Senior User Researcher - #2139066

£55,000 to 65,000 GBP

Onsite WORKING

Location: Manchester, North West - United Kingdom Type: Permanent

Senior User Researcher

Salary: £55,000 - £65,000

Locations: Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol or London

Working Pattern: Hybrid / client-facing consulting

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Senior User Researcher to join a growing digital consultancy, working on complex transformation programmes across the public and private sectors.

This is a senior consulting role for someone who can do more than conduct research. You'll be expected to lead research across complex problem spaces, influence service design decisions, work closely with multidisciplinary Agile teams and act as a trusted advisor to clients and stakeholders.

You'll bring strong expertise in user-centred design and research methodologies, while also helping develop other researchers through mentoring, coaching or line management.

Public sector and government experience is particularly valuable, although strong private-sector consulting experience will also be considered where candidates have delivered genuine user-centred design (UCD) projects.

What You'll Be Doing

• Advise clients on complex problems using user research, human-centred design and Agile methodologies.
• Plan and conduct research to understand user needs, behaviours, motivations and pain points.
• Translate research findings into clear, actionable recommendations that influence service and product design.
• Work as part of multidisciplinary Agile teams alongside service designers, interaction designers, developers, product owners and other specialists.
• Lead research activities throughout the design and delivery lifecycle.
• Help teams use research evidence to make informed design and product decisions.
• Lead workshops, interviews, usability testing and other appropriate research activities.
• Advocate for inclusive and accessible approaches to user research.
• Consider the needs of users with accessibility and assisted-digital requirements.
• Build strong relationships with senior clients and stakeholders while confidently challenging assumptions and managing difficult conversations.
• Lead and support other user researchers through line management, mentoring, coaching and knowledge sharing.
• Contribute to recruitment, internal capability development and the wider user research community.
• Support business development, proposals and client pitches where required.
• Help develop and promote user-centred design and research capabilities across the consultancy.

What We're Looking For

You'll be an experienced User Researcher who is comfortable operating at a senior consulting level and influencing both clients and delivery teams.

You should have:

• Strong experience applying user research methodologies across different environments and problem spaces.
• Proven experience working within multidisciplinary Agile teams to design and deliver user-centred digital services.
• Experience delivering user-centred design (UCD) projects.
• Strong understanding of qualitative and quantitative research approaches and when to apply them.
• Experience researching accessibility and assisted-digital needs.
• Proven ability to champion user research, user-centred design and service design approaches.
• Experience working directly with clients and senior stakeholders in a consulting environment.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to challenge ideas and manage conflict sensitively.
• Experience mentoring, coaching or line managing other User Researchers - this is essential.
• Strong understanding of the roles and responsibilities of other Agile disciplines across design, product and technology.
• Confidence exploring complex problem spaces with clients and determining the most appropriate research approach.
• Strong consultancy skills and the ability to operate with autonomy while contributing effectively to a wider team.

Desirable Experience

The following would be particularly valuable:

• Experience working within UK Government or the wider public sector.
• Experience delivering research within government digital services or large-scale public-sector transformation.
• Experience working within a consultancy or agency environment.
• Experience with Government Digital Service (GDS) approaches and standards.
• Experience working across complex or highly regulated services.
• Experience leading research across large-scale digital transformation programmes.
• Experience developing research capability, standards or best practice within an organisation.
• Experience contributing to proposals, bids and business development.

Why Join?

This is an opportunity to work on complex, meaningful digital transformation programmes where user research has a genuine influence on the services being designed and delivered.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Work with multidisciplinary Agile teams on challenging digital problems.
• Engage directly with senior clients and stakeholders.
• Lead research across complex problem spaces.
• Influence user-centred design and service delivery decisions.
• Mentor and develop other User Researchers.
• Contribute to the growth of a wider UCD and research practice.
• Work across a variety of public and private-sector transformation programmes.

If you're a senior User Researcher with strong consulting experience, a track record of delivering UCD projects and experience mentoring or managing other researchers, we'd be keen to hear from you.