Salary: £45,272-£49,430 per annum (this is the full-time equivalent; actual salary will be pro-rata for part-time hours)

Hours: Part Time (Flexible - this is a part-time role for 22.2 hours per week (0.6 FTE). The working pattern is flexible and to be agreed with the successful candidate, although it will include being on site at the Swindon office on Tuesdays.)

Contract Type: Open Ended

Location: Polaris House, Swindon (Hybrid Working)

Grade: UKRI Band E

Closing Date: Sunday, 19th October 2025

Want a glimpse into what it's like to work as a Senior Content Designer at UKRI? Check out our Day in the Life blog below!

This role is suitable for someone who has worked as a content designer and matches the gov.uk capability framework. It is not suitable for graphic designers, software designers, or marketing professionals.

Job Overview

The Senior Web Content Designer sits in the web team, part of External Affairs and Communications. The web team is a multidisciplinary team of content, product, and delivery experts who are passionate about driving forward the continuous improvement of the website, making it simpler and easier for people to understand and use.

As a Senior Web Content Designer, your role is to lead on the design, creation, review, and development of webpage content on ukri.org in collaboration with subject experts from across the organisation.

This is an exciting time for the web team as we evolve our web content strategy and content operations to support a sustainable, accessible website into the future.

Key Responsibilities

As a Senior Web Content Designer, you'll be an expert practitioner who develops content strategies and solutions. You will join the multidisciplinary web team working on the UKRI corporate website, making it simpler and easier for people to understand and use.

This role can involve working on a single piece of web copy or on an entire end-to-end journey through the site and to other services to help users complete their goal and deliver UKRI objectives.

Depending on the situation, you may start with discovery and work closely with user researchers and web developers, ensuring a simple and intuitive journey for our varied user groups.

• Be responsible for creating, evaluating, updating, and reviewing content strategies and solutions for ukri.org content, using your professional expertise, user understanding, and evidence to ensure its continuous improvement
• Lead strategic content improvement projects, focusing effort in the areas of greatest priority and ensuring objectives are met, influencing senior stakeholders to ensure they have the right resources to support their strategic vision
• Ensure the web content you develop is high quality and meets accessibility standards, and review other content designers' work to ensure quality
• Help colleagues and stakeholders understand what web content design is, why it's valuable, and how to work with content designers
• Champion and participate in user research, playing an active role in journey mapping to better understand user needs and where the website and its content fit in
• Deliver workshops and training to colleagues across the organisation, acting as an advocate for the website, content design, and Government Digital Standards
• Build a network of internal and external stakeholders, fostering proactive collaborative working, influencing, and establishing good working relationships with subject matter experts
• Actively stay abreast of UKRI objectives, priorities, and work to better understand business needs
• Proactively stay up to date with the latest content design best practice and thinking

Person Specification

(S) Shortlisting Criteria (I) Interview Criteria (S&I) - Shortlisting Criteria & Interview Criteria

Essential

• Preferably hold a degree in a related subject or equivalent relevant experience (S)
• Robust experience in writing, editing, and publishing accessible digital content, and using content management systems and content production processes (S)
• Experience in a web content design role, making strategic decisions about web content creation, preferably on a large, complex, information-rich website (S&I)
• Up-to-date knowledge of accessibility, including the needs of different users, assistive technologies, and exemplary editorial skills in writing in plain and accessible language (S&I)
• A deep understanding of web content design on an end-to-end user journey, considering the structure and user experience (S&I)
• Experience of taking a user-centered approach to content design and of explaining your decisions in a way that other people understand (S&I)
• Experience of using data, research, and evidence to review and evaluate web content to make improvements (S&I)
• Ability to explain content decisions to non-experts, negotiate with stakeholders, deal with challenging situations, and remove blockers to ensure business objectives and the needs of users are being met (S&I)
• Be able to handle constructive criticism of your work and to constructively review other people's work (I)
• Experience of putting forward the case for content design to senior stakeholders and developing long-term strategic relationships (I)

Other Important Information

If you'd like to have an informal chat about the role before applying, you're welcome to get in touch with the hiring manager, Karen Hibbert.

Please Note: As this job does not fulfill the UK Government minimum criterion for obtaining sponsored migrant worker status, we will be unable to apply for sponsorship for anyone not eligible to work in the UK. At interview, all shortlisted candidates are required to bring with them identification documents and original documents that prove they hold or can obtain the right to work in the UK. You can check your eligibility here: https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y

Benefits

We recognize and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favorable pay and rewards package! We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning! A list of benefits below:

• An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme
• 30 days annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privileged days (full-time equivalent)
• Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities
• Employee assistance program, providing confidential help and advice
• Flexible working options

Please click here for more details on the https://www.discover.ukri.org/benefits-of-working-at-ukri/index.html

How to Apply

Applicants are required to provide an up-to-date CV and a cover letter outlining their suitability for the role. Further information on how to apply and the selection process is listed on our careers page.

The closing date for applications is Sunday, 29 October 2025