Lead User Researcher (Principal) - Government Digital Service - G6

We are recruiting 2 Lead User Researcher (Principal) roles, 1 for and 1 for the App.

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. also supports government colleagues to publish content, ensuring accurate and accessible information is always available to the public.

The App makes it easier for you to access government guidance and services by delivering personalised experiences. The App team sits in the Product and Services Directorate, which also include Chat, Notify, Pay, Forms, and Emergency Alerts.

We expect this to be a practitioner role, though the responsibilities may be adapted to meet shifting business needs, while still maintaining the core, practitioner-focused nature of the work.

You will be a core part of the User Research leadership group and your respective directorate leadership group and work closely with senior stakeholders. You will lead, oversee and deliver research to build a deeper understanding of our users, inform product and strategic decisions and support the delivery of impactful outcomes.

• make a real difference: work on and tackle some of the toughest challenges in public infrastructure, improving millions of people's lives through effective strategies and solutions that are informed by high quality insights
• deliver work that matters: work with multi-disciplinary leadership, to proactively identify transformational opportunities that will drive change, and deliver better value and outcomes for users and government
• shape the future of craft, culture and impact: grow with us as a leader in an environment that empowers bold thinking and experimentation to learn, fall fast, reflect and grow. With dedicated development resources, training and cross-government networks, you will have plenty of opportunities to influence, mentor and develop your skills and others

As a Lead User Researcher - Principal, you will be an expert practitioner in / App and your main responsibilities include:

• be a core part of the leadership group for your responsible area(s) and work closely with the senior stakeholders (including director/deputy director levels), multidisciplinary leads and research leadership groups to ensure research delivers impactful outcomes
• design and implement research strategy based on GDS visions and strategic outcomes. This includes proactively identifying research opportunities, getting buy-in for important research initiatives that can provide high quality strategic insights/foresights for senior stakeholders and influence the innovation/solution space.
• conduct a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research, including using advanced, innovative techniques and comparative experiments to mitigate risks and deepen our understanding of user cohorts and needs,evaluate and design strategies/solutions, and demonstrate/measure value delivered by GDS
• support or pair up with researchers to develop and ensure best practices are applied in their work and the work delivered is high-quality, reliable for decision making and meeting the delivery pace
• be the user insights and knowledge expert for your area of responsibility, and proactively share important learnings with the directors, senior leadership groups, wider organisation and beyond. This includes leading on the creation and maintaining of documentations/artefacts related to our understanding of needs, problems, opportunities and user groups to direct prioritisation effort, and building reusable, accessible consolidated insights
• help colleagues understand when and when not to do research, the diverse range of research methods, advocate the value of research and demonstrate the importance of research by making sure the impact made by research is tracked and visible to others
• be a visible leader and model of craft, culture and impact. Build positive and influential relationships with multidisciplinary leaders and colleagues and continuously strengthen trust and seamless cross-functional collaboration
• be a reflective practitioner who strives to improve their own practice continually, develop creative solutions and practice, and help to lead the User Research Community to grow expertise. This includes pioneering and innovating on methods, processes, ways of working and providing training for the community to maximise results