Senior Content Designer

Summary

A senior content designer is an expert practitioner who develops content strategy and solutions for large-scale problems and high-profile events. At this role level, you will:

take responsibility for content quality, manage small teams and mentor content colleagues

write and map user stories

review the work of others to assure quality

lead on cross-government content projects

engage with and contribute to the cross-government content community

Work Activity Components

Title	Details
Risk management (Level 4) (Content authoring)	Understands the implications of publishing content and manages the associated risks.
Moderation and standards (Level 4)	Moderates content (in both draft and published forms) and ensures content can be re-purposed appropriately.

Behavioural Skills

Title	Details
Creativity	Taking innovative approaches to problem solving and/or devising inventive and creative solutions.
Attention to Detail	Applying specific quality standards to all tasks undertaken to ensure that deliverables are accurate and complete.
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.
Teamwork	Working collaboratively with others to achieve a common goal.
Delegation	Delegating tasks, responsibilities and authorities effectively.
Follow-up and Monitoring	Checking progress against targets, taking action to resolve exceptions/ issues and reporting and escalating where necessary.

Technical Skills

Title	Details	Depth
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
Programming Languages	A set of codes and syntax (supported by software tools) that enables the unambiguous translation of specified functionality into source code for the creation of computer programs.	Proficient in
Web Specifics	Knowledge of web specific file extensions, Web 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 and other latest standards/ practices. Use of multimedia and Active-X controls. Understanding of the nature of browsers and how to design cross-browser layouts. Effective knowledge of metadata (e.g. tags, XML) and related aspects of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).	Proficient in
Information and Data Visualisation/Presentation	The ability to visualise and present information and data in an appropriate format that helps stakeholders understand the significance of the information and data.	Proficient in

Other Skills

Title	Details	Depth
Project Planning and Control Techniques	Methods and techniques associated with planning and monitoring progress of projects.	Aware of

Training

Title	Details
Security Awareness	Tools and techniques to help users and employees understand the role they play in helping to combat information security breaches and for IT and security professionals to prevent and mitigate risk.
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.
Coaching	Concepts, methods and techniques for providing coaching in subject specialisms to individuals or groups (e.g. GROW model).
Advanced Documentation Tools and Techniques	Specialist techniques and tools used in the production of technical publications.

Professional Development Activity (PDA)

Title	Details	PDA Group
Deputising	Standing in for supervisor or manager on a temporary basis during periods of absence.	Broadening Activities
Job Shadowing and Special Assignments	Undertaking temporary periods or secondments in other roles, particularly those that offer a new perspective on own function or exposure to other environments and cultures.	Broadening Activities
Research Assignments	Exploring a topic which is not part of own normal responsibilities and presenting findings to colleagues and/or management	Increasing Knowledge
Gaining Knowledge of Employing Organisation	Gaining basic knowledge of the employing organisation, its business, structure, culture, policies, products/services, operations and terminology.	Increasing Knowledge
Gaining Knowledge of IT Concepts and Techniques	Undertaking study, learning and, where possible, practice in IT concepts and techniques external to own function.	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
Negotiating and Influencing	Undertaking learning and practice of negotiating with and influencing others.	Developing Professional Skills
Team Leadership	Undertaking learning and practice of the skills required to lead teams, including motivation, direction, coaching, delegation, appraisal, counselling and developing others.	Developing Professional Skills

Qualification Components

Title	Awarding Bodies
Senior Practitioner	FEDIP - The Federation for Informatics Professionals
MISTC - Member of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators	Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators

Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework Skills

Skill	Level
Agile working (content design) Agile delivery involves encouraging teams to build incrementally, test and iterate their work based on regular feedback and other useful data.	Practitioner Agile working (content design) You can: understand and demonstrate awareness of Agile methodology, and can apply an Agile mindset to your work work in a fast-paced, evolving environment and use an iterative and flexible approach to enable rapid delivery appreciate the importance of Agile project delivery to digital projects in government be unafraid to take risks and willing to learn from mistakes ensure the team has a situational awareness of one other’s work and how it relates to objectives and user needs use a range of tools and platforms to plan and manage your work
Content concepts and prototyping Consultancy involves providing specialist advice to address stakeholder and business needs.	Practitioner Content concepts and prototyping You can: build and create a variety of different prototypes, from paper sketches to coded prototypes choose the most appropriate option to visualise content in context for different audiences effectively combine prototypes with other content and design outputs to test with users and show to stakeholders establish content patterns, and test and iterate them
Stakeholder relationship management (content design) Stakeholder relationship management involves managing stakeholder requirements and communications throughout a project, while remaining focused on the user needs.	Practitioner Stakeholder relationship management (content design) You can: negotiate with and influence stakeholders, and manage relationships effectively influence decisions, deal with challenging situations and remove blockers build long-term strategic relationships and communicate clearly and regularly with stakeholders, supporting mutual needs and commitments while focusing on user needs
Strategic thinking (content design) Strategy involves creating a plan to achieve a team or organisation's objectives.	Expert Strategic thinking (content design) You can: help lead the design and implementation of strategies, evaluating their impact and progress to ensure business objectives and the needs of users are being met lead and direct strategic content improvement projects, focusing effort in the areas of greatest priority and ensuring goals and objectives are met
User focus (content design) User focus involves understanding the user needs to develop a detailed understanding of the problems that need to be solved.	Practitioner User focus (content design) You can: collaborate with user researchers and performance analysts to advocate effectively for users understand the different types of user research, evidence and data and how they’re used at different stages of product development (alpha, beta, live) formulate hypotheses, gain insights from research and make decisions based on findings, clearly explaining how decisions have been made evaluate quantitative and qualitative data and can prioritise and define approaches to best understand users champion user research to focus on all users put accessibility requirements at the heart of approaches to designing content, and encourage others to do the same guide others and make recommendations on the best tools and methods to use
User-centred content design	Practitioner User-centred content design You can: show a deep understanding of end-to-end journeys and how content is affected within these journeys identify where journey fixes or content improvements need to be made take responsibility for assuring the quality of content from more junior colleagues, and coaching and guiding them to improve ensure that content is regularly reviewed and evaluated, contributing to continuous improvements and iteration encourage a continuous improvement mindset in teams and more junior content colleagues deliver through others, and direct and critique their work

Skill

Level

Agile working (content design)

Agile delivery involves encouraging teams to build incrementally, test and iterate their work based on regular feedback and other useful data.

Practitioner Agile working (content design)

You can: understand and demonstrate awareness of Agile methodology, and can apply an Agile mindset to your work work in a fast-paced, evolving environment and use an iterative and flexible approach to enable rapid delivery appreciate the importance of Agile project delivery to digital projects in government be unafraid to take risks and willing to learn from mistakes ensure the team has a situational awareness of one other’s work and how it relates to objectives and user needs use a range of tools and platforms to plan and manage your work

Content concepts and prototyping

Consultancy involves providing specialist advice to address stakeholder and business needs.

Practitioner Content concepts and prototyping

You can: build and create a variety of different prototypes, from paper sketches to coded prototypes choose the most appropriate option to visualise content in context for different audiences effectively combine prototypes with other content and design outputs to test with users and show to stakeholders establish content patterns, and test and iterate them

Stakeholder relationship management (content design)

Stakeholder relationship management involves managing stakeholder requirements and communications throughout a project, while remaining focused on the user needs.

Practitioner Stakeholder relationship management (content design)

You can: negotiate with and influence stakeholders, and manage relationships effectively influence decisions, deal with challenging situations and remove blockers build long-term strategic relationships and communicate clearly and regularly with stakeholders, supporting mutual needs and commitments while focusing on user needs

Strategic thinking (content design)

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

Expert Strategic thinking (content design)

You can: help lead the design and implementation of strategies, evaluating their impact and progress to ensure business objectives and the needs of users are being met lead and direct strategic content improvement projects, focusing effort in the areas of greatest priority and ensuring goals and objectives are met

User focus (content design)

User focus involves understanding the user needs to develop a detailed understanding of the problems that need to be solved.

Practitioner User focus (content design)

You can: collaborate with user researchers and performance analysts to advocate effectively for users understand the different types of user research, evidence and data and how they’re used at different stages of product development (alpha, beta, live) formulate hypotheses, gain insights from research and make decisions based on findings, clearly explaining how decisions have been made evaluate quantitative and qualitative data and can prioritise and define approaches to best understand users champion user research to focus on all users put accessibility requirements at the heart of approaches to designing content, and encourage others to do the same guide others and make recommendations on the best tools and methods to use

User-centred content design

Practitioner User-centred content design

You can: show a deep understanding of end-to-end journeys and how content is affected within these journeys identify where journey fixes or content improvements need to be made take responsibility for assuring the quality of content from more junior colleagues, and coaching and guiding them to improve ensure that content is regularly reviewed and evaluated, contributing to continuous improvements and iteration encourage a continuous improvement mindset in teams and more junior content colleagues deliver through others, and direct and critique their work

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