Summary
A head of user research leads user researchers in an organisation and attracts and builds talent. At this role level, you will:
be an expert practitioner who can define and assure best practice
influence organisational strategy and priorities
collaborate with colleagues across government
Work Activity Components
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Generative research (Level 6) | Champions user-centred design and secures organisational commitment to the significant involvement of users in research to achieve a deep understanding of their current and future needs. |
| Collaboration (Level 6) User research | Collaborates with internal and external partners to facilitate effective user research. |
Behavioural Skills
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Information Acquisition | Identifying gaps in the available information required to understand a problem or situation and devising a means of resolving them. |
| Strategic Perspective | Keeping organisational objectives and strategies in mind, and ensuring courses of action are aligned with the strategic context. |
| Commercial Orientation | Understanding commercial considerations and ensuring alignment with them when making decisions or recommending actions. |
| Interacting with People | Establishing relationships, contributing to an open culture and maintaining contacts with people from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Effective, approachable and sensitive communicator in different communities and cultures. Ability to adapt style and approach to meet the needs of different audiences. |
| Influence, Persuasion and Personal Impact | Conveying a level of confidence and professionalism when engaging with stakeholders, influencing positively and persuading others to take a specific course of action when not in a position of authority. |
| Leadership | Clearly articulating goals and objectives, and motivating and leading others towards their achievement. |
Technical Skills
| Title | Details | Depth |
|---|---|---|
| Systems Ergonomics and Iterative Design | Iterative methods and techniques to allocate and optimise the division of functions between the human, machine and organisational elements of IT systems and the functions themselves in terms of ergonomic impact. Systematic and iterative design of the physical and cognitive interfaces to create an effective user experience in a software system, product or service with attention paid to variety of locations and access devices employed by users. | Expert in |
Other Skills
| Title | Details | Depth |
|---|---|---|
| Presentation Techniques | Methods and techniques for delivering effective and accessible presentations, either face-to-face or online within various contexts and to a variety of audiences. | Proficient in |
Training
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Latest Cyber Security Threats for Senior Execs | Short, high-level, up-to-date and to-the-point briefing on the latest threats and vulnerabilities in cyber security. |
Professional Development Activity (PDA)
| Title | Details | PDA Group |
|---|---|---|
| Mentoring | Acting as a mentor, advising those for whom there is no direct responsibility, on matters to do with their job role, career and professional development. | Broadening Activities |
| Gaining Knowledge of Broader IT Issues | Increasing and maintaining currency of knowledge of broader IT issues through reading, attending and participating in seminars or conferences, special studies, temporary assignments etc. | Increasing Knowledge |
| Gaining Strategic Knowledge of Employing Organisation | Developing a comprehensive understanding of the business environment in which the employing organisation operates and its position, policies and direction in relation to health and care, country and global issues. | Increasing Knowledge |
| Gaining Knowledge of Standards and Legislation | Gaining and maintaining knowledge of relevant national and international standards and legislation. | Increasing Knowledge |
| Participation in Professional Body Affairs | Taking an active part in professional body affairs at branch, specialist group, committee or board level. | Participation in Professional Activities |
| General Management | Continuing learning and development in general management skills, such as effective communication, leadership styles and skills, team building and team roles, motivation and delegation, planning and resource scheduling, influencing, persuasion and negotiation, so as to be in a position to accept greater responsibility at senior management or director (including non-exec) level. | Developing Professional Skills |
Qualification Components
| Title | Awarding Bodies |
|---|---|
| FEDIP Leading Practitioner | The Federation for Informatics Professionals |
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework Skills
| Skill | Level |
|---|---|
|
Agile research practices Agile delivery involves encouraging teams to build incrementally, test and iterate their work based on regular feedback and other useful data. |
Expert Agile research practices You can:
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Analysis and synthesis Analysis and insight involves examining, interpreting and analysing data to help make informed decisions. |
Expert Analysis and synthesis You can: help an organisation to adopt a wide range of analysis and synthesis techniques, and to continually assure, improve and innovate their practices to generate clear and valuable findings |
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Inclusive research Incident management involves coordinating the response to incident reports, ensuring effective prioritisation, investigation and resolution. |
Expert Inclusive research You can: help organisations understand the diversity of users of government services guide organisations to adopt inclusive practices and apply what they learn to design and deliver accessible services that work for all users |
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Research management, leadership and assurance Leadership and guidance involves providing effective leadership and management through team motivation, decision making, risk management, mediation and professional development |
Expert Research management, leadership and assurance You can:
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Stakeholder relationship management (business analysis) Stakeholder relationship management involves managing stakeholder requirements and communications throughout a project, while remaining focused on the user needs. |
Expert Stakeholder relationship management (business analysis) You can: develop engagement strategies and lead on communication with stakeholders at all levels actively establish relationships and apply the benefits of professional networks act as a point of consultation and escalation to resolve conflict in complex situations |
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User research methods User research involves methods to identify user needs and understand how users interact with a product or service. |
Expert User research methods You can:
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User-centred practice and advocacy User focus involves understanding the user needs to develop a detailed understanding of the problems that need to be solved. |
Expert User-centred practice and advocacy You can:
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The Professional Body Responsible for this job family is BCS. This job role profile was created in collaboration with BCS, using Role Model Plus.