Senior Service Designer

• Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Employment Type: Contract / Freelance
• Start Date: 1 October 2026
• Duration: 6 Months
• Experience: 8–10 Years
• Domain: Product / User Experience

Role Overview

• We are seeking an experienced Service Designer who can combine hands-on user research and design with stakeholder facilitation and strategic thinking.
• You will work alongside an existing Product Designer and Development Team to shape and validate upcoming solutions before they enter the delivery phase.
• The role requires someone who can operate comfortably at both a strategic and hands-on level within a complex, cross-functional environment.

Key Responsibilities

User Research

• Conduct qualitative user research and gather actionable insights.
• Conduct key-user interviews and validation sessions.
• Perform user testing with end users at operational locations.
• Collaborate with Business Process Analysts (BPAs) to gather and analyse user insights.
• Translate research findings into practical design recommendations.

Service & Experience Design

• Define future user journeys and service concepts.
• Design and validate upcoming features before development begins.
• Ensure proposed solutions are conceptually sound and aligned with user needs.
• Identify opportunities to improve existing services and user experiences.
• Support the integration of existing applications into CrewPlanner.

Design Thinking & Facilitation

• Facilitate Design Thinking workshops and co-creation sessions.
• Align business and technical stakeholders around user needs and proposed solutions.
• Encourage a user-centred approach to decision-making.
• Facilitate discussions between cross-functional teams and drive alignment.

Roadmap & Strategy

• Contribute to future product and service roadmaps.
• Provide design input into:
  • New features
  • New user groups
  • Service improvements
  • Integration of existing applications
• Help shape solutions before they move into development and delivery.

Essential Skills

• 8+ years of relevant experience in Service Design / User Experience.
• Strong experience conducting qualitative user research.
• Key-user interviews and user validation.
• User testing and insight analysis.
• Service and journey design.
• Design Thinking and workshop facilitation.
• Stakeholder management and facilitation.
• Experience translating research insights into actionable solutions.
• Experience working within cross-functional Business & IT teams.
• Strong strategic and hands-on design capabilities.
• Excellent English communication skills.

Desirable Skills

• Experience with enterprise or operational systems.
• Experience working with crew management or workforce management platforms.
• Experience with application and system integration.
• Understanding of the Dutch language.
• Experience working in complex organisational environments.

Key Competencies

• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
• User-centred mindset.
• Excellent stakeholder management.
• Strong facilitation and workshop leadership skills.
• Excellent qualitative research capabilities.
• Ability to translate complex user insights into practical solutions.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to work effectively across business and technical teams.
• Comfortable balancing strategic thinking with hands-on delivery.
• Collaborative, proactive, and adaptable approach.

Apply now if you are an experienced Service Designer with a strong background in user research, stakeholder facilitation, and service design within complex enterprise environments.