The DVLA and Inspire People are partnering together to bring you an amazing opportunity to join a team at the heart of DVLA’s digital transformation of its products. The Service Management team at DVLA have a newly created opportunity for a Head of User Research responsible for developing DVLA’s research function, leading a research function that reliably generates valuable insights for product and service teams. This role attracts a salary of £48, to £55, plus excellent Civil Service benefits. Flexible, hybrid working from Swansea.

As the Head of User Research, you will lead the area to generate new and useful user insights and translating it into features and actions that will allow Service Managers to iteratively improve their service for users, whilst leading, supporting and inspiring your team, creating a strong team culture where colleagues can develop and be creative.

As the Head of User Research, your role and responsibilities will include:
. Support the Service Manager to develop future strategy and plans linked to overall Agency objectives and be responsible for the delivery of operational plans.
. Lead and develop your team creating a culture where staff can develop, be creative and reach their full potential, through feedback, coaching and strong leadership, structuring DVLA’s research offering into a manageable set of activities, which meet the needs of our users, overseeing all research and usability testing work completed by DVLA, ensuring that work is completed to a high standard.
. Test new product and concept developments (including user requirements gathering and early-stage concept and prototype testing, guerrilla research, and other approaches to ensuring the user need is fully understood in the service design).

Essential Skills and Experience:
What are we looking for from you? Well, in addition to evidence of working collaboratively with stakeholders, you should have demonstrable skills and experience in the following:

. A confident, passionate, and articulate professional, who can effectively lead people to exceed our customers’ expectations, in an environment of honesty, accountability and trust
. An authentic and visible leader who role models the essential values of integrity, impartiality and independence.
. Experience of working as part of an Agile development team, leading a successful team and managing projects.
. Skilled in planning, delivering and interpreting results from a wide range of practiced qualitative and quantitative research methods, with the ability to explain complex events or methods in easy-to-understand ways.
. Ability to make quick, pragmatic decisions based on the best information available, balancing the need for further research with the need for action.
. Be self-aware and resilient with the ability to work with multiple stakeholders whilst meeting deadlines.
. Experience delivering user research in a public sector or commercial setting
. Excellent written and verbal communications skills with the ability to communicate at all levels across the agency.

In return, you can expect a planned, transparent progression with learning and development tailored to your role, an environment with flexible working options and a culture encouraging inclusion and diversity, plus the following benefits:

. Basic of £48, and £55,
. Flexible, hybrid working from Swansea
. A competitive salary with “In Year” Reward schemes.
. 25 days of annual leave (excluding bank holidays), increasing by one day each year up to 30 days pro rata.
. Generous parental leave options
. Excellent pension scheme options.
. Access to the staff discount portal
. Help with buying public transport season tickets to help you travel to and from work.
. Free on-site parking and a local free park-and-ride service
. On-site childcare.

Application Process:

To apply for this role please submit your CV, which will be accessed against the following criteria:
. Developing and leading a research function, that reliably generates valuable insights for product and service teams.
. Lead, support and inspire a team, showing evidence of creating a strong team culture where colleagues can develop and be creative.
. Lead the area to generate new and useful user insights and translating it into features and actions that will allow Service Managers to iteratively improve their service for users.
. Create and maintain systems of measuring customer insight and customer feedback analysis, as well as ethnographic data on customer segments.
. Working with stakeholders to deliver an excellent and consistent customer service/experience.

The DVLA embraces and values diversity in all forms. The DVLA welcome and prides themselves on the positive impact diversity has on their work, and we promote equality of opportunity throughout the organisation. As such, the DVLA run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), Redeployment Interview Scheme [RIS] and Veterans Scheme [VS].
This vacancy is using Civil Service Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

If successful at sift, candidates will be invited to attend an initial interview with Inspire People and asked questions that reflect their experience, skills and fit for the role. The DVLA will then conduct shortlisting on the applications deemed suitable by Inspire People.

These candidates will be assessed against the essential criteria and experience listed in the Job Description and the following behaviours:

– Delivering at pace
– Making effective decisions
– Managing a quality service
– Working Together
– Leadership
– Developing Self & Others

At the interview stage for this role, the DVLA will assess a candidate’s experience through relevant assessments and presentation