User Researcher (Contract)
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Opencast
User Researcher (Contract)
£450/day - £500/day
Multiple locations
Hybrid
Graduate
Junior
Mid
Senior
Leader
Description
Hybrid requirements: This role has flexible working patterns.

Check out this brand new role!

Ready to turn curiosity into impact?

Do you want to use research to shape services that make a real impact? Are you ready to bring curiosity and insight to projects that improve people’s lives?

If so, Opencast could be the place for you. We’re a growing tech consultancy that creates user-centred solutions with purpose for our clients in government, healthcare and purpose-driven businesses. As a User Researcher, you’ll uncover the needs and voices of people, work in multi-disciplinary teams to feed these needs into design decisions shape impactful services, and bring curiosity, pragmatism and insight to projects. You’ll enjoy, a supportive community whilst working across public sector clients, to solve real problems that impact people’s lives.

What you’ll do within our teams

  • Plan research approaches for complex projects that might have multiple research activities running at the same time whilst being delivered by other researchers
  • Offer oversight of research conducted by other people, either formally or informally, to improve research practices
  • Identify where research points to areas that need more investigation and, where necessary, help to re-define the project scope and priorities in response to this
  • Produce the required documentation and materials for research activity, including discussion guides and consent forms
  • Recruit participants in line with GDPR and MRS guidelines
  • Use your excellent communication skills to clearly explain your approach to your team and stakeholders

You’ll suit this role if you:

  • Use a wide range of quantitative and qualitative research methods, including things like interviews, surveys, workshops, focus groups, shadowing, diary studies, usability testing, eye tracking, A/B testing, and analytics
  • Have a strong understanding of GDS and designing to government service standards, preferably on projects that passed assessment(s)
  • Can identify key themes, user needs, business needs, and personas through analysis
  • Can explain findings to a range of audiences and translate these into areas of the service that need design focus
  • Can produce user research deliverables like personas and journey maps
  • Make sure your research is inclusive and includes people with disabilities and those who need support to use digital services
  • Can build strong relationships with clients and persuade stakeholders of the importance of research to a project
  • Thrive in a multidisciplinary team and encourage teammates to shadow and take part in research
  • Understand agile processes
  • Enjoy working with clients as they evolve and adapt
  • Are naturally curious and able to champion your own learning and development
  • Are an advocate for user-centred design
  • Are respectful and tactful in your approach to clients who perhaps aren’t as familiar with user-centred design
  • Are proactive and will take the initiative to solve a problem rather than seeing it and ignoring it
  • Are keen to share your knowledge and experience

If you have any of this experience, please show it on your CV and in the interview.

Culture overview
At Opencast, our culture is built around purpose, collaboration and growth. We bring together people, technology and values to create a supportive, inclusive workplace where individuals are trusted to contribute, learn and make a difference. Our teams work collaboratively to deliver high-quality digital services with real-world impact, supported by hybrid ways of working, strong communities and a focus on wellbeing. With opportunities for learning, mentoring and pro-bono work, Opencast is a place where your ideas are valued, your career can develop and the work you do genuinely matters.
Employee benefits
Bonus Scheme
Company Car
Cycle To Work
Flexible Hours
Flexible Working
Free Parking
Health Cash Plan
Home office allowance
Laptop
Learning Allowance
Pension
Share Options
Wellbeing Programme
Office vibe
Clubs & Meetups
Free Coffee
Hackathons
Open Plan
Social Events
Team Building Days
Location
Leadership
David SarginsonDirector of Architecture & Engineering Capability
Tech overview
At Opencast, we use technology to create meaningful outcomes. Our work spans the full digital delivery lifecycle: • User-centred design: Research, service design, interaction and content design to ensure solutions meet real user needs. • Architecture: Designing scalable, secure and sustainable technical strategies that guide end-to-end delivery. • Software and digital delivery: Building high-quality, reliable software that solves complex business problems. • DevOps, cloud and platform engineering: Optimising platforms, automating pipelines and managing cloud infrastructure to support resilient services. • Data and analytics: Turning data into actionable insights to drive better decisions and improve services. Our approach balances technical excellence with purpose, ensuring every project we deliver is user-focused, sustainable and impactful.
Engineering principles
Agile Process
Code Reviews
Configuration management
Continuous integration
Knowledge sharing
Mentoring
Micro services
Pair programming
Scrum
Test Driven Development
Unit testing
Company tech stack
Opencast
User Researcher (Contract)£450/day - £500/day
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