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SalaryThere’s never been a better time develop your career with Nationwide…
We offer a genuine alternative to the traditional banks, and we pride ourselves on delivering remarkable service for our members. With over 6 million people using Nationwide’s digital banking channels each month, we are driven by the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives, helping them manage their money more effectively via our digital platforms and solutions.
Whilst we have had great success so far, we obsess about our members and the experience they receive we recognise the need to evolve and improve faster than ever. And we’re now looking for a Principal Design Researchers to join our Service and Experience Design team and contribute to our growing research community.
We’ll need you to be infectiously passionate about all things related to Design Research and in helping multi-disciplinary teams to create exceptional insight led services. You’re likely to be an experienced Design Researcher or someone who has led and conducted digital and service experience research.
You’ll be able take insight from research and communicate it in a way that engages, influences, and helps the business make the right decisions for users. But you’ll also understand the importance of navigating research in a commercial environment. And you’ll be a natural collaborator, working with stakeholders to scope, plan and get buy-in for Design Research, as well as working with teams to uncover opportunities, inform digital and service experiences and drive value for our members.
At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.
For this job you'll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you'll spend 40% of your working time, at either our Swindon or London offices. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.
If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.
What you’ll be doing
As a Principal Design Researcher, you could find yourself working on an exciting new digital journey, or leading and delivering research for a new service experience. Working with stakeholders from across the business, you’ll scope and shape research plans that support both the needs of our users and the business. You’ll be working collaboratively with key stakeholders to ensure buy-in and understanding of Design Research. As senior role you will be expected to provide research mentoring and coaching to less experienced researchers and other key stakeholders. You need to show passion and strategic oversight for design research across Nationwide.
While this role is aligned within our Retail Operations division which includes areas such as bereavement, power of attorney, fraud, and scams, you may also be required to work across other areas of the business when required. We work in a multi-disciplinary environment, so you’ll be collaborating closely with Product Owners, Proposition Managers, Service and Experience Designers (UX, UI and Content), Developers, Analysts and other researchers.
You’ll be using a range of research methodologies to help us understand and design for the needs of our members. From discovery research through to service optimisation, we want you to be involved in all parts of the research process.
You’ll help us find engaging and innovative ways of presenting research findings and in demonstrating the value of Design research.We want you to have opportunities to grow and develop your research skills, so we’ll also encourage and support you to experiment and try new things. This is a great opportunity help shape and develop our growing research function and capability.
About you
To join the team as Principal Design Researcher, you’ll need:
- Practical experience of leading and conducting Design Research at a senior level, ideally across projects that have multiple workstreams.
- A proactive voice for design research to senior stakeholders
- In-depth experience of research planning and scoping.
- Service level Design Research experience – not just digital.
- Hands-on experience across a broad range of research methodologies, both generative and evaluative.
- Experience of facilitation and actioning insight, for example through ideation, co-creation, and concept testing.
- Experience with quantitative research.
- Experience of working in a research role as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- Examples of where you have demonstrated the value of research to users and the business.
- Great verbal and written communication skills.
- A broad knowledge of User-Centred Design as well as Service Design processes and principles.
- Great relationship building skills – you understand the importance of building great relationships and connections with stakeholders from across the business to get buy-in for research.
- Delivering research with a focus on business outcomes as well as user needs.
- Experience in coaching and mentoring others in research approaches and strategy.
If you have experience in any of the following, even better:
- Conducting research within agile ways of working.
- Leading design research across multiple teams.
- Research for Vulnerability, accessibility and Inclusivity.
- Working in financial services.
Our Customer First behaviours are all about putting customers and members at the heart of how we work together. You can strengthen your application by showing the behaviours that resonate with you, and how you might have already demonstrated these.
- Say it straight - This is about being honest and direct with good intent and saying what needs to be said in the room. It’s also about being clear, precise, and using language that we and, importantly, our customers and members can understand.
- Push for better - This is about aiming high and constantly looking for better in how we work together and serve our customers and members.
- Get it done - This is about prioritising what will have the greatest impact, being decisive and taking accountability for delivering on the end-to-end outcome.
We know applying for jobs can sometimes feel like you’re sending an application into a black hole. We review each application individually. So, it’s a good idea to call out your most relevant experience on your application to give yourself the best chance.
The extras you’ll get
There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:
- A personal pension – if you put in 7% of your salary, we’ll top up by a further 16%
- Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year
- Life assurance worth 8x your salary
- A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
- Gympass – Access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness.
- Access to an annual performance related bonus
- Access to training to help you develop and progress your career
- 25 days holiday, pro rata
What makes us different
Nationwide is the world’s largest building society. With over 15 million customers, we have a relationship with almost a quarter of the UK’s population. We’ve got the scale to compete with the big banks, but we’re not a bank.
As a building society, we’re owned by our members – that’s our customers who have their current account, mortgage or savings with us. It means we can do things differently to deliver our Purpose – Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society.
When you work at Nationwide, you can experience that difference for yourself. You’ll be part of a high-performing, purpose-driven organisation that offers rewarding career experiences and a highly competitive range of benefits to match. You’ll also be joining us at an important time as we seek to reach more and more people in the UK. We want everyone in the UK to know that they don’t have to bank with a bank. They can choose a modern mutual instead.
What to do next
If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us.
We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.
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