Interim User Researcher

Public Sector Resourcing; Remote; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A governmental research agency seeks an Interim User Researcher for an 8-week remote contract. The successful candidate will focus on user-centered design, leading user research activities and collaborating with a digital services team. Essential qualifications include experience with GDS Standards, accessibility, and Agile workflows. Candidates must be based in the UK. This role provides an excellent opportunity to contribute to significant research and innovation projects.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience conducting user research within the Government Digital Service (GDS) framework.
• Strong knowledge of accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG 2.1) and inclusive research methods.
• Comfortable working in multi‑disciplinary, Agile delivery teams.
• Practical experience using JIRA for workload management.
• Confident using Figma for design and prototype collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Plan and design user research activities to support service development.
• Conduct user research: recruiting participants and running research sessions.
• Lead analysis of research data and synthesise findings.
• Communicate findings to enhance understanding of user needs.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and developers.

Skills

Experience with GDS Standards

Experience with accessibility standards

Familiarity with Agile ways of working

Experience with JIRA

Experience with FIGMA

Job description

On behalf of UKRI, we are looking for an Interim User Researcher (Inside IR35) for an 8 week contract based REMOTELY.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK.

UKRI invests £8 billion of taxpayers' money each year into research and innovation and the people who make it happen. They work across a huge range of fields – from biodiversity conservation to quantum computing, and from space telescopes to innovative health care. They give everyone the opportunity to contribute and to benefit, bringing together people and organisations nationally and globally to create, develop and deploy new ideas and technologies.

Working has part of a user centred design team within DDaT's Digital Services function, the senior user researcher will collaborate on user centred design with service designers, interaction designers and content designers, ensuring that the digital service being designed meets user needs. The user research will run user testing sessions, engaging user feedback and working with designers and the product manager to iterate designs to be simple and intuitive.

Specifically this will look to pick up work that was deprioritised by the Digital team as a result of the priority shift, namely looking at the Funding roadmap discovery work for ERM.

User research is undertaken on the entire end‑to‑end service which includes policy, process and ways of working in addition to digital user journeys to ensure that the service meets user and business needs.

Responsibilities

• Plan, design and prepare a range of user research activities to support the design, development and continuous improvement of services
• Carry out user research activities: from recruiting participants and preparing discussion guides, to running research sessions and analysing results
• Lead colleagues to analyse research data and synthesise clear and actionable findings, including working closely with analytics colleagues to create a rich picture of user behaviour
• Communicate user research findings to help the team and wider organisation develop a deep understanding of users and their needs – including presentations at show‑and‑tells, designing and maintaining research outputs, and creating formal reports
• Work closely with product managers, designers and developers to turn user research findings into stories and actions that lead to valuable product and service features
• Contribute to the wider user research community, including presenting at meet‑ups and writing blog posts
• Champion user centred design principles and best practice within UKRI

Essential Requirements

• Experience with GDS Standards – Demonstrated experience conducting user research within the Government Digital Service (GDS) framework, including applying the Service Standard, Design System, and associated best practices. Able to ensure research activities align with GDS principles such as user‑centred design, iterative delivery, and evidence‑based decision‑making.
• Experience with / understanding of accessibility – Strong knowledge of accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG 2.1) and inclusive research methods. Able to design and conduct research that includes participants with a diverse range of access needs, and can identify accessibility blockers within user journeys and digital products.
• Familiarity with Agile ways of working – Comfortable working in multi‑disciplinary, Agile delivery teams, contributing to ceremonies such as stand‑ups, sprint planning, retrospectives, and show‑and‑tells. Able to adapt research plans to iterative delivery cycles and collaborate effectively with designers, developers, product managers, and other stakeholders.
• Experience with JIRA – Practical experience using JIRA (or similar ticketing systems) to manage workload, document findings, track tasks, and collaborate with team members. Familiarity with setting up boards, writing clear tickets, and integrating research activities into team workflows.
• Experience with FIGMA – Confident using Figma to view, interpret, and collaborate on designs and prototypes. Able to work closely with designers by commenting on prototypes, preparing materials for usability testing, and understanding how design iterations reflect user insights.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident

As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, UKRI guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following: this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different.