Associate Research Operations Specialist

Mapyx Limited; Barnard Castle; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Mapyx Limited is seeking an Associate Research Operations Specialist to manage participant recruitment for user research projects. Responsibilities include ensuring compliance with data governance standards and liaising with stakeholders. Ideal candidates will exhibit excellent organizational and communication skills.

Benefits

27 days leave plus 8 bank holidays

Hybrid working flexibility

Excellent pension scheme

Employee Assistance programme

Access to discounts and rewards

Qualifications

• Experience working with sensitive information and in an office environment.
• Demonstrable financial process experience.
• Knowledge of user research and GDPR.

Responsibilities

• Recruit participants for user research and maintain accurate records.
• Ensure compliance with GDPR and Information Governance.
• Manage communications with stakeholders to expand the NHSBSA research panel.

Skills

Communication

Administration

Interpersonal Skills

Organizational Skills

Problem Solving

Education

General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE)

Tools

Microsoft Office (Word/Excel/PowerPoint)

Collaboration Tools (Trello, JIRA, Miro)

Job description

Associate Research Operations Specialist

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Associate Research Operations Specialist

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Job Summary

Are you highly organised with experience of working with a varied and diverse workload? Do you consider yourself to have excellent communication & expert administration skills?

Job Summary

Are you highly organised with experience of working with a varied and diverse workload? Do you consider yourself to have excellent communication & expert administration skills?

If so, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) may have the role for you!

We are looking for an Associate Research Operations Specialist to join our team. It's the perfect opportunity to make a difference and to help you take the next step in your career.

You'll take an adaptive approach on recruiting participants for your allocated project; ensuring it aligns with the vision and that it also meets the participant needs.

The role of an Associate Research Operations Specialist is integral in supporting the growth of ethical, scalable, and efficient research at NHSBSA. Your work will help ensure users are at the centre of services that impact millions of lives.

What do we offer?

• Hybrid working - offering flexibility to work predominantly from home with the opportunity to be office based should you prefer, or if business needs require ito 27 days leave (increasing with length of service) plus 8 bank holidayso Opportunities for developmento Active wellbeing and inclusion networkso Excellent pensiono Various salary sacrifice schemeso Employee Assistance programme, offering free 24/7 support for you and your loved oneso Access to a wide range of benefits and high street and online discounts
  
  

Main duties of the job

Main duties of the job (not limited to)

• Recruiting participants for User Research for specific digital services including serving as the main point of contact for support throughout the process.
• Ensuring project meets Information Governance and GDPR requirements by logging/storing information correctly and offering expertise in that area.
• Overseeing the distribution of incentives while ensuring records are properly maintained to track allocations and maintain accuracy.
• Liaising with internal and external stakeholders and 3rd party organisations to expand the NHSBSA research panel.
• Supporting the management of the research library where outputs of user research and associated research materials can be stored and retrieved.
• Ensuring compliance with all confidentiality and governance requirements, supporting User Researchers to do the same with any data handling (GDPR & IG, Principles).
• Work with the UR community to ensure the Research Roundup contributions are collated and shared regularly and consistently across the NHSBSA.
• Creating and managing templates to support participant recruitment, ensuring a consistent and effective research process.
• Handling and setting up physical equipment for in-person research, including recording tools and digital devices.
  
  

About Us

Here at the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), what we do matters.We manage the NHS Pension scheme, process prescription payments and much more. Our services are used by NHS organisations, contractors and the public: we're proud to be part of something meaningful, that touches millions of lives.We design our services around customer needs and place people at the heart of our organisation. That's why when you join us, you'll be empowered and supported to help your career grow.As one of the UK's Best Big Companies to work for, we're connected to our values: Collaborative, Adventurous, Reliable and Energetic. We care about our people, our purpose, and your progress.We strive to offer a fantastic colleague experience, where every colleague is heard, supported and respected. Wellbeing, diversity and inclusion is at the centre of this, and you can join our Lived Experience Networks who help us bring our authentic selves to work.We're committed to being a flexible employer and we try to offer a working pattern that suits you where possible, through hybrid working, flexible hours and more.Alongside a competitive salary with pay progression, we offer a people-centric benefits package, connecting you to the rewards and benefits you value most!Ready to join us in delivering business service excellence to the NHS, helping people live longer, healthier lives? Apply today and see where the NHSBSA can take you.We are people connected to care.

Details

Date posted

19 June 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£26,530 to £29,114 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

914-BSA7268553

Job locations

Stella House,

Goldcrest Way, Newburn Riverside,

Newcastle Upon Tyne,

NE15 8NY

Job Description

Job responsibilities

In this role, you are accountable for

• Participant Recruitment: taking responsibility for recruiting participants for User Research for specific digital services, including:a. Inviting participants to take part in NHSBSA research and be the key point of contact for support throughout the research process.b. Recruiting a representative sample of users for NHSBSA services, including liaising with internal and external stakeholders and 3rd party organisations to expand the NHSBSA research panel.c. Logging participant information to meet Information Governance and GDPR requirements.d. Taking responsibility for ensuring incentives are distributed and accurate financial records are kept to meet finance incentive processes.e. Responsible for monitoring the team shared mailbox and ensuring all participant recruitment queries are dealt with quickly and effectively.
• Insight & Knowledge Management: Supporting Research Operations activity, including:a. Coaching and mentoring members of the team to deliver high quality outputs.b. Attending and participating in the Research Operations community of practice.c. Providing regular updates on Research Operations within the user research and design communities of practice, CX network, DDaT Directorate meetings.d. Work with the UR community to ensure the Research Roundup contributions are collated and shared regularly and consistently across the NHSBSA.e. Promoting via various communication methods, the Research Library as a source of knowledge across the NHSBSA and collecting feedback on how improvements can be made.f. Supporting any additional research operations activity at NHSBSA.g. Ensuring compliance with all confidentiality and governance requirements, supporting User Researchers to do the same with any data handling (GDPR, IG, cyber security etc).h. Sharing knowledge and expertise in data management with the user centred design community and wider NHSBSA.
• Guidance & Templates: Supporting ways of working in user research at NHSBSA, including:a. Producing accurate documentation and guidance to support team development.b. Supporting training of relevant teams in research operations best practice.c. Supporting research practices and policy reviews.d. Following consent processes and supporting User Researchers with consent forms.e. Supporting the consideration of research ethics and accessibility needs when recruiting participants and supporting the development of the User Research Playbook.f. Supporting the onboarding and offboarding of researchers.g. Coordinating requests for research incentives, including raising requests and logging purchases for audit purposes.
• Governance: Supporting the management of the research library where outputs of user research and associated research materials can be stored and retrieved, including:a. Working with other members of the Research Operations Team and wider digital, data and technology teams to understand user researcher needs for file storage.b. Supporting the management of a self-service insights library to allow colleagues across the organisation quick access to user research findings.c. Preparing library summaries and extracts as required.d. Ensuring that the library is accurate, up to date and adheres to GDPR and data security best practice.e. Following the established library taxonomy for User Research at NHSBSA.
• Tools: Coordinating tools and software used by the user research community to safely and effectively conduct user research, including:a. Lone worker safety devices.b. Granting permissions and access to the Research Library.c. Keeping track of research-specific software licenses used in the User Research team.
• Asset Management: Ensuring that User Researchers have access to any physical resources they need for their role, including:a. Managing and coordinating any physical technology used in research, such as recording equipment and digital devices.b. Ensuring all User Researchers are allocated and have a working work mobile phone and are aware of how to use these for the purposes of their role, including safety procedures in face-to-face research. And regularly keeping documentation up to date.c. Supporting with the planning of face-to-face research, including any processes to enable travel, premises bookings and safety considerations.d. Coordinating the use of the User Research Lab.
• Research Panel: Assist the Research Operations Manager with managing the Citizen and Health Professional panels. Monitoring uptake, profiling participants and supporting and following the inclusion strategy for user research at NHSBSA. Continue to expand the research panel and ensure user researchers have access to a diverse and representative sample of service users, in particular those with low digital literacy skills and access needs.a. Extracting eligible participants for research from the panels.b. Ensuring contact with panel members meets the sign up guidance provided.c. Responsible for monitoring the shared mailbox and ensuring all panel queries are dealt with quickly and effectively.d. Liaising with internal and external stakeholders to support the expansion of a diverse research panel.e. Networking with relevant trusts, bodies, and charities to build relationships with potential participant providers.f. Independently building networks to further expand on participant recruitment.g. Supporting the development of the yearly newsletter to panel members once a year.h. Follow Information Governance guidelines and ensure opt out participants are removed from the panel and members are re-contacted every 2 years to allow them to opt back and refresh their details.i. Monitor demographics and identify where the panel is not representative and look for opportunities to improve diversity.
  
  

Job Description

Job responsibilities

In this role, you are accountable for

• Participant Recruitment: taking responsibility for recruiting participants for User Research for specific digital services, including:a. Inviting participants to take part in NHSBSA research and be the key point of contact for support throughout the research process.b. Recruiting a representative sample of users for NHSBSA services, including liaising with internal and external stakeholders and 3rd party organisations to expand the NHSBSA research panel.c. Logging participant information to meet Information Governance and GDPR requirements.d. Taking responsibility for ensuring incentives are distributed and accurate financial records are kept to meet finance incentive processes.e. Responsible for monitoring the team shared mailbox and ensuring all participant recruitment queries are dealt with quickly and effectively.
• Insight & Knowledge Management: Supporting Research Operations activity, including:a. Coaching and mentoring members of the team to deliver high quality outputs.b. Attending and participating in the Research Operations community of practice.c. Providing regular updates on Research Operations within the user research and design communities of practice, CX network, DDaT Directorate meetings.d. Work with the UR community to ensure the Research Roundup contributions are collated and shared regularly and consistently across the NHSBSA.e. Promoting via various communication methods, the Research Library as a source of knowledge across the NHSBSA and collecting feedback on how improvements can be made.f. Supporting any additional research operations activity at NHSBSA.g. Ensuring compliance with all confidentiality and governance requirements, supporting User Researchers to do the same with any data handling (GDPR, IG, cyber security etc).h. Sharing knowledge and expertise in data management with the user centred design community and wider NHSBSA.
• Guidance & Templates: Supporting ways of working in user research at NHSBSA, including:a. Producing accurate documentation and guidance to support team development.b. Supporting training of relevant teams in research operations best practice.c. Supporting research practices and policy reviews.d. Following consent processes and supporting User Researchers with consent forms.e. Supporting the consideration of research ethics and accessibility needs when recruiting participants and supporting the development of the User Research Playbook.f. Supporting the onboarding and offboarding of researchers.g. Coordinating requests for research incentives, including raising requests and logging purchases for audit purposes.
• Governance: Supporting the management of the research library where outputs of user research and associated research materials can be stored and retrieved, including:a. Working with other members of the Research Operations Team and wider digital, data and technology teams to understand user researcher needs for file storage.b. Supporting the management of a self-service insights library to allow colleagues across the organisation quick access to user research findings.c. Preparing library summaries and extracts as required.d. Ensuring that the library is accurate, up to date and adheres to GDPR and data security best practice.e. Following the established library taxonomy for User Research at NHSBSA.
• Tools: Coordinating tools and software used by the user research community to safely and effectively conduct user research, including:a. Lone worker safety devices.b. Granting permissions and access to the Research Library.c. Keeping track of research-specific software licenses used in the User Research team.
• Asset Management: Ensuring that User Researchers have access to any physical resources they need for their role, including:a. Managing and coordinating any physical technology used in research, such as recording equipment and digital devices.b. Ensuring all User Researchers are allocated and have a working work mobile phone and are aware of how to use these for the purposes of their role, including safety procedures in face-to-face research. And regularly keeping documentation up to date.c. Supporting with the planning of face-to-face research, including any processes to enable travel, premises bookings and safety considerations.d. Coordinating the use of the User Research Lab.
• Research Panel: Assist the Research Operations Manager with managing the Citizen and Health Professional panels. Monitoring uptake, profiling participants and supporting and following the inclusion strategy for user research at NHSBSA. Continue to expand the research panel and ensure user researchers have access to a diverse and representative sample of service users, in particular those with low digital literacy skills and access needs.a. Extracting eligible participants for research from the panels.b. Ensuring contact with panel members meets the sign up guidance provided.c. Responsible for monitoring the shared mailbox and ensuring all panel queries are dealt with quickly and effectively.d. Liaising with internal and external stakeholders to support the expansion of a diverse research panel.e. Networking with relevant trusts, bodies, and charities to build relationships with potential participant providers.f. Independently building networks to further expand on participant recruitment.g. Supporting the development of the yearly newsletter to panel members once a year.h. Follow Information Governance guidelines and ensure opt out participants are removed from the panel and members are re-contacted every 2 years to allow them to opt back and refresh their details.i. Monitor demographics and identify where the panel is not representative and look for opportunities to improve diversity.
  
  

Person Specification

Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication, interpersonal and administration skills.
• Confident in communicating with the public over the telephone, via email and face to face.
• Empathetic and resilient when dealing with sensitive research topics.
• Organised and meticulous.
• Innovative and creative problem-solving skills; drive to identify user-focused solutions to User Research data management and support the wider Research team in their daily tasks.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines and work under pressure with changing priorities.
• Confident IT skills, including the use of Microsoft products (e.g. Word/Excel/PowerPoint/ SharePoint) and collaboration tools (e.g. Trello, JIRA, Miro).
• Good understanding of Excel and more complex spreadsheet functions.
• Team player, willing to help other members of the team.
• Proactive with ability to use own initiative and work unsupervised.
• Reliable and committed.
  
  

Desirable

• Knowledge of Government Design Standards (GDS).
• Comfortable with a matrix style of working, supporting different people within a small team with a varied and diverse workload.
  
  

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable experience of financial processes.
• Demonstrable experience of working in an office environment.
• Managing multiple priorities and delivering to time scales.
• Handling sensitive information, in particular information from members of the public.
• Experience of working with a wide range of different people of different levels of seniority. oAn awareness of what User Research is and the role it plays in the design and delivery of digital services.
• Knowledge of user research including a range of qualitative research methods, and the types of outputs that user researchers typically produce.
• Working with a diverse team, supporting and challenging where needed.
• Communicating and providing information to varied audiences (verbal, written and numerical).
  
  

Desirable

• Experience of working in government or a public sector organisation.
• Awareness of agile development and service teams.
• Knowledge of GDPR and data protection.
  
  

Qualifications

Essential

• General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), including English and Mathematics (grade C or above), or equivalent experience.
  
  

Desirable

• NVQ Level 3 in Research or a business-related subject.
• A Level or equivalent in a business related subject or equivalent experience .
  
  

Person Specification

Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), including English and Mathematics (grade C or above), or equivalent experience.
  
  

Desirable

• NVQ Level 3 in Research or a business-related subject.
• A Level or equivalent in a business related subject or equivalent experience .
  
  

Employer details

Employer name

NHS Business Services Authority

Address

Stella House,

Goldcrest Way, Newburn Riverside,

Newcastle Upon Tyne,

NE15 8NY

Employer's website

https://careers.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

NHS Business Services Authority

Address

Stella House,

Goldcrest Way, Newburn Riverside,

Newcastle Upon Tyne,

NE15 8NY

Employer's website

https://careers.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

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Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Entry level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Research, Analyst, and Information Technology

• Industries

  Operations Consulting

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