User Researcher

Permanent

Full Time (37 hours per week), Flexible working, Part time, Condensed hours, Job share all considered

Up to £44,165 per annum

Location: Chelmsford / remote

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Closing Date: 11th September 2022

Now is an exciting time to join the Council’s Service Transformation team. We have a clear vision to develop modern services that meet the needs of residents, employees, and businesses in Essex.

We’re making things better by building accessible and adaptable services that are simple to use. Our work is guided by best practice principles of what makes a good service .

We have a comprehensive programme to consolidate and redesign ECC websites, making them clearer and more accessible. This will be the foundations from which we continue our work in rethinking end-to-end services and delivering the huge ambition in Everyone’s Essex .

If you are an experienced user researcher who thrives in a creative and collaborative environment, we want to hear from you.

The role

As a user researcher at ECC you will:

· plan and lead user research activities for services

· take user insights and work collaboratively within a team to design solutions

· communicate user insights to build understanding, consensus and facilitate decision making

· share skills, knowledge and working practices

· help grow the user research community of practice across ECC

On a day-to-day basis you will:

· advocate for inclusive research and design practices

· define and implement user research strategy, roadmap, and plan, including the research approach, sample, and recruitment

· lead and carry out research collaboratively with project teams and communicate findings to colleagues and stakeholders outside of the immediate team.

· lead colleagues on analysing research data and synthesising findings so that research is shareable, traceable and supports the generation of ideas and actions

· derive insights, themes and user research findings that identify user needs and inform hypothesis driven design

· deliver actionable insights that lead to valuable product and service features

· test prototypes with users to inform policy and future investment decisions

Skills and experience

· have experience of user research methods and you know when and how to apply them correctly

· have experience helping teams understand the diversity of users of government services and advocate for inclusive practices

· understand how to apply techniques for the analysis of research data and synthesis of findings and have experience of involving your team in analysis and synthesis

· able to understand what problem the team is trying to solve and align user research activities to inform decision making and action

· have experience helping design and deliver accessible services that work for all users

· can communicate research in a way that engages stakeholders and teams to create shared understanding and alignment

· have some knowledge of the technologies used to build and operate digital services and understand the different technical roles in a digital team

· have experience of working in agile, multi-disciplinary teams from discovery through to a live service

To read more about Service Transformation and the wider People and Transformation function at the Council please visit https://www.workingforessex.com/role/people-and-transformation

Why Essex? Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us here .

To view our Organisational Behaviours information please follow this link .

Benefits of working for us

This is a great role in a vibrant and growing team. You’ll find an inclusive culture and a place where your opinion is valued.

We’re also a sociable bunch. We regularly get together for team lunches and to celebrate our successes.

You can find out more about us and the work we do on Service Transformation blog .

The Council has developed a package of benefits that we hope resonates with you. You can find out more about our pay and reward offer on our Working for Essex website .

It’s important to us that we represent the communities that we serve, and we want a diverse workforce and an inclusive working environment. You can find out more about our commitment to equality and diversity on our Equality and Diversity page .

What next

If you would like a chat about the role then we’d love to hear from you. Please email Victoria.James@essex.gov.uk

Please include a covering letter in your application. This should demonstrate capability for all the bullet points listed under “Skills and experience”. Please try to use real examples and tell us what the situation was, what you did and what the result was.

If your application is shortlisted, you’ll be invited to attend an interview between 20th and 22nd September 2022.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community here .

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk