About the job

Job summary

We’re looking for an exceptional Senior User Researcher - Aviation to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Senior User Researcher - Aviation you will be based at Exeter HQ. This job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and the location advertised will be your contractual place of work.

Why join us?

We invest in our people to unlock their full potential. As our Senior User Researcher - Aviation, we will support you to develop and thrive to be the best you can be.  We champion positive physical and mental health in the workplace and are committed to being an inclusive organisation, providing a working culture that actively values an equal and diverse workforce. 

Who we are:

We provide critical weather services and world-leading climate science to deliver extraordinary impact and benefit across the globe. Our work helps people make better decisions to stay safe and thrive.

Together:

• We’re a force for good - focusing on our environmental and social impact
• We’re experts by nature - always learning and developing to do things better
• We live and breathe it - putting our purpose at the heart of decision-making
• We’re better together - understanding partnerships and inclusivity make us greater
• We keep evolving - pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers

Find out more about our values - https://bit.ly/3fokaRD

Job description

As our Senior User Researcher, you will be working in the Aviation team to create and evolve multiple products and services that really make a difference. You will represent the voice of our diverse range of users by using user-centred design methodologies to deeply understand their needs. You’ll be at the heart of our dedicated User Experience team, championing UX best practice within your projects to build a user focused culture.

As our Senior User Researcher - Aviation you will use your experience and skills to:

• Plan and lead user research activities across multiple products and services
• Support our Product Managers with insights to prioritise UX resources efficiently
• Conduct user research to provide insights that inform the creation of Met Office services and products
• Support the creation of prototypes by providing wireframes and low-fidelity designs
• Present user insights to stakeholders, teams and users to help align and inform decision-making
• Build user-centred practices in multidisciplinary agile teams
• Align user research activities with business needs to inform service propositions
• Recommend the best tools and approaches to understand the user needs
• Be an active member of the UX practice to help embed and grow a user-centred culture across the organisation

Person specification

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

1. Research. You can demonstrate experience in a wide range of user research methods, and can help teams to adopt them. You can plan user research for services with challenging user needs and complex user journeys. You can conduct user research based on best practice and effectively involve your team in research activities.
2. Analysis and synthesis. You can understand and help teams to apply a range of methods to analyse research data and synthesise findings. You can effectively engage sceptical colleagues in analysis and synthesis. You can advise on the choice and application of techniques, present clear findings that colleagues can understand, and can critique findings to assure best practice.
3. User-centred and Agile practices. You can understand and demonstrate experience in a range of user-centred practices. You can help inexperienced teams adopt user-centred practices and embed them into their Agile workflow. You can advocate user research and engage colleagues and stakeholders. You can effectively work with colleagues to plan and do continuous user research in a multidisciplinary team. (Expert by Nature)
4. Strategic insight. You can understand what problem the team is trying to solve. You can plan user research activities to inform decision making and resource requirements to keep evolving our products. You can align user research activities to help your team understand changing user behaviour.
5. Technical understanding. You can demonstrate knowledge of the technologies used to build and operate digital services. You can collaborate closely with colleagues in different digital disciplines.
6. Community collaboration. We work better together. You can be an active member and advocate of the user-centred design community to encourage a user focused culture.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,838, Met Office contributes £10,486 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

How to apply:

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you. Apply below using your CV and a Cover Letter/Supporting Statement which evidences how you meet each of the essential criteria - we recommend candidates use the CARL (Context, Action, Result and Learning) method for presenting evidence of skills.

Closing date 12/03/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 25/03/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed. Our interviews are taking place remotely via Microsoft Teams.

If successful, please note we are unable to offer expenses for travel to your normal place of work. Please ask at interview if you would like extra clarity on how often this requirement is likely to be.

How we can help:

If you are considering applying and need support to do so, please contact us via Careers@metoffice.gov.uk. You can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us. Should you be offered an interview, please be aware there may be a selection exercise which could include a presentation, written test or a scenario-based activity. You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.

We understand that great minds don’t always think alike and as an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code.

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK - please refer to GOV.UK for information. We require Security clearance, for which you need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.

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

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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.