Senior Service Designer

At the NSW Department of Education, we educate and inspire lifelong learners – from early childhood, through schooling to vocational education and training.

- Ongoing
- Location: Parramatta
- Salary: Clerk grade 9/10, $133,348 to $ 146,945 + Super+ accrued leaves

About the role

The Senior Service Designer will play a key role in understanding, designing and improving complex services and systems within the early childhood education and care sector. The role will work across multidisciplinary teams and with a diverse range of stakeholders to identify systemic challenges, uncover opportunities for improvement, and translate complex research and service insights into practical, evidence-based solutions.

The role will also help strengthen design capability across the organisation by demonstrating and role-modelling human-centred design practices, coaching colleagues and enabling teams to adopt effective design and agile ways of working. Strong proficiency with Microsoft Planner and Miro will be significant to supporting the team's collaborative planning, delivery and workshop practices.

For further information please click here to view the role description

About you -

The ideal candidate is an experienced Senior Service Designer with a strong track record of working within complex service, government or similarly structured environments. They are comfortable navigating ambiguity, understanding interconnected systems and translating complex problems into clear, practical opportunities for improvement.

The candidate will bring:

- Strong service design expertise, with practical experience applying human-centred design methodologies across complex services and systems.
- Excellent research and evaluation capability, including planning and conducting user research, applying qualitative research methods, synthesising findings and using appropriate evaluation frameworks to generate meaningful insights.
- Systems thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to identify challenges, dependencies, service gaps and opportunities and translate them into actionable recommendations.
- Strong communication and storytelling skills, particularly the ability to turn complex research and system-level findings into concise reports, presentations and recommendations for senior executives and decision-makers.




- Stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills, with the ability to bring together diverse stakeholders, build trust and create productive collaboration across professional disciplines and organisational boundaries.
- Experience working with multidisciplinary teams, helping teams align design, strategy and delivery activities and ensuring that user needs remain central to decision-making.
- Experience mentoring and supporting less experienced service designers, providing direction, constructive feedback and guidance to deliver high-quality service design outcomes.
- An interest or background in education, ideally with an understanding of early childhood education and care, its users, operating environment and broader policy and service ecosystem.

- Knowledge of and commitment to implementing the Department’s Aboriginal Education Policy and upholding the Department’s Partnership Agreement with the NSW AECG and to ensure quality outcomes for Aboriginal people.

Essential requirements of the role

- Degree qualification in a related field and/or equivalent significant experience.
- Current and valid Working with Children Check (WWCC) Clearance for paid employment.
- Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to the value of public education.

Benefits

- Flexible working arrangements
- 35 hour working week
- Competitive, salary sacrificing, employer’s contribution to superannuation and annual leave loading
- Flex Leave entitlements, generous holidays & leave conditions
- Opportunities for advancement and mobility across the Department to support your career growth

How to apply

Attach a resume (maximum 5 pages) and a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) outlining how you meet the requirements and capabilities of this role.

Applicants are encouraged to prepare their application materials independently. The selection panel values authentic and personally written responses that reflect your own experience, insights and alignment with the Department’s values and priorities.





Please refer to the Applicant’s Guide to Applying to assist you with your application.

If you are an existing Education Support Staff (corporate staff) with the NSW Department of Education, click here for instructions on how to submit your application.

All other applicants please submit your application by clicking ‘Apply Now’.

Note: the selection process will include a range of assessment techniques to assist in determining your suitability for the role. Successful candidates will be required to undertake pre-employment screening for this role which includes a National Criminal History Check.

This is a child-related role. As a condition of employment you will be required to provide a valid Working with Children Check (WWCC) Clearance number (for paid employment). Visit the website for more information.

Candidates must have Australian work rights (citizens, permanent residents, New Zealand citizens or a valid work visa). Ongoing (permanent) roles are open to Australian citizens and permanent residents and New Zealand citizens, while temporary roles welcome applicants with a visa.

Closing date : Sunday, 18 th October 2026 at 11:59pm.

For role enquiries please contact Sarah Holland - [email protected] and for recruitment process enquiries please contact Rajalakshmi Subramanian [email protected]

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, including but not limited to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, people of any age or gender, people from culturally and linguistically diverse groups and/or from the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, refugees, people with disability, people with sensory differences, and neurodiverse people. If we can make some adjustments to our recruitment/interview process to better help you shine, please reach out to the contact person for this recruitment, details listed above. For more information, visit the NSW Department of Education’s Diversity, equity and inclusion webpage.

A recruitment pool may be created through this recruitment process. A recruitment pool is a group of applicants who have been assessed and identified as suitable for this role, and who may be considered for a range of similar roles, including temporary, term or ongoing roles, over the next 18 months.

📌 Senior Service Designer (Sydney)
🏢 NSW Department of Education
📍 Sydney