SERVICE DESIGN RESEARCHER

City of Toronto • $103K — $113K *

Toronto, ON M3C 0E3In-Person

Education, Government & Non-Profit

5 - 7 years of experience

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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

Post-secondary degree or diploma in a relevant field such as Human-Centred Design or User Experience.
Demonstrated experience in leading service design research and applying mixed-methods techniques.
Proven capability in facilitating workshops and sessions with diverse participant groups.
Experience in creating visual and textual artifacts to convey research findings and proposed solutions.
Strong ability to interpret complex data and prepare detailed documentation.

Responsibilities

Conducts human-centred design research to identify civic challenges and inform service improvements.
Organizes and supports various research activities, ensuring findings drive user experience design.
Collaborates with cross-functional teams to integrate design research insights into product development.
Leads workshops and user engagement activities to gather insights from community stakeholders.
Synthesizes research data to uncover insights and inform design recommendations.

Benefits

Opportunity to contribute to meaningful public service projects.
Work within a collaborative and innovative team environment.
Engage with diverse communities and influence city services.
Access to professional development opportunities including workshops.

Full Job Description

Job ID: 67176
Job Category: Policy, Planning & Research
Division & Section: Customer Experience, Channel Experience & Innovation
Work Location: METRO HALL, 55 John St, Toronto ON M5V 3C6
Job Type & Duration: 1 Full-Time, Temporary (12 month) Vacancy
Hourly Rate: $49.66 - $54.43
Shift Information: Monday to Friday, 35 hours per week
Affiliation: L79 Full-Time
Candidate List will be established. For applicability and duration, see below.
Number of Positions Open: 1
Posting Period: 22-Sep-2026 to 06-Oct-2026

Job Description

The City of Toronto is currently seeking a Service Design Researcher to support the evolution of the City's digital customer experience strategy through the modernization of service experiences, service design, Human-Centred Design, robust change management practices, and continuous improvement.

The Customer Experience Division (CXD) leads enterprise-wide initiatives to improve how residents and businesses interact with the City of Toronto. It uses a collaborative approach to drive standards, capabilities, and the scaling of platforms with a focus on outcomes that result in public access to inclusive, accessible, integrated services via channels of choice, including 311 Toronto.

Reporting to the Manager, Service Design and Delivery, the Service Design Researcher provides subject matter expertise in service design, Human-Centred Design practices, and prototyping approaches. As part of a product-driven approach, they employ a User Experience (UX) focus and Agile development techniques. They conduct discovery research, data collection and analysis, user engagement and user experience research, synthesis workshops/facilitation sessions, and guide teams through the iterative design of rapid prototypes and pilot solutions across different initiatives.

The Service Design Researcher supports the development of services that are intuitive, accessible, and responsive to the needs of the customer.

Major Responsibilities:

Uses Human-Centred Design based innovation approaches (involving technology, policies, processes around redesigning services) to identify the root causes of civic challenges and explore the perspectives of residents, community groups, and various internal and external stakeholders.
Provides subject matter expertise in Human-Centred Design approaches and research methods. Organizes, supports and executes generative and evaluative experience design research activities.
Works collaboratively with researchers across cross functional teams and disciplines. Collaborates with various program areas, internal and external stakeholders, the public, and various agencies to conduct research.
Leads workshops/facilitation sessions and user engagement activities to gather information from residents, clients, people with lived experience, community groups, and other stakeholders.
Collaborates with research participants, the public, and community stakeholders to understand individual personas, customer journeys, and personal situations.
Collaborates with product, business, and technology teams, sharing design research insights and ideas to build proofs-of-concept, prototypes, and service blueprints that solve business problems and create new opportunities, e.g. customer acquisition, improved customer experience, revenue generation. Makes recommendations on future stages of design phases based on research.
Provides design research support through all product development iterations, ensuring research insights and customer needs are taken into consideration. Collects, analyzes, evaluates and interprets information/findings to develop recommendations for design and product improvement.
Makes recommendations on processes, policies and data, tracks key performance indicators, and suggests improvement of services and operations, based on research findings, to ensure the customers' end-to-end experience is seamless.
Produces compelling and concise narratives and visual frameworks to drive comprehension of complex topics and concepts and persuade stakeholders. Collects and analyzes user behaviour through qualitative contextual research (i.e. field visits, ethnography, surveys, and benchmark studies).
Designs, develops and administers questionnaires, surveys, data collection sheets, interview questions to gather information.
Applies an understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies by gathering, reviewing and analyzing statistical data to make recommendations for process and analog improvements (i.e. handouts, templates, communications material etc.).
Synthesizes and evaluates data gathered through design research to uncover and successfully communicate root cause insights and generate corresponding design pillars. Analyzes issues impacting the public, formulating research objectives, and designing and developing implementation strategies on project work.
Supports all design aspects and reviews wireframes and storyboards for digital products. Ensures accessibility and inclusivity when engaging with stakeholders and research participants.
Advocates research findings to diverse audiences through written reports, presentations and public channels.
Shares and teaches others about design methodologies through formal and informal sessions such as lunch and learns.
Provides support through the coordination of administrative research duties including notetaking, documentation, taking pictures in the field, recruiting, screening and scheduling research participants, working with transcribers, etc.
Prepares background studies and briefing notes for projects and assignments.

Key Qualifications:

Your application must describe your qualifications as they relate to:

Post-secondary degree or diploma in a related discipline (e.g. Business Administration, Public Policy, Human-Centred Design, Service Design, Design Thinking, User Experience) or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Considerable experience leading service design research and evaluation initiatives, applying mixed-methods research techniques (e.g., interviews, ethnographic research, usability testing, surveys, and analytics) to generate evidence-based insights that inform service design, policy, and continuous improvement.
Considerable experience conducting problem definition and research, inclusive design research, co-designing with stakeholders, prototyping solutions, and working with data to generate analytics and insights.
Considerable facilitation experience, including leading workshops, sessions, and focus groups with a variety of participants and stakeholders (internal and external).
Experience in creating artefacts to clearly communicate research findings and proposed solutions (i.e. prototypes, personas, journey maps, reports, etc.).

You must also have:

Ability to research, gather, conceptualize and interpret multifaceted information from a variety of sources and the ability to prepare detailed/complex documentation (e.g. briefing notes, statistics, research reports, etc.).
Knowledge of research methodologies and techniques including formulation, data collection, analysis and the ability to synthesize complex information.
Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships and work collaboratively with colleagues, clients, and key stakeholders from diverse communities and lived experiences.
Excellent interpersonal skills, cross-cultural and political awareness and understanding, and good judgement.
Ability to simplify prototyping methods that communicate ideas clearly. Ability to identify issues, think critically and effectively problem solve.
Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary team environment with tight deadlines.
Knowledge of a variety of design and research tools and applications (e.g. Figma, Miro, Mural, Dovetail, Optimal, Qualtrics, Adobe Creative Suite, etc.).
Ability to deliver effective and engaging presentations to a variety of audiences.
Ability to support the Toronto Public Service values to ensure a culture that champions equity, diversity, and respectful workplaces.

NOTE TO INTERNAL FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME CITY OF TORONTO EMPLOYEES:

City of Toronto employees must apply to full-time or part-time employment opportunities posted on the City's Internal Job Posting Portal.

About City of Toronto

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