Senior User Researcher

Summary

A senior user researcher is an experienced practitioner who can plan and lead user research activities in larger teams and on more complex services. At this role level, you will:

build user-centred practices in new teams

align user research activities with wider plans to inform a service proposition

supervise and develop other user researchers to assure and improve research practice

Work Activity Components

Title	Details
Contribute, plan and drive user research (Level 4)	Contributes to selection of the user research approaches for projects and initiatives and plans own user research activities. Supports adoption of agreed approaches.
Collect, analyse and share (Level 4) User research	Collects and analyses data related to people's behaviours, needs and opinions.
Involve, synthesise and inform (Level 3) User research	Provides evidence drawn from data and research analysis to represent the user in product and design discussions.
Collaboration (Level 4) User research	Works closely with designers and design teams to help form design responses to identified research findings, ensuring design remains focussed on user needs.

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.
Attention to Detail	Applying specific quality standards to all tasks undertaken to ensure that deliverables are accurate and complete.
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.
Teamwork	Working collaboratively with others to achieve a common goal.

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.	Familiar with

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.	Familiar with

Training

Title	Details
Investigation Techniques	Investigation and elicitation techniques (such as interviews, workshops, observation, statistical analysis) to obtain complete and accurate information about business areas and systems of interest.
Information and Data Modelling	Tools and techniques used to investigate, analyse and model the structure, relationships and use of data and information within an organisation.
Human Factors Techniques	Methods and techniques for understanding human needs and limitations and for designing usable, accessible and ergonomically sound systems. Examples: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) approaches and iterative design methods and accessibility. Recognising ever evolving user expectations for use of a variety of access devices and locations and opportunities for environmental savings e.g. reducing office space, travel, etc.
Usability Evaluation Techniques	Methods and techniques for the assessment of IT product usability, accessibility and health and safety throughout the lifecycle of development projects.
Accessibility	Methods and techniques that ensure that users with physical impairments or learning disorders are not disadvantaged by the system.
Security Awareness	Tools and techniques to help users and employees understand the role they play in helping to combat information security breaches and for IT and security professionals to prevent and mitigate risk.

Professional Development Activity (PDA)

Title	Details	PDA Group
Deputising	Standing in for supervisor or manager on a temporary basis during periods of absence.	Broadening Activities
Job Shadowing and Special Assignments	Undertaking temporary periods or secondments in other roles, particularly those that offer a new perspective on own function or exposure to other environments and cultures.	Broadening Activities
Research Assignments	Exploring a topic which is not part of own normal responsibilities and presenting findings to colleagues and/or management	Increasing Knowledge
Gaining Knowledge of Activities of Employing Organisation	Developing an understanding of the potentially diverse range of activities (service, governance, administrative, regulatory, commercial, charitable, industrial, etc.) undertaken by the employing organisation.	Increasing Knowledge
Gaining Knowledge of IT Concepts and Techniques	Undertaking study, learning and, where possible, practice in IT concepts and techniques external to own function.	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
Negotiating and Influencing	Undertaking learning and practice of negotiating with and influencing others.	Developing Professional Skills
Team Leadership	Undertaking learning and practice of the skills required to lead teams, including motivation, direction, coaching, delegation, appraisal, counselling and developing others.	Developing Professional Skills

Organisational Skill Name and Description

Framework	Skill	Level
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Analysis and synthesis Analysis and insight involves examining, interpreting and analysing data to help make informed decisions.	Practitioner Analysis and synthesis You can: understand and help teams to apply a range of methods to analyse research data and synthesise findings effectively engage sceptical colleagues in analysis and synthesis advise on the choice and application of techniques, and can critique colleagues’ findings to assure best practice
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Inclusive research Incident management involves coordinating the response to incident reports, ensuring effective prioritisation, investigation and resolution.	Practitioner Inclusive research You can: help teams understand the diversity of users of government services effectively include all kinds of users in appropriate research activities advocate inclusive practices and help teams design and deliver accessible services that work for all users
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Research Requirements definition and management involves identifying and validating user or business requirements for a product or service.	Practitioner Research You can: demonstrate experience in a wide range of user research methods, and can help teams to adopt them plan user research for services with challenging user needs and complex user journeys advise colleagues on the choice and application of research methods to assure best practice
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Society and technology Service support involves fixing service faults and maintaining the underlying infrastructure, ensuring processes are in place to keep the service running efficiently.	Working Society and technology You can: understand the social and technological context of government services align user research activities to help your team understand changing user behaviour
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Strategic insight Strategy involves creating a plan to achieve a team or organisation's objectives.	Working Strategic insight You can: understand what problem the team is trying to solve align user research activities to inform decision making and action
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Technical understanding (user-centred design) Performance measurement involves collecting and interpreting data to identify how a team, product or service is performing.	Practitioner Technical understanding (user-centred design) You can: demonstrate knowledge of the technologies used to build and operate digital services collaborate closely with colleagues in different digital disciplines
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	User-centred and Agile practices	Practitioner User-centred and Agile practices You can: understand and demonstrate experience in a range of user-centred practices help inexperienced teams adopt user-centred practices and embed them into their Agile workflow advocate user research, and engage sceptical colleagues and stakeholders

Framework

Skill

Level