Trac proudly powers the recruitment for
NHS Business Services Authority
About
The NHSBSA values and respects the diversity of its employees, and aims to recruit a workforce which reflects our diverse communities. We welcome applications irrespective of people’s age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances.
We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including an invitation to the first stage of the selection process and consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability.
The NHSBSA will not normally re-engage a former employee in any capacity including in a self-employed/consultancy capacity; through an agency; in a temporary or permanent post or to a supply list, for a period of 12 months after the redundancy date.
System maintenance
The trac.jobs system will be undergoing essential maintenance at . We expect the work to be completed by 22:00 on Tuesday 2nd September 2025.
During this time period it will not be possible to browse jobs, sign into your account or submit job applications.
Junior Research Operations Specialist
Closed for applications on: 26-Jan-2024 00:00
Vacancy status: Closed
Closed for applications on: 26-Jan-2024 00:00
Key details
Location
- Site
- Stella House or Ridgeway House
- Address
- Goldcrest way, Newburn Riverside
- Town
- Newcastle Upon Tyne
- Postcode
- NE15 8NY
- Major / Minor Region
- Tyne and Wear
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £28,407 - £34,581 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 5)
Specialty
- Main area
- Junior Research Operations Specialist
Job overview
The Junior Research Operations Specialist is responsible for providing operational support to the NHS Business Services Authority’s (NHSBSA) large community of User Researchers. Working across the Research Operations specialisms of participant recruitment, governance, asset management, guidance & templates, tools and insight management, this role will be supporting the growth of ethical, scalable, and efficient research in the NHSBSA.
A key part of the role will be maintaining the Research Library, ensuring all research data is catalogued effectively. This includes working with UCD leadership roles to ensure that all data compliance is followed, including GDPR and data retention policies, and ensuring research findings are available to the wider organisation in a user-friendly repository. As part of the User Centred Design community, and the wider Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Directorate this role will follow the strategic direction of the Research Operations (ResearchOps) team to help enable user researchers at NHS Business Services Authority to do their best work.
What do we offer?
- 27 days leave (increasing with length of service) plus 8 bank holidays
- Flexible working
- Flexi time
- Hybrid working model
- Career development
- Active wellbeing and inclusion networks
- Excellent pension
- NHS Car lease scheme
- Access to a wide range of benefits and high street discounts!
Advert
Participant Recruitment: supporting the wider Research Operations team with recruiting participants for User Research for specific Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) services.
Insight & Knowledge Management: Coordinating Research Operations activity.
Guidance & Templates: Enabling and assisting with ways of working in user research at NHSBSA
Research Governance: Coordinating the management of the research library where outputs of user research and associated research materials can be stored and retrieved.
Resources: Coordinating tools and software used by the user research community to conduct user research safely and effectively.
Asset and Tool Management: Ensuring that User Researchers have access to any physical resources they need for their role.
Research Panel: Assist in managing research participant panels. Monitoring uptake, profiling participants, and supporting and following the inclusion strategy for user research at NHSBSA. Continue to expand the research panel and ensure user researchers have access to a diverse and representative sample of service users, in particular those with low digital literacy skills or access needs.
Managing research participant incentives: Coordinate and monitor the use of incentives, following the NHSBSA incentive policy.
Working for our organisation
Here at the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), what we do matters.
We manage the NHS Pension scheme, process prescription payments and much more. Our services are used by NHS organisations, contractors and the public: we take pride in being part of something so meaningful, that touches millions of lives.
Just as we design our services around the needs of our customers, we place our people at the heart of our organisation. That’s why when you join us, you’ll be empowered and given the right support to help your career grow.
As one of the UK’s Best Big Companies to work for, we’re all connected to our values: Collaborative, Adventurous, Reliable and Energetic. We care about our people, our purpose, and your progress.
We strive to offer a fantastic colleague experience, where every voice is heard, and every colleague is supported and respected. Wellbeing, diversity and inclusion is at the centre of this, so when you join us, you can connect with our Lived Experience Networks who help us to bring our authentic selves to work.
We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and circumstances. We are committed and proud to be a flexible employer and will endeavour to offer a working pattern that suits you wherever possible, whether that be hybrid working, flexible hours, job sharing and more.
Ready to join us on our journey to be a catalyst for better health? Apply today and see where the NHSBSA can take you.
We are people connected to care.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
In this role, you are accountable for:
- Participant Recruitment: supporting the wider Research Operations team with recruiting participants for User Research for specific digital services, including:
- Being an ambassador for research at NHSBSA, marketing the research panel and supporting the Research Operations team in expanding membership.
- Supporting the Research Operations team with complex requests in the team mailbox, all participant recruitment queries are dealt with quickly and effectively.
- Ensuring that all NHSBSA research panels are effectively maintained, including supporting the team in following Information Governance policies for data management.
- Providing ad-hoc support in participant recruitment as required.
- Insight & Knowledge Management: Coordinating Research Operations activity, including:
- Coaching and mentoring members of the team to deliver high quality outputs.
- Attending and participating in the Research Operations community of practice.
- Providing regular updates on Research Operations within the user research and design communities of practice, CX network, DDaT Directorate meetings.
- Working with the UR community to quality check the Research Roundup, distributing this across the NHSBSA.
- Promoting via various communication methods, the ‘Research Library’ as a source of knowledge across the NHSBSA and collecting feedback on how improvements can be made.
- Supporting any additional research operations activity at NHSBSA.
- Ensuring compliance with all confidentiality and governance requirements, supporting User Researchers to do the same with any data handling (GDPR, IG, cyber security etc).
- Sharing knowledge and expertise in data management with the user centred design community and wider NHSBSA.
- Guidance & Templates: Coordinating ways of working in user research at NHSBSA, including:
- Producing accurate documentation and guidance to support team development.
- Delivering training of relevant teams in research operations best practice.
- Supporting research practices and policy reviews.
- Ensuring consent processes are followed and supporting User Researchers with consent forms.
- Supporting the consideration of research ethics and accessibility needs when recruiting participants and supporting the development of the User Research Playbook.
- Supporting the onboarding and offboarding of researchers.
- Governance: Coordinating the management of the research library where outputs of user research and associated research materials can be stored and retrieved, including:
- Working with other members of the Research Operations Team and wider digital, data and technology teams to understand user researcher needs for file storage.
- Coordinating the management of a self-service insights library to allow colleagues across the organisation quick access to user research findings.
- Preparing library summaries and extracts as required.
- Ensuring that the library is accurate, up to date and adheres to GDPR and data security best practice.
- Developing and maintaining the library taxonomy for User Research at NHSBSA.
- Monitoring files stored within the library, ensuring that these are optimised to ensure high quality footage while utilising minimal storage space, by using video editing tools and sharing best practice with library users.
- Tools: Coordinating tools and software used by the user research community to conduct user research safely and effectively, including:
- Managing access to the Research Library, ensuring that personally identifiable information (PII) is securely stored and that research insights are readily available to NHSBSA colleagues.
- Supporting the Research Operations Manager in procurement activities for Research Operations tools, including panel management or data repository tools.
- Monitoring research-specific software licenses used in the User Research team, supporting the reallocation of licenses when required to be cost effective as a department.
- Supporting training for panel management tools for research team members, communicating updates to policies and processes when required.
- Asset Management: Ensuring that User Researchers have access to any physical resources they need for their role, including:
- Supporting the Research Operations team in providing physical equipment to enable safe and effective face-to-face research.
- Management of the User Research Lab, ensuring that the space has the correct equipment and processes in place to enable effective user research sessions with colleagues and members of the public.
- Research Panel: Assist the Research Operations Manager in managing participant panels. Monitoring uptake, profiling participants, and supporting and following the inclusion strategy for user research at NHSBSA. Continue to expand the research panel and ensure user researchers have access to a diverse and representative sample of service users, in particular those with low digital literacy skills or access needs.
- Liaising with internal and external stakeholders to support the expansion of a diverse research panel.
- Networking with relevant trusts, bodies, and charities to build relationships with potential participant providers.
- Supporting the Research Operations team to build networks to allow the expansion of research panels.
- Monitor demographics and identify where the panel is not representative and look for opportunities to improve diversity.
- Offering ad-hoc support in responding to and actioning panel queries as required.
- Delivering training to colleagues about the importance of research panels in user research and the processes involved in accessing participants for research sessions.
- Incentives: Coordinate and monitor the use of incentives, following the NHSBSA incentive policy:
- Training colleagues in the incentive policy and processes.
- Monitoring the use of incentives and supporting the Research Operations team in keeping accurate financial records to meet finance incentive processes.
- Coordinating purchase orders for incentives and ensuring all purchases are logged for audit purposes.
#LI-DNI
Person specification
Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
- • Excellent communication, interpersonal and administration skills.
- • Confident in communicating with the public over the telephone, via email and face to face.
- • Empathetic and resilient when dealing with sensitive research topics.
- • Organised and meticulous, strong attention to detail and able to work to a high level of accuracy.
- • Innovative and creative problem-solving skills; drive to identify user-focused solutions to User Research data management and support the wider Research team in their daily tasks.
- • Ability to meet tight deadlines and work under pressure with changing priorities.
- • Highly computer literate in Microsoft Office with advanced Excel skills, including complex spreadsheet functions.
- • Confidence in digital collaboration tools collaboration tools (e.g. Trello, JIRA, Miro).
- • Team player, willing to train and coach other members of the team.
- • Proactive with ability to use own initiative and work unsupervised.
- • Reliable and committed.
- • Knowledge of GDPR and data security principles.
- • Knowledge of Government Design Standards (GDS).
Desirable criteria
- • Working knowledge of project management techniques.
- • Knowledge of user research including a range of qualitative research methods, and the types of outputs that user researchers typically produce.
Experience
Essential criteria
- • Classifying, storing and maintaining assets (physical or virtual) and following GDPR / data security standards.
- • Organising physical and virtual assets, either as a librarian, archivist, records manager or similar.
- • Supporting the secure storage of digital information, including personal information, adhering to data security principles and GDPR.
- • Handling sensitive information, in particular information from members of the public.
- • Financial processes, including best practice for maintaining accurate records for financial audits and processes for purchasing goods and services within the public sector.
- • Managing multiple priorities and delivering to time scales.
- • Transferring and developing skills/knowledge within a team, both technically and culturally.
- • Supporting research and development activities to improve processes and ways of working within a technical team, including supporting change management.
- • Communicating and providing information to varied audiences (verbal, written and numerical).
- • Working with a diverse team, including different levels of seniority, supporting and challenging where needed.
- • Working as part of a research team.
- • Working in an office environment.
Desirable criteria
- • Experience of working in government or a public sector organisation.
- • Experience of working within a matrix style of working, supporting different people within a small team with a varied and diverse workload.
- • Experience of media editing, including the use of video and audio editing tools.
- • Awareness of agile development and service teams.
- • Experience of training/coaching colleagues in IT packages.
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- 1. NVQ Level 3 in research administration related subject, or relevant experience
Desirable criteria
- 1. A bachelor’s degree in relevant subject or relevant experience.
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Ben Morrison
- Job title
- Professional Lead for User Research
- Email address
- [email protected]
No longer accepting applications
Sorry, this vacancy is no longer accepting applications.
You can search for similar jobs on the employer's job board, or visit our national jobs board Health Jobs UK.