Senior Design Researcher - #2183736

Job Title - Senior Design Researcher

Location - Hybrid (3 days in Leeds office)

Day Rate - up to £580/day Umbrella

Length - until end of August 2027

Join the HSBC UK Digital Product & Design team, where you’ll help shape mobile experiences for customers across HSBC UK, first direct and M&S Bank. As a Senior Design Researcher, you’ll plan, conduct and synthesise research to embed customer needs at every stage of product and service design.

Working closely with designers, product managers, analytics specialists, engineers and key stakeholders, you’ll ensure research insights are actionable, influencing decisions and improving mobile journeys across our three brands.

Key Responsibilities

• UI / UX Research

• Lead end-to-end research programmes aligned to strategic business and customer outcomes across HSBC UK, first direct and M&S Bank.

• Oversee research across key mobile journeys, from discovery and onboarding through to servicing, payments and ongoing account management.

• Design, plan and execute qualitative and quantitative studies, including usability testing, interviews, surveys, focus groups, concept testing and ethnographic research.

• Collaborate closely with design, product, analytics, technology and other teams to frame research questions and integrate insights from discovery through to execution.

• Test prototypes, mock-ups, content, interactions and value propositions to validate concepts and usability.

• Synthesise diverse data sources, including customer feedback, sentiment, market trends, digital analytics and operational insight, into actionable recommendations.

• Present compelling research narratives and design recommendations to senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams.

• Identify opportunities to simplify mobile journeys, reduce customer effort and improve the overall customer experience.

• Coach, mentor and consult with colleagues to improve research literacy, enabling teams to conduct effective usability testing using established frameworks and best practices.

• Collaborate with other researchers to build an accessible insights repository and share research learnings across the Digital Product & Design team.

• Manage research vendors, partners and platforms, ensuring quality, scalability and impact.

• Foster an inclusive, diverse and collaborative research culture that represents the different needs and perspectives of customers across all three brands.

What You’ll Bring

• Minimum of 5 years’ relevant proven experience in UX, design or behavioural research, with expertise in qualitative and quantitative methods.

• Experience leading end-to-end research programmes aligned to strategic business and customer outcomes.

• Experience researching mobile products, digital journeys or multi-channel customer experiences.

• Experience designing, planning and executing studies including usability testing, interviews, focus groups, surveys and concept testing.

• Experience testing prototypes, mock-ups, content and value propositions to validate concepts and usability.

• Experience working with design, product, analytics and technology teams to integrate research insights from discovery through to delivery.

• Ability to synthesise customer research, behavioural data, analytics and other sources of insight into clear and actionable recommendations.

• Experience presenting compelling research narratives and recommendations to senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams.

• Experience collaborating with other researchers to build insights repositories and showcase research learnings.

• Strong understanding of inclusive and accessible research practices.

• Familiarity with research and collaboration tools, such as UserTesting and Figma.

• Excellent analytical, communication, planning and organisational skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders.

• Flexible, proactive and customer-centric approach to evolving research demands.

• Experience working in financial services, regulated industries or complex digital environments would be beneficial.