Portfolio Lead User Researcher - Darlington, United Kingdom - Department of International Trade

Department of International Trade

Verified Company

Darlington, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

User researchers are key figures in our digital teams.

They help our teams develop a deep understanding of the people - citizens, businesses or government - who use our services.

Their findings enable our teams to design and deliver better services quickly, with less risk, and at lower cost.

We are currently looking to reinvigorate our user research function, as part of our broader User Centred Design mission to champion the needs of our users.

We're looking to increase our influence and impact.

This means developing agile, pragmatic ways of working that help teams meet the CDDO service standards while reflecting the delivery pace of the department.

We're looking at how we set and assure research standards, how we innovate our approaches, and how we support teams to understand and respond to user needs.

Our latest User Research blogtells you more. The newly formed Portfolio Lead Roles are central to making this happen.
- working with the portfolio leadership team to agree the research priorities, including advising on priorities from a user research perspective
- leading and managing the portfolio research team to ensure effective user-centred and agile delivery in line with the standards and ways of working of the DIT User Research Team
- managing recruitment and onboarding of user research staff within the portfolio and support team in career development
- leading and conducting research on the more complex, strategic research questions the portfolio has

You will be line managed by the Head of User Research.

You will work with your Portfolio Management Team to determine the projects that you and your team will work on.

You will also be task managed by one of the Profession Leads, which means they will provide coaching and guidance to support you and your team to align with the standards and ways of working we are setting as a profession.

Job description

What we are looking for from you _

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Research management and leadership_

Planning the user research programme for the portfolio: work with the portfolio management team and DMs to ensure a shared understanding of the portfolio's short

- and long-term priorities, and the research needed to meet those priorities

Play an active role in the prioritising research in the portfolio, assessing what user research is required in each delivery teams, and matching researchers to the priority requirements, taking account of their skills, experience and development needs
Work with delivery teams to ensure each prioritised project has a clear problem statement, objectives and resourcing plan, to set it up for successful delivery of user research
Support/advise/guide user researchers in the portfolio on design and delivery of their research, to ensure research is user centred and meets GDS/CDDO service standards, while being delivered pragmatically with regular deliverables to support agile delivery in the portfolio
Oversee the work of portfolio URs to assure quality and standards, be first port of call for researcher questions and team issues with delivery, and intervene where necessary if research delivery falls below the expected standard
Ensure there are opportunities for researchers in the portfolio to share their research and learn from each other, including URs in other portfolios
Keep the Head of User Research informed of progress, successes and any issues that need addressing to ensure the effective delivery of user research in the portfolio

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Staff recruitment, management and development_

Lead on recruitment and onboarding of permanent and contractor staff to ensure we have the right staff in place to meet the UR needs of the portfolio (within the agreed headcount)
Line manage permanent researchers and contract manage contractors in the portfolio, ensuring all staff have clear objectives, and are delivering against those objectives
Ensure all permanent staff have development plans in place to support developing their capabilities as a researcher, and to support their career development
Conduct regular capability assessments with staff using DDaT's Comaea framework, to support their professional development

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Conducting user research and analysis_

Take the lead on key pieces of research in the portfolio. This will tend to focus on the more complex services and strategic issues within the portfolio, though may be any area of portfolio activity, as priorities demand

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Develop an expert/advisory role for your portfolio_

Develop an expertise in the user groups for your portfolio so you can signpost previous research and provide an informed opinion about those users as new issues, questions and services arise
Based on this understanding, identify critical gaps in understanding of the portfolio's users, and the consequences of those gaps in insight. Advocate additional research to address these gaps, to help shape the portfolio roadmap and quarterly prioritisation decisions
Be an advocate for agile,