These are exciting times at the Department for Education. We are transforming to become a user centred organisation, delivering better outcomes for all our users through agile and iterative software development and continuous improvement.

You will work with user researchers, product managers, designers, business analysts, delivery managers and content specialists as part of a multi-disciplinary team to directly deliver better outcomes for users. You will innovate to radically transform how public services are delivered and improved.

Read more about software development on the DfE Digital blog.

User researcher

About the job

User researchers at Department for Education plan, design and carry out research activities with users that help teams get a deep understanding of the people that use our services, across education and social care. This research informs our policy, proposition, service, content and interaction design so that services work well for users and meet our policy intent.

As a user researcher you will usually be embedded in a multidisciplinary team, responsible for planning and carrying out user research activities. You will be expected to work independently on a team. You will:

plan and lead user research activities in a team
deliver user research insights at pace
research inclusively with a wide range of users, including those with additional needs and other hard-to-reach groups
effectively communicate user research findings to the team and the wider organisation, to influence decision making
be part of the DfE user research community
[add one or two if necessary]

This role is in [programme area]. [Short details about the programme area, service, and broad types of users of the service. No more than ~50 words]

Selection criteria

Essential skills and expertise we will assess you against are:

Research methods and planning. Ability to plan and deliver user research, using appropriate methods, working in a multi-disciplinary team
Analysis and synthesis. Ability to analyse and synthesise quantitative and qualitative data, involving your team, and presenting clear and actionable findings
Inclusive research. Experience of researching with a wide range of users, including users with additional needs and other hard-to-reach groups
Ethics and safeguarding. Awareness of research ethics and how to keep participants, teams and yourself safe in research, and how to get advice on these topics
Research leadership. Helping a team adopt user-centred practices, and ensuring user insight informs team decisions

Desirable skills (used in the event of a tie-break situation between two candidates): * Agile working. Experience of delivering user research in agile digital delivery/product teams * Government Service Standard. Experience of delivering work in a team to the Government Service Standard * Coaching, mentoring and supervising. Developing junior colleagues, supporting their professional development, and advising on and assuring their work * [Add any other desirable skills relevant to your specific team or service – no more than one or two]

Successful applicants will be invited to a 90 minute interview consisting of a task and questions to assess your experience in the essential criteria listed above.