Lead Researcher

Set up design research from scratch, inside a new innovation team a global group is building in the UK. You'd go into people's homes, watch how they really live with the products, and turn what you find into what the industrial designers and engineers build next.

This is one of the UK's best-known home appliance brands, part of a large, profitable global group. The group is bringing its innovation for the category to the UK and building a concept-led team here, with advanced development, industrial design and design research side by side. It's fast and hands on, built around design, build and test.

The role
You'll lead the design research discipline and run the work yourself: home visits, contextual inquiry, usability testing, concept validation and co-creation sessions. You'll turn what you learn into opportunities, design principles and innovation roadmaps. You'll sit alongside the industrial designers and advanced development engineers, and work closely with product management. A big part of the job is telling the story, so the business acts on what you find.

You'll set the methods and standards from a near standing start. If you're a senior researcher ready for your first lead role, this is a discipline to make your own.

What you'll need
Proven experience leading design research on physical products, including going into people's homes and watching them use what they own.
A track record of turning research into product direction, with a concept, feature or roadmap decision you can point to that came from your insight.
Confidence across mixed methods: ethnography, contextual inquiry and usability testing, plus designing a survey and reading quant data.
Experience working side by side with industrial designers and engineers, and presenting evidence well enough to change a senior stakeholder's mind.

The details
Reporting to the Head of Industrial Design and Design Research
Working alongside industrial design and advanced development
Travel for in-home and field research
Commutable from Worcester, Birmingham and Cheltenham
Start: ASAP
10% bonus, half personal and half company
Private medical insurance after six months
25 days holiday plus bank holidays, with three more to buy
Pension, protection cover and free product after probation

What it isn't
This isn't a research team to inherit. You build the discipline from close to zero and run the home visits and workshops yourself. It isn't screen-based UX either. It's physical products, used in real homes. The innovation team is still taking shape, so expect loose briefs and fast cycles. And it's four days a week on site in Droitwich, so be sure the commute works first.

If this sounds like your next move, click Apply and we'll be in touch.