Lead User Researcher

Title: Lead User Researcher

Department: User Research

Contract type & working pattern

Contract

21 months (Fixed term contract until 30 June 2028)

Hours

• Full time
• Flexible working
• Home or remote working
• Compressed hours

37.5 hours per week

Salary

£57,528 - £64,750 per annum

Salary period

Yearly

Grade

(NHS AfC: Band 8a)

Specialty

Main area

User Research

The HRA is a Non Departmental Public Body with the remit to protect and promote the interests of patients and the public in health and social care research.  We do this by supporting and promoting a robust and efficient regulatory and governance framework in the UK. We provide the Research Ethics Service (RES), Confidentiality Advice function, assessments and assurances on behalf of the NHS, and learning, guidance and advice for the research community.  Our ambition is to make the UK a great place to do research, where more money invested in research goes into carrying out relevant, good quality research.

Our purpose is to ensure that research involving NHS patients and members of the public is approved through a proportionate and robust system, that they are provided with the information they need to help them decide whether they wish to take part, and that their opportunity to do so is maximised by simplifying the processes by which high quality research is assessed.  We have already delivered significant improvements by centralising and simplifying the approval of research in the NHS in England, and are undertaking a range of significant programmes to deliver further improvements.

Job overview

You will lead the User Research team and our community of users in the HRA's journey to develop and modernise its digital services using forward-thinking and evidence backed user research.

The Digital Directorate is modernising and transforming the business, ensuring the user is at the heart of everything; including the delivery of our service to clinical researchers in a continuous delivery environment.

Working  within a clear framework of accountability, you will lead and advocate for the UR team, exercise substantial responsibility and autonomy to meet objectives and delivery timeframes, and provide leadership across the directorate.

Demonstrating excellent communication skills, an in-depth understanding of UR methodologies, a knowledge of Government service standards, influencing across multiple groups and partners, you will form a deep understanding of wider user and organisational needs, participating in both internal and external activities. With a clear ability to rationalise complex technical information, you will transform this to ensure it is understandable for others to work with.

Engaging with stakeholders, you will facilitate collaborative approaches to prioritise programme and UR requirements and deliver key user insights to constantly improve the design of services; demonstrating a proactive approach to alignment with Government service standards, so that optimum outputs and solutions are delivered to meet user needs, objectives and policy intent.

Advert

The post holder will:

• Develop and assure good user research practices.
• Identify, capture and implement user needs. 
• Implement service strategy with sound research to enable excellent service design. 
• Provide guidance across projects on user research methodologies and GDS standards. 
• Represent user research at service standard assessments. 
• Determine user research standards, policies, user testing plans, roadmaps and vision. 
• Manage user data in a secure way. 
• Manage user research ethics processes. 
• Ensure teams take a user centred, evidence-based approach to service design.
• Consider accessibility and additional needs for inclusive design. 
• Combine user research and analytics to improve user experience. 
• Communicate the benefits of UI design, user testing tools, methods and standards to technical/non-technical stakeholders. 
• Evaluate research and design proposals from suppliers and make recommendations. 
• Work across multiple services and lead User Centred Design (UCD) professionals to set direction.
• Interpret strategy and translate emerging trends which might impact or benefit the organisation. 
• Draw together and present reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and complex evidence and data. 
• Manage the user research function within the UCD team.  
• Support the user research team to maintain focus on delivery, whilst instilling the importance of professional development and learning. 
• Coach and lead teams in UCD principles. 
• Onboard new staff within the team. 

Working for our organisation

At the HRA, we are committed to fostering a supportive and inclusive working environment where we actively invest in the development and empowerment of our staff, enabling them to perform at their best. We strive to promote a healthy workplace culture where wellbeing, collaboration, and professional growth are valued and encouraged.

Working at the HRA, we support flexible working, recognising that home based or hybrid arrangements provides us with the most productive environment to work well. Where possible, we’ll offer a working pattern that suits you.

The HRA offers home based contracts for all locations. Newcastle, Manchester and Nottingham based staff can be office based and hybrid working arrangements are also possible. We encourage you to speak with us to explore how this could be accommodated.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know from experience that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger, more creative workplace that helps us to deliver the best services. We welcome applications which represent the rich diversity of our community: age, disability, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and other diverse characteristics, and we have policies in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process.