User Researcher, HEO, FTC 12 Months. Liverpool/ Newport

Do you want your User Research skills to make a real difference?

If you’re motivated by meaningful work, eager to champion user needs, and ready to help elevate our User Experience practice, join us in shaping services that genuinely lift the load for the volunteers, trustees, and employees at the heart of the charity sector.

We are looking for a user researcher to play a pivotal role in designing the next generation of Charity Commission services.

In this role, you’ll help shape and refine research approaches that reveal opportunities to improve our systems, simplify complex journeys, and enhance how people experience our services.

You will:

• Generate clear, evidence‑based insights into user needs, behaviours and pain points, ensuring our products and services are grounded in real user experiences rather than assumptions.
• Translate research findings into practical, actionable recommendations that inform design and product decisions, influence roadmaps, and help teams prioritise the changes that deliver the greatest value for users.
• Champion the voice of the user across the organisation, fostering empathy, promoting user‑centred thinking, and ensuring user needs remain central throughout the design and delivery process.
• Strengthen the quality and consistency of research practice, choosing appropriate methods, ensuring research is robust and ethical, and continually improving how we work to support better decision‑making.

The main things you will be doing are:

• Planning and running user research that delivers real insight, using the right methods, involving your multidisciplinary team, and turning findings into clear, actionable guidance.
• Embedding research into agile delivery, working closely with designers, product managers and developers to support iterative design and ensure user needs drive each stage of development.
• Championing inclusive research, ensuring a diverse range of users take part in studies and helping create services that are accessible and usable for everyone.
• Strengthening our research practice, defining the scope of studies, applying good standards, seeking guidance when needed, and continually improving how we work.
• Building strong relationships with stakeholders, communicating research effectively, influencing decisions with evidence, and helping align organisational priorities with user needs.

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)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

To apply for this post, you must complete the following:

• Comprehensive CV which lists qualifications and skills sets
• Personal statement of up to 750 words demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria for the role outlined on the Job Description.

We will assess your experience, and the following Behaviours at Interview stage:

• Changing and Improving
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

You will also be asked to give a presentation at the interview. This will be on a prepared topic and will assess your knowledge and experience.

Interview Arrangements

Interviews will be taking place via MS Teams

The sift is due to take place on 15/09/2026

Interviews will be held on 25/09/2026

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

At the interview, the panel can then probe further and ask applicants to provide further specific examples that show how they best demonstrate their skills.

We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process to manage numbers.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Behaviours:

The distinguishing Behaviours (the required skills, knowledge, and behaviours) for this role are set out in the Civil Service Behaviours Framework 2018 (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) and should be referred to when making this application.

You are required, under the Behaviours approach, to describe how you have dealt with a specific situation.

You must give evidence of your knowledge, skills, and behaviours and how you have applied this, such as what you did or said and how you interacted with other people.

When you are giving your examples, do not spend too many words on description and background information. Avoid using general or unspecific statements. Instead say what the situation was, what you did, what your thought process was and what was the result.

Reasonable Adjustment:

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled persons, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Reserve Lists

If we have more successful candidates than available vacancies, we will hold a 12-month reserve list as standard.

During that time, we may use the list to fill the same, or similar roles with closely matching essential criteria, without further testing of merit. Any appointments from the Reserve list will be made in strict merit order.

Applying

We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly

All applications for these vacancies must be made online. There are limited exceptions to this. Paper applications will only be considered if you have a disability that will prevent you from applying online. If this is the case, please email Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions.

Please note that late applications will not be accepted.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Fixed Term Contracts – Important Information

This is a fixed-term appointment as User Researcher in DDaT. Your responsibilities are listed in the Job Description for this post. This post will therefore begin from the date of your appointment and end 12 months later.

Permanent civil servants joining the Charity Commission on a Fixed-term Appointment:

If you accept a Fixed-term Appointment with the Charity Commission it must be a transfer from your home department on a loan basis to ensure you can return to your home department at the end of the Fixed-term Appointment.

Criminal Record Check

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.