Consulting User Researcher - Public Sector (GDS/UCD) Professional Multiple Cities

International Business Machines Corporation; Leicester; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consulting firm in the UK seeks a User Researcher specializing in public sector projects. In this hybrid role, you will conduct comprehensive user research, design research plans, and analyze findings to drive user-centered design. Ideal candidates possess a Bachelor's degree and experience in user research methodologies. The company offers extensive training, promotion opportunities, and a culture focused on innovation and inclusion. Join us to impact significant projects within the public sector.

Benefits

Training opportunities

Generous holiday allowance

Flexible working arrangements

Private medical and dental insurance

Qualifications

• Proven experience in user research within a government or public sector context.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to articulate research findings.

Responsibilities

• Conduct comprehensive user research across diverse demographics.
• Design and execute research plans including surveys and usability tests.
• Analyze findings to draw actionable insights.

Skills

User research methodologies

Communication skills

Data analysis

Agile/Scrum

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

SurveyMonkey

Excel

R

Job description

At IBM CIC, we provide technical and industry expertise to a wide range of public and private sector clients in the UK.

A career in IBM CIC means you’ll have the opportunity to work with leading professionals across multiple industries to improve the hybrid cloud and AI journey for the most innovative and valuable companies in the world. You will get the chance to deliver effective solutions, driving meaningful business change for our clients, using some of the latest technology platforms.

Curiosity and a constant quest for knowledge serve as the foundation to success here. You’ll be encouraged and supported to constantly reinvent yourself, focusing on skills in demand in an ever changing market. You’ll be working with diverse teams, coming up with creative solutions which impact a wide network of clients, who may be at their site or one of our CIC or IBM locations. Our culture of evolution centres on long-term career growth and development opportunities in an environment that embraces your unique skills and experience.

We offer:

• Many training opportunities from classroom to e-learning, mentoring and coaching programs and the chance to gain industry recognized certifications
• Regular and frequent promotion opportunities to ensure you can drive and develop your career with us
• Feedback and checkpoints throughout the year
• Diversity & Inclusion as an essential and authentic component of our culture through our policies and process as well as our Employee Champion teams and support networks
• A culture where your ideas for growth and innovation are always welcome
• Internal recognition programs for peer-to-peer appreciation as well as from manager to employees
• Tools and policies to support your work-life balance from flexible working approaches, sabbatical programs, paid paternity leave, maternity leave and an innovative maternity returners scheme
• More traditional benefits, such as 25 days holiday (in addition to public holidays), private medical, dental & optical cover, online shopping discounts, an Employee Assistance Program, life assurance and a group personal pension plan of an additional 5% of your base salary paid by us monthly to save for your future.

In this role, you'll work in one of our IBM Consulting Client Innovation Centers (Delivery Centers), where we deliver deep technical and industry expertise to a wide range of public and private sector clients around the world. Our delivery centers offer our clients locally based skills and technical expertise to drive innovation and adoption of new technology.

Your role and responsibilities

• Conduct comprehensive user research across diverse demographics to gather insights and understand user behaviors, motivations, and pain points.
• Design and execute research plans, including surveys, interviews, usability tests, and focus groups, to gather qualitative and quantitative data.
• Analyze research findings to draw actionable insights and recommendations that drive the design process.
• Create personas, user journeys, and user flow diagrams to illustrate user needs and behaviors.
• Collaborate with Service Designers, stakeholders, and cross-functional teams to ensure research findings are integrated into the design process.
• Stay current with the latest research methodologies and tools, and advocate for their application within the organization.
• Communicate research findings and recommendations clearly and persuasively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Required education

None

Preferred education

Bachelor's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

• Lead user research efforts, focusing on understanding public sector users' needs, behaviors, and pain points, including creating user personas, journey maps, and other research artifacts.
• Ensure all research activities adhere to GDS guidelines, including the Service Manual and Digital Principles.
• Employ a variety of research methods to gather insights, including but not limited to surveys, interviews, usability testing, and focus groups.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams, including developers, product managers, and stakeholders from the public sector client, to integrate research findings into the design process.
• Share research knowledge and best practices with both internal teams and external stakeholders, contributing to the broader digital transformation efforts of the public sector client.
• Play a key role in the delivery of digital projects, from initial research through to launch and beyond, ensuring that the final product meets the needs of users and adheres to GDS standards.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Proven experience in user research within a government or public sector context.
• Proficiency in using research tools such as SurveyMonkey, Optimal Workshop, or UserTesting.com.
• Experience with data analysis tools like Excel, R, or SPSS.
• Knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies and experience working within an Agile environment.
• Familiarity with GDS Service Manual, Digital Principles, and other relevant guidelines.
• Certifications in User Research, such as the User Research Association's Certified User Researcher program, are highly desirable but not mandatory.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate research findings effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple research projects simultaneously and adapt to changing priorities.

As an equal opportunities’ employer, we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds. However, for you to be eligible for this role, you must have the valid right to work in the UK. Unfortunately, we do not offer visa sponsorship and have no future plans to do so. You must be a resident in the UK and have been living continuously in the UK for the last 10 years. You must be able to hold or gain a UK government security clearance.

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Consulting is IBM’s consulting and global professional services business, with market leading capabilities in business and technology transformation. With deep expertise in many industries, we offer strategy, experience, technology, and operations services to many of the most innovative and valuable companies in the world. Our people are focused on accelerating our clients’ businesses through the power of collaboration. We believe in the power of technology responsibly used to help people, partners and the planet.

YOUR LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.

Are you ready to be an IBMer?

ABOUT IBM

IBM’s greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.

Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we’re also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.

At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it’s time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILS

IBM wants you to bring your whole self to work and for you this might mean the ability to work flexibly. If you are interested in a flexible working pattern, please talk to our recruitment team to find out if this is possible in the current working environment.

Job Title

User Researcher - Public Sector (GDS/UCD)

Job ID

57894

City / Township / Village

State / Province

Country

United Kingdom

Work arrangement

Hybrid

Area of work

Consulting

Employment type

Regular

Position type

Professional

Up to 80% or 4 days a week (home on weekends - based on project requirements)

Company

Shift

General (daytime)

Is this role a commissionable/sales incentive based position?