Overview

• Start date: ASAP

• Reporting to: Head of User Research

• Visa sponsorship: Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants should have the right to work in the UK at the time of application.

• Background checks: Due to the non-partisan nature of the work we do with global governments and partners, all employees need to pass background checks, verifying your identity, education (if relevant), work history, sanctions, criminal record, adverse financial history, right to work, media and social media.

• You can expect to hear from us, no matter the outcome, by:  27th March 2026

• Salary expectations: We aim for transparency on salary bands. If our range is misaligned with your expectations, we’d welcome an open conversation as early as possible.

About Apolitical

Apolitical is the world’s largest online network of public servants, with a mission to make governments smarter. It is used by half a million public servants and policymakers across 170 countries, providing governments with the tools, skills and networks they need to become more effective and tech-enabled organisations.

Role

The Researcher is a policy-literate product researcher who ensures our product reflects how policymaking actually works.

This role ensures that Apolitical’s policy-focused product development is grounded in a rigorous, practitioner-informed understanding of how public policy is designed, implemented and evaluated in practice.

Sitting within Product as part of the User Research sub-team, the role brings structured qualitative research, disciplined user testing and clear narrative thinking into the product lifecycle. By engaging directly with policymakers and synthesising insight into clear recommendations, the Researcher ensures that product evolution reflects real-world decision-making constraints and practitioner needs.

The role plays a critical part in strengthening the credibility, clarity and usability of Apolitical’s policy research products, while supporting responsible and evidence-led innovation in government.

Responsibilities

• Embed practitioner insight into product development and iteration.

• Ensure product decisions reflect the realities, constraints and trade-offs of policymaking.

• Strengthen Apolitical’s credibility through rigorous qualitative research.

• Improve internal clarity about what the product does, how it works and where it delivers value.

• Contribute to responsible, evidence-led use of technology in public-sector contexts.

Qualitative Research and Policy Insight

• Conduct structured desk research into policy processes, governance systems and real-world policy initiatives.

• Analyse how policies move from design to implementation and evaluation.

• Identify recurring practitioner challenges, constraints and decision-making patterns.

• Produce high-quality research briefs and synthesis documents, including for external audiences.

• Maintain clear documentation of insights, themes and research findings.

User Research and Product Testing

• Design research plans, interview guides and usability testing scripts.

• Recruit and engage policymakers across levels of government.

• Conduct structured interviews and facilitated product walkthrough sessions.

• Identify usability gaps, unclear assumptions and misalignments with practitioner reality.

• Translate qualitative feedback into clear, actionable product recommendations.

• Track recurring themes across testing cycles to inform iteration.

Insight Translation and Storytelling

• Synthesise qualitative findings into clear narratives that inform internal decision-making.

• Produce internal briefs explaining:

  • What we are learning from users

  • Which assumptions are validated or challenged

  • Where refinement is required

• Support external-facing insight outputs where appropriate.

• Help articulate clearly what the product enables and why it matters.

• Ensure all storytelling reflects research integrity and does not overstate product capability.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Product Managers, Designers and Engineers to inform prioritisation and iteration.

• Partner with Communications and Partnerships teams where research insights inform positioning or engagement.

• Act as a consistent voice of the practitioner within the organisation.

• Contribute to internal knowledge systems and documentation standards.

Competencies

Core Skills

• Strong qualitative research skills (structured interviews, thematic analysis, case synthesis).

• Experience designing and running user research and usability testing.

• Ability to develop research methodologies and structured scripts.

• Excellent written communication skills with the ability to synthesise complexity clearly and concisely.

• Strong understanding of public policy processes and governance systems.

• Ability to translate qualitative insight into clear, actionable recommendations.

• High attention to research integrity and methodological rigour.

Experience and Attributes

• Experience in government, think tanks, research organisations, consultancies or public policy programmes.

• Previous experience working within government, for example as a policy advisor, user researcher or in a central strategy or delivery function, is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated understanding of how policies are designed, implemented and evaluated in practice.

• Experience engaging directly with policymakers or senior public-sector stakeholders.

• Confident facilitator able to build trust and rapport quickly.

• Comfortable working in cross-functional product teams.

• Curious, analytical and comfortable operating in ambiguity.

• Committed to ethical research practice and responsible technology use.

• Mission-driven and aligned with Apolitical’s goals.

Don’t meet every single expectation? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Apolitical is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Application Process

Apolitical uses Applied in our recruitment. Applied aims to overcome unconscious bias in recruiting. Instead of using your CV alone, we'll be asking you to answer questions to test skills needed for the role. The answers are then anonymised, and reviewed in a random order by members of our team. 

The Applied platform also asks some demographic questions before you start your application.  These answers are never visible to the hiring team and don’t affect your application in any way. We only see summary statistics to help us check if our candidate pool is balanced and if everyone has an equal chance to get hired irrespective of their background. If you prefer, you can easily opt out of answering these questions.

Using AI in your application answers

At Apolitical, we embrace new technologies and encourage the use of AI in our work. However, as AI becomes more prevalent, it can be difficult to distinguish between machine-generated content and the unique perspectives of candidates. We’re excited to see how you use AI tools to structure and refine your answers, but we value your unique insights above all else. Ensure your application reflects your voice and how your skills align with our mission.

Interview

As part of your application, we’ll review your CV and a writing sample. Shortlisted candidates will then be invited to a 30 to 45-minute interview on Google Meet.