Lead User Researcher
Inside IR35
Hyrbid, 3 days on site per week in (London, Manchester or Bristol)
6 months
We are looking for a Lead User Researcher to join our central govt client, working within an App and AI team.
Develop and implement research strategy in a highly complex and dynamic environment, ensuring research is prioritised, effective and efficient in helping the client achieve their short-term goals and long-term strategies
Ensure the use of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods/data to yield high-quality insights that better our understanding of the risks/needs/adoption of different types of users/cohorts, and uncover data that directly feed into design iterations, and build
Be responsible for operational research delivery for App to ensure researchers are working on the right thing at the right time, and that all research outputs are at the highest standard and best practices are applied
Identify research opportunities and lead strategic/innovative research for important, long-term and strategic initiatives so that we have proactive insights for the product director, senior stakeholders to design long-term App strategies and engage with departments for service transformation
Lead App researchers in further development of their research skills and expertise, stepping in and collaborating directly with researchers where hands-on support is identified / required.
Be the user insights and knowledge expert for App, and proactively share important learnings with the product director, leadership groups, senior stakeholders and wider. This includes being responsible for leading on the creation of documentations/artefacts that contribute to our understanding of users groups/mindsets/behaviour models to direct development effort, and building reusable and accessible insights for App to reduce duplication of work.
Help colleagues understand when and when not to do research, and advocate the value of research and demonstrate the importance of research by making sure the great impact made by research is tracked and visible to others.
Be a visible leader and model in your area. Build positive and influential relationships with multidisciplinary leaders and colleagues from eg. product, design, delivery to senior stakeholders, and continuously strengthening trust and seamless cross-functional collaboration.About you
Experience in leading research for App products including product launches and ongoing iteration.
Experience in quantitative and experimentation design, and can use basic applied statistics (such as correlation, T-test/ANOVA and MANOVA), and has experience of applying them in the context of user experience.
Extensive hands-on experience in evaluative and strategic research, and using a diverse range of qualitative and quantitative methods. These should include at least: desk research, lean research, usability/hypothesis-driven testing, expert review methods, rapid discovery, contextual enquiries, ethnographic research/diary studies, surveys, qual/large scale benchmarking, and idea generation workshops.
Demonstrable execution of research projects following the best practice and delivered high impact results that have directly influenced strategic product and business direction.
Delivered impactful research outcomes for product discoveries and development, with a focus on risk mitigation and opportunities
Demonstrable strong ability to shift and navigate easily between delivering fast research supporting short-term delivery goals, and strategic research informing long-term thinking.
Thriving in the delivery pressures of a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, combining pragmatism, professional judgement, and flexibility (not just playing it by the book), are tenacious, and proactively come up with solutions to problem-solving and make positive changes happen.
Extremely strong analysis skills to distil hidden, reusable and actionable insights through a wide range of data and communicate them through great storytelling to land the key messages effectively. This includes high proficiency in clustering a wide user-base through appropriate techniques such as personas, mindsets, and mental models to inform the focus of effort.
Proven experience in successfully embedding effective research methods that go beyond testing, and established data-driven/UCD in challenging and complex environments with different levels of UCD maturity.
Excellent and demonstrable knowledge in user-centred design, usability/accessibility/inclusion, design principles, and psychology