Lead User Researcher
Government Digital Services -
What you'll do
As Lead User Researcher on the GOV.UK programme, you will provide leadership and expert guidance on research strategy and operations. You will ensure that teams take a user centred, evidence based approach to service design and delivery. You will develop user research capability and assure good user research practice. You’ll also work with government departments and other organisations to share knowledge and develop research practices to continuously improve services, based on data and evidence.
GOV.UK has ambitious targets for improving the use of user and data insights, within the programme and across government, to deliver more personalised, joined-up, and low-friction services. Read the GOV.UK strategy to learn more about how we want to evolve to meet user expectations.
Lead User Researcher responsibilities:
- lead the development of user research plans and activities that are aligned with programme objectives and priorities
- lead user researchers and user research activities across teams, ensuring good practice and knowledge sharing
- inform the development of programme strategy and product roadmap, supporting user-centred, evidence-based decisions and teams’ active involvement in evaluation
- work with GOV.UK programme leadership to communicate insights to senior leaders across government, seeking opportunities to collaborate and share findings
- work with other discipline leads, including Lead Performance Analyst and Lead Data Scientist, to synthesise multiple data sources and generate robust insights
- evolve the use of research tools and techniques, assuring compliance with privacy policies and legislation
- contribute to the GDS and cross-government user research communities, including present at meetups, writing blog posts and leading on aspects of practice
- line manage senior user researchers and coach practitioners at all levels, whilst acting as a point of escalation and occasionally deputising for the GOV.UK Head of Data Insights
Please note this role is a fixed term contract for 12 months with the potential to go permanent.
Who you are
For this role it is essential that you have:
- demonstrable experience in planning and delivering research plans and activities that produce relevant insights and evaluation of experience and outcomes
- experience of leading and developing teams of researchers, preferably in multidisciplinary, agile environments
- experience of helping teams adopt a wide range of user research methods, analysis and synthesis techniques and approaches to presenting and sharing findings
- experience managing, coaching and mentoring people to develop their practice
- experience working with other disciplines to bring together data sources (quant and qual), test hypotheses and produce robust insights
- expert knowledge of technology and techniques for user research, analysis and validation
- experience of advocating for inclusive practices, and including all kinds of users in appropriate research activities to help teams understand the diversity of people who use their services
- understanding of the social and technological context for government services, and experience of aligning user research activities to help teams understand changing user behaviour
The selection process as a standard for all of our roles consists of:
- An application screening process
- An interview
Depending on the volume of applications we may complete an initial sift on the leadership behaviour.
Additional Information
GDS is based in Bristol, London and Manchester, and this role is part of our focussed growth in Manchester during 2021/22. You will be part of a growing community in Manchester, working with colleagues across all three sites. GDS supports flexible working, including a balance between office and home-based working. Normally this will mean 2 days a week in the office, or more if that works better for you and the role.
A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.
Candidates that do not pass the interview, however have demonstrated an acceptable standard will be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.
