Head of Interaction Design

Summary

A head of interaction design is an expert practitioner with broad industry experience, who can define and assure best practice while influencing, leading and mentoring others. At this role level, you will:

influence both design and organisational strategy and priorities

collaborate with counterpart colleagues across government

focus on ensuring the right conditions and environment for designers to work effectively

Work Activity Components

Title	Details
Policies and standards (Level 6) DESN	Develops organisational policies, standards, guidelines and methods for systems design. Drives adoption of and adherence to relevant policies, standards, strategies and architectures.
New uses or new technologies (Level 6)	Develops systems designs requiring introduction of new technologies or new uses for existing technologies.
Design, analysis and iterative development (Level 6)	Plans and leads user experience design activities for strategic, large and complex programmes.
Commitment and maturity (Level 6)	Obtains organisational commitment to policies, standards and strategies to deliver required usability, accessibility and security. Undertakes or initiates assessment of organisation's maturity in usability and accessibility, and takes appropriate follow-up action.
Lead and manage (Level 6)	Manages or co-ordinates design staff within the organisation.

Behavioural Skills

Title	Details
Creativity	Taking innovative approaches to problem solving and/or devising inventive and creative solutions.
Organisational Awareness	Understanding the hierarchy and culture of own, customer, supplier and partner organisations and being able to identify the decision makers and influencers.
Influence, Persuasion and Personal Impact	Conveying a level of confidence and professionalism when engaging with stakeholders, influencing positively and persuading others to take a specific course of action when not in a position of authority.
Interacting with People	Establishing relationships, contributing to an open culture and maintaining contacts with people from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Effective, approachable and sensitive communicator in different communities and cultures. Ability to adapt style and approach to meet the needs of different audiences.
Leadership	Clearly articulating goals and objectives, and motivating and leading others towards their achievement.

Technical Skills

Title	Details	Depth
Application Systems	Technical or functional understanding of Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) applications and/or other bespoke software deployed within the organisation in order to provide system configuration, audit, technical, and/or functional support.	Proficient in
Application Development Tools	Software tools which automate or assist part of the development process.	Proficient in
Database Software	Software that enables the user to capture, create, populate and manipulate data structures and where appropriate unstructured data.	Proficient in
Structured Reviews	Methods and techniques for structured reviews, including reviews of technical work products, test plans, business cases, architectures and any other key deliverables.	Proficient in
Systems Ergonomics and Iterative Design	Iterative methods and techniques to allocate and optimise the division of functions between the human, machine and organisational elements of IT systems and the functions themselves in terms of ergonomic impact. Systematic and iterative design of the physical and cognitive interfaces to create an effective user experience in a software system, product or service with attention paid to variety of locations and access devices employed by users.	Proficient in
DevOps	The collaborative approach consisting of agile practices, processes, and procedures designed to facilitate rapid IT service and product delivery. DevOps emphasizes people (and culture) and seeks to improve collaboration between development (Dev) and operations (Ops) teams with the aim of shortening the systems development life cycle to provide continuous release of high-quality software.	Proficient in

Other Skills

Title	Details	Depth
Organisational Brand and Culture	Knowledge and understanding of the brand image and personality of the organisation's products and/or services and the overall culture and personality of the work environment.	Proficient in

Training

Title	Details
Technology Products for Future Use	Technology products or solutions that are potentially of use to the organisation.
Systems Development	Systems development, including development life-cycles and methods, organisation interfaces, typical corporate application architectures, project and programme management, risk management and change control.
Latest Cyber Security Threats for Senior Execs	Short, high-level, up-to-date and to-the-point briefing on the latest threats and vulnerabilities in cyber security.
Graphic Design and Web Development	Tools and techniques for graphic design, user interface design (UI design), content authoring using standardised code and proprietary software, user experience design (UX design), web development and search engine optimisation.

Professional Development Activity (PDA)

Title	Details	PDA Group
Mentoring	Acting as a mentor, advising those for whom there is no direct responsibility, on matters to do with their job role, career and professional development.	Broadening Activities
Gaining Knowledge of Broader IT Issues	Increasing and maintaining currency of knowledge of broader IT issues through reading, attending and participating in seminars or conferences, special studies, temporary assignments etc.	Increasing Knowledge
Gaining Strategic Knowledge of Employing Organisation	Developing a comprehensive understanding of the business environment in which the employing organisation operates and its position, policies and direction in relation to health and care, country and global issues.	Increasing Knowledge
Gaining Knowledge of Standards and Legislation	Gaining and maintaining knowledge of relevant national and international standards and legislation.	Increasing Knowledge
Participation in Professional Body Affairs	Taking an active part in professional body affairs at branch, specialist group, committee or board level.	Participation in Professional Activities
Management Development	Undertaking learning and best practice of the skills appropriate to managing all or part of an organisation, including business and financial management, benefits management, people management, management of change and strategic planning. This will require both on and off the job learning and may include participation in an appropriate development programme such as MBA or DMS (Diploma in Management Studies).	Developing Professional Skills

Qualification Components

Title	Awarding Bodies
FEDIP Leading Practitioner	The Federation for Informatics Professionals

Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework Skills

Skill	Level
Design Communication Communication involves conveying information using the most effective medium and language for the audience.	Expert Design Communication You can: gain support for design decisions and design strategy from senior leaders communicate design strategy across organisational boundaries coach others in how to effectively communicate design develop or introduce more effective methods of communicating design and working in the open
Designing For Everyone	Expert Designing For Everyone You can: measurably improve the practice of inclusive, accessible and environmentally sustainable design in multiple teams or across your organisation help others understand and mitigate the influence of privilege and power on the design and delivery of content and services
Designing Strategically Strategy involves creating a plan to achieve a team or organisation's objectives.	Expert Designing Strategically You can: work with others to ensure design becomes part of the development and implementation of your organisation’s strategy work with leaders to ensure design is included in policy, technology and delivery processes early enough to inform effective decision-making enable use of patterns and components across the organisation
Designing Together	Expert Designing Together You can: effectively plan and run design sessions that include senior leaders or stakeholders help teams connect and work across organisational boundaries coach other designers in how to involve stakeholders of any level in the design process develop or introduce more effective ways to design together
Evidence-Based Design	Expert Evidence-Based Design You can: embed a practice of hypothesis-driven design in a team guide the organisation in how to use evidence to improve services analyse, synthesise and use evidence to improve the way the organisation works ensure user insights are shared with and used by the wider organisation and across government
Iterative Design	Expert Iterative Design You can: embed the practice of iterative design and agile working in teams or wider organisation lead on prototyping complex ideas at any fidelity help teams adapt quickly to changes in requirements, priorities or user needs iterate delivery processes or team structures to help teams work effectively
Leading Design Leadership and guidance involves providing effective leadership and management through team motivation, decision making, risk management, mediation and professional development.	Expert Leading Design You can: set a vision for and lead design across multiple teams or a whole organisation work effectively with senior leaders across your organisation or wider public sector support a culture of learning and experimentation in your organisation iterate and measurably improve design maturity within your organisation and its partners

Skill

Level

Design Communication

Communication involves conveying information using the most effective medium and language for the audience.

Expert Design Communication

You can:

gain support for design decisions and design strategy from senior leaders
communicate design strategy across organisational boundaries
coach others in how to effectively communicate design
develop or introduce more effective methods of communicating design and working in the open

Designing For Everyone

Expert Designing For Everyone

You can:

measurably improve the practice of inclusive, accessible and environmentally sustainable design in multiple teams or across your organisation
help others understand and mitigate the influence of privilege and power on the design and delivery of content and services

Designing Strategically

Strategy involves creating a plan to achieve a team or organisation's objectives.

Expert Designing Strategically

You can:

work with others to ensure design becomes part of the development and implementation of your organisation’s strategy
work with leaders to ensure design is included in policy, technology and delivery processes early enough to inform effective decision-making
enable use of patterns and components across the organisation

Designing Together

Expert Designing Together

You can:

effectively plan and run design sessions that include senior leaders or stakeholders
help teams connect and work across organisational boundaries
coach other designers in how to involve stakeholders of any level in the design process
develop or introduce more effective ways to design together

Evidence-Based Design

Expert Evidence-Based Design

You can:

embed a practice of hypothesis-driven design in a team
guide the organisation in how to use evidence to improve services
analyse, synthesise and use evidence to improve the way the organisation works
ensure user insights are shared with and used by the wider organisation and across government

Iterative Design

Expert Iterative Design

You can:

embed the practice of iterative design and agile working in teams or wider organisation
lead on prototyping complex ideas at any fidelity
help teams adapt quickly to changes in requirements, priorities or user needs
iterate delivery processes or team structures to help teams work effectively

Leading Design

Leadership and guidance involves providing effective leadership and management through team motivation, decision making, risk management, mediation and professional development.

Expert Leading Design

You can:

set a vision for and lead design across multiple teams or a whole organisation
work effectively with senior leaders across your organisation or wider public sector
support a culture of learning and experimentation in your organisation
iterate and measurably improve design maturity within your organisation and its partners

The Professional Body Responsible for this job family is BCS. This job role profile was created in collaboration with BCS, using Role Model Plus.

Summary

Work Activity Components

Behavioural Skills

Technical Skills

Other Skills

Training

Professional Development Activity (PDA)

Qualification Components

Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework Skills

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