Senior User Researcher

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 323967**Salary**:

- £54,439 - £60,183**Job grade**:

- Grade 7**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- HMRC - CDIO - Chief Technology and Design Officer**Type of role**:

- Digital
- Information Technology**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed Hours**Number of jobs available**:

- 3Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Telford, WorthingAbout the job

**Job summary**:
This role is in Chief Technology and Design Office, part of HMRC’s Chief Digital and Information Office (CDIO). We are responsible for managing all IT demand and change coming into CDIO, as part of this we ensure User Centred Design is at the heart of is at the heart of everything we do. This enables us to ensure the solutions we deliver help users succeed the first time.

**Job description**:
HMRC is currently undertaking some of the largest digital transformation programmes across Government and other sectors. Our user researchers are at the core of keeping user needs central to design and implementation, providing an opportunity to shape and improve Services that impact millions of users daily.

You will be joining a thriving and supportive User Researcher community, with regular opportunities for insight sharing, training and discussion. Our team draws together expertise from a wide variety of backgrounds and sectors and welcomes new ideas on how we can continue to conduct robust research with real-world impact. You will be based at one of our CDIO Centres across the UK with access to research labs and facilities.

If this sounds like the sort of thing which excites you, this is the job for you.

There is also a role within the Valuation Agency Group.

**Person specification**:
As a Senior User Researcher, your responsibilities include:

- Leading on planning, recruiting and conducting user research for new technology concept testing, including playing back user research to stakeholders and digital teams.
- Understanding the service problem then aligning user research activities to influence and support decision-making.
- Advocating for, and including, all kinds of users in appropriate research activities to help teams design accessible services for all users.
- Contributing to the user research community at HMRC.
- Managing and/or mentoring Junior User Researchers.
- Participating in HMRC’s cross-government research and conferences.

**Essential Criteria**

You will already have:

- Significant experience working at a senior level within a user research role, with a focus on the improvement of digital services to meet users’ needs.
- Ability to understand complex problems a team is trying to solve. Align user research activities to inform decision-making and action.
- Exceptional research and analysis skills. Using a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies including ethnographic techniques, usability testing, remote testing, and survey design.
- Experience using a wide range of analysis and synthesis techniques. Producing appropriate, actionable research outputs that clearly demonstrate insights and recommendations.
- Advocating for user research and engaging sceptical colleagues and stakeholders. Helping teams to adopt user-centred service design and delivery practices and embed them into their agile workflow.
- Ability to include all kinds of users in appropriate research activities, to help teams understand the diversity of users of government services.
- A degree in psychology, cognitive science, human factors, computer science, product/interaction design, human-computer interaction or related disciplines or relevant user research experience.

**Desirable Criteria**

Ideally you will also have knowledge and experience of:

- Experience of using the GDS Service Manual, working to meet the Government Service Standard.
- Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills; the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly and persuasively across different audiences and varying levels of the organisation.
- Enthusiasm for coaching and mentoring of team members.
- An understanding of agile approaches and experience of working in agile teams.
- Some knowledge of current technologies used to build and operate digital services, and the different technical roles in a digital team.

**Technical skills**:
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

- Research Skills
- Analysis and Synthesis
- Strategic Insight

**Benefits**:

- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Find more about HMRC benefits in 'Your little extras and big benefits handbook' for further information or visit Thinking of joining t