UX Consultant

Full Time, Fixed Term for 12 months

Help us make our digital services simpler and easier to use

We're looking for an experienced UX Consultant to join our Digital Services team and help improve the experience of people using Bristol City Council services.

You'll bring clarity to complex problems from the user's point of view, helping teams understand what people need and turning that insight into practical recommendations for better services.

You'll work across a range of projects, using evidence from user research, service data, stakeholders and subject matter experts to understand problems and identify opportunities for improvement. You'll use UX methods such as journey mapping, task flows, information architecture and wireframing to explore, communicate and test solutions.

You won't be working in isolation. You'll collaborate closely with user researchers, service designers, content designers, UI designers and developers, bringing a UX perspective to multidisciplinary teams without duplicating the specialist roles around you.

What you'll be doing

You'll:

• Gather and bring together evidence from user research, service data, stakeholders and subject matter experts to build a clear understanding of user needs and service challenges.

• Turn complex user and service requirements into clear, practical UX recommendations.

• Create user journeys, task flows, information architecture and wireframes to explore and communicate how services could work better.

• Review existing and proposed digital services to identify usability issues, inconsistencies and opportunities for improvement.

• Develop and test different approaches, from early concepts through to recommendations that can be taken forward by UI designers and developers.

• Work closely with user researchers and apply research findings and evidence to your UX work.

• Collaborate with service designers to make sure recommendations consider the wider end-to-end service, not just an individual digital touchpoint.

• Work with UI designers and developers to make sure recommendations are feasible, well understood and carried through into delivery.

• Present UX findings and recommendations clearly to project teams, service owners and senior stakeholders, using evidence and professional judgement to influence decisions.

• Work across multiple projects, adapting your approach to different levels of complexity, timescales and constraints.

About you

We're looking for someone who is comfortable working with complexity and ambiguity and can turn that into something teams can understand and act on.

You'll be able to demonstrate:

• Application of UX thinking, across a range of digital services or products within an experience design model.

• The ability to bring together different sources of evidence and translate them into clear and actionable UX recommendations.

• Experience reviewing digital services and identifying usability problems and opportunities for improvement.

• A strong understanding of user-centred design and service design principles, and how they apply across digital and non-digital services.

• An understanding of accessibility and inclusive design, and how they influence good user experiences.

• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to explain UX concepts and recommendations to people who may not have a background in design.

• The confidence to constructively challenge assumptions and influence decisions using evidence and professional judgement.

• Experience working collaboratively with user researchers, service designers, content designers, UI designers and developers.

• The ability to manage your own workload and work effectively across several projects at the same time.

Making complex services easier to use

Many council services are complex. Our users shouldn't have to understand that complexity in order to use them.

A key part of this role will be understanding complicated processes, different user needs and organisational constraints and finding ways to make the experience simpler.

Where you'll work

We support flexible and hybrid working, but this isn't a fully remote role.

You'll need to work regularly from our central Bristol office, collaborating face-to-face with colleagues and multidisciplinary teams. There may also be occasions when you need to attend workshops, research sessions or other activities elsewhere in Bristol.

Right to work

You must have valid right to work in the UK for the duration of your employment.

Please make sure you can meet this requirement before applying.

Bristol City Council are not offering sponsorship for this role.

Why join us?

This is an opportunity to use your UX expertise to improve services that have a real impact on people's everyday lives.

You'll work across different services and problems, helping teams move from assumptions and complexity towards a clearer understanding of users and what will make their experience better.

You'll also be joining a multidisciplinary design environment, working alongside specialists in user research, service design, content, UI and development. The role is deliberately about using UX expertise alongside those disciplines rather than trying to do all of them.

At Bristol City Council, we go that extra mile for our people; we offer a work environment which is fast moving and supportive, giving you the chance to use your skills and develop new ones within a high-profile organisation. For the majority of our roles hybrid working arrangements are available, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice - mixing both home and office working.

Join us and you'll receive an excellent rewards package including flexible working and flexitime, membership of the Local Government Pension scheme, and a generous annual leave allowance. In addition, you'll be working in a supportive environment where you'll have the chance to make Bristol a better place and contribute to its future.

How do I apply?

If you share our values and are ready to be part of our exciting journey please select the apply button below.

To be shortlisted for interview you'll need to demonstrate how you meet each of the essential criteria in the Person Specification within the Further Information section of your application. On occasion we will receive high numbers of applications, we may then shortlist against the desirable criteria along with the essential criteria, so if you can, please demonstrate how you meet this in your application.

Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and we reserve the right to close this vacancy early. We therefore encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

For permanent Bristol City Council employees, this post will be a secondment.

For employees who are currently on a fixed term contract with Bristol City Council, the secondment must not extend beyond the end of the fixed term period to ensure there is a substantive post to return to.

If you are currently a casual worker or a member of an employment agency (currently working with Bristol City Council) this post will be a fixed term contract.

We're a Disability Confident employer which means we value recruiting and retaining disabled people. Any job applicants who consider themselves to be disabled and meet the essential criteria in the Person Specification are guaranteed an interview. We'll make reasonable adjustments throughout the interview process and provide continued workplace support throughout your career.

For further information, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification or alternatively, please contact timea.wilson@bristol.gov.uk

Bristol City Council strives to have a workforce that reflects the communities it serves, we are therefore committed to ensuring diversity in our hiring process. We welcome, develop and promote people from all sections of the community. Appointments will be made on merit.

The personal information section (including your name) you'll complete as part of the application form will not be visible to hiring managers, but is used confidentially to make sure that everyone is treated fairly.