Digital user researcher for emergency travel document (ETD) online application improvement

Tender description

Who Speclialist Work With The FCO's digital transformation unit is a small team, and on the digital side you'll be working primarily to a product manager. You will also be working with the wider ETD improvement project board and consular staff. The work forms part of a wider technical improvement project which will deliver enhancements to a number of systems (both those used by customers and FCO staff). What Specialists Work On Plan and carry out user research with staff/customers for our emergency travel document (ETD) service, with a particular focus on photo and document upload. Find and recruit research participants who are potential and past users of the service including those with assisted digital needs. Identify personas for the service. Create user stories. Identify and prioritise user requirements for this service and feed into the UX design. Plan ongoing research that can be carried out by the project team after the contract has finished. Test assumptions about users and the service. Answer specific questions about user needs. Build and test prototypes. Where the Work Takes Place Work will be done primarily in the FCO's London office in King Charles Street London. There is an expectation that field research will take place meaning that some work will be carried out off site. It is not expected that international travel will be required to support this research. Please note that candidates should be available for interview on the 8th May. Early Market Engagement User research was conducted prior to launching online ETD applications and ongoing research is continuously performed to feed iteration and ensure the service continues to meet user needs. Working Arrangements The individual will be expected to work to sprint plans and schedules set out by FCO and to participate in daily stand up meetings to report on progress and next steps. Reporting research findings to a number of FCO forums will be required, including Project Boards. Work Location Work will be done primarily in the FCO's London office in King Charles Street London. There is an expectation that field research will take place meaning that some work will be carried out off site. It is not expected that international travel will be required to support this research. Please note that candidates should be available for interview on the 8th May. Security Clearance FCO offices are secure buildings and ideally the specialist would have Security clearance (SC). For the right candidate we would sponsor them to get SC though this will mean that in the early weeks the candidate will need to be accompanied within the building. Additional T&Cs Ideally we would pay the specialist on a two week sprint by sprint basis. Skills & Experience Provide demonstrable evidence of how they have delivered user research in an agile team (10%) Provide demonstrable evidence of identifying personas and creating manageable user stories (5%) Provide evidence of how they have located, scheduled and interviewed research participants including assisted digital users (10%) Provide details of how they would conduct remote research with international users (UK nationals based overseas) (5%) Provide evidence of how a plan has been created with a previous project and methodology for ongoing research that can be implemented by a project team (10%) Explain how they have previously identified user needs which can easily be translated into technical requirements (10%) Nice to Haves User research for photo and document upload services (4%) Using the gov.uk prototyping toolkit to create prototypes for testing (2%) Research for a significant change to an existing online service (4%) No. of Specialists to Evaluate 3 Cultural Fit Criteria Provide evidence of where they have previously worked with technical and non-technical staff to understand requirements (5%) Provide evidence where they have quickly joined teams and understood their needs (5%) Provide evidence of where they have experience working in an agile manner (5%) Provide evidence of where the researcher has successfully performed user research with staff users (5%) Assessment Method Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range £ 650 per day