About the role
Make complex information simple and help residents get things done online.
Can you turn complex information into clear, accessible content that makes a difference? As our Lead Content Designer, you'll lead content design across West Northamptonshire Council's corporate website and microsites, helping residents find information, understand their options and access services as easily as possible. Working within Customer Services in our Resources Directorate, you'll shape the standards, principles and direction that underpin the Council’s digital content and online experience.
This is a hands-on leadership role where you'll combine strategic thinking with practical delivery. You'll lead a small team of content designers, manage a large and varied digital estate consisting of more than 2,000 webpages and work with over 100 page owners across the organisation. Using your expertise in content design, accessibility and user-centred design, you'll help ensure residents can access clear, inclusive and consistent information whenever they need it.
What will you be doing?
You'll lead the content design discipline across the Council, setting standards for content quality, accessibility and usability while acting as a trusted adviser to services across the organisation. Working with colleagues from every department, you'll create, edit and improve content that meets resident needs and supports the Council’s ambition for digital channels to become the preferred way for customers to access information and services.
A key aspect of the role will be managing and developing a team of two Content Designers, setting priorities, providing coaching and building capability across the wider organisation. You'll champion best practice, working closely with page owners and digital colleagues to improve content governance, strengthen accessibility and embed a user-centred approach to content creation.
You'll use insight from analytics, website performance data and customer feedback to identify opportunities for improvement and support evidence-based decision-making. Working within the Council's Drupal content management platform, you'll manage content across the corporate website and microsites, maintain the content style guide and accessibility statement, and ensure compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Government Digital Service standards and data protection requirements.
About you
You're an experienced content design professional with a strong track record of creating and managing user-centred web content within a large and complex organisation. You understand how to balance user needs, business requirements and legal obligations, and you're passionate about making information easier to understand and services easier to access.
You'll have experience leading a content design function or high-profile programmes of work, alongside coaching, mentoring and influencing others. With excellent writing, editing and proofreading skills, you're confident simplifying complex information without losing accuracy and can clearly explain the thinking behind your decisions.
You'll bring strong knowledge of content design, accessibility, human-centred design principles and digital best practice, together with experience working with content management systems such as Drupal. Most importantly, you'll be collaborative, curious and confident challenging approaches that create unnecessary barriers for customers. You'll share our THRIVE values and our commitment to delivering modern, accessible and customer-focused digital services for the residents of West Northamptonshire.
Our benefits
You can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site here: Why you should work for us | West Northamptonshire Council.
About us
At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.
Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services. Hear from our Chief Executive, Martin Henry, about building a career at WNC.
We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner
The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.
If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email careers@westnorthants.gov.uk for support.
Please note we reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications, so we recommend applying as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
West Northants Council, where careers thrive.
Attached documents
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