Head of User Research, Design and Evaluation Full Time

Wales, Yorkshire
CITIZENS ADVICE
Department: Customer Journey Location: Blended between office and home (England and Wales) Citizens Advice offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Through our national network of charities, we give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem. Overview Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a difference, every single day, to people from all walks of life? The people that turn to Citizens Advice need help overcoming an obstacle in their lives – from debt to evictions to trouble at work – and you can be key to them getting the support they need in the quickest, easiest, and most effective way. We’re looking for an experienced and collaborative design, research, and evaluation specialist to lead our teams and disciplines at Citizens Advice. You’ll manage four multi-level teams working across the organisation, collectively delivering a sustainable, user-led approach to our services and products. Everyone is welcome at Citizens Advice. We care deeply about inclusive working practices and diverse teams. If you’d prefer to work flexibly, or part-time, we’ll try to facilitate this – whether to help you meet other commitments or to help you strike a great work-life balance. Several of our leadership team work 4 days a week, and we all work from home regularly. This role leads the user research, service design, product design and evaluation functions in our new Strategy and Transformation directorate, bringing together expertise, ensuring the right conditions for our teams to do their best work, and embedding a research- and design-led culture. The role includes line management responsibility for 45 to 50 people, including 4 direct reports – user research lead, product design lead, service design lead and evaluation lead. The postholder will work collaboratively with the team and other senior leaders to define the vision for evaluation, research and design for the Strategy and Transformation directorate team and the wider organisation. This will build on the work already done by the teams and communities of practice. Your teams will be working on products and services that are cross-channel (could include digital, assisted digital, face-to-face, telephone, chat, email) delivered in a multidisciplinary, agile way rooted in user-centred design methodologies underpinned by data and robust evaluation You and your team will take a purpose driven, collaborative, people focused and transparent approach to your work, building on the expertise and ideas of colleagues across the network. The team will work openly and in collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines. This role is a senior leadership role within a newly established Strategy and Transformation Directorate and is part of a wider community of Design, Data, and Technology professionals. The role works closely with the Head of Delivery, Head of Lab, and Head of Product. The postholder will collaboratively lead on the remit, direction, ways of working, and stakeholder relationships for the team as a whole. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is of strategic importance within the organisation and recognised as integral to all we do as a service. Central to pursuing our EDI mission is building diverse and inclusive teams in which everyone has a sense of belonging. We believe inclusion is a social justice issue – a principle that underpins our all EDI work. To that end, we particularly welcome applications from people we would like to see better represented in our organisation and sector – people of colour, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people. If you are disabled and meet our minimum criteria you will be guaranteed an interview for this role and we will provide reasonable adjustments as needed. We follow the social model of disability. The National Citizens Advice Operates from offices in England and Wales, with 4 regional offices based in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds, therefore all successful applicants must be based within England or Wales. Our commitment to colleague wellbeing is reflected in us being awarded Gold in the Health & Wellbeing category, as well as Overall Winners, at the Employee Experience Awards 2022. Please be aware that Citizens Advice is not a sponsoring organisation. Therefore the successful applicant must already possess the right to work in the UK or be able to secure the right to work in the UK independently. In the event of a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close the application early. This vacancy closes at 23.59 on the closing date.