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About them
Social Security Scotland is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. They have been set up to administer the new Scottish social security system. Their aim: Contribute to the creation of a fairer society. Their vision: Provide support to each of us when we need it.
About the role
Social Security Scotland's Live Service team is responsible for the maintenance and further development of the live benefit services being delivered to clients. The team is multi-disciplinary and brings together a vast range of skills and expertise to ensure that clients are at the centre of the design and development of all continuous improvement activity.
User researchers undertake research that supports teams to design policy and services, so that they can design services that work well for people and achieve policy intent. You will work with the team to develop a shared understanding of the people who use the service and what they need. You will plan, design, and undertake user research activities. You will contribute to the design of inclusive and accessible services.
A Senior User Researcher is an experienced researcher who can lead research activity on complex services. A senior user researcher can influence and mentor others.
At this role level, you will:
* have responsibility for planning and carrying out user research activities across complex services
* help set direction and embed good practice within teams
* be responsible for creating user research documentation, for example ethics documentation
* align user research activities with wider plans to inform a service proposition
* identify and share research insights across teams to avoid duplication of research effort
* supervise and develop other user researchers to assure and improve research practice
* engage with and contribute to the Scottish Government user research community of practice
Responsibilities
Analysis and synthesis
* Execute and manage analysis of complex research data
* Help teams to apply a range of methods to analyse research data and synthesise findings
* Engage a range of people, including sceptical colleagues, in analysis and synthesis
* Advise on the choice and application of techniques and can critique findings to assure best practice and maintain research standards
* Present and document clear findings that colleagues can understand, use, and reuse across the organisation and practice
Inclusive research
* Help teams understand the diversity of users of government services
* Champion the inclusion of a diverse range of users in appropriate user research activity to help shape the service design, especially those who face the most barriers or who aren’t currently using the service
* Develop research that supports delivery of an equitable service
* Advocate inclusive practices, help teams design, and deliver accessible and equitable services that work for all users
* Understand the importance of assisted digital and champion the needs of people who are unable to use digital services
User research methods
* Demonstrate experience in a wide range of user research methods and help teams to adopt them
* Plan and manage user research for services with challenging user needs and complex user journeys
* Advise practitioners on the choice and application of research methods to assure best practice
* Identify and effectively manage participation of teams, stakeholders, and users in research activities
* Trial new methods or approaches to continue to develop the methodological toolkit
Agile research practices
* Advocate for agile working
* Adapt how you design and conduct user research to respond to the complexity of the product environment
* Understand the strategic decisions the team needs to make so you can design appropriate research
* Influence decisions about priorities and agile processes in the team
* Work in agile teams and help them to manage and visualise outcomes, prioritise work, define scope for research to deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) or change
Research management, leadership and assurance
* Design user research activity that has a clearly defined scope and purpose and aligns to project goals
* Grow your knowledge of good practice standards for user research
* Implement legal and ethical research standards and processes and contribute to the creation of relevant documentation
* Improve your practice through reflection and feedback
* Contribute to user research strategies and processes, balancing business objectives and needs of users
* Engage with and contribute to the Scottish Government user research community of practice
Stakeholder relationship management
* Identify important stakeholders and communicate with them clearly and regularly
* Tailor communication to stakeholders' needs and work with them to build relationships, while also meeting user needs
* Build and reach consensus
* Work to improve stakeholder relationships, using evidence to explain decisions made
* Design user research activity and communicate findings that balance the needs of the business and user context
* Design user research to inform evidence-based decision making by producing actionable insights
User-centred practice and advocacy
* Evaluate and choose approaches for building your team’s understanding of the user
* Advocate for user-centred design practices with sceptical colleagues and stakeholders
* Help inexperienced teams to adopt a range of user-centred practices
* Identify the most important risks and opportunities for your team’s service development
* Align user research plans to address team priorities
* Evaluate user research tools and approaches to achieve research goals, including evaluation and management/overseeing of third-party contracts
Essential Experience
Your experience of leading analysis and synthesis methods allows you to analyse complex data sources and produce robust and actionable research insights that can be used across team.
Your experience of leading ethical and inclusive user research activity and including a diverse range of users allows you to advocate for and support the design of inclusive and accessible services within a team.
Technical skills
This role is aligned to Senior User Researcher within the Digital, Data and Technology Profession.
They will assess you against the following technical skills during the selection process:
1. User research methods- (Level: Practitioner)
2. Research management, leadership and assurance - (Level: Practitioner)
3. Stakeholder Relationship Management - (Level: Practitioner)
4. Analysis and synthesis - (Level: Practitioner)
5. Inclusive research - (Level: Practitioner)
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