About the job

Job summary

Overview

Have you considered working for Scotland’s devolved tax authority where the work we do and the taxes we collect positively contribute to Scotland’s public services? Do you, like Revenue Scotland, have a passion to make the best use of digital technologies? If so, we would love to hear from you.

Based within Revenue Scotland’s DDaT team, the post holder will provide expertise in user research for the organisation, working collaboratively across the organisation and with partner suppliers to deliver improvements to Scotland’s devolved tax system. In addition to Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), and Scottish Landfill tax (SLfT), a further two taxes are under active development; Scottish Aggregates Tax (SAT) and Scottish Building Safety Levy (SBSL). 

Revenue Scotland is a great place to develop new skills and you will be supported in your role with learning and development to enable you to perform at your best. We prioritise the health and wellbeing of our staff and champion innovation, collaboration, and shared decision making. We empower and entrust our people with prominent levels of responsibility and autonomy. We are a small and multi-skilled organisation with around 100 staff.

Our hybrid working principles require you to attend your assigned office at least 2/3 days each month. Our hybrid approach supports a blend of home and workplace working, this should be agreed with the line manager to achieve the right balance between collaboration, in-person engagement and flexibility. Your assigned office will be Victoria Quay, Edinburgh with the opportunity to work from our Glasgow hub office.

DDaT Pay Supplement

This post attracts a £5,000 per annum pro-rata DDaT Pay Supplement after a 3 month competency qualifying period. Pay supplements are temporary payments designed to address recruitment and retention issues caused by market pressures and are subject to regular review.

Job description

Role and Responsibilities

We have recently published our Corporate Plan for 2024-27, a key element of which is the digital and data strategy. Across these three years we have a vision to integrate our digital systems to provide a single end-to-end digital tax journey for taxpayers and their agents, as well as our tax operations and compliance teams. We are building our digital capability to help us realise this ambition, including user-centred design.

As a user researcher at Revenue Scotland, you will take the lead on user research activity as part of the service design function. You will design, recruit for, and carry out user research sessions with users, both internal staff and external taxpayers or agents, to understand how they use our services to submit and administer tax returns.

Main Duties:  

• Designing and running user research using a range of methods (qualitative and quantitative) to best support business and project needs
• Working closely with teams to provide clear, actionable insights and support decision making
• Facilitating the inclusion of different types of users in research activities.
• Advocating for accessibility, assisted digital and inclusive design practices to help teams deliver accessible services that work for all.
• Supporting teams to continually improve their understanding of and engagement with users and their needs, embedding insight into their work.
• Managing the ethics and consent processes with research participants.
• Managing the use and licensing of user research tools and facilities.
• Supporting the development of data protection and equalities impact assessments.
• Understanding user-centred service design and delivery practices.
• Helping raise awareness of the social and technological context for government services.
• Contribute to the DDaT community by participating in events and reviewing processes, tools and guidance

Person specification

Essential Criteria and Qualifications

No formal qualifications are required for this role. 

1. Experience in a research role, choosing and delivering a range of research methods for different situations and contexts.
2. Experience of communicating research approaches and insights effectively to different audiences, ensuring they are understood by your stakeholders.
3. Experience of designing research sessions to ensure they are inclusive and meet the diverse needs of participants.
4. Experience of managing personal data, consent processes and other ethical considerations when working with research participants.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £36,585, Scottish Government contributes £27 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

To apply for this post, you will need to provide the information requested below via the online application process. 

A CV (no longer than two pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements - this is accessed through the candidate profile. 

A Personal Statement (no longer than 750 words) explaining why you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience suitable for this role, with reference to the essential criteria above.

When considering how your experience relates to the role, please tailor your CV and personal statement to reflect the role and the essential skills/criteria as described in the job description/person specification. 

When reviewing your application, we will be assessing your career history and achievements against the essential criteria for the role. We are looking for examples of things you have previously achieved or your knowledge in a particular field which are relevant to the role.

Below are details of the Competencies required for this role and you will be tested against these competencies if you are invited to attend the interview/assessment:  

• People Management
• Communication and Engagement
• Improving Performance
• Analysis and Use of Evidence
• DDaT Technical Skill Assessment

Additional Information

Interview and Assessment:  Dates to be confirmed.  Please note the recruitment process consists of an assessment and a competency-based interview.

If further posts are required, a reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for up to 12 months.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.