Bristol, Darlington, Leeds, Manchester, Wolverhampton
Job Summary
Here at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives.
Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you’re thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time.
We have over 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK.
We seek a User Researcher who is passionate about supporting and engaging with end users in the planning system to successfully deliver central government policy.
User Researchers in our team draw on a wide range of approaches and apply these to the challenge of boosting skills and resources of Local Authority planning teams, tasked with delivering hundreds of thousands of new homes for future generations. Interacting with users within and beyond local government, your work will inform an exciting and politically high-profile policy programme.
We design research, monitoring and evaluation to build an understanding of what local authority planning departments need from central government. Embedded within the Planning Capacity and Capability Programme, you will use these insights to inform the design and delivery of policy and funding schemes.
You will work alongside policy officials, project managers, analysts and other user centred designers, contributing to better understanding the challenges within the sector, ensuring proposed solutions are delivering impact on the ground, and justifying further support to the sector.
We have an active user research community in MHCLG and will be supported by senior colleagues as well as formal L&D training and informal opportunities like shadowing.
We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.
Find out more about what it's like to work in a digital, data and technology role at MHCLG including our culture, ways of working, career progression and staff benefits. You can also read the MHCLG Digital blog to learn about the work we're doing.
Job Description
As a User Researcher, you’ll:
* design and deliver research plans that respond to change, investigate new fields of discovery, and interact with a variety of different bodies and users, informing the implementation and improvement of the Planning Capacity and Capability Programme
* collaborate with policy and project management teams to understand their needs, how they interact with planning authorities and articulate the importance of taking an evidence-based and data driven approach to the delivery of the Programme
* identify research methods to generate findings that meet the aims and assess impact of the Programme, with a focus on qualitative approaches. Whilst thinking creatively to amend research strategies following feedback from users
* analyse and synthesise complex research data to surface clear insights that speak to the needs of users within the planning system and to communicate lessons learnt when working with our delivery partners, using tools like Mural to collaborate with colleagues
* use insights to advocate for user needs by communicating research insights through visuals, presentations and reports, and proactively engaging internal teams to ensure learnings feed into ongoing work
* support the wider team with papers, commissions and Ministerial submissions by summarising evidence of the challenges and impacts of policy interventions and championing efforts to monitor and evaluate the Programme
* collaborate with our analyst, statistical, and economic colleagues to design effective evaluation and monitoring plans demonstrating the programmes impact and work closely with our data and digital teams to develop data products to communicate key evidence and provide timely responses to policy queries
* contribute to the team’s research operations, including diverse recruitment, maintaining research panels, reviewing evidence, cataloguing research data and GDPR compliance
As a User Researcher, You’ll
* design and deliver research plans that respond to change, investigate new fields of discovery, and interact with a variety of different bodies and users, informing the implementation and improvement of the Planning Capacity and Capability Programme
* collaborate with policy and project management teams to understand their needs, how they interact with planning authorities and articulate the importance of taking an evidence-based and data driven approach to the delivery of the Programme
* identify research methods to generate findings that meet the aims and assess impact of the Programme, with a focus on qualitative approaches. Whilst thinking creatively to amend research strategies following feedback from users
* analyse and synthesise complex research data to surface clear insights that speak to the needs of users within the planning system and to communicate lessons learnt when working with our delivery partners, using tools like Mural to collaborate with colleagues
* use insights to advocate for user needs by communicating research insights through visuals, presentations and reports, and proactively engaging internal teams to ensure learnings feed into ongoing work
* support the wider team with papers, commissions and Ministerial submissions by summarising evidence of the challenges and impacts of policy interventions and championing efforts to monitor and evaluate the Programme
* collaborate with our analyst, statistical, and economic colleagues to design effective evaluation and monitoring plans demonstrating the programmes impact and work closely with our data and digital teams to develop data products to communicate key evidence and provide timely responses to policy queries
* contribute to the team’s research operations, including diverse recruitment, maintaining research panels, reviewing evidence, cataloguing research data and GDPR compliance
Person specification
As a User Researcher, You’ll Have
* robust research and analysis skills. experience of conducting professional qualitative research, user research and / or user centred design
* knowledge of a range of qualitative research and evaluation methods, knowing how to apply different methods for different projects and include diverse users in research
* an ability to understand the problem the team is trying to solve, aligning research activities in a way that gains relevant insights to inform decision making and evaluation
* confidence to lead research projects independently and engage external professionals in research activities
* a willingness to engage with colleagues within and outside of user centred design disciplines, and translate research findings into actionable insights for policy, analyst and project management teams
* experience of presenting clear and compelling research insights to internal and external stakeholders in a range of formats that suit the audience
* an ability to meet ambitious deadlines and deliver high-quality work on time, including research plans, playbacks and reports
* experience of recruiting a diverse and suitable range of users for research in central and local government and an understanding of research operations and ethics
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
* Seeing the Big Picture
* Making Effective Decisions
* Delivering at Pace
* Communicating and Influencing
Alongside your salary of £40,669, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £11,781 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
* Learning and development tailored to your role
* An environment with flexible working options
* A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
* A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Strengths.
MHCLG want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.
Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).
CV and Cover Letter Declaration
We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called anonymous recruitment.
Please Remove References To Your
* name/title
* educational institutions
* age
* gender
* email address
* postal address
* phone number
* nationality/immigration status
You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter.
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors.
At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:
Experience
Technical
In Your CV And Covering Letter, Please Include
* why you are interested in the role;
* how you meet the essential skills and experience required
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:
Behaviour (Seeing The Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions)
Strength
The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
In full the campaign will test the below Success Profile Elements:
Experience: Yes - Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the person specification
Technical: Yes – Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the person specification
Behaviours: (Seeing The Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions)
Strengths: Yes
Role
We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs:
Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.
SEO salary
* The salary for this role is £40,669 - £48,509 (National).
* For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges.
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.
Benefits
Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:
Any move to MHCLG from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.
For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.
Geographical Location:
* Leeds
* Wolverhampton
* Bristol
* Manchester
* Darlington*
There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.
* Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service. This role is based at MHCLG and we will be joined on the campus by:
* HM Treasury
* Department for International Trade
* Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
* Office for National Statistics
* Department for Education
For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.
Sift and Interview dates
Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 28th July 2025 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.
Reserve List
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.
Candidate Pack Information
Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.
Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.
For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Strengths.
Security
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups
* UK nationals
* nationals of the Republic of Ireland
* nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
* nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
* nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
* individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
* Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact
* Name : Digital Data Jobs
* Email : digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk
Recruitment team
* Email : digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk
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