User Researcher - CO - SEO

Job summary

Civil Service Jobs is used by over 3 million candidates per month to find and view vacancies across the Civil Service. Each year it handles over 2 million applications and advertises 140,000 posts. The live service is used by 219 organisations to advertise their vacancies and manage their recruitment processes. Currently, Civil Service Jobs is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provision that has been configured and enhanced to meet Civil Service recruitment, digital and security standards.

Along with the live service, we are running a Recruitment Transformation programme, looking at what the future service should look like. We’ve completed our Discovery and Alpha phases, where we did extensive user research and prototype design, to explore our user needs and potential solutions for the biggest areas of improvement.

We’ve decided that our service needs to be procured rather than build our own, so we’ve now moved into the Beta build phase, working with a new technology platform provider which was appointed in the summer of 2024. The build and migration phase is to be completed by the end of 2026.

Cabinet Office Digital aspires to make UK Government digital services the best in the world, meeting or exceeding the benchmark set globally by the best public or private sector standards. We are creating a digital culture where user needs are at the heart of everything we build. Through data democratisation, automation, governance and consolidation we will create a better Cabinet Office.

As the digital arm of the department, we advise, assure or manage delivery on behalf of our colleagues in the Government People Group in developing their own Government Digital and Data capabilities. This is an exciting opportunity to join CO Digital, to lead on business improvements and otherwise support the Cabinet Office in delivering on the country’s priorities at the heart of the UK Government.

Job description

We are a digital team made of Service, Product and Delivery Managers, Business Analysts, a Technical Architect, a Service Designer, Content Designers, Interaction Designers, and User Researchers, who will all support you in your work. We are also part of a wider digital community, and have a great UCD community with fellow designers and researchers to network with.

Our project is transforming recruitment, building a new recruitment platform by 2026, which will enhance the recruitment service provision across government.

This role is an exciting and rewarding opportunity to make a real impact in a significant transformation programme. The programme is a multi-year programme of work at the forefront of recruiting the next generation of civil servants into essential roles.

Civil Service Jobs enables the whole of government to recruit people more efficiently, without which the government could not deliver its work: hence our service brings far-reaching benefits for all citizens.

We also enjoy enabling people to find meaningful jobs, and teams to find great colleagues - contributing to a diverse culture that reflects the diversity in the UK.You will join our cross-functional agile delivery team focusing on transforming Civil Service Jobs, and helping to redesign how the service should be delivered in the future.

Your role:

We are looking for a User Researcher to join Cabinet Office Digital, to help develop our Civil Service Jobs platform and wider recruitment service. You will help us to transform how the Civil Service recruits so that we hire the right people, into the right roles, at the right time.

As a User Researcher, you will be responsible for ensuring our service provision meets users’ needs, by leading on extensive research on how users and customers interact with the service.

You will be responsible for conducting research to gain a deep understanding of our users, their behaviours, needs, and motivations. You will plan, design, and execute user-centred research activities, including usability testing, surveys, ethnographic studies, card sorting, and interviews, amongst others. You will work collaboratively with cross-functional teams, including designers, developers, product managers, and other stakeholders to translate research findings into actionable insights that drive product development and innovation. Strong analytical, communication, presentation and problem-solving skills are essential.

You’ll be at the heart of our dedicated User Experience team, championing UX best practices within the projects to build a user-focused culture.

We’re looking for people who are passionate about creating accessible services that are simple enough for everyone to use.

We follow the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability job description model for User Researcher. You will be required to gain a good understanding of the Government Digital Service Manual, the GDS Design System, and our Technology Code of Practice.

Responsibilities

As a User Researcher, you will: 

• Plan, design and prepare a range of user research activities to support the design, development and continuous improvement of complex government services;
• Carry out a wide range of user research activities from recruiting participants, preparing discussion guides and moderating research sessions;
• 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;
• Work closely with product managers, designers and developers to turn user research findings into stories and actions that lead to valuable product and service features;
• Contribute to UCD strategic planning, to align user research activities with wider plans to inform service propositions;
• Help build user-centred practices in new and larger teams;
• Develop and ensure good user research practice, sharing knowledge with other user researchers within the team or external supplier teams;
• Contribute to the wider user research community - including presenting at meetups, writing blog posts and leading on aspects of practice.

Reporting to: Senior User Researcher

Person specification

Essential criteria

We’re interested in people who have the required skills as detailed in the User Researcher capability:

• Research: You can understand and demonstrate experience in basic user research methods. You can understand when to use these methods and how to apply them correctly. You can effectively involve your team in research activities;
• Inclusive research: You can understand the diversity of users of government services and the need to make services usable and accessible for everyone. You can work with colleagues to include many kinds of users in appropriate research activities;
• Analysis and synthesis: You can understand how to apply basic techniques for the analysis of research data and synthesis of findings. You can effectively involve your team in analysis and synthesis. You can present clear findings that colleagues can understand and use;
• User-centred and Agile practices: You can understand and demonstrate experience in a range of user-centred practices. You can effectively work with colleagues to plan and do continuous user research in a multidisciplinary team;
• Society & Technology: You can understand the social and technological context of government services. You can align user research activities to help your team understand changing user behaviour;
• Strategic insight: You can understand what problem the team is trying to solve. You can align user research activities to inform decision-making and action;
• Technical: - can demonstrate knowledge of the technologies used to build and operate digital services. You can collaborate closely with colleagues in different digital disciplines.

In addition, you will have:

• Demonstrable knowledge of user research practice and experience in a wide range of user research methods and of deploying them effectively to generate clear and valuable findings;
• Qualitative research experience with a diverse range of participants capturing a breadth of users and championing their needs to deliver services that are accessible and inclusive;
• Quantitative research skills covering survey design and statistical analysis;
• Understanding of the strengths and limitations of different research methods;
• The ability to understand the complex problems a team is trying to solve, and align user research activities to inform decision-making and action;
• Experience in advocating for user research and engaging sceptical colleagues and stakeholders, particularly in large-scale complex organisations;
• The ability to include all kinds of users in appropriate research activities to help teams understand the diversity of users of government services.

Desirable criteria:

• Knowledge and understanding of GOV.UK digital service standards and what this means for government services.

Qualifications:

No formal qualification is required for this role, however, we encourage applicants who will have either:

• Degree in HCI/Usability/Cognitive Psychology/Market Research/Design or related field;
• Degree in another discipline, with a strong emphasis on Research Methodology;
• Professional experience and training to demonstrate solid knowledge of research methods, digital delivery and human-computer interaction.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Research Skills
• Analysis and Synthesis
• User-centred and Agile practices