Service Design Lead

Company Description

Publicis Sapient is a digital transformation partner helping established organizations get to their future, digitally enabled state, both in the way they work and the way they serve their customers. We help unlock value through a start-up mindset and modern methods, fusing strategy, consulting, and customer experience with agile engineering and problem-solving creativity. United by our core values and our purpose of helping people thrive in the brave pursuit of next, our 20,000+ people in 53 offices around the world combine experience across technology, data sciences, consulting, and customer obsession to accelerate our clients’ businesses through designing the products and services their customers truly value.

Overview

As a Manager in Service Design within our Public Sector practice, you will lead strategic design initiatives and collaborate with cross-functional teams to shape impactful government service strategies, experiences, and solutions. This role goes beyond delivery—it is about influencing organisational change, embedding human-centred design principles, and driving measurable outcomes for citizens and government agencies.

At Publicis Sapient, our Service Designers and Experience Strategists enable innovative, connected experiences for businesses, customers, and employees. As a manager, you will guide clients through all phases of design and strategy—from framing complex problems and defining service visions to developing roadmaps and ensuring successful delivery.

You will work closely with technology strategists, business analysts, data experts, UX designers, and agile product teams to connect customer and staff experiences with enabling processes, technologies, and policies.

Responsibilities

• Lead and advise on large-scale projects, driving strategic recommendations through to delivery.

• Frame complex business and customer challenges, articulating mutual value and shaping strategic roadmaps.

• Identify opportunities for innovation, balancing design ambition with delivery constraints.

• Embed design-led approaches into IT projects and organisational change initiatives.

• Apply human-centred design to connect front-stage experiences with back-stage systems, processes, and data.

• Lead multidisciplinary teams in research, blueprinting, and prototyping, ensuring actionable insights and measurable outcomes.

• Facilitate executive-level workshops and confidently present design outcomes to influence decision-making.

• Coach and mentor teams, uplifting design capability internally and externally.

• Contribute to practice growth, supporting go-to-market strategies and thought leadership in the Public Sector.

Qualifications

• 5 - 7+ years of experience leading service design projects in consulting, digital, or government environments.

• Proven ability to optimise and reimagine service experiences for government clients.

• Strong strategic thinking combined with hands-on design capability.

• Expertise in complex problem-solving, translating insights into impactful service solutions.

• Exceptional communication and facilitation skills with senior stakeholders.

• Commercial acumen and ability to identify new opportunities.

• Experience working in Agile environments with cross-functional teams

• All applicants will need to hold Australian work rights, with citizenship preferred or required where security clearance is involved.

Set Yourself Apart With

• Certifications in customer experience, service design, or design thinking.
• Familiarity with behavioural science and its application in service design
• Experience introducing AI-driven services or working in innovation/incubation teams.

Additional Information

• An inclusive workplace that promotes diversity and collaboration.
• Access to ongoing learning and development opportunities.
• Competitive compensation and benefits package.
• Flexibility to support work-life balance.
• Generous paid leave and holidays.
• Wellness program and employee assistance.

As part of our dedication to an inclusive and diverse workforce, Publicis Sapient is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity without regard for race, colour, national origin, ethnicity, gender, protected veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [email protected]