Role Overview
As a UX Researcher at Benchmark, you will play a central role in shaping how we understand and design for the real needs of financial advisers, paraplanners, administrators and end‑clients. You will bring clarity to complex problems by uncovering behaviours, motivations and unmet needs, translating these into insight that directly informs product and experience requirements across our digital products and customer touchpoints.
Operating within a growing experience design practice and across both embedded product teams and a central experience enablement capability, you will help translate insight into measurable improvements. Your work will inform day‑to‑day product decisions while also contributing to a broader, shared understanding of user needs and opportunities across the organisation.
This role goes beyond discrete research projects. You will help create coherence across teams, reduce duplication, and ensure insight is consistently applied to improve experiences end to end.
What you’ll do
Embedded research within product workstreams
* Partner closely with Product Managers, Designers and Engineers within specific product areas.
* Plan and deliver research across the product lifecycle, from early discovery through to validation and optimisation.
* Conduct user interviews, usability testing and other evaluative research to inform feature design and iteration.
* Help ensure product decisions and requirements are grounded in real user behaviour and needs.
Enablement and capability building
* Contribute to the development of a scalable UX research practice across Benchmark.
* Define, document and evolve research standards, methods, templates and ways of working.
* Support teams to run their own research through guidance, coaching and practical frameworks.
* Embed consistent approaches to insight generation and application across the organisation.
Insight synthesis and strategic influence
* Translate complex research findings into clear, actionable insights and narratives.
* Identify patterns and themes across multiple studies to inform experience strategy.
* Reduce fragmentation of insight by contributing to a shared understanding of users across teams.
* Support strategic initiatives, including future‑state concept development and delivery.
User engagement and continuous discovery
* Help establish repeatable feedback loops, such as research panels and regular testing cadence.
* Promote continuous, proportionate research rather than one‑off projects.
Visibility, governance and adoption
* Ensure insights are visible, accessible and easy to use in decision‑making.
* Embed research into key experience and product decision points.
* Help establish clear links between research activity, design outputs and product outcomes.
Qualifications
* Proven UX research or related experience at mid‑to‑senior level, applied in real‑world product environments.
* Strong command of qualitative and quantitative research methods, selecting the right approach for each context.
* Experience working in agile, product‑led environments.
* Strong synthesis skills, translating complex data into clear, actionable insight.
* Experience influencing stakeholders and contributing to product and design decisions.
* Comfortable navigating complexity, ideally within financial services or a regulated environment (though sector experience is not essential).
* Experience contributing to research operations, including scalable standards and ways of working.
* Degree in a relevant field (for example HCI, Psychology, Design or Social Sciences) or equivalent practical experience.
Base
You'll be based at the Benchmark Head Office, within our Broadlands Business Campus near Horsham in West Sussex. You will also need to be present across our other offices, including the main Schroders headquarters in London. The campus offers cutting‑edge software and hardware, spacious facilities, an on‑site restaurant, coffee shop and gym, and a dedicated shuttle bus to and from Horsham’s main line train station.
Equal Opportunity Statement
We know that diverse perspectives and an inclusive culture where all can succeed lead to better decisions and stronger outcomes for the company, its clients and its employees. That’s why inclusion and diversity are strategic priorities for us. We’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer. You’re welcome at Benchmark regardless of your age, disability, gender identity or expression, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or socio‑economic background. We’re building a workplace where everyone feels respected, valued and empowered to thrive.
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