Lead Content Designer

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Job Reference Ref/162341/9658

Apply for this job Number of Positions: 1 Contract Type: Full Time Contract Details: Permanent Salary Range : £44,276 - £47,833 Working Hours: 37 Location: Northampton Closing Date: 22/11/2026 Job Category: IT Organisation: West Northamptonshire Council

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 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 unnecessa