User Experience Researcher

Location: Remote-first, with one day per month required on-site (Manchester or London)

Industry: Technology Consultancy

Employment type: Contract (Outside IR35), initial 4-month term, with high chance of extension

Highly desirable: GDS experience

Our client is an innovative technology consultancy that has just been awarded an exciting new piece of work with a public sector organisation. They specialise in the delivery of custom software solutions for private and public sector clients.

They are looking for a Lead User Researcher with proven senior-level experience to join the project and help stand up this new engagement from the ground up.

This is a contract opportunity outside IR35, remote-first, with just one day a month required on-site in either Manchester or London, running for an initial four months to get the work off the ground.

Working closely with I'm a multi-disciplined team, you will lead on generating actionable insights through research to help teams make evidence-based product decisions, right from the start of a brand-new public sector engagement.

This role involves working in teams using modern agile technical practices including continuous integration, continuous deployment and fast feedback loops to deliver timely and pragmatic solutions, as well as helping others to improve how they work by embedding user research into everyday delivery.

You will be responsible for:

• Owning the user research process in a rapidly iterative development environment
• Choosing the right research method to understand user needs and behaviours across all stages of the product life cycle, from discovery through to live evaluation
• Identifying appropriate participant samples for testing
• Planning research sessions and defining research roadmaps
• Supporting Research Operations, including facilitating recruitment and incentives, and advising on software and tooling when required
• Analysing data and communicating clear, actionable insights to the team and stakeholders
• Demonstrating the value of user research by engaging sceptical clients and team members
• Helping immature teams to embed user research practices into their agile workflow
• Collaborating with the team and stakeholders to set objectives and hypotheses for research

The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate strong capability across a wide range of user research approaches, including:

• Application of methods beyond usability testing, including formative discovery methods, ethnographic observation, diary studies, in-depth interviews, card sorting, A/B testing and multivariate testing
• Collecting, storing and managing research data in line with GDPR and ethical research practices, including Market Research Society guidelines
• Communicating research in a way that helps development teams and clients understand what users need, through outputs such as customer journey maps, highlight reels, playbacks and personas
• Working closely with designers to explore user needs through wireframes and prototypes
• Running workshops that bring clients and team members together to converge on research questions and objectives
• Conducting inclusive research, including understanding how and when to engage people with accessibility needs, low digital skills or other access needs
• Supporting rapid set-up and delivery of research in environments where clients are new to user research

At Inara Talent, we believe everyone deserves a fair chance to shine. We connect great people from all backgrounds with opportunities where they can thrive, making sure hiring is fair, inclusive, and truly diverse. No matter your race, gender, age, ability, or background—we focus on what really matters: your talent.