User Researcher

Salary £43,421 - £48,474 per annum | Full time, Permanent, 37 hours per week | Preston

User Researcher

Change Service

Preston, Lancashire (Hybrid working between County Hall and your home residence is expected, with regular on-site working, aligned with business needs and demand. On average, a minimum of 60% of your working time should be at County Hall)

International Sponsorship – this role is not open to international sponsorship

Introduction

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced User Researcher to join our new Service Design Team, within our newly establish Change Service.

The User Researcher will help to develop LCC's view of our internal and external customers and their needs, working with customers and services, helping to develop a deep understanding of their requirements, patterns of use and ensuring that they are involved in informing the design of services. The User Researcher will undertake user-centred design and user research activities, working collaboratively with colleagues across Service Design.

The Role

What we are looking for…

The User Researcher will work with the Senior User Researcher to build and lead a user research team, developing and facilitating a range of user research activities and engagement across a wide range of services.

The User Researcher will be skilled in developing and leading both qualitative and quantitative research methods and embedding analysis and synthesis techniques, acting as a bridge between data and lived experience.

Excellent communication, interpersonal and stakeholder management skills are key to the role, as the User Researcher will be a passionate advocate of user-centred design across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Strong understanding of the user research profession and skills
• Experience and understanding of both user-centred design and service design
• Ability to identify and develop problem statements
• Ability to use diverse research methods to illicit insights into customer and staff need, designing comprehensive research exercises, and translating these into evidence-based recommendations and reports
• Work as part of a multidisciplinary team, including with Digital Services, to lead on a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methods to conduct secondary and primary research, including developing and facilitating user engagement opportunities
• Develop and embed analysis and synthesis techniques to develop actionable insights, working with wider council colleagues and teams to ensure robust impact measurement and lead on the evaluation of work throughout a design and delivery process
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including an ability to build strong relationships at senior management level
• Utilise a variety of methods and tools to work with service areas, residents and multi-disciplinary teams to understand people, context, experiences, culture, testing ideas and evaluating impact

Why join us…

Benefits: There's fabulous flexibility and the opportunity to create the work life balance you'll love; 26-32 days annual leave, dependent on length of service, plus 10 statutory/bank holidays and an additional 20 days that can be purchased too. We have a great Employee Assistance Programme for your family and yourself plus a generous Local Authority Pension available. Finally, we have an enviable employee benefits platform which provides numerous discounts from your weekly shop to holidays and entertainment with salary sacrifice options on electronics, bicycles, white goods, and cars.

Development: we'll provide support and development at each stage of your journey with us from induction through to ongoing personal and professional development. There will be opportunities for career progression both vertically but also into other areas of the organisation if you wish. There will be time for reflection and interaction with your line manager, as well as peer support from those within the wider team.

Inclusivity: we don't have a "one size fits all" idealism, we embrace diversity and that includes around personal and family requirements so appreciate that you'll want to be working from home when you can, your hours may vary or change and for us – delivering successful outcomes is more important than watching the clock

How to apply…

Please feel free to contact us for an initial informal and confidential chat – Email Ellen Smith at ellen.smith@lancashire.gov.uk to arrange a convenient time for a discussion.

Please ensure you have uploaded and attached your supporting statement to evidence how you meet the criteria for the role detailed in the Job Description and Person Specification. The panel may be unable to shortlist you for interview without this evidence.

Closing Date: 8 th April 2024 Interviews: provisionally week commencing 8 th April 2024

We reserve the right to close down a vacancy early, before the closing date, if we receive sufficient applications.

Your ability to meet the job requirements will initially be assessed by the information provided on your application but further assessment will be undertaken at interview and, in some cases, by using other types of assessment(s).

If you're already a Lancashire County Council employee you must apply via the internal vacancies option on Oracle Fusion . You can do this by logging into Oracle Fusion and then going to Me - Current Jobs.

Job Description & Person Specification