Senior User Researcher

£61,740 - £70,219 (London) / £56,070 - £61,793 (National) Based on capability. The base salary of this grade is £61,005 for London and £55,403 for other locations.
Published on 12 December 2024 Deadline 5 January 2025

You will join GOV.UK as a Senior User Researcher. GOV.UK is the trusted online home for government information and services, every week millions of people rely on it to complete essential and often life-changing tasks. As a Senior User Researcher, you will:

• make an impact: work and tackle some of the toughest challenges in public infrastructure, improving lives through solutions that are informed by high-quality insights.
• work that matters: join a multidisciplinary team, driving change, delivering better value and outcomes for users and government, to empower and transform.
• grow with us: thrive in a supportive research community that values experimentation, learning, failing fast, and reflection as key steps to growth.

Main responsibilities as a Senior User Researcher:

• lead and conduct a wide range of user research projects (evaluative, foundational, qualitative, and quantitative) aligned with GOV.UK vision and goals.
• deliver high-quality research projects end-to-end: from planning, recruiting participants, data analysis, and reporting, ensuring key insights are acted upon.
• collaborate with multidisciplinary colleagues and stakeholders throughout the research process, using a wide range of data to build a rich picture of user behaviour.
• produce impactful and reusable insights to inform, guide, and reset design, product, and strategic decisions at team and organisational levels.
• advocate for evidence-based decision-making, persuading colleagues and stakeholders to adopt research approaches that deliver significant value to GOV.UK and GDS.
• mentor and guide more junior user researchers and non-user researchers to assure and improve research practice.
• explore and implement innovative ways to deliver better outcomes through refining existing methods or experimenting with new approaches.
• help colleagues understand when to conduct research, advocating the value of research and ensuring its impact is tracked and visible to others.

Person specification

We’re looking for a Senior User Researcher with strong expertise in research and influencing, and a proven track record of driving decisions and shaping direction at both tactical and strategic levels.

We’re interested in people who can demonstrate:

• strong research experience in evaluative and strategic research, using a broad range of qualitative and quantitative methods, including:
  • expertise in understanding behaviour in real contexts through ethnographic research, longitudinal studies, and contextual inquiries.
  • desk research, usability testing, interviews, surveys, and idea generation workshops.
• demonstrable execution of research projects following best practice and delivering high-impact results that influence design and product directions.
• strong analytical skills, with the ability to distil actionable insights from diverse data sources and communicate them effectively.
• proven ability to advocate for research and build strong relationships with colleagues and stakeholders.
• experience in educating and directing teams on the right research methods to deliver best results.
• a good understanding of social and technological contexts influencing user behaviour.
• knowledge in user-centred design, usability, accessibility, and psychology.
• ability to thrive under pressure and navigate ambiguous environments with creativity and collaboration.

The benefits of working at GDS include:

• flexible hybrid working with options for part-time or condensed hours.
• a Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days.
• an extra day off for The King’s birthday.
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development.

GDS offers hybrid working for all employees. You’ll agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager.

Things you need to know

The standard selection process includes:

• Stage 1: Application screening - CV and Cover Letter required.
• Stage 2: 60-minute interview to assess experience and competencies.
• Stage 3: Final stage - 2-hour research technical exercise session.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. We’ll assess your technical abilities against the skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework for the Senior User Researcher role.

Recruitment Timeline

Sift Completion: 10th January 2025

Interview Dates: Starting W/C 20th January 2025

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.