Lead User Researcher

Join to apply for the Lead User Researcher role at Government Digital ServiceJoin to apply for the Lead User Researcher role at Government Digital ServiceDirect message the job poster from Government Digital ServiceRecruitment Business Partner (DDaT) - Digital, Data, and Technology at Cabinet office - Government Digital ServicesApply before 11:55 pm on Thursday 11th September 2025Location - Bristol, London, ManchesterJob summaryThe Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:joining up public sector servicesharnessing the power of AI for the public goodstrengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructureelevating leadership and investing in talentfunding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovationcommitting to transparency and driving accountabilityWe are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they needWe are recruiting for a Lead User Research for the GOV.UK App to lead research that informs strategy and supports delivery, and ensures user-centred and evidence-based decision-making.You will be a core part of the App leadership group. You will be working closely with the product director and App multidisciplinary leads to ensure research delivers impactful outcomes for defining product offering, understanding risk, realising short-term operational delivery goals, and informing mid-and-long-term strategic direction.As a lead user researcher for GOV.UK App, you’ll:develop and implement research strategy in a highly complex and dynamic environment, ensuring research is prioritised, effective and efficient in helping GOV.UK achieve their short-term goals and long-term strategiesensure the use of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods/data to yield high-quality insights that better our understanding of the risks/needs/adoption of different types of users/cohorts, and uncover data that directly feed into design iterations, and buildbe responsible for operational research delivery for App to ensure researchers are working on the right thing at the right time, and that all research outputs are at the highest standard and best practices are appliedwork with other research leads across the directorate to ensure that research is joined up and collaborativeidentify research opportunities and lead strategic/innovative research for important, long-term and strategic initiatives so that we have proactive insights for the product director, senior stakeholders to design long-term App strategies and engage with departments for service transformationlead App researchers in further development of their research skills and expertise, stepping in and collaborating directly with researchers where hands-on support is identified / requiredbe the user insights and knowledge expert for App, and proactively share important learnings with the product director, leadership groups, senior stakeholders and wider. This includes being responsible for leading on the creation of documentations/artefacts that contribute to our understanding of users groups/mindsets/behaviour models to direct development effort, and building reusable and accessible insights for App to reduce duplication of workhelp colleagues understand when and when not to do research, and advocate the value of research and demonstrate the importance of research by making sure the great impact made by research is tracked and visible to othersbe a visible leader and model in your area. Build positive and influential relationships with multidisciplinary leaders and colleagues from eg. product, design, delivery to senior stakeholders, and continuously strengthening trust and seamless cross-functional collaborationPerson specificationWe’re interested in people who can demonstrate:experience in leading research for App products including product launches and ongoing iterationextensive practitioner experience of conducting research with a diverse range of user groups, using a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research (from foundational, evaluative, experimental to idea generation) in the context of user experience and product development. This includes advanced research that reveals real context, behaviour and mental models, innovative methods, and experiment design.to be a proactive self-starter who excels at identifying overlooked yet critical research opportunities, and to develop and execute effective research strategies and delivery plans in complex, ambiguous space - without explicit direction and instructionexecution of research projects to a high standard with best practice, and delivered high impact results that have directly influenced product, business direction as well as mitigated risksstrong ability in navigating complexity and uncertainty. Thrives in the delivery pressures of a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, combining pragmatism, professional judgement, and flexibility (not just playing it by the book); Can shift easily between delivering fast-paced research supporting short-term delivery goals, and research informing long-term thinkingstrong critical thinking and analysis skills to distil hidden and actionable insights through a wide range of data and communicate them through compelling storytelling to land the key messages effectively and drive actions. This includes high proficiency in clustering a wide user-base through appropriate techniques, and mapping complex journeys/ecosystems using system and service-design thinkingtenacious, creative and proactively come up with solutions (including new ways of working, process where necessary) to problem-solving and enable changesuccessfully embedding a diverse range of effective research methods, and established data-driven/UCD in challenging and complex environments with different levels of UCD maturitysuccess embedding best research practices and helping lead a community of practice with thought leadership, new process/approaches,mentoring and delivering training to continue to improve research function and its impactproven ability to build trusted and influential relationships with senior stakeholders and cross-functional multidisciplinary colleagues by collaboration and thinking beyond the user research lens - bringing a strong consideration of business, product, design and technical feasibility and constraints to drive well-balanced decision makingmasters degree or Doctorate in the field of HCI, Human Factors, Psychology, Anthropology, Behavioural/Social Science, Information Architecture or a related field/equivalent work experienceSponsorshipDSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualifySeniority levelSeniority levelMid-Senior levelEmployment typeEmployment typeFull-timeJob functionJob functionInformation Technology and DesignIndustriesGovernment Relations Services, Government Administration, and IT Services and IT ConsultingReferrals increase your chances of interviewing at Government Digital Service by 2xSign in to set job alerts for “User Researcher” roles.London, England, United Kingdom 1 week agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 week agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 week agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 week agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 month agoUser Researcher - Participants - 12 month FTCLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 week agoUX Research working student vacancy (20 hours per week / 6 month contract)London, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 week agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 week agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 2 days agoGreater London, England, United Kingdom 6 months agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 10 hours agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 5 days agoLondon, England, United Kingdom £70,000.00-£80,000.00 1 month agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 20 hours agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 day agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 day agoHarrow, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks agoUser Researcher (SC Cleared) - Consultant - Digital ExcellenceLondon, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks agoGreater London, England, United Kingdom 3 months agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 month agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 2 days agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 1 week agoLondon, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks agoWe’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. 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