Senior User Researcher bei National Archives

Job Overview

Salary: £53,788
Contract: 1.Permanent – working across multiple digital services
2.Fixed-term (6 - 12 months) – maternity cover
Band: F / Senior Executive Officer
Closing Date: 2nd November 2025 at midnight


The National Archives is hiring two Senior User Researchers to join our growing digital team. These roles offer a unique opportunity to shape how the public accesses and interacts with the UK’s rich historical and legal records.

We’re looking for experienced, thoughtful user researchers who are passionate about inclusive, evidence-based design. Both roles share the same core responsibilities but differ in focus.


About The National Archives

We are the official archive for the UK Government and for England and Wales, holding millions of records dating back over 1,000 years. From the Domesday Book to born-digital judgments, our mission is to preserve and provide access to these important public records for everyone.

Our Digital Services and Digital Archiving departments are made up of several agile multi-disciplinary teams focusing on different products or services. Our mission is to design and deliver user-centred services that make our collections accessible, usable, and relevant to a wide range of audiences.

The National Archives is a unique environment to do user research. As a UK research Institution, as well as a non-ministerial department, our colleagues and users are often leading experts in our collections. This offers opportunities to partner on external research projects and apply for funding to lead internal strategic research projects.

A combination of onsite and home working is available for both roles and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.


Role 1: Permanent – Senior User Researcher, Digital Services

In this role, you’ll lead a programme of research across a variety of digital services, helping us understand how users interact with a range of official records and services over time. You’ll work closely with multidisciplinary teams to shape services that meet real user needs from requesting copies of historic records, searching the online catalogue or discovering the stories within The National Archives.

You’ll have the opportunity to:

Lead an inclusive research program that delivers actionable insights across multiple services and delivery phases (Discovery, Alpha, Beta, Live)

Advocate for a range of user needs, influencing strategic and product decision making to balance stakeholder and user needs

Grow a collaborative user research culture and mentor others in best practice, accessibility and service standards

Maximise the impact of user research to support emerging user groups to use The National Archives services



Role 2: Fixed-Term – Senior User Researcher, Find Case Law (Maternity Cover)

This role sits within the Access Digital Records team in our Digital Archiving Department, focusing on the Find Case Law service. You’ll lead research that supports open justice and public access to court records, including improving usability, accessibility, and the API experience.

You’ll be responsible for:

Shaping and delivering research with a range of users of the Find Case Law service including : members of the public, self-represented litigants, legal professionals, journalists, academics, government departments, data re-users and law librarians

Leading user research across the different delivery phases (Discovery, Alpha, Beta, Live)

Translating complex findings into actionable insights and supporting transparency and access to digital legal information

Playing an active role in The National Archives' and cross government User research communities.

This is a full-time maternity cover for 6 months, with the possibility of extension up to 12 months. Flexible working arrangements, including part-time and job share, will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department.



Application Process:
• Interview: Interviews will be held on-site and part of the interview process will contain a scenario based element relevant to the responsibilities of the role.
• Personal Statement: We ask all applicants to submit work history details and a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words, addressing the essential criteria listed below.

Selection for interview will be based on how you meet these criteria, so please ensure that your statement demonstrates in detail how you meet these requirements, using subheadings for each criteria where possible.

Essential criteria for personal statement:
 Multiple years of leading user research for many types of digital products and services and different development stages (Discovery, Alpha, Beta, Live) to meet Government Digital standards and service assessments.
 Deep understanding of applying qualitative and quantitative research methods to maximise insight in complex problem spaces. A strong desire to support other user researchers to diversify and stay up to date with the latest methodologies.
 Established ways of working that supports collaboration within a multidisciplinary team, stakeholder groups and User experience community across public sector
 Experience supporting other user researchers to follow ethical and inclusive research practices, collecting and managing personal data safely in compliance with GDPR
 Experience designing user research activities for users with diverse access needs and supporting services to meet accessibility guidelines and digital inclusion principles
 Excellent communication and influencing skills, with an instinct to work in the open, identify significant opportunities to deliver value to users and shape strategic decision making
 Organisational skills with experience of strategic planning and scaling research work and managing documentation over the lifespan of a service


Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.  Please visit the Civil Service Careers website where you can find further information on the use of AI in the application guidance section.

Sponsorship: We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Job Description

Role and Responsibilities 

As part of a multi-disciplinary team you will:  

Strategic leadership 

• Lead user research strategy and delivery for an entire product area or service using mixed qualitative and quantitative methodologies to deliver actionable insight  

• Designing and executing an inclusive user research program that solves complex problems and span multiple areas or phases of development (not just individual studies)  

• Energise user centred practices across the organisation and building an inclusive and ethical user research culture. 

• Balancing multiple stakeholders' needs with user needs, advocating for users and influencing product and business decisions at leadership level. Aligning business objectives and product strategy with user needs 

Mentorship and standards 

• Mentor junior and mid-level user researchers to build confidence in a range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, generate actionable insights and advocate for user needs to the rest of organisation 

• Support services through service assessments to meet the government digital Service standards 

• Manage and oversee reporting user researchers (including contractors) to support consistent delivery of high-quality work through coaching, feedback and performance review.  

• Establish user research standards, best practices and methodologies that support secure data handling, inclusivity and accessibility 

Professional and operational excellence  

• Creating frameworks and systems that scale user research activity and manage the insights and evidence they produce 

• Play an active role in growing the UX community and capability within The National Archives. Support user researchers to stay up to date with latest user research practices and methodologies, participating in discussions in wider public sector UX community  

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is
found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service
D&I Strategy.

Benefits 

 

Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development.  Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.

 

Any move to The National Archives from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at  https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ (opens in new window)

Reasonable adjustments

 

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, 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 The National Archives via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs 

• Complete the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section 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 interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional

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

 

Security 

 

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. 

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks (opens in new window)

 

Nationality requirements 

 

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 new window)

 

Working for the Civil Service

 

The Civil Service Code  (opens in new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. 
 
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. (opens in new window) 

 

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. 

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. 

 

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. (opens in new window)

 

Contact point for applicants:

• Name: The National Archives Recruitment Team 

• Email: [email protected] 

 

Further information 

 

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: [email protected] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/ (opens in new window)

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