User Researcher

Vacancy Type

Permanent/Full Time

Salary

£34,571 to £40,666 (R3)

Location

Any of the Heritage Fund’s Offices in the following locations – Birmingham, Belfast, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or Nottingham (Hybrid Working)

Application Deadline

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Job Summary

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

As the largest funder for the UK’s heritage, our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future.

We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to past.

Our mission is to use our expertise to support and champion the UK’s heritage and demonstrate the transformative potential of National Lottery funding through delivering our new strategy Heritage 2033. We ensure that money from The National Lottery makes a decisive difference for people, places and communities.

We are currently recruiting for a full time User Researcher on a permanent contract based in any of the Heritage Fund’s Offices in the following locations – Birmingham, Belfast, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or Nottingham (Hybrid Working) .

The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s primary customers are our applicants and grantees. They need us to provide a good quality experience that takes them from their first tentative look at The National Lottery Heritage Fund all the way through to them being awarded funding, and becoming a grantee.

We have taken a strategic decision to improve this experience, from end to end. In order to do this we will be adopting a service design approach that is informed by good practice to emerge from the Government Digital Service, and from wider service design practices. As part of this approach, we think about our funding as a series of products – products that have users who we wish to give a rewarding, usable experience that shows we care for our applicants and staff and respect their time. Great products come about because they have great teams working on them. These teams require numerous skills, but one of the critical skills is user research.

The User Researcher will be responsible for designing and conducting user research as part of a team effort to deliver great funding products. They will be responsible for identifying the best method based on research goals and resources, helping to establish and amplify the discipline of user research in the Heritage Fund, and championing user-centred approaches.

The User Researcher is responsible for all aspects of research (planning, recruiting, moderation, analysis, reporting) for both generative (participatory design) and evaluative (usability testing) research. You will be using a variety of user testing methodologies to reveal actionable customer insights. You will also be comfortable working with data, from gathering and analysis through to design and presentation.

If you are excited about helping ensure that heritage is inclusive and accessible to everyone, for now and future generations, then we want to hear from you.

• Applications close on 16 August 2026 at 23:59.
• Interviews are expected to take place on 2 and 3 September 2026.

Our Values

Our Values and Behaviours sit at the heart of our work and are central to how we recruit. How you demonstrate our Values is just as important to us as your skills and experience.

• Inclusive of all aspects of heritage, people and communities
• Ambitious for our people, communities and heritage
• Collaborative by working and learning together
• Trusted for our integrity, expertise and judgement

Flexible Working

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has offices all over the UK and we champion a flexible approach to working where this supports our business needs. We have formally adopted a hybrid working approach. This means that most employees will work from their contracted Heritage Fund office twice a week at minimum. Time spent on site visits to projects or other meetings based at another Heritage Fund or external office are counted as part of those two days. The other days in the week employees may work from home.

Disability Confident Employer

We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for every vacancy. We always endeavour to make reasonable adjustments and special requirements can be discussed and arranged before an interview.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund pledges to provide an inclusive working and learning environment for our people which prioritises fairness, equality, diversity and inclusion as well as dignity and respect for all. We will create a workspace where intimidation, discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation are not tolerated and actively prevented and opposed.