Senior User Researcher

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

- 310842**Salary**:

- £53,400 - £58,850- Based on capability. The base salary of this grade is £53,400. Offers made above this will be made up with a specialist pay allowance**Job grade**:

- Grade 7**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- GDS - GOV.UK**Type of role**:

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

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

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Bristol, ManchesterAbout the job

**Job summary**:
GDS exists to help government make brilliant public services that empower people in the UK. We work at the very centre of government to drive digital transformation, focused on users. We build and maintain common platforms, products and tools for others to use and create great public services that are accessible, inclusive and easy to use. We also work with departments to identify patterns, share learning and create change to make government more efficient.

Our teams are organised around delivering on our priorities. These are:

- making it easier for people to find what they are looking for on GOV.UK
- building common service platforms to make it simpler and cheaper to build quality digital services
- promoting agile, user-centred design practices both in the UK and across the world

User Researchers are key figures in the teams that design and deliver services. They help their teams develop a deep understanding of the people who use the products and services. Their findings allow their teams to design and build better services more quickly and at lower cost and risk. And to continuously improve services, based on data and evidence.

GOV.UK is the groundbreaking single website for the UK government with more than 700,000 pages, 30 million monthly users, and home to hundreds of vital public services.

GOV.UK is currently one of the top 25 most visited websites in the UK, and it’s our responsibility to be iterating and improving all the time as technology and user needs change. This role includes opportunities to experiment with new technologies and platforms with the potential to transform how the public interacts with GOV.UK.

GOV.UK aims to set the bar for the user experience and accessibility of public services internationally. Our work has been recognised with D&AD wins for design, the Horace Hockley award for our work on the Coronavirus pandemic, and multiple Women in Tech Excellence awards. This is grounded in a culture of user-centred working and investing in our team’s expertise.

The GOV.UK programme is part of the Government Digital Service (GDS). GDS also works on a wide range of products that help government build better public services. These include shared platforms for payments and notifications, a government-wide design system, and new unified digital identity product. As a result, there’s a range of opportunities to learn about and work on different kinds of products as your career develops. Our CEO Tom Read’s blogpost is a good overview of what GDS works on.

**Job description**:
We are looking for a Senior User Researcher who has exceptional research skills, with a track record of conducting impactful strategic and tactic research in order to direct decision making. You will plan and lead user research projects in a team, build user centred practices, and translate quality research into design, product and organisational decisions by informing propositions and directions.

GOV.UK is the best place to find government services and information, and user needs are at the heart of everything we do. Our vision is for GOV.UK to offer users joined-up, trusted and personalised interactions.

As a Senior User Researcher, you’ll:

- lead and conduct a wide range of complex user research projects (from discovery to evaluative research, and from qualitative to quantitative research) by aligning with GOV.UK vision and goals
- be bold and creative in trying out new methods and approaches, and actively seek out better ways to improve and do research
- run high quality research projects end-to-end: planning, recruiting participants, conducting the research, analysis and reporting findings and insights and ensure learnings are being acted upon
- involve colleagues and relevant senior stakeholders throughout the end-to-end research process
- produce impactful and reusable insights to inform, guide (or even reset) design, product and strategic decisions at team and organisational level
- be actively identifying research opportunities that would bring great value and impact to GOV.UK and GDS in supporting our vision
- persuade colleagues and stakeholders on evidence-based decision-making and the introduction of new research initiatives

**Person specification**:
We’re interested in people who:

- are rigorous and have exceptional research skills, but who also understands the balance between