Senior User Researcher

**Salary band**: up to £60,000
We work in a hybrid way and support home working. You’ll need to travel to client sites and our offices as required, but we’ll cover all reasonable travel costs.
About us

We have established communities of practice that you will be able to join that create a supportive internal environment alongside your client work.
We are growing our teams across the company and would love to talk to you about becoming a part of Methods.

**Requirements**:
Your role
We are recruiting for a Senior User Researcher on a permanent basis. You will have a passion for understanding and championing the user whilst coaching and developing colleagues within the team to develop their skills and experience.

**Your responsibilities will include**:

- work with client product managers/owners to devise appropriate research strategies that generate focused insights to support product development
- collaborate within a multidisciplinary team by including colleagues in research and analysis activities
- advocate for users, effectively communicating their needs and perspectives to support the design of intuitive and accessible services
- draw together, present and test reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and/or complex evidence and data
- take appropriate action or make decisions even when details are not clear
- weigh up data from various sources, recognising when to bring in additional Methods support
- identify the main issues in complex problems; clarify understanding or stakeholder expectations to seek the best option
- convincingly and tactfully persuade sceptical colleagues and stakeholders about the value and purpose of research
- effectively capture, use and share insight and views from a diverse range of stakeholders to ensure better policy and delivery
- guide, coach and mentor other user researchers in Methods and our clients
- work closely with colleagues to identify, develop and share good practice
- confidently engage with stakeholders and colleagues at all levels, using strong interpersonal skills to develop and improve relationships with colleagues within and outside of user research
- advocate for user-centred design and be an active part of the user research community within Methods and across government
- take responsibility for your own learning and development and seek opportunities to improve your knowledge and experience
- support team training and development plans with Head of User Research
- support bids, alongside the Head of User Research
- help recruit contract or permanent user researchers where more capacity is needed.

Skills we are looking for
- You understand and have experience of a range of user-centred practices and user research methodologies.
- You can help inexperienced teams adopt user-centred practices and user research techniques and help embed them into their work.
- You can advocate for user research and engage sceptical colleagues and stakeholders.
- You can have robust conversations with client stakeholders across an organisation, using research and evidence to do the right thing.
- You consistently advocate for diverse users of government services and the need to make services usable and accessible for everyone.
- You can demonstrate that you have included users from a variety of backgrounds (including accessibility and assisted digital) in appropriate research activities.
- You can collaborate closely with colleagues in different digital disciplines including technical disciplines such as developers.
- You will be able to tell the story across an organisation, sharing what you’ve learnt in a way that makes a change within an organisation.
- You can tell the story externally in conferences and blogs to share best practice and promote your work and work of the team.
- You can take a leading role in the continued development of the community of practice, sharing knowledge, skills and information with colleagues in our in-house team.

**Benefits**:
**Benefits**:

- Holiday: 25 days a year, plus bank holidays, with the option to buy 5 extra days each year
- Pension: 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution
- Discretionary bonus: based on company and individual performance
- Life assurance: 4 times base salary
- Private medical insurance: non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)
- Worldwide travel insurance: non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)
- Enhanced maternity and paternity leave after 18 months service.
- Wellness: 24/7 confidential employee assistance programme, including counselling
- Social: Parties and social events, and commitment to charitable causes
- Professional development: access to LinkedIn Learning, and discretionary training budget.
- Travel: season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme.
- Holiday: 25 days a year, plus bank holidays, with the option to buy 5 extra days each year
- Pension: 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution
- Discretionary bonus: based on company and ind