Degree apprentice - Digital User Experience (UX)

DVSA

Nottingham (NG2 2GD)

Closes in 12 days (Tuesday 4 November 2025)

Posted on 20 October 2025

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Summary

We are offering the fantastic opportunity to gain a degree in Service Design. This is a fully paid 3-year Apprenticeship. You'll work as part of a team to learn how to simplify user journeys and define the digital experience of our services and products, with full support, time to study and great career progression opportunities.

• Wage:

  £30,485 a year

  Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

  In addition we offer a generous annual leave entitlement and pension scheme .

• Training course: Digital user experience (UX) professional (integrated degree) (level 6)
• Hours: We expect you to be in the office in Nottingham 3 days a week as a minimum. We offer flexible working between the hours of 8.00am - 6.00pm and you will agree your working hours within that to meet a 37-hour working week Monday - Friday.

  37 hours a week

• Start date:

  Monday 29 June 2026

• Duration:

  4 years

• Positions available:

  2

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

• Work with multi-disciplinary teams to craft useful and usable digital products and services
• Understand design thinking; supporting workshop activities and co-creation sessions; both in person and using online tools
• Learn user research and analysis methods to produce clear findings, reframe problems and articulate opportunities based on a wide range of data
• Understand development principles and design methods (GDS agile delivery phases, Design Sprints, Agile sprints)
• Learn how to apply best practice in experience design while balancing the technical constraints of the project

Where you'll work

Unity Square
Queensbridge Road
Nottingham
NG2 2GD

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

Training course

Digital user experience (UX) professional (integrated degree) (level 6)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents

• Apply creative, analytical and critical thinking skills to the design, development and improvement of UX solutions and systematically analyse and apply structured problem-solving techniques to complex UX challenges.
• Use design thinking and/or service design methods to determine the design and implementation of new value propositions, products and services, and improve existing ones.
• Select, formulate and apply from a range of user research methods including those from the fields of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), sociology, psychology and ethnography, including qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Compose, construct and use multiple user research approaches to form an understanding of user populations, including surveys, field based research, contextual inquiry, user interviews, focus groups, stakeholder interviews/workshops, formative lab-based and direct user testing sessions (e.g. acceptance and usability testing).
• Critically analyse and evaluate assumptions and findings to understand user and stakeholder needs (including behaviours, emotions, beliefs and preferences), and define the solutions’ functional, non-functional, structural and content requirements.
• Critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem.
• Analyse, interpret, synthesise and apply insights, to inform the development of personas, user journeys and system workflows, to ensure user and organisational needs are met.
• Design, facilitate and evaluate experimental tests using tools such as A/B and multivariate testing to enable a data-led approach to the development and continual improvement of UX solutions.
• Design, facilitate and evaluate requirements gathering, ideation and co-design activities, involving stakeholders and/or users.
• Creatively explore and devise a range of design solutions, including the production of system and user flows, static wireframes and prototypes of varying degree of fidelity, from paper prototypes to interactive prototypes.
• Adapt and evaluate design solutions according to the context of intended use, including responsive, mobile, online, offline, personal, public and enterprise, working with multidisciplinary product teams to assess the impact of implementing specific design recommendations.
• Design and refine clear, logical information architectures for content and data.
• Independently analyse test data, interpret results and evaluate the suitability of proposed solutions, considering current and future contexts of use, including in consultation with team members from other disciplines to ascertain a holistic view on the applicability of design recommendations.
• Articulate and communicate complex information, concepts and ideas effectively and concisely, through written, visual and verbal means.
• Communicate concepts in a manner appropriate to the audience, adapting communication techniques accordingly between user research participants, stakeholders or varying degrees of seniority and team members from a broad spectrum of specialist fields.
• Manage expectations and present user research insight, proposed solutions and/or test findings to clients and stakeholders.
• Use advanced cognitive skills to deal with competing interests within and outside the organisation, through well-reasoned arguments and excellent negotiation skills.
• Work autonomously and interact effectively within wide, multidisciplinary teams, including designers, developers, engineers, analysts, project managers etc.
• Identify the preferences, motivations, strengths and limitations of other people and apply these insights in order to work more effectively with and to motivate others.
• Demonstrate competence in customer service, in active listening and in leading, influencing and persuading others.
• Balance and trade-off competing quality, time and budget criteria, demonstrating understanding of business need, managing time effectively and being able to plan and complete UX activities to schedule.
• Apply creative, analytical and critical thinking skills to the design, development and improvement of UX solutions and systematically analyse and apply structured problem-solving techniques to complex UX challenges.
• Use design thinking and/or service design methods to determine the design and implementation of new value propositions, products and services, and improve existing ones.
• Select, formulate and apply from a range of user research methods including those from the fields of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), sociology, psychology and ethnography, including qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Compose, construct and use multiple user research approaches to form an understanding of user populations, including surveys, field based research, contextual inquiry, user interviews, focus groups, stakeholder interviews/workshops, formative lab-based and direct user testing sessions (e.g. acceptance and usability testing).
• Critically analyse and evaluate assumptions and findings to understand user and stakeholder needs (including behaviours, emotions, beliefs and preferences), and define the solutions’ functional, non-functional, structural and content requirements.
• Critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem.
• Analyse, interpret, synthesise and apply insights, to inform the development of personas, user journeys and system workflows, to ensure user and organisational needs are met.
• Design, facilitate and evaluate experimental tests using tools such as A/B and multivariate testing to enable a data-led approach to the development and continual improvement of UX solutions.
• Design, facilitate and evaluate requirements gathering, ideation and co-design activities, involving stakeholders and/or users.
• Creatively explore and devise a range of design solutions, including the production of system and user flows, static wireframes and prototypes of varying degree of fidelity, from paper prototypes to interactive prototypes.
• Adapt and evaluate design solutions according to the context of intended use, including responsive, mobile, online, offline, personal, public and enterprise, working with multidisciplinary product teams to assess the impact of implementing specific design recommendations.
• Design and refine clear, logical information architectures for content and data.
• Independently analyse test data, interpret results and evaluate the suitability of proposed solutions, considering current and future contexts of use, including in consultation with team members from other disciplines to ascertain a holistic view on the applicability of design recommendations.
• Articulate and communicate complex information, concepts and ideas effectively and concisely, through written, visual and verbal means.
• Communicate concepts in a manner appropriate to the audience, adapting communication techniques accordingly between user research participants, stakeholders or varying degrees of seniority and team members from a broad spectrum of specialist fields.
• Manage expectations and present user research insight, proposed solutions and/or test findings to clients and stakeholders.
• Use advanced cognitive skills to deal with competing interests within and outside the organisation, through well-reasoned arguments and excellent negotiation skills.
• Work autonomously and interact effectively within wide, multidisciplinary teams, including designers, developers, engineers, analysts, project managers etc.
• Identify the preferences, motivations, strengths and limitations of other people and apply these insights in order to work more effectively with and to motivate others.
• Demonstrate competence in customer service, in active listening and in leading, influencing and persuading others.
• Balance and trade-off competing quality, time and budget criteria, demonstrating understanding of business need, managing time effectively and being able to plan and complete UX activities to schedule.

Training schedule

At the end of this apprenticeship, you will have a BSc (Hons) Digital User Experience (UX) degree from Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as a Level 6-degree apprenticeship. 

More training information

Each year there will be around 24 days of face-to-face classroom learning, organised into six blocks of four days - mirroring the sprint approach common in digital projects. A skills coach at the University and a workplace supervisor will undertake regular progress reviews and support the apprentice in their work and studies.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

• English (grade 4)
• Maths (grade 4)

Other in:

in any subject (grade -)

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

• Communication skills
• IT skills
• Organisation skills
• Problem solving skills
• Team working

About this employer

We are the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, and we are 1 of the 5 executive agencies that make up the Department for Transport. We employ about 4,600 people across Great Britain to help us achieve our mission of keeping Britain moving, safely and sustainably. Our work affects millions of people and thousands of businesses. Most importantly, our work saves lives. We make sure colleagues have the skills to meet the needs of Britain’s road users.

https://careers.dft.gov.uk/dvsa/digital/ (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

Access to the staff discount portal. Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role. 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice.

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

We have numerous career progression opportunities available in digital and will be looking to progress apprentices on completion of their apprenticeship.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

DVSA

Digital Resourcing Team

Digitalrecruitment@dvsa.gov.uk

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000338358.

Apply now

Closes in 12 days (Tuesday 4 November 2025)

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