Lead User Researcher
Grade A: £55,172 (National) or £61,028 (London – for London office based or homebased workers within the boundary of the M25) – There is also an additional homeworking allowance of £600 per annum for those working from home.
Contracted Hours: Full-time, 37 hours per week.
Contract Type: Permanent.
Location: Home or office based, flexible location (or London office). Hybrid working (working two days a week from home). CQC’s offices are in London, Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham, and Bristol.
Closing Date: Tuesday 9 December 2025 at 11.59pm.
Potential Interview Date: w/c 5 January 2026.
Make a difference
Every role at CQC contributes to our mission. As Lead User Researcher, you will work within the Content Design & Channel Management team to understand all our users’ needs and help design services around them.
Picture this
In the next 12 months, you could:
- Help improve the usability, accessibility, and clarity of digital services for thousands of our staff, tens of thousands of care providers, and millions of members of the public.
- Shape the way we publish information from our assessments of care services.
- Build a strong community of practice for user researchers.
You’ll play a key role by
- Planning and leading user research activities across projects.
- Collaborating with designers and developers to ensure user needs are met.
- Analysing research data and presenting actionable insights.
- Championing user-centred design principles within the organisation.
- Managing and mentoring researchers.
Show us
- Experience planning and delivering user research projects.
- Ability to present research findings to senior stakeholders.
- Knowledge of a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Compliance
To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without a valid right to work, you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.
Next steps
If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Your application will be completely anonymous. Please see our information for applicants for more details on the process. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.
You can read the full details of the role in the Job Description.
If you’d like an informal chat about the role, contact Owen Griffiths, Deputy Director of Content Design and Channel Management at Owen.griffiths@cqc.org.uk. For general enquiries, please email recruitment@cqc.org.uk.
The Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including:
- Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually eight days per year).
- Training and development opportunities.
- Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
- NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.
- Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for two years), reward vouchers, car leasing, and more!
Please see our benefits page for the full list.
Equity for all
We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need.
We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact recruitment@cqc.org.uk. Please note, if you have previously informed us of adjustments you need for an interview or within your role, these are not carried over and must be discussed for each individual application you make.
We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission, and make our culture stronger. See our ED&I page for more about this.
We welcome applications from everyone, and colleagues can find support and community among our many employee networks. This includes people of any:
- Age
- Sex
- Gender identity or expression
- Sexual orientation
- Religion or belief
- Ethnicity
- Disability
Values and vision
We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture.
Excellence – being a high-performing organisation.
Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect.
Integrity – doing the right thing.
Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.
We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.
A Note on AI
AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:
- AI can support research, structuring, and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.
- Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively.
- Do not copy and paste AI-generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember, we want to hear about your skills and experience.
- Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.