Band 8A NHS Lead User Researcher
📍 Location: Fully Remote
📅 Contract: 12 Months
💰 Rate: £300 per day (Inside IR35)
A fantastic opportunity has opened up for a highly experienced Lead User Researcher to join a major digital transformation programme in the NHS. This role offers a chance to shape user-centred services across critical healthcare systems, making a real difference in patient outcomes and service quality.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Lead, plan and conduct user research for complex digital health services, ensuring user needs are front and centre throughout design and delivery.
2. Supervise, mentor and develop junior user researchers, setting standards and leading by example in best practice.
3. Align user research with organisational strategy, influencing service direction with evidence-based insights.
4. Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams including service designers, developers and policy leads.
5. Ensure inclusive and accessible research methods are embedded across all project stages.
6. Represent users and their behaviours in product discussions, service reviews and strategic decision-making.
7. Champion user-centred design principles and challenge teams to continuously improve.
Essential Skills & Experience:
8. Proven experience as a Lead User Researcher or equivalent, planning and delivering research in complex service environments.
9. In-depth knowledge of a range of qualitative and quantitative user research methods.
10. Ability to guide multidisciplinary teams in adopting and applying user-centred practices.
11. Strong communication and facilitation skills, including simplifying technical research findings for diverse audiences.
12. Experience working in Agile delivery environments and incorporating user feedback into continuous iteration cycles.
13. Capable of aligning user research activities with broader service and policy objectives.
14. Strong documentation and reporting abilities, including data interpretation and synthesis into actionable insights.
Desirable:
15. Experience delivering research for public sector or healthcare digital services.
16. Familiarity with service design in GP or primary care settings.
17. CXA or similar recognised UX/User Research certification.
18. FEDIP Senior Practitioner accreditation or equivalent.
*Rates depend on experience and client requirements