Job Application

Job Description

Role Title:Lead User Researcher 12 month Fixed term Contract

Salary: National ranging from £67,100 to £85,000 and London from £73,700 to £93,500

Are you interested in joining a growing user centred design team, putting the needs of people who use the FCA's vital products and services at the heart of design and development?

The team/department

This role sits within the User Centred Design Team within the Digital Delivery Hub. We are part of the Data, Technology & Innovation (DTI) Division leading the FCA in harnessing the power of data and advanced analytics to transform financial regulation.

What you will be doing (the role)

As a Lead User Researcher at the FCA you will work within a specialist user-centred design (UCD) team to help increase the maturity of UCD across the organisation, and provide expert user research support to emerging multi-disciplinary digital product teams to design new products and services that help our users achieve their goals:

Set, maintain and iterate standards for user research practice

Provide profession leadership for the wider user research community in DTI

Alongside other Design Lead roles, form a user-centred design leadership group

Spend a portion of time working within a programme to help build user-centred practices

Align user research activities with wider plans to inform a service proposition

What you will get from the role

It is an exciting time to join our community of UCD specialists and you will:

Help continue the work done to shape and deliver excellence in user research practice

Deliver impactful work in programmes that help consumers avoid financial harm and ensure fair markets

Help FCA products and services meet the needs of people in firms, consumers and FCA staff alike

Benefit from a vibrant and positive community of practice making a difference to the maturity of user-centeredness

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your life cycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

The skills and experience you will have

Minimum

We are a signatory to the Government's Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role.
Relevant user research experience, most recently at a Senior or Lead level
Experience in working in project/programme environments involving business & IT change
Research experience within any of the following types of organisations/sectors: financial services, government/regulatory body, technology, consultancy (ideally IT consultancy)

Essential

Research. You can help an organisation adopt a wide range of user research methods. You can lead a community of practice to help an organisation continually assure, improve and innovate their user research. You can advocate user research, and engage sceptical colleagues and stakeholders
Inclusive research. You can help teams understand the diversity of users of FCA services. You can effectively include all kinds of users in appropriate research activities. You can advocate inclusive practices and help teams design and deliver accessible services that work for all users
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
Analysis and synthesis. You can help an organisation to adopt a wide range of analysis and synthesis techniques, and to continually assure, improve and innovate their practices to generate clear and valuable findings
Society and technology. You can help teams understand the ways that digital technology is changing user behaviour, and the challenges and opportunities for the design and delivery of FCA services
Strategic insight. You can understand organisational goals and challenges. You can align research activities across teams to inform policy and proposition
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

About the FCA
The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole.

If you are someone who is seeking that next challenge, and you have the experience and skills required, then please send me your CV.

Our Recruitment Delivery Team are committed to offering an inclusive recruitment experience to all candidates. If you require any accommodations or adjustments as a result of disability, impairment, or health condition, please do not hesitate to let me know by emailing