Lead User Researchers

Manchester, England, United Kingdom

7/7/2025

Lead User Researcher

Job Description

Made Tech wants to positively impact the country's future by using technology to improve society. We believe being design-led can create positive outcomes in the public sector through critical services enabled by technology. We are building a community of designers and researchers to support the public sector growing demand for a design-led approach to service delivery.

Lead User Researchers are expert practitioners who influence and mentor others. They work with teams to deeply understand people's lives, services, organisations, and outcomes for the public sector. They do this by ensuring that teams take a user-centred, evidence-based approach to service design and delivery.

Key responsibilities

• Leads one / more research deliveries, ensuring all project team & stakeholders have a shared understanding of successful outcomes.
• Scope focus of research, so everyone involved has a shared understanding of successful outcomes
• Takes responsibility for ensuring a whole team approach to user research. Ensuring all stakeholders & team members are invited to participate in observing user research sessions.
• Leads the scoping of one or more research deliveries, defining research objectives, planning activities and leading the overall delivery of research.
• Works with Discipline head and peers to set best practise standards for the User Research team. This includes adhering to GDPR, MRS standards & GDS Service standards.
• Proficient mixed methodology researcher, is able to lead team analysis sessions, synthesis with the production of actionable insight reports.
• Build relationships with clients & senior stakeholders, understanding their needs and providing advisory support.
• Has experience in writing / reviewing bids & supporting business development opportunities
• People management of user researchers
• Support the hiring and onboarding of colleagues across Strategy & Design
• Promote user centred thinking / practices at Made Tech and client offices
• Represent user-centred design community internally & externally
  
  

Skills, knowledge and expertise

• Experienced in research methodologies including:
• Usability testing
• Contextual enquiry
• Rapid research
• Survey development
• Measurable and evaluative research
• Has experience of leading user research across GDS development stages e.g. discovery, alpha, beta. Experience in GDS assessments is desirable.
• Highly experienced at leading user research through agile ways of working
• Confident with coaching more junior members of the team on delivery
• Proficient in leading a team in analysing and synthesising complex data and can help the organisation adopt a wide range of techniques to continually assure, improve and generate valuable findings
• Analyse and interpret research findings so that teams can confidently confirm or challenge their understanding of problems and ideas.
• Leads the team in creating actionable insights through a multitude of outputs including reports, user needs, personas, archetypes and is confident at presenting findings to project teams & senior stakeholders.
• Facilitate teams and stakeholders to make decisions based on user insights
• Highly proficient and advocates for research standards including GDPR / MRS Code of Conduct
• Promotes inclusive research practices and helps teams design and deliver accessible services to meet the needs of the diverse range of users of government services
• Influence the client at a strategic and commercial level e.g. improving processes, ways of working, generating more work
  
  

Community

• Support Discipline head in setting direction and supporting the research community in Made Tech
• Promotes a positive, safe, inclusive & open culture within the User Research team
• Promotes a positive, safe, inclusive & open culture within the User Research team
• Understand that a balance of positive and constructive feedback is the most effective way to work
  
  

People Management

• Supports in hiring and onboarding researchers
• People management of user researchers
• Applies coaching techniques to people management to support colleagues' professional growth to build careers, take on new challenges and opportunities which match their aspirations.
  
  

Job benefits

We are always listening to our growing teams and evolving the benefits available to our people. As we scale, as do our benefits and we are scaling quickly. We've recently introduced a flexible benefit platform which includes a Smart Tech scheme, Cycle to work scheme, and an individual benefits allowance which you can invest in a Health care cash plan or Pension plan. We're also big on connection and have an optional social and wellbeing calendar of events for all employees to join should they choose to.

Here are some of our most popular benefits listed below:

30 days Holiday - we offer 30 days of paid annual leave plus bank holidays

Flexible Working Hours - we are flexible with what hours you work

Flexible Parental Leave - we offer flexible parental leave options

Remote Working - we offer part time remote working for all our staff

Paid counselling - we offer paid counselling as well as financial and legal advice

If successful, you will be required to undertake an SC clearance.

Location:

Any UK Office Hub (Bristol / London / Manchester / Swansea)

Department

Strategy & Design > User Research

Employment Type

Permanent

Workplace Type

Hybrid

Compensation

£65,000 - £75,000 / year

Apply now

Sounds good?

Join us in our mission to use technology to improve society for everyone.

Apply for this position

How we hire

Our hiring process is designed to be thorough, transparent, and supportive, guiding candidates through each step. The exact process may vary slightly depending on the role but these are the typical steps candidates can expect.

We'll keep you updated throughout the process and provide helpful feedback at each stage. No matter the outcome, we make sure the feedback is useful and supportive, so you feel informed and can learn from the experience.

Our talent team will review all applications, and while we may use AI to help speed up the process, a real human will always make the final decisions. Once reviewed, shortlisted applicants will be invited to a screening.

This is a 25-30 minute call with someone in our talent team who is hiring for the role.

Once screenings have taken place the hiring manager will review the shortlist and invites to interview will be sent.

You may then be invited to an initial virtual interview which is usually with the hiring manager or a couple of members from the team. This is usually around 45 - 60 minutes and the format may vary depending on the role.

If you progress, you'll be invited to a final stage interview which is usually with two members of the team. The format varies depending on the role and this is usually an hour.

Final conversation with one of our exec members.

LNKD1_UKTJ