User Researcher

• User Researcher (GDS Discovery)
• 6-month contract
• Remote Working
• Outside IR35
• Market Rates (c£475 per day)

The Opportunity:

Our client is supporting a major UK Government Agency on a high-profile digital transformation programme and is seeking an experienced User Researcher to join a multidisciplinary team delivering a critical Discovery phase.

Working within a Government Digital Service (GDS) environment, you'll play a key role in ensuring that future services are designed around genuine user needs and supported by robust evidence. You'll plan and deliver user research across a range of operational user groups, uncovering valuable insights that help shape service design, validate hypotheses and inform future Alpha delivery.

Working closely with Product Managers, Service Designers, Business Analysts, Architects and other User-Centred Design (UCD) professionals, you'll help build a comprehensive understanding of user behaviours, pain points and opportunities for service improvement.

This role would suit an experienced consultant with a strong background delivering Discovery projects within UK Government or other highly regulated environments.

Skills and Experience:

Proven experience delivering User Research within GDS Discovery phases or comparable complex digital transformation programmes. Strong qualitative research experience, including:

• User interviews / Workshops / Contextual enquiry / Observational research /Stakeholder engagement
• Experience researching complex operational services involving multiple user groups and organisational stakeholders.
• Ability to synthesise research into clear user needs, personas, epics and actionable recommendations.
• Experience validating user journeys, service maps and future service concepts.
• Good understanding of accessibility standards, inclusive research practices and the ethical handling of research data.
• Excellent communication, facilitation and stakeholder management skills.
• Comfortable working within multidisciplinary Agile delivery teams, delivering digital transformation programmes
• Experience working within UK Government or wider Public Sector organisations, ideally with the Government Digital Service (GDS) Service Manual and Discovery methodologies.
• Experience working alongside Service Designers, Product Managers and Business Analysts.
• Knowledge of case management, incident management, healthcare or other operationally complex public services.
• Experience supporting Alpha planning and service design activities.
• Evidence-led service design and a proven track record delivering successful GDS Discovery engagements, we'd love to hear from you.

Role and Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain the User Research Plan, selecting appropriate research methods and ensuring accessibility and inclusivity are considered throughout.
• Work collaboratively with stakeholders to identify and recruit participants representing a range of operational and organisational user groups.
• Plan, facilitate and analyse interviews, workshops, contextual enquiries and other qualitative research activities.
• Produce clear, evidence-based findings that identify user needs, behaviours, pain points, personas and epics.
• Validate user journeys, service maps, operational processes and future service hypotheses.
• Translate complex research findings into practical recommendations that inform product and service decisions, presenting research findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Contribute to the Discovery Report, Alpha recommendations and future delivery planning.
• Work closely with the Lead UCD Consultant, Service Designers, Business Analysts, Product Managers and Technical Architects within a multidisciplinary Agile team.
• Champion user-centred design principles throughout the Discovery lifecycle.

NB: The successful candidate will be required to undergo a basic level of security clearance before undertaking the assignment (around one weeks’ lead-time).

Applications:

To learn more about this newly created opportunity consulting as a GDS-focused User Researcher for an initial 6-month engagement, operating on a remote-working basis; please call and speak with Edward Laing here at ISR Recruitment or please send through a copy of your latest online profile and/or CV for an immediate call back in the strictest confidence.

If you're an experienced User Researcher with a strong background in GDS Discovery, business process analysis and stakeholder engagement, and you're looking to play a key role in shaping the future of a critical Government service we'd love to hear from you; please contact Edward here at ISR to learn more about our client and how they are leading the way in developing the next generation of technical solutions through innovation and transformational technology?