Service Design Manager

Manager - Service Design, EY Studio+ UK 

About EY Studio+ UK 

Growth comes from solving problems that matter for people, customers, patients, employees, and society at large. At EY Studio+ UK, we are building a better working world, by putting the human first.  Our work is rooted in the way people make decisions, it’s helps us to help businesses make better choices and solve the most pressing problems. We work with organisations to create the platforms, products and services for tomorrow; making the world an easier, more enjoyable and sustainable place to live and work.   

We don’t yet have all the answers, because that’d be boring. We do have some of the best minds in the business and we are comfortable navigating complexity every day. 

We’re privileged to have access to senior critical thinkers in our clients, and we have conversations that excite us and challenge us all the time. We’re becoming an increasingly bigger part of an established global business, which throws up challenges and opportunities every day. Our way of thinking and doing business is infectious, and infecting more and more of the world around us, but that challenges us to go further and scale faster than before. Becoming part of EY Studio+ UK means getting on to enjoy this ride. 

The opportunity 

We’re one of the biggest and most mature Service Design functions in the world, the elder statesperson of Service Design if you will. We’ve been around for 17 years and been part of EY for the last five.   

The work we do is big. Big in scale, big in ambition, big in impact – and big projects get taken seriously. We don’t create outputs for the sake of it. We don’t create work that sits in drawers, never to be revisited. We create work that is driven to implementation.  

The work we do is varied. We work across sectors (from government, healthcare, financial services and fast-moving consumer goods) to tackle a huge variety of problems in a huge variety of ways. One week you could be interviewing customers in their homes to understand how they make sense of their money, the next month you could be leading a workshop in Whitehall to articulate how a government department can embed innovation in their organisation.   

We take our practitioners seriously and you will be given the freedom and support to develop your craft, your thinking, your work and your career in a way that suits you and delivers for the practice and your clients.   

Responsibilities, Qualifications, Certifications 

The role 

We are looking for a Service Design Manager to join the Service Design Practice at EY Studio+ UK. 

This role is open to those with demonstrable experience of working as a Service Design Manager within industry. You will have a portfolio of projects that you can talk through and demonstrate how you have applied service design to business or organisational challenges either in house or within a consulting role.   

There are a couple of things that we ask of everybody. 

• You will be endlessly inquisitive, and ruthlessly user focused and able to use a combination of logic, empathy, rigour and storytelling to articulate a customer or business problem before working creatively and technically to articulate a service that solves it. 
• You will be a natural collaborator. Ideas breed ideas, and so we work multi-disciplinary teams and embed clients in our process. We work in the open, we share our thinking early and we build on each other’s contribution. 
• You will be visual. We work generatively. We create things to clarify thinking, align understanding and move towards a solution that works. 
• You will be iterative. No-one gets it right first time. We don’t expect to. 
• You will be ambitious yet realistic in your solutions. Our work sits in the sweet spot between desirable, viable, feasible and allowable. Getting it there is a big part of what we do. 
• You will be a doer AND a thinker and know when to switch from one to the other and how to create time and space for both. 
• You will navigate complexity. People, organisations, technology, policies, regulations. Designing services puts you at the centre of complexity. We need to make sense of it all quickly, and flex and adapt to move through it effectively. 
• You’ll be fascinated by service in all its forms with a desire to deliver great solutions in the teams we put together for clients, to help them improve existing services, invent new ones, and ultimately grow businesses. 
• You will be competent in service design methods, and know how to shepherd clients through a service design process, creating good work and advocates for EY Studio+ UK as you go. 
• You will be a self-starter and have an explorative mindset, creating new perspectives and identifying the spaces you can be impactful for both EY Studio+ UK and its clients. 

Your key responsibilities 

• You will develop and manage plans for project teams, updates stakeholders, and escalates scope
• You will develop relationships that can benefit our firm and our clients (e.g., with stakeholders in target organizations) and beyond the workplace to enhance our presence and impact in the community
• You will identify and share trends, topics and resources (e.g., professional bodies, market developments such as sector-specific trends, regulatory guidance) that will increase the relevance and value of our service delivery and seizes opportunities to grow knowledge
• You will take a systematic approach to making decisions, considering all relevant data
• You are considered a direct point of contact for client and team, speaks to client regularly about future trends, and begin to own and grow the firm’s relationship with the client
• You will maintain open and proactive communication and build credibility based on understanding client issues and offering innovative solutions
• You will create and deliver presentations that engage a range of audiences and respond to their questions and concerns
• You will integrate data and apply judgment in forming practical insights and addressing potential issues, leveraging opportunities and analyses that enable decision-making by critical stakeholders
• You will share technical, sector and market knowledge to inform client thinking

Skills and attributes 

• You will confidently and authentically presents complex messages skilfully, using a variety of media and methods that build excellent relationships based on a trust
• You will demonstrate influencing skills that address the varied interests and individual style of others, recognizing people have different sources of motivation and ways to achieve success
• You will create a positive team environment, balancing individual initiative with team collaboration and with EY priorities, and encourages people to speak up and express differing views
• You will devise approaches to resolve conflicts, including those that arise from cultural differences, and keeps negotiations or dialogue moving forward, even when solutions are not apparent
• You will adopt appropriate coaching techniques to meet the various needs of team members
• You will assemble the right team to achieve business goals by creating the right mix of skills and the right conditions to work together effectively
• You will improve commitment and engagement of team members, while focusing on the achievement of their goals
• You will provide constructive feedback tailored to each person’s style and environment
• You will recommend development activities tailored to each team member’s needs and learning style
• You will resolve competing priorities and resource allocation issues, building collaboration across organizational boundaries

To qualify for the role you must 

• Be able to describe EY Studio+ UK capabilities and commitments accurately when discussing possible business opportunities with external contacts 
• Show that you have consistently produced service design work of high quality that is accurate, complete and compelling 
• Demonstrate ability to lead a small (<3 designers) team and/or manage budgets (<£100k) effectively with some oversight 
• Be able to create presentations that are clear and impactful, translating EY Studio+ UK ’s services into meaningful value propositions for clients 
• Show how you have contributed to a positive design team environment 

What working at EY offers 

We offer a competitive remuneration package where you’ll be rewarded for your individual and team performance. Our comprehensive Total Rewards package includes support for flexible working and career development, and with FlexEY you can select benefits that suit your needs, covering holidays, health and well-being, insurance, savings and a wide range of discounts, offers and promotions. Plus, we offer: 

• Support, coaching and feedback from some of the most engaging colleagues around 
• Opportunities to develop new skills and progress your career 
• The freedom and flexibility to handle your role in a way that’s right for you 

About EY 

As a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, we’re using the finance products, expertise and systems we’ve developed to build a better working world. That starts with a culture that believes in giving you the training, opportunities and creative freedom to make things better.

Whenever you join, however long you stay, the exceptional EY experience lasts a lifetime. 

If you can confidently demonstrate that you meet the criteria above, please contact us as soon as possible. 

Join us in a building a better working world. 

Apply now.