Full time, part time, job share and candidates wanting to work on a flexible basis will all be considered.

Now is an exciting time to join Essex County Council (ECC). We have a clear vision - to develop modern services that meet the needs and expectations of our residents in the internet age - and we're looking for talented people to help us achieve it.

We're making things better by building accessible and adaptable services that are simple to use for our residents and employees. Our work is guided by best practice principles of what makes a good service and you can read about our work at https://servicedesign.blog.essex.gov.uk/. We are also creating a place that's great to do the work in at our new flexible office space in Chelmsford city centre, just a 20-minute train journey from Stratford.

We are looking for an experienced and confident Content Designer to work on some of the most complex and challenging issues facing public services. This is a real chance to make a difference to the lives of people living and working in Essex

About the job

As part of a multi-disciplinary team, you will lead a change within ECC to developing content based on what users need and working in an agile way. You will lead on the implementation of our Content Strategy and, in turn, empower teams to make decisions based on what users need and design better information and services for Essex residents.

You will engage directly with service managers, commissioners, provider and partner organisations to help them understand the importance of good content and influence a user-centred design approach.

The work is varied; you will design both on and offline content and help to rethink how we connect people to the right information at the right time.

As Lead Content Designer you will:
* Lead on the implementation of our Content Strategy and user-centred approach to content design, ensuring content creators understand and apply it to their work.
* Work collaboratively with service areas to have an overall perspective on business issues and activities and advise on their wider implications and long-term impact (e.g. determining patterns, standards, policies and roadmaps).
* Help service managers monitor the performance of content, identify areas for improvement and develop new statements of work.
* Plan and manage the different phases of content design, iterating over time to ensure end-to end journeys are based on evidence from user research and analytics.
* Train and mentor other members of teams including the central editorial team to develop and implement best practice.
* Set high standards, ensuring content meets Government Service Standards and Accessibility Regulations, and appropriate policy and legal checks are carried out.

About you

We're looking for a confident and well experienced Content Designer with strong interpersonal skills who wants the opportunity to work in a user-centred environment.
You will be able to demonstrate:
* Designing quality content in the right place using the best format, so users can easily find what they're looking for and understand it.
* Managing and analysing stakeholder relationships, considering the impacts, whilst advocating for the user. This could include facilitating stakeholder workshops.
* Excellent communication and influencing skills and bringing those who don't have experience of user-centred design along with you.
* Extensive experience of writing for the web and using plain English to make complex processes easy to understand.
* Ability to use analytics, user feedback and user research to improve content.
* Understands agile ways of working.

Next steps
Please view the full advert on the Working for Essex website by clicking the "Apply Now" button for more information.

Short listed applicants will be invited to a telephone interview during the week beginning 26th August 2019. If successful at this stage, you will then be invited to a further interview at County Hall, Chelmsford where you'll also have the opportunity to meet some of the team.