Senior User Researcher

www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk - Jobboard; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A UK Government department is seeking a Senior User Researcher to lead user research activities within a multi-disciplinary team. You will work on understanding user needs and improving government digital services. Key responsibilities include stakeholder engagement and adopting user-centred practices. This role is based in Manchester or Bristol with potential travel to London.

Qualifications

• Experience in conducting user research and advocating for user-centred design.
• Ability to engage sceptical colleagues in analysis and synthesis.
• Understanding of diverse user needs and accessibility.

Responsibilities

• Lead user research activities within a multi-disciplinary delivery team.
• Advocate for user research across a range of stakeholders.
• Align user research activities to inform strategic decision-making.

Skills

User research methods

Agile methodologies

Data analysis and synthesis

Stakeholder engagement

Inclusive practices

Job description

Cabinet Office Digital is undergoing a significant transformation. We aspire to make UK Government digital services the best in the world, meeting or exceeding the benchmark set globally by the best public or private sector standards.

We are creating a digital culture where user needs are at the heart of everything we build. Through data democratisation, automation, governance and consolidation we will create a better Cabinet Office. As the digital arm of the department, we advise and assure our colleagues from other Business Units and Arm’s-Length Bodies in developing their own Government Digital and Data capabilities, as well as taking on delivery responsibilities ourselves.

We are structured across multiple functions, including Enterprise Services (where we deliver physical and infrastructure IT, including laptops, phones, software and networking kit).

This is an exciting opportunity to join CO Digital, to lead on stakeholder engagement and business improvements and otherwise support the Cabinet Office in delivering on the country’s priorities at the heart of the UK Government. You will be working closely with a multi-disciplinary Agile team to plan, design and carry out research activities with a broad range of users to help the team get a deep understanding of the people who use our services. You will enable the team to design and build better services at pace, reducing cost and risk and balancing user needs alongside business objectives.

As a Senior User Researcher, you will independently lead on a wide range of user research activities within a multi-disciplinary delivery team. You will advocate for user research across a range of stakeholders and build the team’s user research capabilities into an effective, long-term service.

We have one post available in either Manchester or Bristol to join our Enterprise Services function and deliver physical and infrastructure IT, including laptops, phones and networking kit. This is a complex area: we are stabilising our IT platform as well as improving it.

There may be regular travel to our London offices in Westminster as part of this post.

Responsibilities

• Use a wide range of user research methods, help teams to adopt them to better understand changing user behaviour;
• Plan research for services with challenging user needs and complex user journeys while advocating for best practice;
• Understand and advise on a range of methods to analyse research data and synthesise findings, and engage sceptical colleagues in your analysis and synthesis;
• Help teams understand the diversity of users of our services, include those users in appropriate research activities and advocate inclusive practices for the team to ultimately deliver accessible services for all users;
• Understand the social and technological context of your research and demonstrate knowledge of our operational technology;
• Align user research activities to inform strategic decision-making;
• Help inexperienced teams adopt user-centred practices and embed them into their Agile workflow.