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As Great Britain's regulator for the energy industry, Ofgem exists to ensure a safe, secure and sustainable energy supply to British households and businesses.

As a Principal User Researcher at Ofgem, you will play a crucial role in elevating our Data, Digital, and Technology (DDaT) function by establishing user research as a core component of our practices. Your mission will be to advocate for the value of user research, driving customer-centric decision making, improving product and service design, and enhancing overall user experiences. With autonomy in this role, you will have the opportunity to promote and set up a User Research capability within Digital Services within DDaT, bringing innovation and insights to the forefront of our operations.

In this brand new role, you will be leading efforts to prioritise user needs first, and then explore technologies across Ofgem. Collaborating with diverse stakeholders, including policy teams, data scientists, engineers, and more, you will help shape a culture of evidence-based decision making and user-centred design.

This is a unique opportunity to be a driving force in establishing user-centricity at Ofgem. As a Principal User Researcher, you will have the autonomy to grow and build a team, fostering a user-centred culture across the organisation. Your expertise will be instrumental in optimising and coaching the function, influencing non-technical stakeholders, and communicating effectively with developers to ensure user needs are met. Working with cutting-edge technologies and varied stakeholders, you will make a meaningful impact on millions of users' experiences. We are looking for an accomplished leader, proficient in coaching both technical and non-technical stakeholders, with a strong background in user research, driven by an unwavering passion for prioritising user needs.

At Ofgem, we foster a supportive and collaborative work environment. As part of the DDaT Profession, you will have access to comprehensive personal and professional development opportunities, including formal and informal training with external speakers. We value work-life balance and offer flexible working patterns.

If you want to be the pioneer of a user-focused transformation that impacts millions, then apply now.

Ofgem has a culture of inclusion that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues. It fuels our innovation and helps ensure we can best represent the consumers and the communities we serve. Everyone is welcome - as an inclusive workplace, our employees are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work.

The Principal User Researcher plays a crucial role in building the Data, Digital and Technology (DDaT) function within Ofgem by establishing user research as a core component of the organisation's practices. They advocate for the value of user research, demonstrating how it can drive customer-centric decision making, improve product and service design, and enhance overall user experience. By championing the integration of user research within the DDaT function, the Principal User Researcher helps shape a culture of evidence-based decision making and user-centred design across Ofgem.

The Principal User Researcher serves as a bridge between the DDaT function and other stakeholders within Ofgem. They collaborate with policy teams, data scientists, engineers, and other relevant departments to align research objectives with organisational goals. By fostering effective communication and engagement, they ensure that user research insights are integrated into the decision-making process. This collaboration promotes a culture of user-centricity throughout the organisation, enhancing the overall effectiveness of Ofgem's regulatory efforts.

As Ofgem expands its DDaT function, the Principal User Researcher plays a pivotal role in developing and standardising user research methodologies. They establish best practices, create research frameworks, and define guidelines to ensure consistent and high-quality research outcomes. By providing guidance on research methodologies, data collection techniques, and analysis approaches, the Principal User Researcher empowers other user researchers within Ofgem to conduct effective and reliable research. This standardisation fosters consistency, comparability, and efficiency across user research initiatives, strengthening the DDaT function's overall effectiveness.

• Key role in fulfilling user research needs of priority projects within Ofgem.
• Focuses on advancing user research capabilities in the Digital, Data, and Technology function.
• Engages in projects to enhance the user experience, working with diverse teams and stakeholders.
• Plays a significant role in developing Ofgem's in-house user research capability and building a User Research community.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams in a specific work area in the context of operating in a Professions and Flexible Resourcing model.
• Plan, oversee and deliver a set of work deliverables on time and to a high standard through effective project management and support of multidisciplinary team members.
• Provide inclusive team leadership by supporting and developing team members and demonstrating commitment to Ofgem values.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and advocate research strategies to understand user needs for services and continuously improve them based on user insights.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to define research questions, plan approaches, and prioritise findings for optimal results.
• Plan and execute user research activities to gain in-depth understanding of user needs and behaviours, informing the design and development of Ofgem services
• Foster a culture of team involvement in user research, analysis, and decision-making processes driven by user needs.
• Sets clear and transparent work objectives, milestones and success metrics at team and individual level to oversee and co-ordinate successful team outcomes.
• Collaborates closely with other teams to manage interdependencies, risks and resourcing to support portfolio delivery.
• Jointly responsible with the PDL on welfare and pastoral care of all colleagues.
• Demonstrates effective diversity and inclusive team management within their team and the wider organisation.

Key Outputs and Deliverables

• External partners have positive experiences engaging with Digital Services.
• User Research activities are successfully delivered, synthesised, shareable and traceable.
• Foster a comprehensive understanding of users’ needs and the significance of user research among team members and the wider business.
• Empower product and service owners/managers to effectively prioritise work in alignment with users’ needs, feed into central project prioritisation discussions.
• Enhance Ofgem's capability to conduct high-quality user research.
• Work closely with analytics colleagues to define user centred Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and create a comprehensive understanding of user behaviour, providing a holistic view of how and why people use the services.

Setting-up and leading high-performing team based on effective resource management, ongoing support and professional development

• Manages effective and inclusive team resourcing and staff onboarding through close engagement with relevant Deputy Director, Workstream Managers, Heads of Professions, PDLs and HR Staffers to ensure best talent match to work needs.
• Helps team members deliver by building supportive, inclusive team environment based on trust-based relationships, transparency and inclusivity.
• Takes ownership for own and team members’ professional development by:

• Providing ongoing coaching and identification of development opportunities in regular performance conversations.
• Supporting team member’s performance evaluation through honest, fair, high quality 360-degree feedback to PDLs.

Key Stakeholder Relationships

Internal

• Workstream and Portfolio Managers
• Experts/Technical Specialists
• Heads of Departments
• Product Managers
• Service Managers
• Customer Behavioural and Insights Team

External

• Other Government Departments
• Other Regulators
• Regulator counterparts, consultants, academia, and think tanks (as appropriate)
• Energy Sector

Essential Criteria

• Expertise in utilising various user research methods tailored to different life cycle phases, resulting in the accurate implementation and interpretation of research findings in a concise and captivating manner that inspires transformative action. (Lead criteria)
• Proven experience of user centred design practices and knows how to embed them into an agile workflow to deliver timely findings. (Lead criteria)
• Proven track record for being an excellent, dynamic leader and people manager who can set clear direction and achieve a strong culture of continuous improvement.
• You will have strong collaboration skills and a track record of building relationships with diverse colleagues at all levels to shape direction and agree priorities.
• Understands the diversity of users for services and the need to make services usable and accessible for everyone with the ability to communicate user research findings in a wide variety of formats and contexts, and in engaging and persuasive ways.

Desirable Criteria

• Effectively communicating the advantages of adopting a user-centric approach to stakeholders, supported by compelling evidence.
• Skilfully managing, executing, and analysing usability testing sessions to obtain valuable user insights that guide decision-making.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Please refer to the Candidate Pack attached for full details.

Job contact :

Name :
Jennifer Hughes
Email :
recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :
recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk