UX Researcher

As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we move lives forward every day by building, managing and supporting thriving Communities. From new homes, social housing and student accommodation to leisure, education and Community initiatives, our work makes a positive difference to millions of People across the UK. And that takes People who care about doing the right thing. People who are ambitious, ready to grow and motivated to make a difference through the work they do.

We're looking for Colleagues who bring energy, curiosity and ownership. People who enjoy being challenged, support those around them and want to keep raising the bar. Because when we perform at our best, we create more opportunities to invest in our Customers, our Communities and each other.

Experience matters, but it's only part of the story. If you share our values and want to build a career where your work has real impact, we'd love to hear from you.

More about the team

Our UX team sits at the heart of IT, shaping the design and usability of digital products across Places for People. We combine user needs with business goals to create solutions that are functional, intuitive, and accessible.

More about your role

Reporting to the UX Manager, we are looking to recruit 2 UX Researchers on a permanent basis.

In this role, you'll be responsible for researching and influencing all stages of design and development, working closely with stakeholders across the business to ensure that decisions are driven by evidence and insight.

You will leverage your experience in creating and maintaining Personas, service blueprints, and customer journey maps that help teams build a deeper understanding of our users. You will apply both qualitative and quantitative research methods to surface insights, measure impact, and ensure our solutions are aligned to user needs as well as business goals.

A key part of the role will be communicating findings in a clear and persuasive way, so that research directly shapes design direction. Ultimately, you will make sure the digital experiences we deliver are intuitive, accessible, and genuinely improve the lives of the people who use them.

At Places for People, we are committed to a safe  working environment so a basic DBS check is mandatory.

More about you

You're an experienced UX Researcher (or in a closely related discipline) with a strong track record of planning and delivering research that improves products and services. You use evidence to help teams understand user needs, reduce risk, and make confident decisions that balance customer outcomes with business goals.

You're confident selecting and applying the right qualitative and quantitative methods, analysing findings, and translating insights into clear, actionable recommendations. You communicate research in a compelling way, collaborate well with product, design and engineering, and can influence stakeholders at different levels. You bring an inclusive mindset, considering accessibility and diverse needs throughout your research approach.

Essential

• Proven experience delivering UX research and clearly demonstrating impact on decisions and outcomes
• Experience planning, running and analysing research using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods (e.g., interviews, usability testing, surveys, analytics)
• Ability to synthesise findings into insights and recommendations that teams can act on, and to communicate these clearly to stakeholders
• Knowledge of (or experience working within) an agile software development lifecycle and continuous discovery ways of working
• Experience creating and maintaining research artefacts such as personas, journey maps and service blueprints
• Understanding of inclusive research practice, including accessibility considerations and recruiting for diverse perspectives
• Experience using collaboration and research tools such as Miro (and similar)

Desirable

• Experience supporting research operations (e.g., consent/ethics, GDPR-aware research practices, participant recruitment, repositories)
• Experience working with prototypes to validate concepts and iterate solutions through testing
• Experience working on complex services or large-scale digital programmes with multiple stakeholder groups

Benefits

We are a large diverse and ambitious business, which will give you all the challenge you could wish for.

We know that there's always more we can do to make you smile, that's why we offer a comprehensive benefits package with each role, yours will include:

• Competitive salary, with a salary review yearly
• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Excellent holiday package – up to 35 days annual leave with the option to buy or sell leave
• Cashback plan for healthcare costs – up to £500 saving per year
• A bonus scheme for all colleagues at 2%
• Training and development
• Extra perks including huge discounts and offers from shops, cinemas and much more.