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: [email protected]

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

To assist with your application please find attached -

DBS Candidate Information Guide - Working for Defence Business Services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

(26) UK Ministry of Defence: Life , LinkedIn

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact :

• Name : Nicola Jones
• Email : [email protected]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]
  
  

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact [email protected] in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/