UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education.

UCAS is the world’s leading shared admissions service for higher education. We provide application services for UK universities and colleges as well as delivering a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies and employers.

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all of our customers — they're at the heart of everything we do.

The Customer Operations business unit at UCAS was formed to deliver and enhance the support and product & services provided to students, advisers, providers and other stakeholders involved in the higher education admissions process. This department focuses on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of customer interactions, ensuring that applicants and the providers they consider, and apply to, receive timely and accurate information, assistance, and guidance throughout the application cycle. It’s also the unit where we anticipate, respond to and define customer change to ensure UCAS can meet the needs of its customers and stakeholders going forward. Working in cross-company multi-disciplinary teams comprising; Customer Service and Relationships, Product Management, International, Policy, Admissions Reform and Fair Access.

We’re looking for a Senior UX Researcher with experience working on complex products across diverse customer groups. You’ll lead UX direction, shaping product development through discovery research, user needs, and customer insights. You’ll confidently present research, champion UX principles, and advocate for the customer. You’ll also challenge design and product decisions to help meet key goals, including driving revenue, increasing registrations, and delivering products customers value.

Key accountabilities:

• Manage research activities and define UX goals, working with product managers to align on objectives

• Maintain and develop data-driven personas with insight teams

• Own the UX research strategy, embedding the voice of the customer into digital strategy and roadmaps

• Facilitate workshops to improve customer journeys and personas

• Engage stakeholders and promote storytelling to inform planning

• Develop ecosystem maps and information architecture to enhance content and increase registrations.

• Create wireframes/prototypes for testing and collaboration

• Mentor researchers/designers and share best practice.

• Lead presentations and report on insights.

• Maintain a central research repository.

• Contribute to UX patterns and accessibility improvements

• Plan research activities, including nationwide user testing and recruitment

• Partner with analytics teams to measure product performance

Skills, qualifications, and experience:

• Understanding of agile approaches to development and experience of leading UX research activities within agile teams

• You will need to be confident in presenting and demoing ideas to large teams of people and be able to quickly answer questions regarding your approach

• Degree in a human behaviour related field (human-computer interaction, psychology, social science, information science, etc), or a degree in marketing and content strategy, or demonstrated experience at an equivalent level

• Confident explaining user needs to senior stakeholders and acting as a persuasive advocate for users

• Passion for data with experience of using statistical methods to find digital trends and understanding user behaviour

• Experience of recruiting, screening, and scheduling participants for research and testing

• Practical experience of discovery methods including gathering requirements, evaluating user needs, running workshops and user interviews

• Experience of defining project goals and deliverables through personas, journey maps, experience maps, service blueprints and strategic design deliverables

• Knowledge of development languages like HTML and CSS with the ability to communicate with developers to ensure our products are accessible and intuitive

• A strong appreciation for design aesthetics, with the ability to suggest improvements and contribute innovative design patterns to our UI pattern library.

(see attached job brief PDF for more)

 Salary: £35,000 plus following benefits:

• Purpose-driven work in a charity-led organisation connecting people to education and opportunity

• Internal training, mentoring, and access to industry-recognised certifications through our development academies

• Hybrid working model built on trust and flexibility, with a 35-hour week and flexible contracts

• 30 days annual leave, 3 concessionary days over Christmas, bank holidays, and the option to purchase additional leave

• Everyday wellbeing support through Perkbox, offering discounts and wellness tools

• Onsite facilities including a subsidised gym, café, and free parking at our Cheltenham office

• Inclusive culture supported by employee networks, wellbeing champions, and Mental Health First Aiders

• Recognition and reward through our quarterly employee scheme and an ex-gratia bonus for going above and beyond