About the job

Job summary

Digital transformation of public services is vital to delivering the services that the people of Wales expect and need. The Welsh Government currently delivers digital services to people and business across Wales. Led by our Chief Digital Officer, the DDaT profession in the Welsh Government supports a range of digital services across the whole organisation.  

As part of our DDaT profession, you will be a key part of the User Research team and will make a significant and direct contribution for the people of Wales. 

The UX project is at the forefront of our work to ensure we have the capacity and capability to support more user and citizen involvement, innovation and collaboration in policy and service development. Improving user experience and increasing user involvement are key priorities for our digital services and wider policy and citizen engagement work. Increased participation from citizens is a priority for the First Minister and Cabinet. 

Role 

As a Senior User Researcher, you will lead on research activity related to the establishment of the UX Centre of Excellence service and conduct research for projects identified within our programme of work.  This includes:  providing specialist advice and consultancy on research and user need as well as end to end project support for services or projects that require professional user research input. This could range from helping teams map out their user research requirements and plan for a particular service or project to leading a user research team to deliver a focused piece of work. You will play a lead role in supporting wider organisational capability building as well as within the Lab team – delivering training and facilitating workshops and events and maturing our internal and external UR/UX community networks. 

Job description

We would love to hear from you if you have: 

• the ability to undertake research and communicate bilingually in Welsh and English (desirable not essential). 
• experience of advocating for user research and engaging colleagues and stakeholders. 
• experience of helping teams to adopt user centred service design and delivery practices and embed them into their agile workflow. 
• the ability to understand the complex problems a team is trying to solve and align user research activities to inform decision making and action. 
• the ability to understand the complex problems a team is trying to solve and align user research activities to inform decision making and action. 
• experience of helping teams adopt a wide range of user research methods, analysis and synthesis techniques and approaches to presenting and sharing findings. 
• proven experience of introducing new user research methods into a team, and guiding colleagues in the choice and effective application of research methods. 
• the ability to include all kinds of users in appropriate research activities to help teams understand the diversity of users of government services. 
• experience in using research findings to create impact within an organisation and to influence decision making within service teams and at senior levels. 
• advocating for user research and engaging sceptical colleagues and stakeholders in research 
• a good understanding of the social and technological context for government services, and experience of aligning user research activities to help teams understand changing user behaviour‍. 
• at least 3-5 years' experience in conducting research, preferably within the public sector. 
• proven experience of working in multidisciplinary teams to embed user 
  - centred design practices in an agile environment. 
• a good understanding of the social and technological context of government services. 
• strong facilitation skills and experience of delivering training. 

 What the organisation will expect 

• You will be responsible for managing defined areas of work using your specialist knowledge or experience to exercise 
  sound judgement when interpreting complex or conflicting information weighing up all evidence to produce innovative 
  solutions to problems. 
• You will be adaptable, flexible, open to, and accepting of change affecting you and your area of work and deal with that  
  change efficiently and professionally.
• You will show political awareness and an understanding of the political landscape when considering the impact of your  
  decision and work on the wider business area and when formulating proposals for Senior Managers and Ministers. 

What your team will expect 

• You may be required to manage a team setting clear direction on achieving their objectives. You will support team 
  members in their work such as complex areas of work; work allocation and prioritisation; performance management; 
  training and development; mentoring and coaching. 
• You will value diversity and inclusion, creating an environment where individuals feel safe to challenge, share ideas and  
  express concerns adopting an inclusive leadership style. 
• You will be responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining systems or processes ensuring excellence or  
  value for money. 

What key stakeholders will expect 

• You will take the lead in creating, building and maintaining constructive relationships at all levels. 
• You will be able to tailor and adapt your communication style (written and oral) to advise, guide, influence and 
  persuade internal and external stakeholders as appropriate.   

Person specification

• Planning, designing, and preparing a range of user research activities to support the UX Lab project or any associated projects.
• Carrying out a wide range of user research activities from recruiting participants and conducting moderated user research and interview sessions to analysing findings, developing user personas and journey maps, and designing prototypes.
• Designing and running discovery research to develop a deep understanding of the needs of users.
• Advocating and championing inclusive research and accessible design.
• Providing expert advice on user research and user centred approaches.
• Lead colleagues to analyse research data and synthesise clear and actionable findings.
• Communicate user research findings to help others develop a deep understanding of users and their needs.
• Design and deliver training that builds organisational capability on user research and user centred practices.
• Act as a mentor and guide for junior user researchers and line manage junior user researchers within the UX lab project team.
  
• Contribute to the user research community - including taking a lead role in the community steering group, presenting at events, writing blog posts, and leading on aspects of practice.

You will have the opportunity to work with multiple projects and programmes across all areas of Welsh Government, with staff at all levels including senior staff, Ministers, and our Digital Apprentice cohort.

You will help build and improve links and collaboration within the cross-government Digital, Data and Technology community.

You will have access to training opportunities and build your networks across the Public Sector.

Want to find out more?

To help explain the application process and answer any questions about our Senior User Research position, we will be hosting two MS Teams Webinars on 12/03/2024 @ 14:00 or 20/03/2024 @ 13:00.  There will be the opportunity to speak bi-lingually in the session. Please contact DDaT@gov.wales to be sent the meeting link for your preferred date.

Benefits

All Welsh Government staff are members of the Civil Service, and as a result are eligible for:

• Civil Service Pension Scheme
• 31 days annual leave (pro-rated for part time)
• training and development opportunities
• Cycle2Work Scheme
• Smart Working flexible working arrangement
• Green Car Scheme (subject to availability)

If you are an active Civil Service Pension member you can continue your membership throughout your employment with us.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Technical skills.

Welsh Government, like all other Government Departments use Success Profiles when we recruit. For each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job. It raises performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

The selection process and stages are:

Number of Stages:	2 stage process
Stage 1	Application Form
Stage 2	Interview

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.