About the job

Job summary

Here at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives. 

Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you’re thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time. 

We have over 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK 

Find out more about what it's like to work in a digital, data and technology role at DLUHC including our culture, ways of working, career progression and staff benefits. You can also read the DLUHC Digital blog to learn about the work we're doing. 

We are looking for an enthusiastic Junior User Researcher to work on a range of varied projects and activities in Planning, with impact on local communities. 

This role will involve working on the Planning Capacity and Capability Programme. This programme delivers a suite of interventions to support town planners in local government in building the skills and resources needed to deliver a more efficient and sustainable planning system, which can adapt to and successfully implement change. User researchers in this team design, deliver and advise on research and evaluation approaches to ensure that these interventions are delivering impact.

Working closely with User Researchers in the team, policy professionals and project managers, you’ll be supporting the design and delivery of research and evaluation with diverse users to inform government policy, funding interventions and service design. We have an active user-centred design community in the Department, and you’ll be supported by senior colleagues as well as through training and informal opportunities like shadowing.

The successful candidate will be encouraged to undertake a professional learning qualification as part of the role through a suitable apprenticeship, if this is in line with both business needs and the individual’s development needs. This is not a mandatory condition of accepting the role.

Job description

As a Junior User Researcher, you’ll:

•    Design and deliver user research to inform the creation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and improvement of government interventions and policies, with a focus on the department’s Planning Capacity and Capability programme.
•    Identify appropriate research methods to generate compelling insights and meet the aims of the research, with a focus on qualitative, creative approaches such as workshops and interviews.
•    Play a key role in the team’s research operations, managing processes to ensure diverse recruitment to research, the tagging of research data for our internal repositories, and storing data appropriately to meet GDPR requirements.
•    Engage with diverse users external to the organisation and advocate for their needs in discussions with internal teams.
•    Analyse and synthesise research data to present clear insights that speak to the needs of users within the planning system, helping to inform internal processes of design, monitoring and evaluation, as well as external publications where appropriate.
•    Communicate user research findings with teams and relevant stakeholders through presentations, show and tells and more formal reporting, as well as ensuring insights feed into their ongoing work.

Person specification

As a Junior User Researcher, you’ll have:

•    Experience of conducting qualitative research with people.
•    Understanding of different research methods and the value of applying different methods for different projects where most appropriate.
•    An ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders, present new ideas to teams in different formats, and gain feedback to inform decision and action.
•    Strong attention to detail, with the ability to spot patterns in information, draw evidenced conclusions and make recommendations in a concise and compelling way.
•    Experience of working in a fast-paced environment, meeting ambitious deadlines, delivering high-quality work on schedule, and responding to changing organisational priorities.
•    Understanding of the importance of conducting research with a diversity of users and designing inclusive policies, services and/or products.
•    Experience of working in an open and collaborative way as part of a multidisciplinary team.
•    Familiarity with using Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Powerpoint and Word.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,178, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £8,688 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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.

We are for everyone 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role.  

We are for everyone 

DLUHC want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.  

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

At application stage you will be asked to upload a CV document. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage. 

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors. 

When writing your application, remember: 

• The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.  
• Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.  
• If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!) 

At sift, we will be assessing 

Behaviour 1 - Making Effective Decisions  

Behaviour 2 - Communicating and Influencing  

Behaviour 3 - Working Together  

Technical - (lead sift question)

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

In the event that we get a significant number of applications, we may sift on the lead question (Technical).

 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:    

Behaviour – Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Delivering at Pace

Technical - User research 

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

Behaviours: Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Delivering at Pace

Technical: Yes 

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign. 

HEO salary 

• The salary for this role is £32,178 (National). 
• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

 
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.   

BENEFITS: 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018: 
Any move to DLUHC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk 

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• Birmingham
• Manchester
• Wolverhampton 
• Darlington* 
• Leeds
• Bristol

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.  

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place from Monday 12/02/2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. 

Reserve List 
 
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details in a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register 

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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.