NCSC User Researcher or User Experience Specialist Ref. 3879

Senior User Research or User Experience specialists: will lead the delivery of research and design activities across projects, advising teams on appropriate methods and helping colleagues embed user-centred approaches throughout delivery. They will share insights with stakeholders, provide constructive challenge, support decision-making, and contribute to peer review and continuous improvement within the wider User Research and User Experience community.

Lead User Research or User Experience specialists: will provide expert strategic advice to multidisciplinary teams and senior stakeholders, shaping requirements, influencing delivery approaches and ensuring user needs are considered from the earliest stages of work. They will apply their specialist expertise to balance user needs, organisational priorities and technical constraints, provide technical leadership and quality assurance across the UCRD capability, mentor and support senior practitioners, and escalate significant risks or blockers where required.

Alongside project delivery, you will provide specialist User Research or User Experience consultancy and support to a variety of NCSC initiatives, including large-scale public-facing campaigns that help individuals and organisations stay secure online. You will also have opportunities to collaborate with user-centred specialists across government, contributing to nationally significant services and sharing best practice across the wider profession.

As part of a growing team, you will help shape the future of UCRD within the NCSC. You will contribute to the development of our ways of working, support capability growth, and strengthen professional relationships across the government user-centred research and design community to promote collaboration, learning and continuous improvement.

To compete against our adversaries, it is vital that the NCSC remains at the forefront of technological advancement and continues to deliver world-class cyber security advice and services. You will be supported to undertake relevant training and continuous professional development and encouraged to explore, test and share innovative tools, methods and approaches that could improve how we work, including the responsible and ethical use of AI.

Person specification

The successful applicant will need to:

Senior User Research or User Experience specialists:

• demonstrate experience working in a User Research, User Experience or related User Centred Design role, applying user-centred practices to understand user needs and inform service improvements.
• demonstrate strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to explain and advocate for user-centred approaches to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• demonstrate experience selecting, applying and adapting appropriate User Research or User Experience methods and tools throughout delivery lifecycles to meet user, business and delivery needs.
• demonstrate experience working alongside wider delivery functions without clearly defined user-centred requirements and embedding user-centred approaches from an early stage through to delivery.

Lead User Research or User Experience specialists:

• demonstrate the Senior User Research or User Experience requirements detailed above.
• demonstrate experience shaping user-centred strategy and making links across different project areas to ensure outputs align with business priorities.
• advocate for user-centred approaches and support areas to adopt user centred practices.
• demonstrate experience providing technical assurance of UCRD standards, outputs, and approaches.

GCHQ Competencies
As part of the selection process, the NCSC will assess you using competencies aligned with those used across the UK Intelligence Community. These are closely based on the Civil Service Behaviours, so if you’re familiar with those, you’re already on the right track.

At Level 3, we’ll be looking at how you demonstrate the following:

• Driving Innovation and Change (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Changing and Improving)
• Continuously Developing (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Developing Self and Others)
• Communicating and Influencing (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Communicating and Influencing)
• Working Collaboratively (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Working Together)
• Making Effective Decisions (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Making Effective Decisions)
• Providing Customer Value (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Managing a Quality Service)

Further information on Civil Service Behaviours

Rewards and benefits:

At NCSC and GCHQ, we are proud of our inclusive and supportive working environment which is designed to encourage open minds and attitudes. As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we are committed to helping you fulfil your potential. With comprehensive training and development opportunities, tailored to your needs and the requirements of your work, we will enable you to flourish in your role and perform to the very best of your abilities.

You’ll receive a starting salary for:

Senior User Research or User Experience specialists: £45,841 (including a concessionary payment of £2,758).

Lead User Research or User Experience specialists: £55,758 (including a concessionary payment of £2,758).

These roles attract specialist skills pay ranging from, £4,738 – £25,643 and will be assessed at interview and your progress in post.

For roles based in London, you’ll receive an additional £6,250 London Allowance.

Other benefits include:

• 25 Days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days’ public and privilege holidays
• Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
• Interest-free season ticket loan
• Cycle to work scheme
• Facilities such as a subsidised gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
• Paid parental and adoption leave
• Excellent pension scheme - Civil Service pension

Equal opportunities

At GCHQ, diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are underrepresented in our workforce such as women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website.

Disability Confident

GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As a Disability Confident Leader we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position, will be offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so. (This is known as Offer of an Interview.)

To secure an interview for this role, applicants must meet the minimum criteria, which will be assessed at CV sift stage of the application process:

• You'll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses criteria important for all roles in our organisation.
• Able to demonstrate experience of working in a User Research, User Experience or User Centred Design role.
• Evidence of applying user-centred practices to understand user needs and inform service improvements. Assessed at sift.
• Evidence of strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to influence, challenge constructively and advocate for user-centred approaches with diverse technical and non-technical stakeholders. Assessed at sift.
• Able to demonstrate experience of working in complex environments and embedding user-centred approaches from an early stage through to delivery. Assessed at sift.

There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to help you perform at your best. For information on reasonable adjustments, we can offer.

What to expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Below is a brief overview of each stage:

1. Initial online application.
2. Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) rating the appropriateness of your response to a series of short scenarios.
3. Full online application.
4. Application sift looking at your technical expertise, experience and motivation for the role.
5. Online Interview.
6. If successful, you’ll receive a conditional offer of employment.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. The recruitment process, including vetting may take around 6 to 9 months to complete. We therefore advise you to continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before you apply

To work at NCSC, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here.

This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process here.

Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.

Before you apply, we recommend setting up a separate email address for your correspondence with us, to ensure your personal and application related communications remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practice and will help you manage your application with us more securely.

The role can be done from Manchester, London, Cheltenham or Scarbrough, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.

We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in-person appointments during the recruitment and vetting process. Full details will be provided with your interview or assessment invitation.

Reimbursement is discretionary and will only be made in line with the Candidate Expenses Policy, as amended from time to time. Candidates must book their own travel, using the most economical option, and provide original hardcopy receipts for reimbursement.

Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.

The closing date for this role is: Monday 16th November 2026 at 23:55

Right to close applications early

Please be aware that we reserve the right to close applications once a certain number have been received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid missing out. If you have a disability (as defined under the Equality Act 2010) and need additional time to complete your application, please submit your initial application. Then, contact us via the email provided as soon as possible, using the subject line “Reasonable Adjustments Extension” and briefly outline the support you require.