UX Researcher and Strategist

About Graphite 

We're a dedicated Health and Pharma digital experience agency, collaborating with organisations around the world to create digital solutions that are truly aligned to their audience needs. Our services fall under three core pillars: strategy, user research and design. 

In joining Graphite, you'll become part of a creative and diverse team that genuinely cares — about our people, our customers, and the patients and healthcare practitioners that are impacted by the work that we do.

Through collaborative working and a commitment to continuously improving and developing our people and processes, we are able to make a measurable difference to people's health and wellbeing through creating exceptional digital experiences.

We're headquartered in Brighton, with our team working hybrid and remotely across the UK. Ad-hoc travel to London or Brighton will be required. 

The role

This is a new mid-level hybrid UX strategy and research role at Graphite working into the Head of UX.

We are looking for someone who is interested in the hybrid nature of this role, combining hands-on user research with strategic thinking, and who brings the curiosity, strong questioning and problem solving skills needed to dig beneath the surface of user behaviour. 

The central focus of the role is bringing together user needs, business objectives and clinical realities to guide experience strategy across client accounts. This person should be confident and largely self-sufficient running studies with patients and HCPs and translating insights into clear direction for product and design teams. You'll work closely with cross-functional colleagues and clients to turn insights into actionable, evidence-based decisions that support a more data-driven culture.

You will be part of a growing team and will be expected to generate 75% of your time as billable revenue for the department. 

Key responsibilities

User Research

• Plan and execute end-to-end UX research projects across healthcare and pharmaceutical client accounts.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research including, but not limited to: usability testing, interviews, surveys, card sorting, tree testing and diary studies. 
• Own projects from planning and estimation through to execution, synthesis, reporting and presentation.
• Manage operational tasks such as screeners, consent, GDPR compliance, participant comms and liaison with recruitment partners.
• Analyse user behaviours, needs and pain points, drawing clear, evidence-based insights to inform design and product strategy.
• Communicate research findings clearly to internal teams and client stakeholders.
• Challenge assumptions and distinguish validated insights from hypotheses, working with clients to apply a continuous test-and-learn approach. 

UX Strategy

• Clarify project goals, context and requirements to guide the appropriate delivery approach.
• Identify user needs, knowledge gaps, opportunities and strategic implications from existing client documents. 
• Translate research findings into actionable product recommendations with measurable outcomes.
• Create impactful deliverables, such as heuristic evaluations, personas, journey maps and strategic reports. 
• Support and lead elements of UX workshops using Design Thinking principles.
• Guide teams on how user insights should shape product, service and design decisions.
• Develop expertise in the health and pharma digital landscape and user behaviour, bringing informed perspectives on best practice to guide internal thinking and shape our insights repository.

Cross-functional collaboration

• Partner closely with designers and business strategists to share insights, identify opportunities and co-create next steps.
• Work with project managers to communicate timelines, risks and blockers, ensuring smooth delivery.
• Collaborate with agency preferred partners to deliver projects combining skills and expertise but maintaining a seamless experience for clients. 
• Follow research ops processes, documentation standards, ethical practices and guiding principles.
• Support new business efforts with input on research framing and approach.
• Contribute to research ops and departmental improvements over time (templates, processes, appropriate use of AI, repository insights, industry trends and so on).

Requirements

• Healthcare and pharma experience is essential, along with a genuine interest in the sector.
• Experience working in an agency or consultancy environment.
• Willingness to travel to the Brighton office for key company events, plus ad hoc industry event travel as needed.
• Experience conducting research with patients, HCPs or other healthcare audiences.
• Demonstrable experience with moderated and unmoderated UX research methods, with the ability to recommend appropriate methodologies and rationale.
• Experience analysing client materials and distilling insights, gaps and opportunities.
• Proven ability to take ownership of project delivery and work autonomously.
• Experience creating UX deliverables such as journey maps and personas.
• Capable of managing research operations tasks including participant screening, consent, GDPR and logistics.
• Experience working in an Agile environment.
• Broader pharma, regulatory or clinical pathway knowledge is a plus.
• DBS clearance is a plus.

Skills & Attributes: 

• Strong interest in understanding user motivations and improving experiences for HCPs and patients.
• Inquisitive mindset with strong questioning and problem-solving skills.
• Empathy and sensitivity when working with vulnerable user groups.
• Solid understanding of user-centred design, UX best practice and design thinking principles.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills, able to turn complex inputs into clear, structured insights.
• Ability to connect user needs, business objectives and clinical contexts into a coherent strategic direction.
• Passion for evidence-based decision-making and delivering meaningful outcomes.
• Confident presenting research insights and articulating their value to stakeholders.
• Highly organised and efficient, with the ability to juggle multiple projects and shifting priorities without compromising quality.

Benefits

Read our employee experience
introduction to see an overview of our benefits; including:

• Private health insurance with high standards of cover
• Comprehensive private dental plan 
• Personal development time and annual training budget 
• Regular social meet-ups and events
• 25 days holiday, increasing after 2 years
• Opportunities to give back with dedicated time for community engagement and charitable initiatives to suit your interests — young talent; diversity and inclusion; environment and sustainability; wellness 
• Free employee assistance support for personal challenges, whether legal, financial or medical
• Cycle to work scheme
• Pension scheme with employer contributions

Professional and personal growth 

We're committed to professional and personal growth. Through comprehensive onboarding, ongoing training and knowledge sharing across teams, we support continuous development. We set personalised annual objectives (aligned with the agency's vision/goals and upskilling); with check-ins at regular intervals to ensure progress. This approach helps to build new skills and confidence as our team grow in their careers. 

• Group training with external industry experts to deepen our expertise and maintain our specialism in health and pharma
• Graphite Learns - all agency knowledge sharing presented by different team members 
• Coassemble internal platform for ongoing training

Application

If you are passionate about helping to transform healthcare experiences and drive positive impact, we invite you to join our team at Graphite. Apply now to be part of our exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare technology

Applications are via our online application system and include a covering letter along with your CV. 

At Graphite we are committed to building a truly inclusive and diverse workplace where there are equal opportunities for everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be relevant to performance as protected by applicable law. 

If you are interested in this role but don't meet every requirement or your skills don't perfectly align, we'd encourage you to apply anyway and tell us why you are the best candidate. We are always open to meeting new great people who we can learn from, we seek and welcome diversity of experience, knowledge and perspectives and all that it brings to our teams. 

If you have a disability or need that requires accommodation at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know.