Senior Researcher

Abri Group; Eastleigh; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Job summary

Abri Group is seeking a Senior Researcher to lead strategic and operational research projects across customers, colleagues and communities. You will use qualitative, quantitative and secondary methods to uncover insights that drive action and inform service design.

You will collaborate with stakeholders across the organisation, influence policy and service design, and coach other members of the research team.

Qualifications

• Experience leading end-to-end user research projects.
• Ability to synthesize findings into clear insights.
• Comfort engaging with senior leaders and influencing decisions.

Responsibilities

• Leading end-to-end user research projects from scoping and design through to delivery and impact evaluation.
• Designing and delivering qualitative and quantitative research activities, including interviews, focus groups, surveys, usability testing, diary studies and co-design workshops.
• Conduct and manage secondary research into key topics to inform strategic planning and decision making.
• Synthesising complex findings into clear insights and recommendations for various audiences.
• Working with stakeholders to identify research needs and ensure findings inform decision making.
• Developing customer journey and service experience insights to improve products and processes.
• Building relationships and raising the profile and value of research.
• Providing coaching and mentoring to other members of the research team.
• Ensuring research is conducted ethically and inclusively and in line with best practice.

Skills

User research

Qualitative research

Quantitative research

Stakeholder engagement

Mentoring

Job description

Working hours per week: 37

Employment type: Permanent

Your new role

Are you passionate about understanding people's needs, behaviours and experiences? Do you enjoy using research to influence decisions, improve services and shape strategy? If so, we'd love to hear from you.

At Abri, we're looking for a Senior Researcher to play a leading role in helping us better understand our customers, colleagues and communities. Through high-quality research and insight, you'll ensure that customer needs are at the heart of the decisions we make, helping us design and deliver services that work better for the people who rely on them.

You'll lead a wide range of strategic and operational research projects, using qualitative, quantitative and secondary research methods to uncover deep insight and generate evidence that drives action. From exploring customer journeys and testing service concepts to evaluating experiences and identifying unmet needs, you'll help teams across Abri make informed, customer-centred decisions.

Working closely with stakeholders from across the organisation, you'll influence service design, policy development and business planning. You'll be confident engaging with senior leaders, challenging assumptions and advocating for evidence-based decision making.

As a senior member of the Research team, you'll also help shape our research practice, championing best practice in user-centred research, supporting colleagues to embed insight throughout their work and coaching other members of the research team.

You'll be part of our multidisciplinary Insight Team, working alongside researchers, analysts, performance specialists and forecasting colleagues to build a comprehensive understanding of our customers and services.

This is an opportunity to work on research that genuinely makes a difference. Your insight will help shape services, influence strategic decisions and improve outcomes for thousands of customers and communities across the South of England.

What you'll be doing

• Leading end-to-end user research projects from scoping and design through to delivery and impact evaluation.
• Designing and delivering a range of qualitative and quantitative research activities, including interviews, focus groups, surveys, usability testing, diary studies and co-design workshops.
• Conduct and manage secondary research into key topics to proactively inform strategic planning and decision making.
• Synthesising complex findings into clear, compelling insights and recommendations for a range of audiences.
• Working closely with stakeholders to identify research needs and ensure findings inform decision making.
• Developing customer journey and service experience insight to improve products, services and processes.
• Building strong relationships with colleagues and helping to raise the profile and value of research.
• Providing coaching and mentoring support to other members of the research team.
• Ensuring research is conducted ethically, inclusively and in line with best practice.

We offer agile working - you'll work from one of our offices in Yeovil (BA22 8WN), Eastleigh (SO50 6AD) or Bracknell (RG12 1RF) for three days each week, with the remaining two days worked from a location of your choice.

There will be a two stage interview process for this role:

• First stage: week of 9th November 2026 via Microsoft Teams.
• Second stage: will be an in person interview at one of our offices, date to be confirmed

Who we are

Abri is a large housing provider who own and manage over 58,000 homes and various community assets, serving around 113,000 customers across the South of England.

We believe everyone has the right to a good quality safe, warm and sustainable home in a community where they can belong, grow and thrive. What does that look like in real terms?

We’re investing £689m over the next ten years in our existing homes to improve building safety and make them more energy efficient.

We’re delivering 10,000 homes by 2030, ensuring affordable housing is built where it’s needed most

We’re investing in our communities, to address local issues and create opportunities for everyone

As we grow, we’re reestablishing our strong local presence to provide a really good service. Abri has adopted a regional approach to service delivery, with our operating areas split into three, each with their local governance and leadership. This will ensure our colleagues are more visible, accountable and better connected to our customers and local communities to meet their diverse needs.

More information about Abri and our strategic objectives can be found at www.abri.co.uk.