Senior Researcher

Abri; Eastleigh; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 76,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Office locations Yeovil/Eastleigh/Brac

Job summary

Abri is seeking a Senior Researcher to lead strategic and operational research across customers, colleagues, and communities. You will guide a multidisciplinary Insight Team to uncover deep insights using qualitative, quantitative and secondary methods, shaping service design and policy development.

You'll build strong stakeholder relationships, champion evidence-based decisions, and coach team members while delivering ethically sound research.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to lead both qualitative and quantitative research projects.
• Experience in turning complex findings into actionable insights.
• Comfort working with senior stakeholders and guiding strategic decisions.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end user research projects from scoping to delivery and impact evaluation.
• Design and deliver qualitative and quantitative studies (interviews, surveys, usability testing, diaries, co-design).
• Conduct secondary research to inform strategic planning and decisions.
• Synthesize findings into clear insights and recommendations for diverse audiences.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify research needs and ensure findings drive decisions.
• Develop customer journey and service experience insights to improve products and processes.
• Coach and mentor other researchers and advocate for best practice in user-centred research.
• Ensure research is conducted ethically and inclusively.

Skills

End-to-end user research

Qualitative research

Quantitative research

Stakeholder engagement

Coaching/mentoring

Ethical research practices

Job description

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