About the company

Snook are on a mission to design a world that works better for people.

We work with organisations to design more effective services which help people thrive. We do this by engaging with users, building digital products, training our clients, and much more.

Snook started as a service design company in 2009. In the past five years, we have become a multidisciplinary team and scaled to more than double our original size, when we started up in Scotland. We are now based in Glasgow and London and our team is approaching 100 people. And we’ve worked with brilliant clients — from Cancer Research UK and Tesco to Hackney City Council and the Scottish Government.

What we’re looking for:

Research Principals at Snook are experts in their field. They work across the organisation to support the research team and shape our practice. The Principal role is varied – Research Principals contribute to a wide range of key areas, listed below. Please note, we do not expect candidates to have expertise in each of these fields.

• Defining and refining practice – You’ll contribute to Snook’s research practice, helping to define the way our disciplines work together, and working with the Research Operations and Training teams to further articulate and share our methods. You will support the research team and wider disciplines to embrace the importance of ethical, inclusive, and impactful user research.
• Team support and management – You will be responsible for helping to build and support the research team. A significant aspect of the role will be the recruitment, mentoring and line management of user researchers.
• Project and framework direction – You will direct projects with a focus on creating inclusive services that put people’s needs at the centre. You may lead multidisciplinary teams through particularly complex or high value projects. You may also act as a strategic director on framework contracts working with key stakeholders to shape multiple projects aligned to the client’s strategy.
• Supporting new business – You’ll work closely with our clients and partners, leading or playing a role in all stages of the new business process, including scoping opportunities, creating proposals and pitching to clients.
• Bridging between delivery and leadership – You’ll work with the leadership team and across multiple departments, acting as a bridge between delivery teams and Snook’s leadership. Your work will require collaboration across our user-centered disciplines, including service design, digital design, operations and comms.

Your skills and experience:

We’re keen to hear from applicants who can meet the requirements above, and demonstrate some or all of the following skills and experience:

Core technical skills

• Research methods – You are an expert in the field of user research and can support teams to employ a wide range of research methods, from usability testing to ethnography.
• Scoping and planning – You have experience planning and delivering successful, impactful research projects and know how to develop a realistic roadmap for discovery, alpha and beta phase projects.
• Analysis and synthesis – You lead the application of robust methods for analysis and synthesis and can train internal teams and clients and partners in these. You can provide quality assurance for research insights and outputs.
• Ethics and data protection – You have a deep understanding of research ethics and are able to support team members working in sensitive subject areas. You’re well-versed in data protection requirements and can lead the team in ensuring compliance with legislation, such as GDPR.
• Accessibility and inclusion – You champion inclusion and accessibility throughout the business and support the team to develop inclusive approaches to research and design.
• Research operations – You understand the key processes that underpin effective, efficient research and can support the team to further develop and scale these processes.

How we work:

We’re the ‘user-centered design partner’ for the Home Office, Department for Education, the NHS and others. We also work with local government, charity and private sector organisations.

This means our staff are often embedded in their teams for projects and move on to different sectors after 3 – 12 months. This allows us to provide variety of experiences, from applying GDS (government digital service) standards to improving customer buy-in.

What we offer:

• 29.5 days holiday (this includes bank holidays), 4 of which are fixed to be taken at Christmas. Plus there are up to an additional 3-6 discretionary days for Christmas Closure
• Snook group pension plan
• A supportive maternity package
• Flexible working hours to support family friendly working and other commitments you may have
• A bike to work scheme
• A vibrant and supportive online and studio culture
• Access to Snook social clubs, and opportunity to run your own
• Membership to Headspace, the meditation app
• Annual team away-day and quarterly show and tells where we come together as a company, taking time out to learn, reflect, and eat snacks
• Weekly learning sessions plus an annual training budget
• We support you with a Snook buddy when you join to get you started

How to apply:

1. Go to our listing and select ‘I’m interested’ 

This vacancy will close as soon as the position is filled.

All offers are subject to satisfactory security vetting and reference checks. As standard, all roles undertake a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check. As a provider of services to the UK Government, where necessary we adhere to HMG’s personnel security and vetting policy requiring that minimum personnel security controls are checked as specified in the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). Some roles may require national security vetting clearance at the Security Check (SC) level and Non-Police Personnel Vetting (NPPV) Level 3. Where applicable local (non-UK) security checks and vetting schemes will be used to provide sufficient personnel security controls.

Any questions? 

If you have any questions please get in touch with us at curious@wearesnook.com

Remote interviews 

Due to Hybrid working, all interviews will be done remotely. We can offer interview times that suit you including outside of work hours. If you have children, caring during or any other circumstances we’re happy to find an interview time that works for you.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We strive for diversity in our team. If we’re going to design services for the public we need to ensure our team is inclusive. Snook encourages applications from all backgrounds, abilities or impairments, communities and industries. We’re committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences and abilities.