Senior User Researcher

Sanderson Government & Defence; West of England; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

No specific perks listed

Job summary

Sanderson Government & Defence is seeking a Senior User Researcher to drive user research across the end-to-end product lifecycle within a growing digital transformation team. You will partner with product managers, designers and developers to turn insights into meaningful outcomes.

The role emphasises leading studies, advocating user-centred design, and applying research methods in public sector contexts with SC clearance or eligibility.

Qualifications

• Experience leading user research across product lifecycle.
• Ability to plan and conduct qualitative and quantitative studies.
• Strong communication with stakeholders and teams.
• Security Check (SC) clearance or eligibility to obtain.
• Experience applying user-centred design in public sector contexts.

Responsibilities

• Lead research activities to inform product strategy and design.
• Plan and conduct interviews, diaries, surveys, and usability tests.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate insights into requirements.
• Embed user-centred practices and champion UX across the organisation.
• Work within multidisciplinary agile teams to influence product decisions.

Skills

Lead research

Qualitative research

Quantitative research

Stakeholder management

User-centred design

Excellent communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Psychology

Human-Computer Interaction

User Experience Design

Tools

Prototyping tools

Remote interviewing

Analytics tools

Job description

Senior User ResearcherAbout the Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior User Researcher to join a growing digital transformation and product delivery team. You will play a key role in helping teams better understand user needs, behaviours and motivations, enabling the creation of products and services that deliver meaningful outcomes.

Working closely with Product Managers, Designers, Developers and fellow User Researchers, you will lead research activities that inform product strategy, improve user experiences and support evidence-based decision making.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to plan and deliver impactful user research that provides deep insight into user needs and behaviours.
• Help shape products and services that solve real user problems and meet user expectations.
• Lead research activities within your team, recommending the most appropriate research approaches and methodologies.
• Plan and conduct qualitative research including remote and face-to-face interviews, observations, diary studies, concept testing and usability testing.
• Use quantitative research methods such as surveys to generate actionable insights and work alongside analytics teams to strengthen findings.
• Consider the full end-to-end user journey, taking into account business, policy and technical constraints that may influence the user experience.
• Communicate research findings clearly and involve stakeholders in analysis and synthesis activities to build user empathy and support informed design decisions.
• Champion user-centred design principles and help embed user research best practices across teams and the wider organisation.

Skills and Experience

• Proven experience leading user research using a range of behavioural and attitudinal research methods, with a strong understanding of when to apply them.
• Experience working across multiple stages of a product or service lifecycle, from discovery and exploration through to design and delivery.
• Current Security Check (SC) Clearance or eligibility to obtain SC Clearance through residency requirements.
• Experience working to public sector digital service standards and applying digital design principles within service delivery environments.
• Excellent communication, storytelling, stakeholder management and facilitation skills.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary agile teams, leading user research activities and influencing product or service design through insight-driven recommendations.
• Experience using prototypes to test assumptions, validate user journeys and evaluate concepts.
• Knowledge of tools, techniques and best practices for both in-person and remote user research.

Desirable

• Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Human-Computer Interaction, User Experience Design or a related discipline.
• Experience including diverse user groups in research activities to support the delivery of accessible and inclusive services.
• A passion for continuous learning, emerging technologies and professional development.

About You

You are a passionate advocate for user-centred design with strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills. You enjoy working collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams and are motivated by creating digital products and services that deliver genuine value to users.

You will join a growing community of digital professionals who actively share knowledge, expertise and best practices while working on meaningful and impactful projects.

Reasonable Adjustments:

Respect and equality are core values to us. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive community we have built, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and perspectives. Our success is driven by our people, united by the spirit of partnership to deliver the best resourcing solutions for our clients.