JOB DESCRIPTION

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 and are affected by departmental policy. This research informs our policy, proposition, service, content and interaction design so that services work well for users and meet our policy intent.
Read more about user research at Department for Education

As a senior user researcher you will be an experienced practitioner who can plan and lead user research activities in larger teams and across programmes of work and more complex services. You will:

• Deliver user research in complex subject areas, and supervise and develop other user researchers to assure and improve research practice, ensuring that research is high quality, ethical and impactful.
• Build user-centred practices and evidence-based approaches in teams in your programme area.
• Effectively communicate user research findings, incorporating other forms of evidence (e.g. service analytics, social research) to influence decision making at all levels of government.
• Conduct strategic research and design activities in partnership with a range of stakeholders to facilitate alignment and set strategic direction.
• Help teams to research inclusively with a wide range of users, including those with additional needs and other hard-to-reach groups.
• Take an active role in the DfE user research community, helping develop and improve our practice across the department.

This role is in Schools Digital Division. This division is the digital delivery and user centred design partner for policy teams across Schools Group. Schools Group are delivering a wide range of high-profile reforms in education such as improve teacher recruitment and retention, reforms to accountability, curriculum and supporting those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

STAGE 1 - APPLICATION

To apply for this position, please complete the application form by clicking the “apply now” button at the top or bottom of this page. You will be required to provide a CV and a personal statement.

• CV - Set out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role and how they align with the essential criteria. There is no word limit for this section. Start with your most current employment details first and please format as follows:
• Name of Employer - Job Title - Dates Worked
• Key Achievements
• Responsibilities
• Personal statement - (Maximum 750 words) Please provide examples of how your personal skills and experience meet the essential criteria. This is not a cover letter, please work through each essential criteria in order. You may wish to follow the STAR technique to help focus your examples. The key things we are looking for are what you did, how you did it and what the outcome was.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Analytical
Digital
Information Technology
Operational Research