User Researcher

Job summary

About OPSS

Do you care about the safety of products and want to protect people and places? Can we use your skills, knowledge and experience to enable UK business to thrive? If the answer is yes, then we would like to hear from you!

We are the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), part of the Department for Business Innovation Science & Trade. We are here for the purpose of making regulation work to deliver real world impact. Regulation is a powerful Government tool to address market failures, influence behaviour and promote positive action. Crafted and delivered well, regulation can be an enabler of growth, innovation and efficiency.

Since early 2018 we have been building a positive and creative team that enjoys a position of influence and respect within an organisation that continues to grow.

Our primary purpose is to protect people and places from product-related harm, ensuring consumers and businesses can buy and sell products with confidence

Further information can be found on our website here.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. We embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills. There is a guaranteed interview scheme (DCS) for people with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We are Inclusive

We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible and recognise how important inclusivity is to achieve the best outcomes. We hope to attract applications from all underrepresented groups.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation if required to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

Job description

About the team

We are the OPSS Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) team, and we build digital, data and technology solutions to support consumer product regulation.

​Our team is a mix of civil servants and contractors that collaborate in agile service teams working on user centred designs.

​We have an exciting portfolio of services that have internal and external users and there are already further services in our pipeline for future development.

This is an exciting time to be at OPSS DDaT. As a fast-growing area of the Department for Business Innovation Science and Trade, we’re raising compliance standards across the board and making a real-world impact on millions of lives nationwide.

​We are currently looking for a User Researcher who will be expected to use their research and analysis skills to identify and communicate user needs to their service teams, informing the decision making of their projects.

​OPSS has sites in Birmingham, London and Teddington. For this role, you can be based in Birmingham or London. There will be a need to travel to our other sites on occasions.

About the role

Do you have a passion for user research in digital?

​User researchers support our service teams by planning and carrying out research activity that identifies user needs and requirements. You’ll work with a diverse set of users across our existing and future services and be required to determine and deliver the optimal research approach.

​We need excellent user researchers to take a lead role in our projects and ensure that our services deliver to user needs and that research activity informs the decision making of the team. If you enjoy working with diverse users and ensuring your teams deliver user-centred practices, then we want to hear from you!

​Our digital service portfolio is continually growing, with services at different stages of the service delivery lifecycle: discovery through to live. Depending on priorities, you could be working on an existing live service or one that’s in the development pipeline. Along with the rest of the team, you’ll be helping lead OPSS colleagues through the service development lifecycle.

​Our flexible working policy ensures a healthy work-life balance. We also nurture talent and offer a broad range of learning and development opportunities that will help you flourish in your role.

​We work hard to maintain a positive working culture and are committed to helping you fulfil your potential. We value diversity and provide an open, inclusive and supportive environment to help you do your best work.

​If you are successful in your written application, you will be invited to interview where your knowledge of delivering user research as part of a multidisciplinary team will be discussed.

Key responsibilities

As a User Researcher at OPSS, you will:

• ​align user research activities to help your team understand changing user behaviour.
• ​apply techniques for the analysis of research data and synthesis of findings.
• ​understand the diversity of users of government services and the need to make services usable and accessible for everyone.
• ​use user research methods to establish user needs and involve your team in research activities.
• ​align user research activities to inform decision making and action in the team.
• ​apply knowledge of the technologies used to build and operate digital services.
• ​apply a range of user-centred practices and work with colleagues to plan and do continuous user research in a multidisciplinary team.
• ​Support and develop a Junior User Researcher.

​You can find out more about what we expect from a User Researcher here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/user-researcher

We are looking for candidates with the experience that matches the responsibilities listed previously. We are keen to promote diversity, and we are not realistically expecting any applicant to have experience of every responsibility. You should apply if you think you have experience related to the majority of the role responsibilities, and we will support you on the job to fill gaps in experience.

Person specification

Essential criteria

The below criteria are essential and will be assessed at application stage;

• Good problem solving and ability to help others.
• Able to communicate to clarify, help, influence and challenge constructively
• A passion for improving things and taking a user centred focus
• A self-starter who is a proactive member of any team
• Determination to constantly learn and develop

Behaviours

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

• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving

Technical skills

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

• Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework: Analysis and Synthesis - Working skill level https://understand-digital-data-roles-skills.service.gov.uk/skills/#ana…

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,666, Department for Business and Trade contributes £10,911 towards you being a member