Senior Digital User Research Officer

Senior Digital User Research Officer

Digital Service

Division of External Relations (DER)

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is recruiting a Senior Digital User Research Officer within the Digital Service in the Division of External Relations in our Copenhagen, Denmark office.

UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 125 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

Title: Senior Digital User Research Officer

Duty Station: Copenhagen, Denmark or home-based

Duration: 01 March to 31 December 2022

Contract Type: UNOPS International Specialist, Level IICA – 3 (or equivalent Local Specialist Level LICA-11)

Closing date: 31 January 2022

Organizational context

This role will operate within the Digital Service, which sits in the Division of External Relations (DER).

The Digital Service team advises on, creates and delivers digital solutions and strategies for engaging with UNHCR’s primary audiences, including the public, partners, governments, refugees and staff. As part of its responsibilities, the Digital Service oversees UNHCR’s global web presence, producing and managing websites for a range of stakeholders throughout the organization to help them engage effectively with their key audiences. For these websites to achieve their goals, it is essential that they be designed and built with a proper understanding of the needs and behavior of their intended end users – whether those be POCs, governments, operational partners, the private sector, researchers, media or others

Within this context, the Senior Digital User Experience Officer will employ a range of user research and testing methodologies to inform our priority web projects; both at the beginning of projects in order to contribute to the initial functional specifications, as well as during the design phases to ensure the final products meet stakeholder and user needs. Given the nature of the stakeholders in question, the role requires a highly experienced professional with a structured and sophisticated approach to user research, and with the ability to adapt interactions and communication style to a variety of stakeholders.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

The contractor will operate within the Digital Engagement Section (DES), which sits in the Private Sector Partnership Service, Division of External Relations (DER).

Under the overall supervision of the Digital Marketing Officer, the Senior Digital User Experience Officer will work to ensure the usability and coherence of our web presence for our target audiences. In particular, this role will be responsible for the following activities within our key web projects:

• Audience research during the needs assessment phase of web projects, including surveys and/or interviews. Deliverables will include defining research plans and methodologies, detailed interview notes, analysis and reporting of findings, (if relevant) the creation of personas representing key audience segments, and recommendations and implications for site design, information architecture and functionality.

• Concept development during the design phase. Deliverables, to be provided in close coordination with the wider web project team, will include user stories to provide the basis for user journeys on the site for each audience group; participation in key team discussions and input on design proposals.

• User testing of draft designs/wireframes and prototypes to inform the design phase and IA development, as well as at the pre-launch phase of the project. Deliverables will include a detailed report of findings, including any barriers to the usability of proposed designs/IA, and recommendations for their optimization.

• Acceptance testing to ensure that sites developed deliver the required features and functionality identified by users and stakeholders.

• Training of DES team members in basic user research and testing methodologies, to build capacity across the team in putting the end user at the center of our digital products.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

Work priorities, along with the expected outputs, will be agreed upon with manager on a monthly basis. Progress will be monitored through weekly meetings.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

The ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications

Education (Level and area of required and/or preferred education):

Bachelor’s degree in Communication, Sociology, Digital/Product Design or other related field. Training or significant experience in audience research and website user testing methodologies is also essential for this role.

Work Experience:

Minimum of 9 years (8 years for Master’s degree holders) of relevant work experience, including extensive experience in the following:

• Employing the full range of user research and testing methodologies to inform a variety of web and other digital projects for international organizations.

• Developing audience personas and digital user journeys based on audience research.

• Drawing actionable conclusions from user research.

• Briefing and working closely with design and development teams on website development and optimization projects.

• Training non-technical teams in digital user research techniques.

Key Competencies:

Required:

• Advanced proficiency in the full range of audience research and testing methodologies, including surveys, interviews, user observation and contextual interviews, card sorting, tree testing, mobile testing, heat maps and others.

• Strong analytical and reporting skills, including the ability to analyse and report on complex research findings and draw clear, actionable conclusions.

• Proficiency in developing audience personas and website user journeys based on audience research.

• Familiarity with web analytics tools

• Skilled at imparting trainings, including to non-technical audiences.

• Expert knowledge of web best practice

• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to adapt communication style to a range of different stakeholder groups

• Ability to work well within a diverse and interdependent team environment. Strong organization and coordination skills

• Excellent listening and observational skills

• Fluency in English

Desired:

• Knowledge of Spanish, French or Arabic would be an asset.

This vacancy is open both for applicants residing in Denmark and for those residents of other countries. The remuneration level and the applicable entitlements and benefits may be different based on the residence of the most suitable selected candidate.

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).

Closing date of receipt of application: 31 January 2022