User Researcher at UK Research & Innovation, Bristol/Remote, 7 Months, £Contract Rate

Working has part of a user centred design team on REF29 Systems delivery, the user researcher will collaborate on user centred design with service designers, interaction designers and content designers, ensuring that the service being designed meets user needs.  The user researcher will run user testing sessions, engaging user feedback and working with designers and the product manager to iterate designs to be simple and intuitive. 

User research is undertaken on the entire end to end service which includes policy, process and ways of working in addition to digital user journeys to ensure that the service meets user and business needs.

The role is to:

•    Plan, design and prepare a range of user research activities to support the design, development and continuous improvement of services

•    Carry out user research activities: from recruiting participants and preparing discussion guides, to running research sessions and analysing results

•    Lead colleagues to analyse research data and synthesise clear and actionable findings, including working closely with analytics colleagues to create a rich picture of user behaviour

•    Communicate user research findings to help the team and wider organisation develop a deep understanding of users and their needs - including presentations at show-and-tells, designing and maintaining research outputs, and creating formal reports

•    Work closely with the product manager, designers and developers to turn user research findings into stories and actions that lead to valuable product and service features

•    Contribute to the wider user research community, including presenting at meet ups and writing blog posts

Experience Required

•    Experience and understanding of a range of user research methods 

•    Experience of the GDS framework

•    The ability to understand what problem your team is trying to solve and plan and deliver user research activities to inform decision making and action 

•    Experience and understanding of a range of user research methods, when to use those methods and how to apply them correctly 

•    Experience and understanding of a range of techniques for analysis of research data, synthesis of findings, and presentation of clear findings so that colleagues can understand and use them 

•    A good understanding of the diversity of users, and the ability to include many types of users in appropriate research activities 

•    Experience of working with colleagues to plan and do continuous user research in a multidisciplinary team 

•    Experience of involving your team in research activities, and in analysis and synthesis 

•    Understanding, and ideally experience of, agile approaches.