User Researcher/ Service Designer

Interim Senior User Researcher / Service Designer

June–September 2026 | £400–£500 per day | 3 days per week or full‑time | Mostly remote with some travel to Surrey

A Surrey‑based housing provider is looking for an experienced Senior User Researcher or Service Designer to lead a focused, high‑impact programme of user research between June and September 2026. This is an interim role ideal for someone who can hit the ground running, work independently, and deliver high‑quality insights at pace.

You’ll be shaping a major piece of work to understand and improve the experiences of social housing tenants with diverse and complex needs, directly informing a new strategic approach to inclusive housing services.

What you’ll be doing

• Leading qualitative research with tenants, including those with a wide range of diverse needs
• Conducting interviews and focus groups (approx. 8 interviews + 2 groups)
• Developing 8 evidence‑based personas, refining existing drafts and creating new ones
• Mapping key housing service journeys, including:
  • Repairs
  • Online “front door” and information‑seeking
  • Customer contact centre interactions
• Identifying pain points, opportunities and practical service improvements
• Producing clear, visual outputs: personas, journey maps, insights and recommendations
• Supporting internal teams to build capability in user research and journey mapping
• Creating a journey mapping toolkit and delivering light‑touch training

What we’re looking for

• Experience in user research and/or service design, ideally in public sector, housing, health or other complex service environments
• Strong qualitative research skills: interviews, focus groups, co‑design, observation
• Experience working with people with diverse needs (e.g. disabilities, health conditions, language barriers, digital exclusion)
• Proven ability to turn research into clear, actionable insights
• Skilled in creating personas, journey maps and service improvement recommendations
• Confident communicator able to engage stakeholders at all levels
• Experience upskilling teams in user‑centred methods
• Comfortable working at pace on a time‑bound project
• Proficiency with tools such as Miro, FigJam, PowerPoint, Excel

Why this role matters

You’ll be central to shaping how a major housing provider understands and responds to the needs of its tenants. Your work will directly influence service improvements, strategic decision‑making and long‑term capability building across the organisation.

This vacancy is being advertised on behalf of Greenacre Recruitment Ltd who are operating as a recruitment agency and business.