User Researcher

Our team in CDDO is looking for a User Researcher passionate about user-centred design for government services. You will sit in a team that is responsible for evaluating services across government departments used by the public and identifying levers and opportunities that can improve the service to ensure it is running efficiently. 

As a User Researcher you’ll:

• plan, design and prepare a range of user research activities to support the design, development and continuous improvement of GOV.UK
• carry out user research activities including recruiting participants, preparing discussion guides and moderating research sessions
• lead colleagues to analyse research data and synthesise clear and actionable findings, including working closely with analytics colleagues to create a rich picture of user behaviour
• communicate user research findings to help the team and wider organisation develop a deep understanding of users and their needs - including presentations at show and tells, designing and maintaining research outputs - team wall, formal reports and research repositories
• work closely with product managers, designers and developers to turn user research findings into  insights that feed into product or service decisions
• mentor and guide more junior user researchers to assure and improve research practice
• contribute to the wider user research community - including presenting at meetups and writing blog posts

Person specification

We’re interested in people who have:

• the ability to understand what problem your team is trying to solve, and decide on user research activities to inform decision making and action
• experience and understanding of a range of user research methods, when to use those methods and how to apply them correctly
• experience and understanding of a range of techniques for analysis of research data, synthesis of findings, and presentation of clear findings that colleagues can understand and use
• a good understanding of the diversity of users of government services, and the ability to include many kinds of users in appropriate research activities
• experience of involving your team in research activities, and in the analysis and synthesis
• a good understanding of the social and technological context for government services, and the ability to align user research activities to help their team understand changing user behaviour
• an understanding of agile approaches and experience of working in agile teams

Benefits

The benefits of working at CDDO

There are many benefits including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days 
• an extra day off for The King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• paid volunteering leave 
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

CDDO offers hybrid working for all employees. This means that everyone does some working from home and also spends some time in their local office. You’ll agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager in line with your preferences and business needs.

Any move to the Central Digital and Data Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Things you need to know

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at CDDO consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 60 minute video interview

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours: 

• communicating and influencing
• seeing the bigger picture
• changing and improving
• working together

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework for the User Researcher role: 

• Research
• Analysis and synthesis

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.