Lead User Researcher

The team you'll be working with:

Lead User Researcher  - Public Sector Hybrid variable London - 1 day a week ideally.

Need to have LIVE SC Government clearance OR need to of lived in UK for 5 years consistently and have a British passport.

About NTT DATA and TangityNTT DATA is a trusted global innovator with over 100,000 professionals in 50+ countries. Headquartered in Tokyo, we bring elements of our Japanese heritage—precision, long-term thinking, and social responsibility—into our UK work. In the UK, we work across telecoms, financial services, manufacturing, and the public sector, delivering end-to-end services from strategy to implementation.

Tangity, part of the NTT DATA Design Network, is a global design studio dedicated to humanising complexity. We combine Strategy, Technology, and Design to create meaningful, inclusive, and impactful services that improve lives and systems. Our studios work closely with delivery teams to embed design deeply into every project and across every touchpoint.

What you'll be doing:

As a Lead User Researcher at Tangity, you’ll play a critical role in shaping meaningful, accessible public services that deliver lasting value to users. You’ll lead research initiatives across the full delivery lifecycle—helping agile teams validate assumptions, reduce delivery risk, and prioritise work based on real user needs.

You will work autonomously, collaborating with designers, BAs, developers, and product managers to ensure evidence drives decisions at every stage. You’ll also contribute to service strategy, guide team ways of working, and foster a user-first mindset across the wider project and client organisation.

What You’ll DoPlan, lead, and deliver user research for public services across Discovery, Alpha, Beta, and Live phases

Apply a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods—e.g. depth interviews, usability testing, contextual inquiry, surveys—to surface behavioural insights

Establish and maintain lightweight feedback loops with target user groups, ensuring continued insight into live service usage and evolving needs

Synthesise research findings into clear, actionable outputs such as problem statements, user journeys, personas, and pain point maps Translate insights into backlog priorities and design recommendations that inform product strategy and roadmap decisions

Collaborate with Business Analysts and UX/UI Designers to ensure proposed solutions are evidence-based and grounded in actual user behaviour

Support design iteration and decision-making by testing early service concepts, prototypes, and touchpoints

Communicate findings to varied audiences—through visual artefacts, research reports, presentations, and stakeholder playbacks

Facilitate design and research workshops, playback sessions, and show-and-tells to drive cross-functional understanding and alignment

Embed a user-first culture across agile teams by encouraging regular exposure to user feedback and service impact

Ensure inclusive and accessible research approaches that align with GDS and WCAG standards

Mentor junior researchers and help shape Tangity’s research practice, contributing to tools, templates, and team capability building

Responsibilities

Lead and execute design solutions for complex, high-impact projects with strategic oversight

Proactively contribute to client meetings, presentations, and workshops

Mentor and guide team members, ensuring design standards are maintained

Foster client relationships by anticipating needs, presenting recommendations, and driving outcomes

Expected Behaviours Demonstrates strong ownership and leadership across design deliverables, ensuring alignment with project goals

Anticipates client needs and addresses design challenges, delivering proactive solutions

Exhibi…