User Researcher (Digital)

Utilities

Predominantly remote / very rare travel to Scotland may be required

6 months £600 per day

In short: We are seeking a User Researcher to support discovery, design, validation and delivery across Strategic Infrastructure digital initiatives.

In full, Strategic Infrastructure is at the heart of a major transition, helping deliver some of the UK’s largest and most complex capital programmes. These programmes depend on effective digital tools, reliable data, joined-up workflows, and systems that can be understood and used confidently by the people delivering critical infrastructure.

You will help ensure that future digital products and enterprise systems are shaped around real user needs, operational realities, and the complexity of capital delivery environments. In this role, you will work closely with Product Owners, Product Managers, Business Analysts, UX Designers, delivery teams, subject matter experts and end users to understand how people currently work, where operational friction exists, and what future digital tools need to support.

You will plan and conduct research with users across complex business areas, helping teams understand user behaviours, needs, pain points, decision points, workarounds and system dependencies. Your work will help translate business processes and requirements into evidence-based product decisions, user stories, design recommendations and supplier evaluation criteria.

You will support projects across areas such as Land, Planning, Environment and Assurance, ESG, work management, portfolio delivery, and other enterprise digital products supporting Strategic Infrastructure. This role is especially suited to someone who is comfortable working in complex organisational environments, where user journeys cross multiple teams, systems, governance points, approvals, handoffs and data flows. You will help ensure that digital solutions are not only technically capable, but also clear, usable, traceable and adoptable by real users in real delivery contexts.

Key requirements

• Communication skills are key to this role. Whether speaking to end users, facilitating workshops or presenting research findings to stakeholders, your ability to listen carefully, ask the right questions and communicate clearly is essential.

Requirements

• Proven experience as a User/UX Researcher.
• Experience working on complex digital products, services or enterprise systems.
• Strong qualitative research skills, including interviews, workshops and usability testing.
• Ability to understand workflows, user roles, pain points, handoffs and system interactions.
• Experience working in agile or multidisciplinary product teams.
• Ability to translate research findings into user needs, insights and clear recommendations.
• Experience producing clear research deliverables, including journey maps, task inventories, personas, work profiles and actionable insight summaries.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Confidence working with operational users, technical teams and senior stakeholders.
• Experience identifying usability, workflow, adoption and comprehension risks.
• Experience working in large, complex organisations or regulated environments.
• Design skills are welcome but not essential.

Desirable

• Experience in utilities, infrastructure, construction, engineering, energy, transport or public sector environments.
• Experience researching enterprise systems such as work management, asset management, planning, environmental, assurance, reporting or project delivery platforms.
• Familiarity with Double Diamond, Service Design or Systems Thinking.
• Experience supporting RFPs, supplier evaluation or product selection activities.
• Ability to create concept designs, wireframes or low‑fidelity prototypes is desirable but not essential.

Pontoon is an employment consultancy and operates as an equal opportunities employer.